We were at Over The Rainbow Lodge on Camano Island for almost a week. It’s a beautiful place to retreat! And, since we’re an established group, we’re booked in until 2030!!!! WOOHOO!!!
I think all 12 people that attended the retreat enjoyed themselves … lots and lots of sewing and laughter!
We took turns cooking supper and had fabulous gourmet meals!!! DELICIOUS!!!
As I was preparing this blog post, I realized that I didn’t get any pictures of the food, the snack counter (TONS!), or of the 12 people sewing in one room and having fun!
I didn’t get a picture of each of the projects that people were working on … there was a great variety and a LOT of creativity happening! Here’s a few pictures of what was happening:
Pillow cases, kits from quilts, jelly roll quilts, quilts using templates, hand sewn hexi quilt, tiny tiny pieces, 3 yard quilts, scrappy quilts, coordinated quilts …. so many different things happening!
I know someone is going to ask … the dog chart was found on Pinterest and Kandy used 5″ blocks to make the quilt.
What did I work on?
I attempted to quilt my Melodic Mystery, but it was difficult on a smaller machine, eventually I gave up. The Black & white photo is of an Island Batik catalogue quilt and the top is completed! The blocks for the X’s & O’s were completed and the top is almost done. I just need to add the border …
The Melodic Mystery is made with Kansas Troubles fabric. The other 2 quilts are Island Batik fabric. The X’s & O’s were cut with Accuquilt
Starts tomorrow!!! Be sure to come back and see all the wonders that are happening!!! If you need some incentive to join in the fun, we have a lot of wonderful sponsors!!! and you could win some fantastic quilting goodies!
Stitching Stuff
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!
January: 15 / 15
Percentage: 100%
Stash Report
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!
In 2023, I haven’t finished any projects, so haven’t used any fabric, but I haven’t bought any either!
Fabric Used this week: 0 yards
Fabric Used in 2023: 0 yards
Fabric Bought this week: 0 yards
Fabric Added this year: 0 yards
Net Fabric used: 0 yards
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.
To Do Tuesday
Carol from Quilt Schmilt is now hosting “To Do” every week.
The To Do list from a last week:
Start Clue #7 Chilhowie.√ DONE
Classic Cars Colour Challenge BOM – July / Aug √ DONE
Start colouring Nutcracker. √ DONE
Work on Naturescape Lone Star.√ DONE
Start Island Batik February project
Pack for retreat! √ DONE
Tidy & clean studio for 30 minutes √ DONE
Do NOT be distracted by any SQUIRRELS! I NEED this continual reminder! √ DONE
This week’s list:
Finish the sashing and borders fClue #7 Chilhowie
Classic Cars Colour Challenge BOM – Sept / Oct
More Nutcracker colouring.
Sandwich Naturescape Lone Star.
Work on Shades of Blue Blog Hop project
Continue working on Island Batik February project
Do NOT be distracted by any SQUIRRELS! I NEED this continual reminder!
Tidy & clean studio for 30 minutes
Design Wall
Judy, at Small Quilts and Doll Quilts, hosts a linky party for “What’s on your Design Wall” every week. Piecing:
Classic Cars Colour Challenge BOM
Chilhowie – Clue #7, sashing and borders picture shows most of the sashing blocks ready to sew …
Island Batik February project – isn’t the fabric beautiful?
Shades of Blue Blog Hop project
Quilting:
Nothing … I need to colour the Nutcracker before I can start quilting!
Naturescape Lone Star is ready for sandwiching …
Maybe I’ll get Chilhowie to the flimsy stage!
The Quilt More just needs to be trimmed and bound.
The bird panels are ready for sandwiching.
Upcoming Blog Hops
Creatin’ in the Sticks: Sew It – Show It: Shades of Blue (January) My day is January 26!
I decided that I needed another table runner for the top of my piano. I chose a beautiful dark blue Island Batik fabric called “Ravine” and paired it with “Rice. This was also a DREMI: DRop Everything And Make It. This is the result:
Another DREAMI
I received a lovely charm pack and pattern from Missouri Star Quilting … and I just had to make it! Yup, it was a DRop Everything And Make It project! Such a fun project.
