November's One Monthly Goal Completed

It is the last week of November so it is time to link up our completed goal for the month. My plan was to finish quilting my Allietare quilt that has been hanging around in completed top for 18 months and pinned for the last 8 months of those months. Here is my original post.

So I was very pleased I got to finish quilting it during the month and I even managed to get the first part of the binding on. It only leaves me with the hand stitching the binding down in front of the tv when I get some time. Plus I need to tie off any threads and sew them in as well.

I have linked my post with Elm Street Quilts link up post where you can see all the other finished post for November.

Until Next Time

Keep Stitching

Cynthia

On Ringo Lake Part 4

I tell you I was happy to see a easier block this week. I haven't finished Clue 3 yet but I did get stuck into Clue 4. A change of colour and a different block was what I needed to push on.

I always do a test block to check my measurements before cutting and chain piecing. I have been known to mess it.  A slight adjustment in my seam allowance  and I was off and running.

So it didn't take long to whip this batch together.

Starting this year's mystery had me thinking about my Allietare quilt (the 2015 mystery quilt) which I had put aside after I made a big mistake that requires me to unstitch three of the rows and fix my mistakes. I used a directional print for the centre squares and I want to have them all going in the same direction. Of course I stuffed it up. So over a couple of evenings I unstitch them and sewed them back together correctly and before I knew it, the top was done. Now to quilt it.

Back to this year's mystery pop over to Quiltville and check out everyone's progress.

Until Next Time

Keep Stitching

Cynthia

2016 Finish Along Q4 List

Last quarter was a total disaster. I added a couple extra projects to my list and only completed one project on the list. With that said I did get one quilt quilted ready for binding and I made some progress on another one. So this quarter's list looks like this.
1. To quilt and bind my 2015 Quiltmaker Mystery quilt. Auld Lang Stitches Quilt.

 2.  This one is quilted ready for the binding to go on.

3. My Victorian Fling is now ready for quilting, so I got all the blocks together last quarter with borders.That is good. I need to select the backing still and pin it..

4. My Forget Me Not quilt has seen progress in the last quarter but as I am English paper piecing it is taking time. 12 blue blocks to go around in this step after I fix my mistake. 3 on 9 more to go and then it is the last step to do.

5. My Crazy Cat  Panel Quilt just need it's border added and it will be ready for quilting.

6. Lastly my Allietare quilt no progress in the last quarter but the blocks are all made ready to be sewn together.

Let's see if I can make some real progress on this list this quarter. Pop over to She Can Quilt  and check out what everyone else has on their list. You may be inspired to finish some of your  own projects off with us.

Until Next Time 

Keep Stitching

Cynthia

2016 Q3 Finish Along To Complete List

It is time to make our third quarter finishing list. Now I only finished 2 projects on my list last time. I keep the list short last time but I am thinking maybe I should have a slightly longer list with a few more projects to choose from.
My list this time.

My Quiltmaker 2015  Auld Lang Stitches mystery quilt is ready for pinning and quilting.

My Scrap Dance Mystery quilt ready for pinning and quilting.

My Forget Me Not Sew Along project. This is a EPP project so I don't know how far I will get.

All the blocks are done. I must of forgotten to snap a picture once I finished the block. These are from my Allietare quilt.

My Victorian Hope Chest blocks need to be sewed together.

Lastly this one which is half way through being quilted when my machine broke down. Hopefully I can finish it.

That will do I think for this quarter. Six projects for me to complete this quarter.

Here is the link if you want to see what others are setting themselves to complete.

http://www.shecanquilt.ca/2016/07/q3-2016-fal-proposed-finishes-link-is.html

Until Next Time

Keep Stitching

Cynthia

2016 Finish Along #2 Grand Illusion Report

The second Finish Along has just finished and it is time to report in. There was 5 projects on my list and I know you want to know if I finished them all. The answer to that is no I didn't finish them all. I may of been a little ambitious to think I could finish all five. I can tell you  2 projects were finished that were on my list. Here is Grand Illusions quilt my first finish of the two.

