Orca Bay Top Done

I have been working on Bonnie Hunter mystery quilts for years. Yesterday I got all caught up on the  last step of Good Forture. 

So what was I to do?

I got out Orca Bay today and got the top done. 

First Finish of the year. Now to put it in the list for machine quilting. 

Here is a little more of the detail. The corner is pinned and pulling a bit. 

I also did a little bit of Cleaning. I sorted out all my zippers. Oopps I have a few zippers. I would like to get them hung up some where. Thinking of what I can do to hang them. 

Orca Bay

As I have waited for Bonnie Hunter's new mystery quilt Good Fortune, I have been reviewing my old mystery quilts. This one was the first I did as a real mystery and I blogged about it each week as we got the clues. It was tons of work, so many tiny strings. I now love doing all those strings. 

So Bonnie first step is out for Good Fortune. I will be starting this weekend. I have been working today and later I will be out doing Agility with my dog, Gemma. Saturday and Sunday I can get started. 

These units are for the boarder. 

This green and peach quilt is my Mom's quilt. Her's is done and given away before the year was up. My mom is so good not to have too many UFOs. Me not so much. 

So to recap the mystery's I have worked on and what I need to do to finish them. 

1. Roll Roll Cotton Boll 2010 - done
2. Orca Bay 2011 - needs boarders and quilting
3. Easy Street 2012 - done
4. Celtic Solstice 2013 - still needs rows sewn and all else
5. Grand Illusion 2014 - top done needs quilting
6. Allietare 2015 - Finish the top and quilt. rows half done. 
7. En Provence 2016 - Put blocks together
8. On Ringo Lake 2017 - still have to finish blocks
9. Good Fortune 2018 - ready to start

Mystery History

This is my Allietare Mystery (2015) so far. I have a small handful of blocks done. I thought as Bonnie Hunter has released the fabric requirements for her next Mystery quilt En Provence (2016) that maybe I better work on the last one. I get eager to start a new quilt but I have quilt guilt that I did not finish the last one and I want to sew! So I am digging it out and hope to get more done. You can see I made a lot of changes to the colours. Now this years mystery has so many of the colours I used here (no Yellow). 

Quilt guilt has kept me from pulling fabric out for En Provence. I love the colours she has picked out so far, so I am sure I will do it with the rest of the Bonnie Hunter Fans. I have a big enough stash and love the colours so I do not think I need to shop for more. Maybe next week I will pull fabric.  

I have started 5 of her mysteries and many are UFO but one. I have one fully complete - Easy Street (2013). I did change the colour just a bit. I used pink instead of the grey. My grey was too light and I really do not like Grey. I am so much happier with this quilt. 

Grand Illusion (2014) is a quilt top that needs to be quilted. I made another change and used a magenta print in the center of the blocks and not the yellow and blue four patch units. I think I like they way the block is a more striking. I had to do some ripping to fix that as I had half the blocks done when I changed my mind. 

Celtic Solstice (2011) has all the blocks done but needs to be a top. I really changed the colours around. I used the black as my neutral. I started to work on the rows and got lost so I have some ripping to do to fix it. So it is back in the box and needs help. 

Orca Bay (2010) is a top but needs the boarders pieced and put on. It is also in a box waiting. This quilt is a ton of little bits and pieces. 

Mid Summer Update

The summer is just half over and I thought I should show you what I have been working on. I have not finished anything for a few weeks but I have slowly worked on quilts and knitting socks. I have most of one sock done, Maybe I can get the toe finished tonight and then be ready to start the second sock. Pretty sock yarn colours!

Next I have been working on a bit of patchwork. Here is my very scrappy Pineapple Log Cabins. I started these maybe 2 years ago ( at least 1 1/2 years ago). I can say I am more then half done enough blocks for a big bed quilt. I will keep going. I do these in set of 20 to 30 blocks. I think after this set is done I still need another 50 or more blocks. 

I have the old singer set up in the living room again and can watch TV up stairs with the family and the dog. I hope to watch some Olympics and sew on my Pineapple blocks.   

