Mystery Step 6

I played with these on my design wall and they look even better
from far away. This mystery has been so much fun.
Thank you Bonnie.

I did get my Christmas decorations put away and don't ya know
there is always something left that I forgot. The candy dish was
in the dishwasher so I will have to put that away tonight.

I am going to start a retreat count down. 31 more days.
I think this month before retreat is almost as fun as the retreat
itself, planning, organizing, dreaming and anticipating.
I have to do a brown bag gift and make my retreat block out
of the ugly fabric. I'll show that later. I mean it is ugly!
Also my friend Debi and I are in charge of the mystery quilt
this year. I can't give it away yet., but it involves scrappy strips!

Until next time...
Susie

Thank you, hun

Remember my quilt rescue post? Well, Mary gave me this beautiful
Jim Shore Angel to thank me for quilting her quilt.

You can see it here next to some Christmas decorations that I swear
will be all put away by noon tomorrow. That is, if I don't start
Step six of the Carolina Crossroads Mystery and can't stop 'til I'm done!

Last night at the Friendship Quilters Guild (just south of Baltimore)
was a blast. I grew up in Baltimore Hun, and felt right at home.
(the "hun" is an inside Baltimore joke). We combined a program
with two other guilds and had Eternal, Southern, Friendship, night.
Two members from each guild showed some of their quilts.
It is amazing and inspiring to see all the local, talented quilters.

I met the woman who won my quilt at our quilt Bingo in
September. It is so nice to donate a quilt and then hear how
excited the person is who got it. That sounds a bit off huh?
It is just as nice to donate quilts anonymously too, without
any credit or acknowledgement.

That reminds me, I want to make another soldier quilt for QOV.

This is called Stars & Bars and goes together really quickly,
especially since I have made five of them!

Well, my weekend is planned!

Until next time...
Susie

Mystery Step 5 with pressing tip

It's early Thursday morning and I am eagerly anticipating
Bonnie's next step for her Carolina Crossroads Mystery. I
thought I read somewhere that she isn't posting it until
tomorrow. Can't wait!

Technically this step isn't done yet because I haven't finished
pressing and trimming the dog ears but I wanted to get the
picture taken.

Did anyone else spin their seams when pressing on the back?
This is a great little tip to decrease the bulk at the center.
You just snip a few stitches from the seam to the edge
and the seams all go in the same direction. I don't think
I am going to trim each block (except for the dog ears
which I snip with scissors). They are really pretty close
to 3.5" square.

Last night was our bi-weekly Southern Comforters guild
meeting. We combined with the Eternal Quilters and
Friendship Quilt Guild up the road (just south of Baltimore)
so we had the Eternal Southern Friendship night. A few
of their members came to our meeting and showed some
of their beautiful quilts. A few of us will be going to their
meeting tonight to do the same. We are meeting for
dinner before hand. I am seriously thinking about
joining their guild. I mean these ladies are FUN.

Until next time...
Susie

Small is good

Just a little (pun intended) eye candy for today.

If I were to pick a few of my favorite quilts this little gem
would be among them. It is from this book.
I was a relatively new quilter when I made it and it does look alot
like the one in the book but I just love it. It lives on top of my
singer treadle machine in my foyer.

I have a busy week this week. Meetings three nights (two are
quilt related) so I don't anticipate much sewing. I WILL finish
Step 5 of Bonnie's mystery tonight though. I am half done already.

Until next time...
Susie

Quilt Rescue

On Saturday, my bee had a mini-retreat at my house. Six women

showed up at 9 am and we sewed until 10 pm. (We did have a small 

break to go to California Tortilla for dinner) There was a small scare 

because my son called in the morning and thought he could watch 

the Redskins game at our house on our new TV. "Sorry son, the 

TV is blocked by Mrs Brown and her sewing machine." (The Skins 

lost anyway--what a shock!)

Everyone got alot done (I was so focused I didn't take any pics).

I had two main objectives and finished them both. The first was to get 

my Step 5 hour-glass block cut out for Bonnie's mystery. Then I really 

wanted to finish quilting this poor quilt for my friend Mary. Now when 

I say "poor quilt" I don't mean it isn't beautiful (see for yourself-above). 