Have a look at some of the other completed projects by others plus my other finish for this quarter.

http://www.shecanquilt.ca/2016/06/fal-q2-finishes-link-is-open.html

Until Next Time 

Keep Stitching

Cynthia

350 Block Report 2016 -January's Report

Here we are at the start of a new year and I am ready to take 2016 on. Each month I am doing a post on how many blocks I completed and tally them up over the course of the year as part of Prairie Moon Quilts 350 Block Project. It will be interesting to see how many I make this year compared to last year total of 678.

This month's total is 30.

Let's Start with the Allietare blocks of 25 and 16 triangle set in blocks.I did finish the last blocks only last night. I didn't have time to lay it out for another picture. I am hoping to get this top completed for quilting by the end of February.

Then I have been making up a bunch of these windmill blocks for a new  secret project. 12 made from this lot.. Plus I sewed up two rows.

Along with some English paper pieced dresden plate blocks for a new design. 3 Done.

Plus 3 Christmas Reproduction Sampler blocks.

So my total for January is  61 blocks. 

A brilliant start.

I wonder how many blocks I will make in February! We have an extra day up our sleeve if we need it.

Until Next Time

Keep Stitching

Cynthia

Allietare Mystery Quilt #8

I have reached my final goal of 20 blocks, no more will be added as there is too much work on other projects that needs to be done.

Now that was what I thought at the beginning of my day as I planned to sew my set in triangles blocks. Boy did I get it wrong. What happened I can't say, beside the fact I should be working on something else. I should know better, it is not the first time I have set blocks on point. So what could I do?
As far as I could see there was two options for me. First option is make a skinny quilt, which meant I had enough blocks but it just didn't look right. The second option is to make more blocks and really it was the only option I could live with.

 What got me was I had cut enough for the set in triangles for the larger layout without realising I had stuffed the amount of blocks I needed up. So it was meant to be this size. So now I need to make 5 more blocks to complete this layout. Then I will be able to sew the blocks into rows.
                                          Until Next Time
                                          Keep Stitching
                                          Cynthia

Allietare Mystery Quilt # 7

There has been lots of finished tops and quilts posted. Where do these quilters find the time to sewing so much. I wish I could report more progress here but it just hasn't been possible with returning to work last week and the other stuff that need to be done. I did manage to get 4 blocks sewn together by Friday. I really wanted to see what the blocks were going to look like together.

Hopefully I will get some blocks made. There is some UFO projects that need my attention. I want to get a couple of projects pinned and quilted before February Project Uninterrupted session on the 6th February. One is my Grand Illusion quilt. It will be a challenge quilting it due to the size but I am ready to do it.
I wrote this a week ago. Too much to do and not enough sewing or blogging time. I sat down at the machine on Friday night for some sewing.
By the time I was ready to published this post I have finished  6 more blocks. The plan was 16 blocks for my Allietare quilt but I ready like this pattern and I now find myself considering an extra row.

Until next time

Keep Stitching

Cynthia

Allietare Mystery Quilt #6

The big Reveal happened this week just as I caught up on the last clue. So I was a happy quilter knowing I had some of all the clues to make up the blocks. The last clue made up.

I have been seeing so many beautiful versions of this pattern and I have loved them all. I was very happy with this reveal and if I can get it all together nicely it could be my favourite Bonnie Hunter pattern for a while until the next one I make.
So I did lay out the two blocks so I could see what they would look like and hopefully I can find some time to sew them together before the link up but it wasn't possible with Project Uninterrupted starting and work on the Cynthia's Ark Christmas Reproduction Sampler. Time was disappearing fast over the last week. At least you can get some idea of what my blocks look like.

I was never going to get my top completed before today anyway as I think I will need to go shopping for the black outer border as I don't think the large piece of black in the project box is big enough. As I am typing this I justed looked up at the fabric shelf and spotted a bolt of black that has a little red and blue design over it. I can't believe I hadn't spotted it before, maybe it was destine for the outer border and not the blocks as it is a larger piece. So I will check it out later.
Here is the link so you can have a look at all the beautiful Allietare quilts in all the different colourways and I can't believe how many have completed their tops already. Hopefully I can finish mine sooner than later this time.

