
Fall ’23: Layer Cake Mystery: Clue #6


Last week on my weekly Synopsis, I told you about driving to a local quilt store and was totally annoyed that it was closed when I arrived. I did email the store and complained. They said “sorry” and that they would correct their hours on Google. It took a few days before that happened. Then, while I was at the retreat, I got a lovely email with a $10 gift card from the store. Since the store was sort-of on my way home, I stopped in and spent the gift card on the thread I wanted! I was pleased that they appeared to value me as a customer!
This past week I was at a retreat with 20 other quilters. We tried out a new venue “Camp Luther” and it was great! There was lots of room, the food was too much, and having a bathroom in each bedroom is definitely a plus. Due to the potential of tripping a breaker, we had no ironing in the sewing room and we needed to walk down the hall to get our pressing done. Most people got their required steps in!
Here’s pictures from the retreat! Lots of creativity!



























I always enjoying seeing my quilt designs completed! I LOVE the variations and how people do the pattern, change the pattern and use their own creativity. While at the retreat, I was delighted to see so many finishes!








Leanne, of Devoted Quilter is hosting a WIPS-B-Gone ’23 challenge. This fun challenge started October 1, 2023! It’s not too late if you want to join! It’s totally up to YOU as to how you want to use the challenge.
Since my challenge is to tidy/clean AND sew every day, it’s obvious that I didn’t clean my sewing room while I was at the retreat! And my fellow retreaters would definitely say I was lying if I said I tidied my table each and every day!! Of course it got tidied on the day we packed up … but then my room at home was a mess until the next day when I got it all put away!


Kate, from Life in Pieces, is hosting “Stitching Stuff” and the goal is to sew for at least 15 minutes a day. I use Kate’s guideline, but my personal goal is to sew for 30 minutes a day. On those “blah” days, it does motivate me to sit at my machine and 30 minutes often turns into several hours. Thank you Kate for the motivation!

Donna at Quilt Paint Create hosts a weekly linky party where you can display your stash numbers. This has really kept my stash from growing (somewhat!) Before I buy anything, I am always mindful of the fact that I need to report it on my blog … That sometimes stops me in my tracks!
This pumpkin Wall / Door hanging used 1 yard of fabric. And I didn’t buy any fabric when I was at the retreat.

Yearly Tally:
Just an FYI: I do not count any fabric that is given to me (Island Batik), but this year, I am going to count it as fabric used.

Carol from Quilt Schmilt is hosting “To Do” every week.
Judy, at Small Quilts and Doll Quilts, hosts a linky party for “What’s on your Design Wall” every week. Sorry, no pictures to share!
“Dashing Through the Snow”
Island Batik November Blog Hop: (November 1 is my day)
Moose Stash Quilting: Sew It – Show It: Turkey Trot (November 13 is my day)
Just Let Me Quilt: Virtual Christmas Cookie Exchange and Christmas Blog Hop (December 4)
Just Let Me Quilt: White Rabbit (January 23. 2024)




Joan of Moose Stash Quilting is the wonderful host of the Monster Mash Blog Hop.
The Challenge … Sew and share something scary, not scary, or something in between. If it’s Halloween related you know we will love it!
Well, I don’t like scary … so mine is not scary! Just a simple pumpkin to hang on my front door. It was fun to make the strips a little improv, and then I squared it up. Believe it or not, this took me about 5 days to make, doing a little here and a little there! Although, I’m positive I could have made it in a few hours! 😁

Stats:

Be sure to visit each blogger, there will be lots of Monster eye candy!
Monday October 23
Tuesday October 24
Wednesday October 25
Thursday October 26

Please note: Clues are removed. Please contact me if you wish to have a copy of this pattern.

October’s Classic Car colour is Blue. Visit Patterns by Jen HERE for your free download of this month’s block …
Here’s my October block (Blue), followed by the rest of the monthly blocks. I’ve used scraps of Island Batik for all of my blocks.







