Clue 5 Link-up and Merry Christmas!

I knew I would be taking this clue slow given things I would be doing this week.  But it's such a great clue!  I finished my Christmas tasks on Sunday and then sewed up a few blocks. 

Ready to go, along with bonus pieces.

 I started my blog post a few hours ago, before I went back to sew some blocks.  I didn't anticipate being finished with Clue 5 tonight, but I am!  Now I am all ready for Friday's new clue release. yah!

Check out other clue 5 link ups here: http://quiltville.blogspot.com/2018/12/mystery-monday-link-up-part-5.html

I'll bet everyone has these teeny slivers after this clue!

This morning after gifts were exchanged, one of my sons  said, "you are still making cinnamon rolls, RIGHT?".  I really wasn't planning on it, we've been on treat overload for the last couple of weeks.  But I did make the recipe....  I use my grandma's recipe from when she worked in a school, and it is very good--it makes a lot though.  I wasn't planning ahead and started adding ingredients before I realized I should have halved it!  I will send some to neighbors tomorrow for sure!

I knew December would be rough diet-wise, but I've still kept up with logging calories at myfitnesspal.  So far I am only up by 5lbs and come January Kev and I already decided we are going to do our 2nd round of Whole30.  I found it really helped for kicking sweets.  The backstory on the Whole30/Paleo plan is that hubby's company started a new health push for those over the arbitrary BMI number they chose:  Lose 2 BMI points and gain $500 each participant into your HSA account.  Don't lose and lose $500 each participant (likely pays for those that lost the points).  I tried dieting from April to July with minimal to show except that I was back to where I was in the previous year's biometric screen.  Through Whole30 we both lost the 2 points we needed by Oct 15, and because I know how these things go, we continued for as much as possible until today.  So far I have lost 2 more points so unless they change things, I am in the clear for 2019's screen.  As much as I hate these "nudges", I am glad that I seem to have found what works for me in regards to diet and exercise (I do daily walk during the week, and add treadmill for at least 3 mornings).  My daily fitbit goal is only 7000 (compared to 10,000 "they" say to do), but I'm ok with that.  What I really dislike is that I have dieted my whole life and end up only gaining more.  I'm sure that's a story a lot of people have.

I hope you've had a wonderful holiday and celebrated in the way that brings you the most loving feelings.

Weekend Wrap-up

Clue Four is here!  Yah!  I was hoping this quilt would involve strings, and this was the clue I was waiting for :)  I finished sewing Clue 3, and have pressed the long pieces but I still need to press and square up the half-square triangles.  That will be this week's project.

This weekend was filled with making cookie dough, almond roca, and in the wee hours of Sunday morning I decided to begin baking them.  The youngest child's alarm clock was going off at 2:16 and he wasn't turning it off.  After I woke up, carefully walked across his lego mined floor to turn it off and I could not go back to sleep.  45 minutes later I went downstairs and turned on the oven.  At least now all the cookie packages are put together and either already gifted to neighbors today or are ready to be mailed this Wednesday.  I have been dreading baking to be honest... I have been doing the paleo diet (started with Whole30 in September) and the thought of the sugary treats sitting in the house make me nervous.  Unlike soda, giving up sugar has been much harder.  My plan for December is to do my best and be ready to perhaps do another Whole30 month in January.

Oh!  and our Boy Scout troop's tree lot was sold out on Saturday!  10 days before Christmas!  In our 8yrs with the troop we've never experienced that so it was really cool.  Hubby's (he's the scoutmaster) words put it best:

Just shortly after the last shift of the night began, there were 2 trees remaining.  A gentleman came walking over and asked for me by name.  He stated that he wanted to bless the next two families who came to the lot wanting to buy a tree.  He paid full price for the 2 remaining Douglas Fir trees - $50 each.  He stated that he had been blessed in his life and wanted to share.  He stated that he appreciated us all spending our time at the lot.  We were all flabbergasted at his generosity and should his hand and thanked him.  He then pulled out his wallet and handed us a $78 tip!  On TOP of the $100 he had just paid for the trees.

Thanks to this gentleman's generosity, a single mother of two and a widower on a fixed income were blessed this evening with a tree.

He added in encouragement to live by the Scout Slogan of Do a good turn daily, which doesn't have to just involve treasure, but their time or talent in helping others.  This was a great year for the tree lot, even with one "unpaid" sale and two bad trees.  I enjoy this fundraiser.

Now... on to Clue 4!


Orange strings!!


Guess what my high school colors were?


Orange and green :)  My high school is now a homeschool network location as it merged with another local high school a year after I graduated.  For the new school colors they kept the green and added it to one of the other high school's colors.  I can't remember at the moment what the color is.  They then kept the orange and the other color as secondary/highlights.  I have to say that growing up in the 80's during the bight neon times, school spirit weeks were fun!