Design Wall Monday

Saturday I went to the Quilt Till You Wilt with the Leduc Black Gold Quilt Patch. We did not have design walls but tables. I got the rows sewn together for my Orca Bay Mystery by Bonnie Hunter. I am pleased with the pink and turquoise that I used. Now to work on the boarders. 

Here is the sewing table with some rows ready to be sewn. 

I have added this post to Design Wall Monday at Patchwork Times

Jean had a finished quilt to show off on Saturday. The red side is the front and below is made of flannel and is the back side of the quilt. The quilt is for her grandson. 

WIP Wednesday

Works In Progress Wednesday. It is a prefect fit for today. I am packing for a retreat this weekend. I have added this post to The Needle and Thread Network Blog and Freshly Pieced WIP Wednesday.

First is Adam's plaid quilt. I started it last winter and thought Adam and I would do it together, but he want just me to work on it now that all the fabric and the pattern is picked. I worked on it just a little so far.

All the cutting is done and now I need to sew lots of strip sets. A very good job for retreat. I will bring it home to put together on the design wall. I am sure there will not be room for a design wall at retreat.

Next up is Orca Bay. It is the mystery quilt of Bonnie Hunter's last Nov 2011. I hope to get the last few rows together and get most of the top done. The pattern is in her new Book String Fling.  Just a note she is doing another mystery this Nov again. I may have to do it again.

I have to make at least one table runner maybe three or four. So I am taking Christmas fabric with me. We will see if I get started. My family thinks I need to make a runner and mats for the table in a Christmas theme.  They like the pumpkin mats I made last week.

I am also thinking of a new project using my hand dyed fabric. This is just the blue, purple and green, I still have to dig out Pinks and oranges. You will have to wait to see what I do with this fabric.

Design Wall Monday #6 Orca Bays

This Design wall is my Mother's, Betty's wall. She was away when Orca Bay mystery got started in Nov but when she got home in Dec she was speedy. She used Green instead of Red and Coral instead of Blue. She has just a few crabby eye pieces to do and then she is ready to sew her rows together. I thought some of you would like to see a different colour way.

I have added my post today to the Design Wall Monday over at Patchwork Times and Bonnie Hunter at Quiltville is doing a final linky thing for our Orca Bay Mystery. Check them both out as there will be many to see.

Here is my Design wall today. The same it was three weeks ago. I have not been feeling 100% and have not had the energy to sew the rows together. I have been working on customer quilting on the week days and in the evenings I might get a little sewing for myself but I have been working on my scrap challenge. I posted Saturday on my new blocks in Green.

Design Wall Monday 2

I have two design walls in my sewing room. I have the Orca Bay Mystery up on my larger wall today and nothing on the smaller wall. I have been sewing my rows together and just have a little left to do and then I will be on to the boarders. I am being very careful on the row sewing and trying to not lose any points. I find that I want to be fresh and not do this type of sewing at the end of the day. So I feel a little slow this week.

I have also gotten back to work quilting and did some cleaning in my room on Sunday. I did not want to do clean for the new year but it is just time to clean part of my room. I am sure no one will ever guess I did do some cleaning, as it is so packed it will still be a mess. Lots more cleaning to be done. I should have done a before and after photo. I already have most of a three foot high stack on the orange table sorted and put away, but still need to find the orange surface. I may need to buy a few bins and start a pile for give away. Mostly magazines need hauling out.

The box with the boarder pieces still in it. This box was used to hold all my pieces as each step can out.

Check out the other work on Design Wall Monday over at Patchwork Times Today.