Leanne, of Devoted Quilter is hosting a WIPS-B-Gone ’23 challenge. This fun challenge started October 1, 2023! It’s not too late if you want to join! It’s totally up to YOU as to how you want to use the challenge.
As I said in an earlier post, my sewing room is was a total disaster. So, I decided that the challenge for me will include DAILY cleaning/tidying and Sewing. The blue portion of the sewing machine is Tidy/Clean and the Orange is Sewing. I’m amazed at how consistant I’m am with cleaning /tidying! If you know me, you know that’s normal for me! So, I’m thanking Leanne for the motivation!

I’m going to a retreat this week … 5 fabulous days of sewing. I’m sew looking forward to it! I have a few things packed, but is it enough? Probably! But I need to take more … just in case! Here’s the list of what I have ready to take:

Kate, from Life in Pieces, is hosting “Stitching Stuff” and the goal is to sew for at least 15 minutes a day. I use Kate’s guideline, but my personal goal is to sew for 30 minutes a day. On those “blah” days, it does motivate me to sit at my machine and 30 minutes often turns into several hours. Thank you Kate for the motivation!

Donna at Quilt Paint Create hosts a weekly linky party where you can display your stash numbers. This has really kept my stash from growing (somewhat!) Before I buy anything, I am always mindful of the fact that I need to report it on my blog … That sometimes stops me in my tracks!
I finished this “Splendor” and posted about it on Friday (HERE). It is a free pattern from Sew Can She. You can access the pattern HERE. Although, I admit that I made it a lot bigger and added several borders.

Yearly Tally:
Just an FYI: I do not count any fabric that is given to me (Island Batik), but this year, I am going to count it as fabric used.

Carol from Quilt Schmilt is hosting “To Do” every week.
This week, I checked to see if a certain local quilt store was open and what time they closed. Yup, Google and their website said they were open. SO 🚗 I drove 25 minutes to get to the store … their usual sandwich board was not outside … I thought that was strange. Went up to the door and the sign said “CLOSED,” will open the 3rd week of October. It was the 3rd week of October!!!! So I sent them an email to complain. They said, “Sorry” but said they had changed it on Google. I went to Google and it said “Open” and they would close at 4. I took a screenshot and sent it to them. Although now, 4 days later, it is finally updated on Google.
So basically an hour of MY time was wasted … If I knew of another store within driving distance that sold Glide thread, I’d go there. GRRRR …. I have an Aurifil thread that is close in colour to the Glide thread I wanted, so I’ll be using it to quilt “Dashing Through the Snow.”
Judy, at Small Quilts and Doll Quilts, hosts a linky party for “What’s on your Design Wall” every week.
Moose Stash Quilting: Sew It – Show It: Monster Mash (My day is Oct 26)
Island Batik November Blog Hop: (November 1 is my day)
Moose Stash Quilting: Sew It – Show It: Turkey Trot (November 13 is my day)
Just Let Me Quilt: Virtual Christmas Cookie Exchange and Christmas Blog Hop (December 4)



That’s right, I have another finish!!! And, in my humble, or not so humble, opinion, I think it’s beautfiul!
I finally finished “Splendor.” This is a free pattern from Sew Can She. You can access the pattern HERE. The original pattern uses 3 yards of fabric, but I made mine larger and used 10.5 yards, including the back and binding. The main blocks were cut with my Accuquilt 8″ Qube dies.

Although I LOVE the fabrics and colours in this quilt, it is not made with Island Batik fabric. Again, I was reminded about how much I LOVE Island Batik quilting cottons. They are easy to work with, they have little if any stretch and don’t fray. But, I also need to use up my stash!
And, here’s a few more pictures: A close up of the quilting using Silly Moon’s “Drop,” “Rocket,” and “Kite” rulers. Drop was used in the squares, Rocket for all the straight stitching and Kite in the borders. I pieced the back since I didn’t have quite enough to make it with the purple polka dots.


Quilt Stats:

59” x 59”
Fabric Requirements and Clues can be found by clicking on the appropriate Clues below:
CLUE #4
Take the (36) 7.5” x 7.5” squares from Clue #2, put the pairs right sides together. Mark the diagonal line. Sew a scant ¼” on each side of the diagonal line. Cut apart. Each pair will yield 2 Half Square Triangles. Press to the dark side. DO NOT SQUARE THEM UP!! I repeat DO NOT SQUARE THEM UP!!