Thanks Bonnie Hunter for another fun mystery!  Link up here: https://quiltville.blogspot.com/2018/12/mystery-monday-link-up-part-4.html

Some fixings and Continuings

Wednesday night was Darrin's scout meeting.  He had an earlier patrol meeting and with Kevin out of town for the week, that means I'm it for unlocking the doors, etc.  I decided that I'd had enough of social media and app garbage to pass time during these events, so I grabbed my hexie box to see if I could finish up some of the 3-piece hexie background sections.  I finished up 7 last night, and this morning after walking with Darrin to his stop and before the treadmill trot, I finished up the last three.  The only parts to the background I have left are two larger end sections for my 8th row.  I am so close!



I am glad to have this grab and go project, but my 48yo eyes aren't what they used to be.  I haven't looked around, but are there battery powered portable lights that are easily packable for a grab and go project?  At home I use my Ikea Jansjo light for home use... I guess I could always pack a headlamp--which would make sense for a scout meeting and all :)

I was able to also fix my sleeve for my reindeer shirt.  It isn't an exact match with the other sleeve, but much better than the first attempt.  Also noted... I did my sleeve backwards.  It isn't one of those "cut on the fold" sleeves and I thought I picked the front correctly.  Nope.  It still fits fine, but since I did a large bust adjustment, I think it is slightly off.  oh well and sigh.  Aligning the sleeve with the armscye, it matched up however.  I haven't checked to see how close it is on each side, but it still worked even though it was backwards.



I am not completely finished with Clue 3 of the mystery yet, but I'm getting there.  Today I was going to finish it up, but got distracted with my hexies and some other things I needed to get done.  I am looking forward to seeing what Clue 4 has in store!

I'm so ready for the hubby to be home tomorrow.  Business travel isn't so bad now that the boys are both older (those earlier years were tough!), but I still sure miss him and our daily/weekly routine together. 

Good Fortune: Clue 3

I would like to say that I finished Clue 3 of Bonnie Hunter's Good Fortune mystery, but I'm not.  I saw the half-chevrons on Friday and cringed.  I seem to do Bonnie's mystery quilts every few years and the years I haven't done them have all had the chevrons.  I still haven't made any of her chevron'ed quilts... I hate to say it by it isn't my favorite piece in quilts.  Now, give me that tri-recs shape?  LOVE those.

beginnings, figuring out the spacing and testing...


I did start on Friday with cutting, and then some line drawing, and then a little sewing.  Saturday was a the scout Christmas tree lot shift day so I knew I wouldn't be doing any sewing.   It ended up being a 10am-8pm day for Kevin, crazy busy in the morning and he was called in!  I made a spaghetti and meatball dinner along with some pumpkin muffins for our dinner (all paleo) and was ready to start our shift at 2.  I went in an hour early to unwrap trees.  Our day ended with 64 trees sold which was a record (for at least this year), Kevin said he has never seen it that busy.  And it's difficult when a shift is 2 scouts and 2 parents, some know how to tie knots well--which is nice when you are hopefully paired with a more experienced scout/parent.  For some reason shoppers want to be sure their trees arrive home still on their vehicles :)  I'm not a knot person, thankfully Kevin is like a king knotter and Darrin is picking it up.  And we are now officially done with our required 6 shifts!


My greens along with the first two clues...

Back to sewing... Sunday I did bits and pieces throughout the day.  At this point it should be easy sailing with just sewing the other side, my lines are already drawn.  I am guessing there will be an opposite side to this half-chevron and I will take that in stride as well.



Linking up here with other Good Fortune mystery sewists: http://quiltville.blogspot.com/2018/12/mystery-monday-link-up-part-3.html

Mystery Clue 2 and Holiday Sewing

Tada!


Sunday I finished my Clue two for Good Fortune.  I now have five days to clip off the dog ears.  Before I began this clue, I had to hem a shirt I had made earlier in the weekend.  Changing out the bobbin, I believe I won this round of "bobbin thread chicken"!  A little more than an inch was left from my last sewing!


I really enjoy using my Easy Angle ruler. I have tried every HST method, and it actually surprises me that this is my preferred method. I learned how to use it when I went to my first Bonnie retreat in 2017 and I've been hooked ever since. It really opens up not having to deal with that extra 3/8" and I can use 2.5" pre-cut strips that I have on hand.


A couple of miles of HTS's behind my machine :)


Monday Link-Up:  https://quiltville.blogspot.com/2018/12/mystery-monday-link-up-part-2.html

This is what I sewed on Friday, and it took until Sunday to finish hemming.  I really tried with this pattern.  It was my first go with it, and a patterned striped knit to boot... uffda.  I thought I had the side seams aligned (nope) and I thought that I had the sleeves on the correct stripe (nope).  For the sleeves, I was paying attention to the red stripe pattern and not the reindeer/snowflake changes.