Design Wall Monday and Orca Bay Mystery steps 7 and 8

I got Star Struck top done late on New Years Eve. I asked you last week what boarder I should use. I also took the quilt over to my mom's and asked her for help. She is a very good quilter and  level 3 judge with the Canadian Quilter's Association. I knew the answer before she told me. The pin wheels were too small in scale. They were smaller than the other units in the body and the scale was not going to work. So rather than fuss with more bigger units I decided to simply put the Dark Blue boarder on my quilt. I had never planned to make this a extra hard or fancy. I just wanted to do some simple patchwork and make a quilt for the living room. I started this on Nov 1st when Bonnie Hunter said she was going to do the mystery starting Nov 19. I could not wait I had to start something, so her Star Struck pattern it was. Now to add it to the pile of flimsies that need quilting ( build a backing too). Not sure when I will get it quilted. I have others in the line up.  I am posting this to Patchwork Times Design Wall Monday.

Orca Bay Mystery is on the way. I have been able to keep up. It has driven me to sew more these past few weeks. The top photo is in the sunlight and has better colour, the photo below is at night and only the room lights but it shows more and the one row set done. The row sewing is slow but I am happy with how it is going together. I was very worried about the black geese parts giving me trouble. There is stretch and give every were in the blocks. So many pieces and so heavy. It will be lovely when done. My Mom has been working hard on her quilt. She was away at the start and is trying to get caught up. She is on step 5 - this was the hardest part to keep going for me. I am not sure how my other local quilt friends are doing on the mystery. I have not seen too many photos on face book the past week or two. My Auntie posted photos of her's last night on her blog. Check out the different colours she is using Here.  To see more still, check out Bonnie Hunter's Linky thing .  

Orca Bay Mystery step 6

I am late in posting these photos but here is step 6. They are Ohio Star blocks. I got them done this week and yesterday I got started on step 7. I thought I would still show you and show you how I was playing around with the different blocks.  Step 7 already shows me I have it wrong but it was still fun to play with the arrangement. I plan to spend New Years Eve doing some sewing on step 7. Step 8 and I think the final step is to be release New Years Day. I hope to get some more sewing on Orca Bay on Sunday too. Maybe I can finish next week.

I got the quilting done on the Dog's Food quilt today. Binding next. I have to pick out what - maybe black. I will get photos when it is all done. The back shows the cool quilting I did.

Orca Bay Mystery #5 and Cookies

 It is Monday and Bonnie Hunter has the Linky thing up for our progress on her Orca Bay Mystery. I did not get all of step 5 done yet but maybe just short of half of 350. I like this photo of the colour units added in than just black and white. I love working on Black and white but we have done 3 out of 5 steps in black and white.

Here we are making cut out Christmas cookies. These are a family favorite, I have been making them since I was 13 or so. They are a recipe that my great grandmother used, I remember visiting her and getting a animal cookie with coloured sprinkles on it.

I make up the batter the night before and refrigerate. Then we dig out the large bucket of cookie cutters and roll out the dough. The boys are getting big enough that they cut many cookies and are a big help to decorate. We add sprinkles and sugar all before the cookies are baked.

 Both boys at work on cookies. I got a photo of the oldest. He hinds and stays far way from the camera. 

A tray of cookies finished and cooling. They always brighten up the cookie plate.

Orca Bay Step 4 and Design Wall Monday

 Step 4 of the Orca Bay Mystery came out on Friday.  I have worked hard on this step for a few days over the weekend. I am not using the suggested Red but Pink instead.  I have a red pop up once in a while as Pink is really just a shade of red. The pile on the left has all the paper removed and the smaller pile to the right still needs the paper removed. I did do all the blocks with Bonnie's paper foundation method. To check out more of what other bloggers are doing check out Bonnie's Linky thing. There are a few people using different colours. Some of my local quilt friends are working hard on this mystery too (Kathy, Kathryn, Elizabeth, Betty, Arley). It will be fun to see how many finish and can keep up. My mom plans to do this but has only started step one and then went traveling. She has step two printed and sealed in an envelope. She will have to do the same for step 3 and 4 when she gets home. My ante Arley is working on her's. I think it is because she did the last two mysteries and they turned out so well that it has encouraged me to do this one. 

