Tag Archives: Celtic Solstice Mystery Quilt

Update on February Plans and this week’s POA, week 7, 2019

Good morning my friends,

It was a productive week.

For quilting:

Celtic Solstice – Goal for February is to have this bound and labeled.

Celtic Solstice
2/9/19
Binding in process

Good Fortune – Goal is to finish Clue 2 and start on Clue 3. I normally work on this on Sunday’s with a friend and yesterday was our guild’s workshop so we didn’t get together. Next Sunday I will be out of town so the next time I will be getting together at Tova’s will be Sunday, 2/24.  You’ll be happy to know that I did finish Clue 2. and all I need to do is to start on Clue 3.  Which I’ll be able to do when we next get together.

Good Fortune Mystery Quilt
Clue Two
Finished
2/3/19

 

Provence – Goal is to piece the border. – not yet done… And with the next 2 weekends filled with activities, not sure if I’ll be able to get this done.

For Knitting:

January Socks – Finished one sock!

January Socks
just one
2/5/19
Honey Bees Dance
by Helen Stewart

 

February Sock – I’m working on Mercury socks by Kim McKenzie/Drotrar using Hypnotic Yarn’s Grinchmas.  I love the colorway but the yarn is too plum for socks for me.  I would probably love a hat or gloves with this yarn.  While it’s cold now, it doesn’t get cold often enough in Los Angeles to warrant making a lot of wool plump socks.  The yarn is 80% SW Merino, 20% Nylon and at first my knitting friend who is much more accomplished than I thought it might be the 80/20 blend that I don’t like.  But after a few days thought that that’s probably not it as I’ve been knitting with similar yarn compositions in the past.  So then we realized that there are only 400 yards in this 100 grams and I’ve been knitting with yardage around 430’s and up.  Which is why this particular yarn is plumper than the yarn I normally work with.  The yarn is lovely, don’t get me wrong, just not something I want to use in socks again. Anyway, I’m almost through the foot and will be working on the heel before the weeks ends.

Jacob’s Weasley Sweater – This sweater is in time out.  I can’t even talk about it at the moment.

Featherweight cardigan – I am finished blending out yarn 1 on one sleeve. I have to work on blending out yarn 1 on the second sleeve and finish blending it out of the body.  Then I’ll be working solely with yarn 2 for a little bit while I think about when to blend in yarn 3. I’ll get a picture once Yarn 1 is blended out completely. Right now there are so many yarn bits hanging out it’s difficult to try on let alone to take a pic with it.

For Cross Stitching:

  • Mama’s Bukid- Goal is to finish column 1 and 2 on page 3 and 6.

Mama’s Bukid
2/10/19
almost done with columns 1 and 2 on pages 3 and 6

  • Gamer – Goal is to finish page 6. I have about 2 more columns to do so I’m pretty close to this goal.  I just need to finish my goal for Mama’s Bukid, then I can work on this project. The only thing is that I am out of town this coming weekend so I will not be able to stitch a lot. I think that that is okay but it does mean I have to rush, which I hate doing. 🙂
  • Snowman – Goal is to finish stitching the perimeter of this WIP. I have worked on this a bit and I have about 1 side left to finish in order to have the perimeter completely stitched on this project. This is my traveling piece so I’ll be working on this a lot this weekend.

This coming weekend I’ll be out of town so I may not be able to get a post out. I plan to not visit any shops (quilt shops, yarn shops, needlepoint shops) as I need to not spend money on anything other than food and gas and possibly parking, if necessary.  My daughter was just accepted to Boston University and I need to watch my pennies.  Of course, we’re still waiting to hear back in regards to her financial aid package and depending on what they give her will determine whether she will go there or not.  Instead, the daughter and I will be visiting San Francisco State just in case the financial aid package at BU is unacceptable.

Keep crafting and love on!

xoxo,

Melanie

 

 

 

It’s been a long time and I wanted to say hello!

Hello!!!!