Another UFO Finish
The Spicy Colour Challenge quilt was started last December and I finally got it finished this month! You can read about it HERE. That makes 12 UFOs that I’ve finished this year. SEW … I will be getting my PHD in 2022. However, I still have a list of UFOs that need to be finished, so I will be having PHD in 2023!
Island Batik Fabric
Hobbs 80/20 on the inside
Aurifil thread (to piece and quilt)
Stitching Stuff
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!
Lots of stitching in the past week!
January – November: 288 / 333
Dec: 18 / 18
Total: 306 / 351
Percentage = 87%
Stash Report
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!
However, this week, I went out to Chilliwack to Cozy Cotton Quilting to pick up some quilts, deliver patterns and give her another quilt for display. Angela had recently received a lot of Island Batik bolts (mostly from the Pumpkin Spice collection) and I just couldn’t resist … so I had 3 fabrics cut for me! Aren’t they beautiful ???? I will definitely be making the trip out to Cozy Cotton just to buy Island Batik fabric!!!
The Spicy BOM used 4.5 yards of fabric. The newest branches table runner used 1 yard. And the mugs / snowflake used 1.5 yards
Do NOT be distracted by any SQUIRRELS! I NEED this continual reminder! √ DONE
Tidy & clean studio for 30 minutes √ DONE
This week’s list:
Finish Clue #4 Chilhowie
Start Classic Cars Colour Challenge BOM – Jan / Feb
Start colouring the Nutcracker
Do NOT be distracted by any SQUIRRELS! I NEED this continual reminder!
Tidy & clean studio for 30 minutes
Design Wall
Judy, at Small Quilts and Doll Quilts, hosts a linky party for “What’s on your Design Wall” every week. I must apologize, I’ve been calling Judy by the wrong name !!! I’m so glad that she let me know and now I’m calling her by the correct name!
Piecing:
Classic Cars Colour Challenge BOM
Chilhowie – Clue #4 in progress
Quilting:
Once I do some colouring with Inktense pencils, I’ll start quilting the Nutcracker. Here he is on my window for tracing.
Upcoming & Current Blog Hops
Island Batik‘s December’s Lone Star Blog Hop. Week #3 is started! LOTS and LOTS of fabulous quilts!
This is Patti’s. I love the scrappiness and the dark background!
Here’s Dawn’s. She used 2 fabrics and the background. Doesn’t it look great?
Susan has the top together. It was a sunny day, so she was able to get a picture with true colours! And yes, you can see her shadow! She’s used ‘plane’ fabric! Very cute!
Jill has pulled fabric for her quilt … with those blues and greens against the grey – it’ll be lovely!
Isabelle says she still needs to add the border – and that will happen after Christmas.
Lynn K has the blocks laid out for one row. She says that she loves the scraps, but has very few left! That is amazing! And the background it totally scrappy – awesome!
Heather also did a scrappy background. And why not? Here it is with the rows ready to put together!
Irene ‘s inspector (Miss Hamish) obviously likes the blues in this quilt!!!
And here’s mine. The one with the dark background was the inspiration and the one with the light background was the one that I made while writing the pattern! Both are made with Island Batik fabrics, Hobbs batting on the inside and Aurifil thread for the quilting.
This is a super simple mystery quilt! It is my own design. I designed it for the Boundary Bay Quilt Guild, but I’ve shared it with YOU as well!
Here is my finished quilt! This week’s clue will explain the quilting to you. I used scraps of Island Batik fabrics for this quilt – along with “Linen” for the background. Hobbs 80/20 batting and Aurifil thread were also used.
This is a super simple mystery quilt! It is my own design. I designed it for the Boundary Bay Quilt Guild, but I’m going to be sharing it with YOU as well!
There will be 8 clues. This quilt will finish at 43″ x 53″ … unless you decide to make it bigger or smaller.
This is a super simple mystery quilt! It is my own design. I designed it for the Boundary Bay Quilt Guild, but I’m going to be sharing it with YOU as well!
There will be 8 clues. This quilt will finish at 43″ x 53″ … unless you decide to make it bigger or smaller.
This is a super simple mystery quilt! It is my own design. I designed it for the Boundary Bay Quilt Guild, but I’m going to be sharing it with YOU as well!