...and then! I was attempting to try out my serger for a blind hem stitch and mucked up the edging on a sleeve.  I need to invest in a coverstitch in 2019.  OTHER THAN USER ERROR: I love the pattern and it truly is an easy sew!  I did the scoop neck, 3/4 sleeve version first along with the full-bust pattern and it is just right.  When I originally purchased the pattern, I was 45lbs heavier and my measurements were at the top end.  Today it fits just right.  I think I may cut some of my black DBP knit and make a simple black tee.  I don't know why I jumped right in with the patterned version first (I think I found this fabric on sale a couple of years ago).  The sleeve cuff ends bug me, but I don't think it's any worse than RTW clothing available to buy.

You can find the $5 pattern here:  Classic Tee

A Weekend of Projects

This weekend was going to start with me working on Bonnie Hunter's mystery "Good Fortune", but it was derailed by other sewing things until Sunday.  I still have more four patches to make, and I plan to have that finished before the next clue comes out on Friday.

I love reds.... and I love spinning the seams so that will nest properly when it all goes together.

I need to sort through some current scrappy strips from Madame Rouge to finish up with the four patches:


I haven't decided yet if I will just do a half-quilt or the full mystery quilt.  At least four patches can be used in anything so they won't go to waste.

The day after Thanksgiving is always the Boy Scouts tree lot setup day, and usually I put our tree up on that day.  I haven't done that yet this year, perhaps next week.  Before Kevin left, he showed me a fleece beanie cap that he had bought for Darrin and himself (but Daniel ended up claiming one leaving Dad with none) and asked if this would be an easy item to make.  I put aside my first mystery clue sew to play with a beanie pattern.  It was pretty easy to make and then I learned how to do a blind hem stitch on my serger.  I had to play around with it so I had the fabrics going the right way for the hem, but what a great feature.  I think it is also called a flatlock stitch, but in the fleece that is hard to tell.

Here is the sewing I started the weekend with (Madame Rouge in the background):




I ended up sewing the troop patch onto the grey beanie. I wore the pink one for our tree lot shift last night and it was warm enough. I may choose a thicker fleece beanie for our next shift in two weekends.

This coming Wednesday is Darrin's first band concert and I had totally forgotten about finding a white shirt, black pants and shoes!  I decided to try out the thrift shop first and we lucked out!  The pants will only be good for this year (length), but the shirt and shoes should be able to see a couple of years of concerts.  If I had hit the shop on 1/2 price day, the cost would have been even better but I'm not complaining about $23 for these items.

Daniel was thrilled to find a guitar with an American flag on it :)  We also did our annual ornament hunt at the Hallmark shop.  Our local shop was suppose to close, but they were able to renegotiate the lease.  I am really glad because I'm not sure where the next closest one is.  Our original shop that we started our tradition with closed down when Darrin was 3, so we've been going to this one for the past 8yrs.

It's been a full weekend!

Link up day!
http://quiltville.blogspot.com/2018/11/mystery-monday-link-up-and-cyber-monday.html

Catching up with a couple of finishes

I am not sure what has happened to my quilting bug.  It has waned on and off over the years, but it seems like the past 5yrs it has really taken a nosedive.  I am trying to keep it fresh--or as fresh as I can... and boy I can find some great projects that really excite me... however, the doing part!

After finishing up Daniel's Eagle Scout quilt, I was drained.  I joined in on the Humble Quilts doll quilt exchange, I enjoy that one with hopes it would spark something.  And I think it did get me going to work on Stitch Happens.  I started two of these, one (pic below) is a quilt I gave as a birthday gift to a dear friend.  I had planned to give her the other one however (still not finished), but I wasn't happy with the quilting (I admit I am too critical of myself) so I went with straight line quilting on this one--and it still wasn't the way I wanted.  Shift Happened vs Stitch Happens.  It's still a great pattern though.


Here is the little quilt (18" square) that I created for the Teal Mini Swap which is an Ovarian Cancer fundraiser:


My partner likes cats, The Broncos, orange, rabbits.  Perfect.. I love using orange, and I planned right away to create something with a cat.

Here is the transition I went through as I created this quilt:
I first sketched out an idea with flying geese and a cat under a tree.  My tree in the sketch was larger and this just wasn't working for me.


The next step involved looking for a paper pieced cat pattern, and craftsy has some great ones in silhouette.  Adding the butterfly was needed.


Overall I am pleased with how it turned out.  My quilting wasn't perfect, but it was ok.


Here is the quilt I received from my partner:

I love how it turned out.  For a first time experience with this exchange, I had a good time with it and I may do it again in the future.

My current project:
I am currently working on a new quilt called Madame Rouge by French General.  It's a very simple string quilt (though the strings are suppose to match up, so not quite so freewheeling).  I finished the top on Saturday and will show that one in the near future.  I have an idea in mind for quilting already--that rarely happens!  Looking at the sidebar of how many quilts I have started this year, I am surely lacking in creativity!  I do plan to do Bonnie Hunter's mystery quilt this year--how can I not?  She has orange in it :)   Here's to hoping that the new year I get some sparks of creativity lit under me again.