I’ve been watching a lot of YouTube videos lately.  Isn’t it weird how they still call them podcasts even though podcasts used to mean just audio recordings?  And some of them still call themselves VLOGs but those really mean the vlog style of simply recording short snippets.  And for those who cross stitch, they have FlossTube.  It’s still a video podcast on YouTube  but is specific to videos about cross stitching.  It’s so very interesting how words and meanings are created and changed as technology progresses.  Anyway, in my little world, there’s a shift as more and more bloggers switch to YouTube.  But then there are still a lot of bloggers keeping up that world.  I haven’t opened up a YouTube channel yet and as tech savvy as I am, getting dressed and prettied up is just way too much work for me to sit in front of my phone and chat with the world.  I would really love to though.

I mention the whole YouTube thing because somewhere in all my watchings, I discovered that I’m a multicraftual.  Meaning… I do a bunch of different crafts.  In the past, I used to think I only have room for 1 hobby or 1 main thing. I can have little side things but really 1 main thing is it.  I only have room for so much stuff and there is only time for so many things.  But lately, that kind of thinking has gone the way of the dinosaurs.  I am doing 3 things right now – cross stitching, knitting, and quilting.  I know I haven’t posted much of anything on that front but believe me – I still call myself a quilter and I still think of myself as primarily that.  At some point in the near future I want to start sewing garments and stuff.

Don’t get me wrong, space is still an issue.  I only have so much room for yarn, floss, and fabric.  Of everything fabric and quilty things have taken over most of my craft space.  Knitting takes up very little space in comparison and cross stitching even less.  At least for me.  My yarn stash is just in one bookcase and I’m on a yarn diet for right now.  I went a little overboard on the yarn purchases last year and now I’m working my way through it.  Cross stitching takes up 2 drawers and I’m slowly putting kits together.  Before this recent cross stitch frenzy that has taken over me lately, I had a small box of stuff that fit in a little drawer.  I’ve probably tripled my stuff since then but that means 2 drawers full of stuff.

Time is still an issue too.  There’s only so much time in a day, week, month, year.  I primarily knit while I’m out of the house and cross stitch on one project during the week and a second project on the weekends.  Quilting is more difficult.  I’ve been stuck on this project:

Celtic Solstice
2/6/2017

Do you see that… I finished the top in February 2017.  It took me the next YEAR to finish the back:

Celtic Solstice
The back, not yet finished
Daaaang, that’s big!
2/15/2018

And in the meantime, the place I used to rent a long arm at (Barron’s) got rid of their long arm and I no longer have a place to quilt it.  This is a king size quilt.  I ended up just biting the bullet and wrestling it under my machine. Yes, my domestic sewing machine!

Quilting Celtic Solstice
9/2018

I do have a Bernina 790 and that machine has a great big throat so that helps.  But, it’s still crazy and I hate it.  It’s been sitting there for the past few weeks. I’m about half way through the quilting but I am not feeling like doing this right now.  In fact, I probably will not get back to it until the last weekend in September.  Next week I’m going on a quilt retreat!

So I haven’t been doing much quilting this past couple of years because this humongous quilt was occupying way too much space in my brain.  What can you say, it’s a king size quilt.  I don’t even have a king size bed.  You may wonder why I just didn’t get it quilted?  I could have paid a long armer to quilt it for me and be done with it.  And if it was for me, I probably would have.  But this was a mystery quilt. It was Bonnie Hunter’s annual mystery quilt from a few years ago and I’m not especially in love with it.  Well I love the pattern but I’m not in love with the colors.  They are not my favorites.  That’s reason number one has to why I didn’t want to pay a lot of $$ for it to be quilted.  Then reason #2 – I’m giving it away.  I do not know yet who it will be going to but, someone will be getting it at some point.  So at this point, I just want this quilt to be done, given away, and out of my house forever.  Then I can move on to something else.  And with Barron’s no longer having a long arm for me to rent, I’ll need to figure something else out on that end.  I will probably by myself something in a couple of years.  The Bernina long arm is too much money.  But I may get a sit down machine.  It will not take up as much space as a long arm and will allow me to get these quilts quilted.  So over the next two years, I’ve decided to just get the tops and back ready and build up a pile of quilts to be quilted.  These are my thoughts and things can change over time but, this is what I’m thinking of doing.

