Monday, December 2, 2013

Celtic Solstice Part 1

Autumn is always a very busy time of year for me, and this
year was no different. We grappled with health issues in the family, some of which have been resolved, some not. Fall classes started up in September at my Local Yarn Shop, so I've been doing lots of knitting. Hubby sided the house this summer with cedar shingles, and that work had to get finished before winter. We had 9 cords of wood to cut, split, and stack; and there was the fall clean up in the yard.

All in all, not a lot of quilting has gotten done since August. I did finish the Turning Twenty quilt (renamed Rainbow Jungle), and I think that's the last project I worked on seriously. I've tried to get back into my sewing, but nothing really moved me. . . until Bonnie Hunter sent out a newsletter that her annual mystery was starting at the end of November. Nothing like a good Bonnie Hunter mystery to get you back in the swing of things!

So far I've only made 30 of 92 orange-blue triangle units for Part 1. I'm taking my time because I am experimenting with each of the four methods Bonnie mentioned in the first clue--using the Inklingo software to print on fabric, using the Inklingo software to cut templates, foundation piecing, and cutting out pieces using the TriRecs rulers. The units I pieced with Inklingo went together Perfectly, but foundation piecing is my preferred method right now. I'm cutting slightly oversized shapes with the TriRecs rulers, then paper piecing them. Extra work, I suppose, but I'm enjoying it instead of stressing whether or not they'll finish to the right size, and I'm really not in any hurry.

Bonnie didn't disappoint with her colors for the Easy Street Mystery last year, nor with the Lazy Sunday Mystery in Quiltmaker magazine, in January; so I decided to go with her color choices again this year. I am Lovin' the orange-blue combination so far.

See what other mystery quilters are doing on Bonnie's blog here.

We had a little snow yesterday, an inch or so, and it was a gray, cold, raw day today--a perfect day to stay in and sew.