I mean this poor quilt has been through alot. Mary made it a few years 

ago in a Celtic class we both took by Peg Bingham (see Sept 17 post)

We had a friend that had just gotten a long arm and Mary commissioned 

her to quilt it. Well folks I am sad to say the quilting was TERRIBLE. 

I could go into details but all of Mary's friends are trying to put it 

behind us. Let's just say that I couldn't think of a single thing nice 

to say about ANY aspect of the quilting. Not one thing!

And she even had to pay $240! This was a friend of ours, so returning

it or asking for a refund was kind of out of the question. So Mary, 

being the sweet person she is, just put the quilt away, got it out every 

so often and the disappointment returned every time she thought about it.

Our bee members brainstormed over the years about how to fix it. 

After many ideas Mary decided that she loved the quilt so much that

she took ALL the quilting out. It took her months. I volunteered to 

quilt it for her. (I just quilt on my Bernina 153 made easier with my 

wonderful Horn cabinet) Well, if I do say, it looks GREAT! 

Probably because it looked so terrible before. Mary is thrilled and she 

asked me how much I was going to charge her. "Are you kidding," 

I said. "I consider this a quilt rescue!"

Until next time...

Susie

Bargains, Journals and Mystery

My oldest son and his girlfriend gave me a gift card to Borders
Books for Christmas. So, I got these calendars for half price!

The two wall calendars I have hanging in my office at work.
I figured that I will look at them more there than at home.
The spiral bound weekly calendar I use as a sort of quilt journal.
I write just short notes about what I am working on, what
stage it's in and anything else I think might be of interest to
any of my descendents when I'm gone.

What prompted this is a few years ago my two cousins and
I were cleaning out our Aunt's house because she was
entering a nursing home. We came across all sorts of
wonderful family heirlooms, including a few quilts,
quilt tops, linens, embroidery and lace. Also letters,
journals, and recipes from generations back. It was
so inspiring that I have resolved to ALWAYS label
my quilts. So maybe someday my great granddaughters
will be interested in my quilt journey too.

Carolina Crossroads Mystery Step 4 is done. I will do Step 5
tomorrow because my bee is coming to my house ALL DAY
for a little mini-retreat. Fun fun fun. I'll take pics and let you
know how much everyone got done.

Until next time...
Susie

My sweet husband

Thinking up titles to each of my blog posts is sometimes very
difficult. I hope one comes to me before I finish today!!

OK so here's what my sweet hubby got me for Christmas.
(Well, just the quilt related things.)

Each year my LQS, Tomorrow's Treasures, in Crofton, MD
hosts a men's shopping day in early December. They give
the quilters a wish list to fill out but my husband,
THE SHOPPER, (no kidding) loves to pick things out for
himself without any hints from me. I just gave him a few
very broad ideas, like "batiks" or "beiges".

So here are the FQs. I don't know what gave him the idea of
the purples. I am not a purple person and only use it as an
accent color, maybe. But he liked them and that is nice.
Don't worry though, I WILL use them somewhere, somehow,
sometime. The batiks will be used in a New York Beauty
pattern I found on the Quilters Corner Club Yahoo group .
(More about that one another day)

He also bought me a new foot for my Bernina. It is #57, the
quarter inch with a guide. I love it. I think it probably isn't as
scant as when I use the regular #37 quarter inch foot but it
definitely keeps the beginning and end of the seams straight.
I used it to finish step four of Bonnie's Mystery and so far there
isn't any difference in the sizes of the blocks.

Now, Tomorrow's Treasures is a Viking dealer and I have a
Bernina so he had to go to another shop for this foot.
He actually went to three quilt shops total, because my
Bernina dealer, The Fabric Chest in Glen Burnie, MD
didn't have any. He ended up getting it at Cottonseed Glory
in Annapolis.

He did give me a $50 gift certificate to Tomorrow's Treasures
which I promptly spent on Saturday at their sale day. I got a
large batting for my bee mystery (see Oct 24 post) and
splurged on a Moda Jelly Roll and I really needed a few
more FQs.

I feel so lucky to have a great husband who supports my habit
and is comfortable going into quilt shops and quilt shows too.
(I just thought of the title for this post!)

Until next time...
Susie