I got my computer back from HP.  They replaced the hard drive, so it has been time consuming to reload everything,  I have been posting as frequently as I had planned because I just couldn't figure out how to get the pic from the ipad onto the blog (on ipad),

I finished the first 3 clues of Bonnie Hunter's mystery Grand Illusion a day before clue 4 comes out. I am getting anxious to see how all of this is going to go together. I don't have prints for my neutrals, and I think I am going to like it.  

I worked on this little mug mat.  I am not real excited about how the edges turned out, but it will be functional  There are some others in the set.  I wonder if I will do them????

I did a bit of Christmas shopping.  The traffic was pretty crazy.  I still have stocking stuffers to buy.  Gifts are mostly done.  I have some binding to put on place mats and have to make another trip to the bank.

I am working on Christmas presents (can't show those at this time)  in between working on step 2 of the Grand Illusion mystery quilt.

I am using Bonnie Hunter directions #2 for the block.  The seams are not matching no matter how I pin or sew.  I have unsewn and resewn several times and just decided that I would live with them being a little off.



Here are some Christmas wallhangings that I put up:

I am catching a cold, but decided to stay home from exercise and sew........  I discovered that I do like the bigger 6.5 easy angle ruler when I am standing up cutting.

So, I am all done with the 100 units.  I have 40 of the 80 half square triangles that we are to set aside.

Boy, my yellow squares sure look orange.  I will have to look at the colors on my phone.

I posted a picture of this when the top was done  Now it has been machine quilted on my brother VQ3000 and bound.  I am bummed that I missed quilt cam tonight for no good reason.  I could have been sewing my binding while watching Bonnie Hunter on quilt cam instead of watching Netflix.  I can't remember when I started this, but I think it was last fall.  It is a pattern from Bonnie Hunter's Spring Fling book.  I did buy a couple of fat quarters of red and my friend Marge gave me some of her reds. I didn't count the fabric in my used this year yardage except for the back because I layered it after my start date of January 27, 2014.

Here is a close up of the quilting.  Once again I forgot to put a label on.  

I used a variegated red thread and like how that turned out.  I was going to use a 30 weight sulky, but I am glad I used a 40 weight thread because it stands out enough.

I finished this in mid March, but didn't take a picture of it.  I used all materials from my stash.  I used about 4.5 yards.  I weigh the scraps and then convert it to yards.  I did use yardage for the back and the tone on tone blocks that became the sashing.  I had a lot of small pieces of bugs, frogs, etc to make a bug jar quilt for years, but making one block was enough for me without an intended recipient.

Here is where I got the pattern.  

http://obsessivelystitching.blogspot.com/2010/05/disappearing-nine.html

Well, I have used 23 yards of my stash fabric since January 27, 2014!!  This is Bonnie Hunter's I Spy 4 Patch  I just alternated my two fabrics instead of making each one a different children's fabric.

This is a closer picture.  My laser light makes this quilting a snap

Finally, this is finished.  I can't really remember when I started working on it, but it has been on my mind for a number of years  A design similiar to this was on the opening of AlexAnderson's Simply Quilts television show. So, first I purchased a book by Barbara Kaempfer called Log Cabin with a Twist.

  Then I dyed 40 pieces of fabric.  Each colorway has 5 gradations of color. I started with a half yard of each one, which is 20 yards of fabric. I was only able to do fat quarters on my last color turquoise because I must have run short of fabric.  What???? I must not have measured correctly.......or maybe it was the clerk who sold it to me! VBG

The book has paper piecing templates in the back, so I let the fabric age for a year or two because I am not a big fan of paper piecing.Then I found an embroidery design and ended up doing the 44 blocks on my embroidery machine.  I got the colors wrong and had to redo three of them and also trying to save a little fabric I cut some of my pieces too small and those blocks had to be redone.  The quilting stitches are done with 30 weight varigated sulky thread.  I threw out a block or two while trying to decide the thread color.  Now it is hanging on my wall, and I am very happy. One less project cluttering up my brain.,