In order to save your printer ink, I did not include the above pictures in the pdf. The pdf will provide you with enough information to complete this clue without the actual pictures.
Here is a pdf of Clue #3 if you want to have a paper copy.
It is with a heavy heart that I tell you about my friend, Carmen’s, devastating fire. This newslink has more details. Some of you may have Prairie Spririt Alpaca/wool pressing mats, bought the WARM socks or her yarn …
Carmen is OK. She’s mourning the loss of several alpacas, chickens and the alpaca guard dog, not to mention the barn and the winter’s supply of hay. There is a go-fund me page, if you’re inclined to donate.




Leanne, of Devoted Quilter is hosting a WIPS-B-Gone ’23 challenge. This fun challenge started October 1, 2023! It’s not too late if you want to join! It’s totally up to YOU as to how you want to use the challenge.
As I said in an earlier post, my sewing room is was a total disaster. So, I decided that the challenge for me will include DAILY cleaning/tidying and Sewing. The blue portion of the sewing machine is Tidy/Clean and the Orange is Sewing. The sewing room is looking better, my embroidery thread drawers are neat and tidy!

Hmmm … the rest of my house is not being cleaned! Does that mean I’m sewing enough?


Kate, from Life in Pieces, is hosting “Stitching Stuff” and the goal is to sew for at least 15 minutes a day. I use Kate’s guideline, but my personal goal is to sew for 30 minutes a day. On those “blah” days, it does motivate me to sit at my machine and 30 minutes often turns into several hours. Thank you Kate for the motivation!

Donna at Quilt Paint Create hosts a weekly linky party where you can display your stash numbers. This has really kept my stash from growing (somewhat!) Before I buy anything, I am always mindful of the fact that I need to report it on my blog … That sometimes stops me in my tracks!
I finished this Pattern Test quilt for Songbird Designs. It used 10.5 yards of Island Batik fabric. You can read about it HERE.

Yearly Tally:
Just an FYI: I do not count any fabric that is given to me (Island Batik), but this year, I am going to count it as fabric used.

Carol from Quilt Schmilt is hosting “To Do” every week.
Judy, at Small Quilts and Doll Quilts, hosts a linky party for “What’s on your Design Wall” every week.
Moose Stash Quilting: Sew It – Show It: Monster Mash (My day is Oct 26)
Island Batik November Blog Hop: (November 1 is my day)
Moose Stash Quilting: Sew It – Show It: Turkey Trot (November 13 is my day)
Just Let Me Quilt: Virtual Christmas Cookie Exchange and Christmas Blog Hop (December 4)




One of my sweet followers sent me this meme on Instagram. I obviously fell in love with it! Thanks ioleene!
Now unlimited sewing supplies! That’s up my alley. On Thanksgiving weekend, a local fabric store (if you can call 30 minutes away, local) had a 50% off notions sale. I went over and bought a few goodies. Nothing too exciting … pins to use on my design board, iron-on 1/4” tape for helping with zipper insertion, some magnets and a few zippers.
I tested the “Starry Path” pattern for my friend and fellow Island Batik Ambassador, Brenda. She has this and another pattern available on her blog, Songbird Designs (click HERE).
And yes, I did change the pattern a bit … but isn’t it gorgeous? I used the “Wild Blooms” fabric collection along with solid white. The Half Square Triangles were cut with an Accuquilt die. Brenda’s pattern provides instructions for using Accuquilt dies. Hobbs batting (80/20) is in the middle. “Ghost” is the fabric on the back. The The custom quilting used various rulers and quilted with my domestic Janome M7.

Here’s some more pictures of the quilt: It almost looks like stained glass from the back with the sun shining through. In June, I showed you the unquilted back when I posted about Kelly Young’s book, “Perfectly Pieced Quilt Backs.”