I would like to post more often but I find that I get hung up on the picture part of the blog.  I do not have problems taking pictures, but putting my watermark and uploading a pic to wordpress seems to be a major hang up for me.  I do have more things to say but I’ve got to go give our dog a bath, so I will need to come back and tell you more of what’s going on.

I miss blogging and writing.

<3,

Melanie

Maker Monday! 2/20/2017

 

 

Thank goodness for a holiday.  Today is President’s day.  There’s no work so I get to spend the day not working.  yay!  I do have some errands to run that I’ve been putting off since it’s been raining and I haven’t wanted to go out in the rain.  But other than that I’ll be working on the following items…

Missing Ivy – I need to prep this for my visit with the long arm.  I took the batting out of the package and it is airing out the creases.  I hope to be able to trim it down to the size I need.  I also need to trim the backing and press the top and the back.

Have yourself a quilty little Christmas – Finish the border on this top. This is almost done and I hope to finish it this week.

Zipper pouch – I want to watch the zipper pouch class (I believe this is a free class on Craftsy) and possibly put one or two together.

I’m looking forward to a great week!

Check out more at  Patchwork Timesand Cooking Up Quilts and  Monday Making and  Ems-scrapbag

Have a great week!

~Melanie

WIP Wednesday – 2/15/2017

  Happy Wednesday!

Have yourself a quilty little Christmas! 2/13/2017

Have yourself a quilty little Christmas!
2/13/2017

I’ve got two tops done.. Missing Ivy and Celtic Solstice.  I was able to reserve the long arm for the last Saturday of this month and my plan is to get Missing Ivy quilted.  Have yourself a Quilty Little Christmas is almost done and I hope to get this top finished this month.  I plan to go through my closet and go through the remaining UFOs and WIPs.  I have to take note of them and update my UFO page.  I also have to figure out what’s next on my crafty plan.

Linking up with

Sew Fresh Quilts    Needle and Thread Thursday

~Here’s to a great week!

Melanie

Maker Monday! 2/13/2017

Celtic Solstice – Woohoo!  Finished top!

Celtic Solstice Finished Top 2/13/2017

Celtic Solstice
Finished Top
2/13/2017

This quilt is so big that I can’t get a good picture of the entire thing.  It’s wet and overcast outside so I could not get a picture outside over my wall.  Oh well.  Next step is to get the back in order.  That’s not something I’m looking forward to so I’ll continue working on the border of Have Yourself a Quilty Little Christmas.

Have yourself a quilty little Christmas! 2/13/2017

Have yourself a quilty little Christmas!
2/13/2017

 

I’m looking forward to a great week!

Check out more at  Patchwork Timesand Cooking Up Quilts and  Monday Making and  Ems-scrapbag

Have a great week!

~Melanie

Maker Monday! 2/6/2017

Celtic Solstice – more progress!  I have 2 sides of the final border attached.  I’m working on the other 2 sides this week and then I can start getting the back together.

Celtic Solstice 2/6/2017

Celtic Solstice
2/6/2017

It’s overcast again but as soon as I took this picture and took the quilt back inside the sun came out!  Oh well.  Hopefully the sun cooperates when this top is finished!

I know the next step is to work on the back but I think I’ll take a break from Celtic Solstice.  I will pull out Have Yourself a Quilty Little Christmas and start working on the borders.

Have yourself a quilty little Christmas! 10/16/2016

Have yourself a quilty little Christmas!
10/16/2016

 

I’m looking forward to a great week!

Check out more at  Patchwork Timesand Cooking Up Quilts and  Monday Making and  Ems-scrapbag

Have a great week!

~Melanie

WIP Wednesday – 2/1/2017

  Happy Wednesday!

Celtic Solstice Prepping Border #3 2/1/2017

Celtic Solstice
Prepping Border #3
2/1/2017

I’m not really partial to yellow but the girl said that the yellow was the best of all the fabrics I showed her.  The blue and orange didn’t go since it was too close to the blue/orange pieced border #2. The green I had was too dark and I didn’t want to go diving into the stash bins.  I’m going to do a scrappy yellow border for #3.  I’m planning on interspersing some of those pale yellows that’s coming off as neutral.