There will be 8 clues. This quilt will finish at 43″ x 53″ … unless you decide to make it bigger or smaller.
This is a super simple mystery quilt! It is my own design. I designed it for the Boundary Bay Quilt Guild, but I’m going to be sharing it with YOU as well!
There will be 8 clues. This quilt will finish at 43″ x 53″ … unless you decide to make it bigger or smaller.
This is a super simple mystery quilt! It is my own design. I designed it for the Boundary Bay Quilt Guild, but I’m going to be sharing it with YOU as well!
There will be 8 clues. This quilt will finish at 43″ x 53″ … unless you decide to make it bigger or smaller.
This is a super simple mystery quilt! It is my own design. I designed it for the Boundary Bay Quilt Guild, but I’m going to be sharing it with YOU as well!
There will be 8 clues. This quilt will finish at 43″ x 53″ … unless you decide to make it bigger or smaller.
On Saturday, the guild had Carola from Carola’s Quilt Shop come and teach a free motion class. Amy & I were asked to help. Carola didn’t need our help … but, we pretended to assist!
I had a good chuckle when I saw Nora’s “speed control” for her machine! Isn’t it a great idea?
It was a great class and everyone learned a LOT!
There was a small “pop-up” store … with fabric and notions. But, I was almost good, and only bought a “Silly Moon” ruler! Although, some of the beautiful wide back fabrics were to die for!
New Fabric Sewn!
The Fabric I showed you last week was sewn into buckets! The pattern is “Storage Solutions Bucket Bags” by Among Brenda’s Quilts.
Upcoming Mystery!
This is a super simple mystery quilt! It is my own design. I designed it for the Boundary Bay Quilt Guild, but I’m going to be sharing it with YOU as well!
This starts on Tuesday, October 18!
This quilt will finish at 43″ x 53″
There will be 8 clues. They will all come out on Tuesdays, starting October 18.
Oct 18: Clue #1: Fabric Requirements and Cutting
Oct 25: Clue #2
Nov 1: Clue #3
Nov 8: Clue #4
Nov 15: Clue #5
Nov 22: Clue #6
Nov 29: Clue #7
Dec 6: Clue #8
Dec 13: Mystery Quilt Parade
New Classes
I will be teaching several classes at Essem in November. You can register for them HERE.
Stitching Time
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!
With company here, very little stitching happened!
January – September: 234 / 272
Oct : 16 / 16
Total: 245 / 290
Percentage = 84%
Stash Report
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 used the 2 yards I reported last week to make the buckets and there was 4 yards used for the backing of my Pinktober quilt (HERE).
I have a finish to show you. I finished this quite a while ago, but couldn’t show you. It was the latest mystery quilt that the guild did! The pattern is from a book, but I re-wrote the instructions to use strip piecing. It makes it so much easier to construct the quilt. And because the original directions were from a “Mystery Quilt” book, I cannot share them with you! Sorry!
This quilt was made with fabrics from my stash. And I only put on the one border … the original directions called for 3 borders.
Here’s a close-up of the quilting … it sort-of looks like feathers, but in reality, it’s just an elongated swirl – way easier than feathers to do!
Stitching Time
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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!
Not many days of sewing this week.
January – May: 119 / 150
June 1 – 13: 9 / 12
Total: 128 / 162
Percentage = 79%
Stash Report
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!
Squirrel is sandwiched and I have a plan for the quilting!
2. Once the Island Batik Catalogue quilt tops are done – they need to be quilted.
Island Batik Blog Hop
Have you been following the latest Island Batik Blog Hop? With quilts featuring the New York Beauty pattern? It’s been quite a variety of wonderful quilts!
I posted mine on June 6 … you can read about it HERE.
I’ve had a busy week! And I have gotten lots done! My Macaron Mystery is completed. This was a mystery quilt from Cheryl of Meadow Mist Designs. I love her mystery quilts! You can be sure I’ll be following and quilting when she starts the Melodic Mystery in July!
And … did you see Gracie the Gorilla? A Funky Friends pattern for Island Batik’s April challenge. She was so much fun to make! I used Island Batik fabrics, Schmetz needles, and Aurifil thread to make her!