Have you ever considered applying to become an Island Batik Ambassador? They are accepting applications NOW. Here is the LINK. The application explains what is expected from Ambassadors and the benefits being an Ambassador. It’s a challenging program, but I absolutely LOVE it!
If you apply, just make sure you take my email off and put your own in! In the past, I’ve had a few people ask me to ‘vote’ for them or ‘put in a good word’ for them. It doesn’t work that way … each Ambassador needs to apply each year – even we don’t know if we’ll be accepted or not. But fill in the application if you’re interested!

Clues are removed. Please contact me if you wish to have a copy of this pattern.

This weekend is Thanksgiving weekend in Canada! Happy Thanksgiving!




Leanne, of Devoted Quilter is hosting a WIPS-B-Gone ’23 challenge. This fun challenge started October 1, 2023! It’s not too late if you want to join! It’s totally up to YOU as to how you want to use the challenge.
My sewing room is a total disaster. In spite of me cleaning for 30 minutes each week. I decided that the challenge will include DAILY cleaning/tidying and Sewing … The blue portion of the sewing machine is Tidy/Clean and the Orange is Sewing. I’m aiming for at least 15 minutes of cleaning each day and my usual 30 minutes (or more) of quilting each day. I’d rather quilt than clean … that’s why the picture on October 3rd doesn’t have half a sewing machine coloured for cleaning!


Kate, from Life in Pieces, is hosting “Stitching Stuff” and the goal is to sew for at least 15 minutes a day. I use Kate’s guideline, but my personal goal is to sew for 30 minutes a day. On those “blah” days, it does motivate me to sit at my machine and 30 minutes often turns into several hours. Thank you Kate for the motivation!

Donna at Quilt Paint Create hosts a weekly linky party where you can display your stash numbers. This has really kept my stash from growing (somewhat!) Before I buy anything, I am always mindful of the fact that I need to report it on my blog … That sometimes stops me in my tracks!
I have 1 finish to show you this week. This was my Island Batik “Falling for Accuquilt” challenge. It used the North Carolina Star die. There are 53 pieces in each block and 4 blocks in this quilt. That’s a lot of pieces for a 27″ square table topper! You can read more about this HERE.


Yearly Tally:
Just an FYI: I do not count any fabric that is given to me (Island Batik), but this year, I am going to count it as fabric used.

Carol from Quilt Schmilt is hosting “To Do” every week.
Judy, at Small Quilts and Doll Quilts, hosts a linky party for “What’s on your Design Wall” every week.
Moose Stash Quilting: Sew It – Show It: Monster Mash (My day is Oct 26)
Island Batik November Blog Hop: (November 1 is my day)
Moose Stash Quilting: Sew It – Show It: Turkey Trot (November 13 is my day)
Just Let Me Quilt: Virtual Christmas Cookie Exchange and Christmas Blog Hop (December 4)





I LOVE ❤️ using Accuquilt dies and this month is no exception. We received the “North Carolina Star” and were told to use it “to showcase our quilting skills and creativity.” It was suggested to use fall colours and to make any project that we wanted!
The North Carolina Star die is a “block on board.” This means that each of the pattern pieces are included on the die.
We were also told that we didn’t have to make the North Carolina Star, but could make anything using pieces from this die. I briefly thought that I could use the square (in the middle) and make a simple 9 patch quilt. But, that would also be called ‘cheating,’ in my opinion.
I have many different collections of fall fabric, thus it was easy to choose one. Autumn Wings looked promising!
I made a trial block:

The trial block will be made into a tote bag sometime in the near future.
I went to EQ8 and got a North Carolina Star block, but it wasn’t the same … it didn’t have the quarter square triangle sections and a few other details. In my attempt to draw the block, EQ8 and I had a disagreement, with EQ8 saying that it couldn’t convert my block to something or other. And, I admit, that my EQ8 skills are lacking. So I had to use the block in the library.
I came up with the middle quilt, but felt it was too busy … the quilt on the right was more to my liking.



I forgot to take pictures as I made the blocks! But I will tell you that I had the instructions right beside me. There are so many pieces and my seam ripper was occasionally friendly with me! 😁

Table Topper Stats:

It was a beautiful fall day when I took the pictures in my yard! I really like the pictures on the burning bush and ornamental maple!




