Good Fortune Finish

Today starts the final link up party for our Good Fortune mystery quilt.  You can see all the wonderful finishes at the Quiltville blog HERE.

I managed to finish mine up over the weekend and took a couple of photos of it today.  It has been such a rainy season here so I haven't had a chance to get an outdoor shot until today.

After adding an additional 6 inch strip border, the quilt finished at 84" square.  The quilting is fairly dense since that last border has a lot of bias edged strips when sewn together.

I love seeing all the texture after quilting.

 

The backing had the perfect colors.

Blue seemed like the best option when it came to binding.

It was a great pattern this year.  I can hardly wait for the next clue in about nine months.

It has been really cold here lately.  We've had very rare freeze warnings.  I'm finding myself covering my tender plants each night.  Where is spring?   This morning we awoke to another day of frosty lawns and ice in the rain puddles from yesterday.  Those poinsettias are frost damaged today and will be gone tomorrow.

In With the Old

January is suppose to be out with the old and in with the new....right?  I am so tempted by "new" projects being shown on IG and blogs, but I am determined to finish some of my older UFOs.  I have told myself that I can start something new AFTER I finish two old ones.  I don't even want to count how many UFOs are hiding here.

That being said, I did participate in the yearly Mystery Quilt at Quiltville.com.  I changed mine up color wise.

Once I finished it, I decided to make it a bit bigger by adding a paper pieced strip border to it.  What's fifty two more paper pieced strip blocks anyway?  It now measures 84" square which will make a nice sized quilt.

I can honestly say that not one new fabric was purchased for this quilt.  YEAH.  I just don't understand why the stash does not appear to have gone down any.  

Now for the "old" project.  I have had a stack of Scrappy Mountain blocks sitting on my ironing area F-O-R-E-V-E-R!  I refused to remove them for fear they would end up in the dark spot.  I played around with a few layouts and decided on the second, but the first one intrigued me too.

Several years ago Lori Holt had a Bloom Sewalong.  I had all of my templates and a stash of old and new retro fabrics, but never managed to get my blocks sewn.  This year Cheryll is using the same pattern for another SAL.  I dug out my fabrics and templates and then  managed to get the first block sewn.

On the gardening side of life, January means rose pruning here.  Although it cuts into sewing time, it is a great feeling to get them finished.  It won't be long before they are blooming again.   Inside, the amaryllis sent up a second bloom of four more flowers.

To close I will leave a picture of what happens around here when one leaves a quilt on the floor while auditioning borders.  I think I need a design wall!

Good Fortune Flimsy

My Bonnie Hunter Mystery quilt is now a flimsy.  I really enjoy making a quilt this way with all the pieces sewn first and then made into blocks.  I know how bored I can get making block after block. 

I've never been a fan of applying borders, but these were the biggest nightmare of my quilt.  I sewed my blue and neutral border on and then three of the green HST borders.  The green was on upside down, but I was fine with that.  I actually liked the corners better.  BUT......when I got to the last border, I realized that my blue borders were on wrong.  Rip, rip, rip.  Green borders off.  More rip, rip, rip.  Three blue borders off.  What's that?  Only one blue border was wrong?   Of course it was the one that I hadn't ripped off yet.  Sheesh.  How stupid can I be?  I was especially glad that I had shortened my stitch length for all those borders!!  NOT.  I finally stepped away from the machine for the day. The next day I was right back where I started the day before.  In the end the borders all fit on well, even after all of the handling. 

This was when I threw it down in a heap after realizing that un-sewing would be required.

To add insult to injury, as they say, I also got my finger a bit too involved in my stitching and broke off my needle threader on my sewing machine.  I'll have to go back to the aiming game until I can get a new one.

Throughout the whole ordeal, my sister (IG alaskanquilter) and I were texting with each other.  She is also doing the Good Fortune quilt.  Her version is very elegant looking in teals and reds.  It was especially nice to have a sympathetic ear during my trials.  I'm sure she saved this from becoming an UFO.

I'm still contemplating adding 6" neutral strip blocks for a final border to make it a bit larger.  It would bring it up to 84" square. It was another great pattern from Bonnie. 

We've had such dark and rainy days for the last few weeks so the pictures outside will have to wait.

Be sure to check back on the 21st to see my Black and White project that I stitched up for the Black and White Blog Hop hosted by Carla at Creatin in the Sticks. 

The Week That Was

Waking up last Monday morning was perfectly normal and gave us no hint of what was to become of the week ahead.  By the end of the week, we would be through more than we could have imagined.

Our community has suffered greatly.  A city that has consistently been voted in the top safest cities in the country saw the latest mass killing.  So many families have been affected.  One of the young men happened to be the son of one of the gals in my husband's office.

Before we even had a chance to grieve that horrific news, the fires broke out and sent people fleeing their homes.  The first of the fires broke out on the road between our home and my mother's.  The winds were pushing it towards her home.  My sister and I both rushed to her place, expecting evacuation was quickly coming.  With firefighters in her back yard, we watched the flames quickly approach.  Thanks to a grove of avocado trees behind her fence, the forward advance of the fire stopped just shy of her home.

By daylight you can see the blackened hills with a few hotspots.

When I returned home the next morning a second fire was approaching our home from the other direction.  The winds were so erratic and switched directions, sending it to the beach before it reached us.  So many have lost their homes and some even lost their lives.

Due to the fire, a cable tower was lost and we were left living in a different era - no phones, no internet and no television!  We finally had everything restored last night.  Whew.  Those domino games were getting pretty heated.

On the positive side, we had a new baby arrive in the middle of all the chaos.  Oldest grandson and his wife had a darling little girl.

With so many roads closed as well as many shops under evacuation orders, I was able to spend some time in my quiet space.

The Quiltville Mystery fabric selection is out.  I don't want to use orange again this year so this is my fabric pull for this quilt.

My Gridster Bee blocks for Allison (IG quiltstudio62) were so much fun to make.  I'm looking forward to seeing this one finished.

I promised a picture of the Rapunzel costume that my granddaughter and I made together.  She looked gorgeous in it.

I'm hoping for a quieter week this week.  I am looking forward to catching up on blogs and IG too.