Overhauling the Craft Room
Kim of Persimon Dreams and Kim of Gogokim have joined together and created this Overhaul. If you saw my room, you would KNOW that I NEED to do an Overhaul!!! In a couple of weeks, our quilt guild is having a garage sale … a perfect opportunity to get rid of some quilting junk useful items … I’m not totally following their direction, but I am in the process of going through EVERY container. And I’ll tackle every surface!
Here’s some pictures … as the room was before I started going through things: What a mess, eh? Every available surface cluttered with projects and fabric I need to put away, some baby quilts to be quilted, things to be unpacked from my latest class, fabric to be sorted through, papers cluttering up my computer desk, and left-over batting and fabric on my cutting table!
I’ve already gone through my books … and they’ll be on the free table at the garage sale. I don’t expect the guild library will want them … some are quite old!
Stitching Time
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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!
January – Mar: 90 / 90
Apr 1 – 10: 10 / 10
Total: 100 / 100
Percentage =100%
Stash Report
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!
Macaron used 12 yards of stash. I was thrilled to pieces when I realized that I had the perfect backing! It’s nice to be using up my stash.
1. Foodie Blog Hop: These fabrics are from my stash. You’ll just have to wait until May 24th to see what is happening with this fabric!
Quilting:
I have 5 Baby Quilt panels lined up to be quilted and 2 that need binding. Boy, will I ever be glad when I no longer have cute panels in my stash! Some of these were panels that were given to me … I sandwiched them ages ago, but the quilting didn’t happen! And, I did find some of them when I went through a container – part of the Overhaul! 2 of the Baby Quilt panels are partially hand quilted … they will have machine quilting for the finish!
One UFO was finished: Macaron Mystery! That leaves me with 7 more to complete for my PHD in 2022. The New Starts are gradually getting completed! Personally, I really like how completing the New Starts does NOT add to the UFO list! And it is gradually getting smaller!
This is a mystery quilt that was offered by Cheryl of Meadow Mist Designs. This is the 2nd mystery I’ve done of hers and I have LOVED doing each one. I know that some of you highly dislike doing mystery quilts, but she offers to give you a sneak peak – so you’re not totally doing a mystery. However, since I LOVE mystery quilts, I do it as a mystery! No peeking for me.
Cheryl’s directions are very clear and easy to follow! Here’s a few of the progress pictures of this mystery:
The fabric all came from my stash. As did the backing fabric. It has Hobbs 80/20 batting and I used Glide thread (Mercury) to quilt it. The binding is the medium blue print.
And the completed quilt! (And yes, I did alter some of the setting triangles to make the quilt symmetrical. The quilt insisted on it!)
And some quilting close-ups! Some free motion and some ruler work.
And … Cheryl has announced that there will be another mystery quilt starting in July! I already know that I’m going to join in! It’s called the Melodic Mystery! Are you going to join?
This fall, I supplied numerous members of our guild with weekly clues for the fall mystery.
Some of the quilters sent pictures … Enjoy!
This is Alice C’s. She said, “It was great to finally use the fall fabric I had for years.” Isn’t it a beautiful fall quilt?
Here are Fran’s … both are the baby quilt size and are still in progress. I love how the fabric makes each one very different from the other, yet the pattern is exactly the same!
This is Heather’s! … she says “I love the pattern. I’m going to do a quilt for my grandson And I love this! It’s simple but looks complicated!!!!”
This one is Bonnie K’s, she made the baby sized quilt. What a wonderful soft quilt. Some baby is going to love it!
Here’s Patricia’s: she calls it a “floppy.” The purple is so vibrant!
Here is Dawn’s: along with a picture of the beautiful feature fabric she used! It’s a great way to use that fabric that you really don’t want to cut into!
This is Kathy S’s. I love the bold blue and grey against the light background / focus fabric!
Here’s Patti’s. Isn’t that dark burgundy border just perfect?
This one is from Dawn W. It’s a super cute baby quilt!
This is Carol R’s … with no borders, yet! Of course, I LOVE the Blues!!!
I love how Jill used stripes!!! People are often afraid to use stripes, but this is proof that you can use them and be successful!!
Here’s Heidi’s. I love the solids amongst the busy print!