 

Linking up with

Sew Fresh Quilts    Needle and Thread Thursday

~Here’s to a great week!

Melanie

Maker Monday! 1/30/2017

Celtic Solstice – I know I keep showing this picture….

Celtic Solstice Inner Top completed 1/22/2017

Celtic Solstice
Inner Top completed
1/22/2017

But the quilt is so big I’m having problems taking a pic that will show the whole thing.  This is as close as I got:

Celtic Solstice Inner Top completed 1/30/2017

Celtic Solstice
Inner Top completed
1/30/2017

This was taken on the floor of my living room.  The colors show up so much better than the pic above outside by the pool.  It didn’t help that it was overcast on 1/22 but I love how the quilt is coming along.  I’m onto the third and final border.  The pattern I got from Bonnie in 2013 says that the final border should be a neutral.  I have a feeling that that is wrong and was probably corrected after I retrieved the final instructions.  The reason being that the picture of the final quilt on the instructions has the final border as being green.  A quick google search showed me that different quilters used different colors for that final border.  I’m going to have to go through my stash and figure out what to use for my final border.  I’ve got orange, yellow and blue fabrics put away in my Celtic Solstice box and I plan to try those out before diving into the stash bins.  I have a feeling I’m not going to love them but I won’t know for sure until I lay them out to try.

Once this top is done, the next step is to piece a back for it.  Then I can set it aside until I’m ready to rent the long arm and quilt it.

I’m looking forward to a great week!

Check out more at  Patchwork Timesand Cooking Up Quilts and  Monday Making and  Ems-scrapbag

Have a great week!

~Melanie

Maker Monday! 1/23/2017

Celtic Solstice – I finished the inner top last week and I’m working on the borders.

Celtic Solstice Inner Top completed 1/22/2017

Celtic Solstice
Inner Top completed
1/22/2017

I’m just working on Celtic Solstice right now and I’ve got one of the steps for Scrapitude 2016 as my leaders/enders.  That’s it and it’s slow because I do not have time during the week to work on borders.  I generally only do them on the weekend.  It’s kind of why I’ve gotten so much done on my knitting.

I’m looking forward to a great week!

Check out more at  Patchwork Timesand Cooking Up Quilts and  Monday Making and  Ems-scrapbag

Have a great week!

~Melanie

Maker Monday! 1/16/2017

happy-mlk-day

In terms of crafting and making, Dr. King’s words ring true too!  Every step is another step to the finish!  I’m not going to make a to do list for this week.  Here are the projects I want to work on this 1st quarter:

Missing Ivy – needs to be quilted but I am holding off as I don’t want to spend the $80 it will be to rent the long arm.  I hope that this will change in February.

Celtic Solstice – the inner top is almost done.  Then I’ve got the borders to do.

Celtic Solstice The sides and bottoms are all done and here it is with all the blocks laid down. 11/28/2016

Celtic Solstice
The sides and bottoms are all done and here it is with all the blocks laid down.
11/28/2016

Have yourself a quilty little Christmas! – The top is almost done too.  I just have the border to do.

Raining Cats and Dogs – I’m hand quilting this and I haven’t touched it in a long time.  I want to start working on this again so.

Provence – All the blocks are done so I just need to start putting the top together.  I’m pretty sure there are borders but I can’t remember if that is truly the case.

I do want to focus on getting some of my UFOs and WIPs done this year but I’m not going to have my goals listed out each month like I did last year.  I am keeping it simple in that I’m going to work on one project at a time.  Right now I’m working on Celtic Solstice.  I think I could get this top finished in January.

I’m looking forward to a great week!

Celtic Solstice chunking in process 12/5/2016

Celtic Solstice
chunking in process
12/5/2016

Check out more at  Patchwork Timesand Cooking Up Quilts and  Monday Making and  Ems-scrapbag

Have a great week!

~Melanie