There are many places you can find Autumn Wings, but the few that caught my eye are:
I would like to thank Island Batik, Aurifil Thread, Hobbs Batting, Schmetz Needles, and Accuquilt for providing me with the fabric and supplies I used to complete this project!





Visit the other Island Batik Ambassadors as they show their beautiful creations using the North Carolina Star die.
Brenda Alburl ~ Songbird Designs
Renee Atkinson ~ Pink Tulip Quilting
Pamela Boatright ~ PamelaQuilts
Susan Deshensky ~ Lady Blue Quilts
Brittany Fisher ~ Bobbin with Brittany
Preeti Harris ~ Sew Preeti Quilts
Mania Hatziioannidi ~ Mania for quilts
Reed Johnson ~ Blue Bear Quilts
Victoria Johnson ~ Forever Quilting for You
Randi Jones ~ Randi’s Roost
Connie Kauffman ~ Kauffman Designs
Emily Leachman ~ The Darling Dogwood
Denise Looney ~ Quiltery – For The Love Of Geese
Leah Malasky ~ Quilted Delights
Maryellen McAuliffe ~ Mary Mack Made Mine
Anorina Morris ~ sameliasmum.com
Lisa Pickering ~ Lisa’s Quilting Passion
Sarah Pitcher ~ Pitcher’s Boutique
Claudia Porter ~ Create with Claudia
Lana Russel ~ Lana Quilts
Elita Sharpe ~ Busy Needle
Gail Sheppard ~ Quilting Gail You’re HERE!!!
Sandra Starley ~ Textile Time Travels
Jennifer Thomas ~ Curlicue Creations
Suzy Webster ~ Websterquilt

Clues are removed. Please contact me if you wish to have the pattern.
When I posted about my “Pieced to Perfection” blog hop, I said that there would. be a give-away for those that left comments on the post. I put the 22 names in an excel sheet and used a random number generator and #8, Eva, is the winner. The fabric will be on it’s way to her later this week.


Clue #1 is on THIS POST.



Leanne, of Devoted Quilter is hosting a WIPS-B-Gone ’23 challenge. This fun challenge started yesterday! It’s not too late if you want to join! It’s totally up to YOU as to how you want to use the challenge.
My sewing room is a total disaster. In spite of me cleaning for 30 minutes each week. I decided that the challenge will include DAILY cleaning/tidying and Sewing … The blue portion of the sewing machine is Tidy/Clean and the Orange is Sewing.

Yesterday, during family zoom quilting, my shoulders were getting sore from quilting and I tidied and cleaned up A LOT! Hopefully, I can keep doing the tidying … until there is nothing left to tidy 🤪!

Kate, from Life in Pieces, is hosting “Stitching Stuff” and the goal is to sew for at least 15 minutes a day. I use Kate’s guideline, but my personal goal is to sew for 30 minutes a day. On those “blah” days, it does motivate me to sit at my machine and 30 minutes often turns into several hours. Thank you Kate for the motivation!

Donna at Quilt Paint Create hosts a weekly linky party where you can display your stash numbers. This has really kept my stash from growing (somewhat!) Before I buy anything, I am always mindful of the fact that I need to report it on my blog … That sometimes stops me in my tracks!
No finishes to report: no shopping …
Yearly Tally:
Just an FYI: I do not count any fabric that is given to me (Island Batik), but this year, I am going to count it as fabric used.

Carol from Quilt Schmilt is hosting “To Do” every week.
Judy, at Small Quilts and Doll Quilts, hosts a linky party for “What’s on your Design Wall” every week.
Moose Stash Quilting: Sew It – Show It: Monster Mash (My day is Oct 26)
Island Batik November Blog Hop: (November 1 is my day)
Moose Stash Quilting: Sew It – Show It: Turkey Trot (November 13 is my day)
Just Let Me Quilt: Virtual Christmas Cookie Exchange and Christmas Blog Hop (December 4)