It is also Design Wall Monday over at Patchwork Times .  I am working on doing some scrap blocks for a rainbow quilt.  It was over at Soscrappy that I saw This Quilt. I have to make one like it. On Saturdays she hosts 2011 Rainbow Scrap Challenge. I only started in Nov 2011 (not Jan) but I love the quilt she has made.  The month of Dec is Red and Green. These are mine Pink and Lime Green, not very Christmas like. I have some Reds set aside to do a good red block yet this month. And I can sort out the darker green ones for later this month too. If you have noticed I am not doing the inside on my blocks the same, each is different. The middle part of my blocks are 6" and anything goes. Then I put a 1" white around then a 2" strip pieced, to finish my block at 12".

Happy sewing this week. I planning to get more long arm quilt done, then some baking tonight.

Orca Bay Mystery Step 3

 So last Friday Bonnie Hunter released the step 3 of the Orca Bay mystery. I was very busy on the Friday and the rest of the weekend with a Christmas Party and a Dog Agility Trial. I finally have had sometime to sew in the evenings for myself. I have all 350 little (2"unfinished size) triangle sewn and a few more (maybe 100) to trim up. I should be good to go and sew on step 4 on Friday night.

I will see if I can still do the linky thing on Bonnie's Blog. It is Here if you want to see more about step three. If you think you may want to do this quilt you should be printing the pages as she releases them. I think it is May she will be taking the quilt steps off her blog as it will be printed in her new book. Or you can wait for the new book sometime later in the year.

Friday in the day I am in a class with Karen McTavish the machine quilting goddess. She is in Edmonton this week. Tonight is the trunk show at the Sherwood Park Quilt Guild. This week she is teaching a large arrangement of quilting classes. Friday is Whole Cloth Design which I am taking. I have my fabric washed and dried but not ironed and squared up yet. I also have to go to the quilt store and get a handful of those pen wash out pens. I do wish I had more money to take more of her classes but with Christmas coming I am only in one. I will let you know how it goes.

Orca Bay Step Two Done

 I got my Orca Bay Mystery Step Two Done. It took me three days (evenings really) to do it all. Wow what a step. I did most of the squares with Bonnie's paper method. I had to try the strip piece method and then cut them out too. I did about 30 that way. The blocks are not as cute. The individually done paper blocks used the very small pieces and have more personality. Bonnie is doing the linky thing again Here. I will not get step three done by the following Monday as next weekend is a Dog Agility trial. I will be dogging it all next weekend.

 I started by sorting my scraps out. I got out brown as it was Brown this month for Soscrappy Saturday. I need the blue for step two. I am guessing I will need the pink (for my Red) in the OB Mystery.

 My phone book pages were from a 2003/2004 book. I laughed at cutting up Alder Flats, Bashaw and Beaumont. Many more pages for the next step.

 Scraps every were. Note the keep me going food, a coke and chocolate.

 I did this block on the weekend as I said it was brown month for Soscarppy Saturday. I just love This Quilt . I need to make it. I am 10 months behind on starting the Saturday scrap thing but oh well. I got November done. Most of the triangles in the middle are from the end of joining up binding, so really scrappy. I do not toss the cute little triangles out.  I will also plan to link this with Design Wall Monday at Judy's

Here are the blue scraps when I got done. I found many more 2" strips after I got started and I cut some more one night when I have getting to the end and I think I went over board. The next morning I looked at what I had cut and thought Oh No, I cut way too many. I hope I can use more in another step.

Orca Bay Step One Done

 I got them done last night. I completed the 224 hour glass triangles required. I did a few extras as I had trouble counting anything. I think the little piles have 10 in each but then they got mixed up at one time. Bonnie Hunter is doing a Link Page so check it out if you have not come here from that link already.

 I used the "start with a square" technique  and sew down the 1/4" from the middle line then cut and iron. Then butt the seams together and sew a 1/4" down the middle again a cut and iron. I hate fabric dog ears so I cut them off. Love real dog ears, soft and brown and floppy. he he.

I have used mostly black and white fabric but I let little bits of colour in the black or in the white. I have some great mini dots that I just love. Should be a great quilt. I can not wait till Friday again.