Hampton Ridge BOM
Block 8 Finished
December 30, 2013

For BOM Away Monday, here is Block 8 of Hampton Ridge.  

Rainbow Garden
October 2013 Block
Finished 12/29/13

    And Block 2 of Rainbow Garden.

Check out more finished BOMs at 

Design Wall
1/6/14

For Design Wall Monday, I put Missing Ivy back up on the wall.  I had no place to put it and it looks bright and pretty on the wall.  Check out more design walls at Patchwork Times.

We received the final step of Bonnie Hunter’s Celtic Solstice Mystery on New Year’s and I haven’t done anything with it.  Over the last week I went back to step 1, finished all of the blue/white triangle pieces and then went to step 2.  I’m stuck on this step.  I’ve worked on it for the last 5 days and I’m really tired of chevrons.  I finally got all of the left and right sides pieced so that now my next step is to snip away the ends and press.  Then I’ll be ready to piece the two sides together.  I’ve got 132 already completed and I just need the remaining 112 to do.

Celtic Solstice – Step 2

Step 3 and 4 are all almost done so those shouldn’t take too long to do.  I haven’t done anything with Step 5.  Now that the big reveal is over I can go at a slower pace.  But I want to get this done as soon as possible.  I still need to quilt Easy Street and get going on other projects I want to do so I really want to get this out of the way.  I do have to say that I wasn’t thrilled by the reveal.  I don’t know why.  However I’ve seen a number of finished ones from a bunch of different blogs and it’s growing on me.  Of the ones I’ve seen so far, they have been the colors Bonnie featured.  So I haven’t looked yet at any that chose different colorways.  I’d be interested to see if I like them more or not.  I noticed that of the ones I liked the best I really like the bright fabrics more so than the muted fabrics.

To see more progress on Bonnie Hunter’s mystery quilt, check out her blog at Quiltville. 

Happy quilting everyone!

~Wish I was quilting.

Melanie

Hampton Ridge BOM
Block Finished
December 13, 2013

For BOM Away Monday, I am showcasing Block 6 of Hampton Ridge.   This one was much easier to make than any of the other blocks.  But I’m not as thrilled with this one as I usually am.  I guess this one is not a favorite of mine.  But out of 44 blocks, it’s okay to have some that are not a favorite.    

Check out more finished BOMs at 

Design Wall
12/16/13

For Design Wall Monday, I’ve removed Missing Ivy since that has again been pushed to the bottom of my WIP list and placed all the completed Hampton Ridge blocks together.  I do like to see it come together.  Check out more design walls at Patchwork Times.

We received the third step of Bonnie Hunter’s Celtic Solstice Mystery on Friday and I did as much as I could during the weekend.  Somewhere in Bonnie’s instructions she says to do as much as you can for each step but to move on when she provides the next step.  So that is what I have been doing.  Last week I was only able to cut for Step 2.  During the week, I only accomplished a bit of the piecing.  I finished 8 chevrons by the end of the week.  Rather than chain piece and have nothing finished, I started by doing a few from start to finish.  At first, I was very frustrated.  The first one I did, I pressed towards the green.  The points didn’t match.  Then the next few I pressed one side towards the green and the other side away from the green.  The points still didn’t match.  I couldn’t understand why the pressing instructions weren’t included.  I’ve noticed that pressing instructions aren’t always given in patterns and it irritates me so.  I was taught to press to the dark so if there aren’t instructions that is what I do.  But when my points do not match it’s usually because I pressed in the wrong direction.  Anyway I was getting frustrated that my points weren’t matching so I re-read the instructions again and found the pressing instructions.  ha-Reader Error!  Once I followed the instructions, my points were matching.  Not always but much better.  Once I knew how to do the finished piece, I started chain sewing the green/white pairs.  Soon, it was Friday, the 13th… and all I accomplished were 8 finished chevrons about 150 green/white pairs and that was it.

Celtic Solstice – Step 2
8 finished pieces
150 green/white pairs
12/13/13

For Step 3, I cut a few of the orange and yellow strips….

Celtic Solstice – Step 3
Orange 2″ Strips
12/15/13

Celtic Solstice – Step 3
Yellow 2″ Strips
12/15/13

I used the Easy Angle ruler that I purchased for Easy Street last year to cut the Triangles, per Bonnie’s instructions.  I really liked having to use a ruler I had on hand.  I have a bunch of specialty rulers and I find that they usually just take up space.  And, I didn’t know I could use this ruler this way.  I really liked making Half Square Triangles (HSTs) like this.  It is much easier than pinning 2 squares, drawing a line, sewing on both sides of the line and then cutting.  That’s what I did for Missing Ivy and now that I know this way, I’m going to use this way from now on.  

Celtic Solstice – Step 3
Triangles
12/15/13

Celtic Solstice – Step 3
HSTs – not ironed
12/15/13

Celtic Solstice – Step 3
HSTs
12/15/13

This time I read carefully and I didn’t see pressing instructions.  She gave instructions when we got to the pinwheel but not at these stages.  So I had to do a few to figure out the best pressing directions.  At first I pressed to the Orange for each step.  And it was fine when I joined two HSTs together.  But when I joined the two pairs together to make the pinwheel, the points would not match.  It’s a trick with the sewing machine and how the pieces are placed together.  If you’ve been quilting for awhile, you probably know what I’m talking about.  If not, I’ll try to take pictures of what I’m talking about while I work on more pieces this week.  Suffice it to say that for the HST, press to the Yellow.  For the 2 Pairs, press to the Orange.  And for the Pinwheels, press to the Orange.  They butt up nicely together and the points match up easier than pressing in the other directions.

Celtic Solstice – Step 3
Pinwheels
12/15/13

And even though I didn’t get everything we need to have for this step, I got a lot done considering how much time I was actually able to be in my sewing area.

Celtic Solstice – Step 3
35 Pinwheels
100 HSTs
Orange and Yellow Strips ready to make more
12/15/13

To see more progress on clue #3 of Bonnie Hunter’s mystery quilt, check out her blog at Quiltville. 

Happy quilting everyone!

~Wish I was quilting.

Melanie

Hampton Ridge BOM
Block 5 Finished
December 7, 2013

For BOM Away Monday, I am showcasing Block 5 of Hampton Ridge.   Despite a whirlwind week, I was able to finish Block 5.  I’m enjoying this BOM.  It is time consuming because there are 4 blocks per month which means I have to do one each week to stay on track but I think they’re cute.  Check out more finished BOMs at

Design Wall
12/2/13

For Design Wall Monday, my wall still hasn’t changed.  I kept the picture from last week but imagine Block 5 of Hampton Ridge on there as well.  Check out more design walls at Patchwork Times.

We received the second step of Bonnie Hunter’s Celtic Solstice Mystery on Friday and I did as much as I could today.  I really only had time to cut.

Celtic Solstice – Step 2
488 – 2″ neutral squares
12/8/13

Celtic Solstice – Step 2
488 – 2″ yellow squares
12/8/13

Celtic Solstice – Step 2
488 – green rectangles
12/8/13

I’ll try to get some time this week to sew some together.  To see more progress on clue #2 of Bonnie Hunter’s mystery quilt, check out her blog at Quiltville. 

Happy quilting everyone!

~Wish I was quilting.

Melanie