I have a UFO finish! It is the Any Which Way Mystery Quilt … it was finally trimmed and the binding was added! The first picture was taken in the sun … and the 2nd picture was taken on the snow – just because I could!
The binding was finished today while I was Zoom quilting with fellow Island Batik Ambassadors! It’s so fun to get together and see what everyone is working on!
This quilt used Island Batik fabrics, Hobbs 80/20 batting and was quilted with Aurifil thread using Schmetz needles. It finishes at 44″ x 44.” It’s nice to have this UFO done!
Stitching Stuff
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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!
This week, I managed to only sew for 15 min a day …
January 1-9 – 9 / 9
Total: 9 / 9
Percentage =100%
Stash Report
Donna at Quilt Paint Create hosts a weekly linky party where you can display your stash. 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! However, I am human and I do break down and buy fabric!
I love this meme that I saw recently (but can’t find the source) …
I used 1.5 yards of fabric for the backing of the Any Which Way Mystery Quilt.
Fabric Used this week 1.5 yards
Fabric Used this year: 0 yards
Fabric Bought this week: 0 yards
Fabric Added this year: 0 yards
Net Fabric used 1.5 yards
To Do
Linda from Texas Quilt Gal is now hosting “To Do” every week.
I didn’t get a lot done this week. I’ve had a bad back and can only sit for very short periods of time.
The To Do list last week:
Trim & bind “Any Which Way” Mystery – √ DONE
Finish Round 3 & 4 of SAHRR (yes, I want to work ahead) Decided I didn’t like Round 2 – so did some un-stitching and re-doing the round X not done
Work on Polar Bear Plunge√ DONE
Work on Tickled Pink√ DONE
Work on January’s Island Batik project√ DONE
Do NOT be distracted by any SQUIRRELS! I NEED this continual reminder! √ DONE
Tidy & clean studio for 30 minutes: no cleaning or tidying done and boy does it show! X not done
This week’s list:
SAHRR: Finish Round 2 & work on Round 3
Work on Polar Bear Plunge: get the top done
Work on Tickled Pink
Work on Secret Project
Do NOT be distracted by any SQUIRRELS! I NEED this continual reminder!
Tidy & clean studio for 30 minutes
Design Wall
There are a few things on my Design Wall and there is NOTHING I can show you … yet!
#1 SAHRR is in progress … Centre block comes out Tomorrow! Be sure to come back so you don’t miss it!!!
#2 Polar Bear Plunge: This is for a blog hop in January … it should be fun! Of course, I can’t show you until the blog hop!
#3 Tickled Pink: This is for a blog hop in February … and again, I can’t show you until then!
#4 … Island Batik January Gradation project is getting there! and it will remain a total secret for now!
#5 Macaron Mystery by Meadow Mist Designs I have printed off the January clue – but haven’t done any sewing … yet …
Quilting:
Nothing is being quilted at the moment!
One UFO done!
Ms. P. Designs has this nifty colourful tool that you can use to track the tasks you have to do for your PHD. You can access the tool HERE.
In this Clue, YOU decide “Which Way” you want your quilt to be. Here are 4 options:
My pattern tester added an 6 extra HST in each colour so she could do pinwheels: Her quilt measures 40″ x 52.”
Which one will you choose?
Add Borders
For an easy and accurate way to add your borders, see This Youtube video:
Quilt as Desired
I always hated this direction … I never knew what to quilt. Well, here’s picture of my quilt – my chosen way. You should be able to see that I did simple brackets on each side of each triangle.
The binding is not on … I’ve got other things that are taking priority at the moment!
Please send me a picture
Once you have your top done, or even quilted, please send me a picture. I realize that not everyone who is doing the mystery has a blog – so pictures are great! If you have a blog, please send me the link along with your picture. I will post a parade of the quilts in the new year. My email address is quiltinggail@yahoo.ca
Support Me
Having a blog costs money each year … and each year, the price goes up. If you have enjoyed the mystery and appreciate that you actually have at least 4 new quilt patterns, please consider giving me a small donation. At the top of the blog there is a page that says “Shopping and Donations.” You can go to that page and make your donation. Thank you!
Quilting Gail 