Until Next Time

Keep Stitching

Cynthia

Allietare Mystery Quilt #5

We are up to Clue #5 and I am still a week behind. I know last week I was going to try and catch up but somehow it didn't happen. So with one more week off from my day job I am hoping to catch up this week. Here is Clue #4 there is still a few more sets to go but they are cut ready for sewing.

I have linked this post to Bonnie's linky party so pop over and have a look at what others are up to.
http://quiltville.blogspot.com.au/2015/12/mystery-monday-link-up-part-5.html
I love a good mystery and I can't wait for the big reveal.
Until Next Time
Keep Stitching
Cynthia

Allietare Mystery Quilt #4.

We are up to Clue #4 which means I am working on Clue #3  They are Four Patch blocks but I still have some of Clue #2 to finish as well. Now that I have finished my day job for the year I have a few days planned to finish a few projects and catch up on some and this is one of them. With the weather in the mid 40's  (100 + for my US readers) here in South Australia it has been hard to find the motivation to do much of anything. I did spend a couple of hours on the sewing machine to piece the backing for a table runner and finish sewing a matching quilt top after I had to unpick the last seam because I had pinned it wrong big time. With this happening I was able to complete my Four Patch blocks so I now just need to complete the last of Clue #2 and I can start on Clue #4 which looks interesting.

I am using blue instead of the gold. Not a big fan of yellows/gold, so there is very little of that colour in my stash. That is the only colour I changed.  I promised myself to working from my stash and the only fabric I bought was the yardage for the grey as it was the constant fabric.

 Hopefully I will be caught up by the time Bonnie releases Clue #5.
Here is the link to see where everyone else is up to.
http://quiltville.blogspot.com.au/2015/12/sewing-parties-are-best-kind-of-parties.html

Until Next Time 

Keep Stitching

Cynthia

Allietare Mystery Quilt #3

We are already up to clue #3 in Bonnie Hunter's Allietare Mystery Quilt.  Unfortunately I am still a clue behind most people but I hope to do two clues over my Christmas break and catch up with the main group. Clue # 3 is four patch blocks so they should easily get completed but not before clue #4 is released I am thinking but I should get some cutting done so I am ready for sewing.
So here is what I did get done on Clue 2.

At the moment I'm not sure exactly how many I will need as I am doing a smaller version of the quilt. So I will make some of each clue and once we get the big reveal I will them top up my blocks to the numbers I need. A few more set by my machine ready to sew when I get 10 minutes.

Here is the link back to Bonnie's post so you can take a look at some more versions of this project.
http://quiltville.blogspot.com.au/2015/12/mystery-monday-link-up-part-3.html

Until Next Time

Keep Stitching

Cynthia

Allietare Mystery Quilt #2

I can say I have started this year mystery. I went with the light grey but don't worry the darker grey has found a project already. I cut the HST units during the week knowing I was going to have a sewing session on the weekend. I have been doing this lately trying to maximum my sewing time. It is easy to spend 10-15 minutes cutting when I find a little time so when I can get to the sewing machine I am sewing rather than cutting.

 The beauty of these HST unit was I could use them as leaders and enders while finishing a few loose end off on another project. I was able to finish piecing my Random Ohio Star blocks together then add the borders to it and before I knew it I had my HST unit made and a quilt top ready for quilting.

Now I just need to start cutting Clue 2 blocks. Hopefully I can cut and sew some of these unit as there won't be any sewing sessions over the coming weekend.
If you want to join us on the Allietare mystery, there is a link on the right hand side of my blog.
Plus if you want to see where everyone is up to here is link for the Linky party

Until Next Time

Keep Stitching

Cynthia

Allietare Mystery Quilt # 1

It is that time of the year when we all dive in to Bonnie Hunter mystery quilt over at Quiltville.  This will be my third time for me and I am still looking for my happy medium when it come to being scrappy. The first time I selected one fabric for each colour in Celtic Solstice in my colour selection which I love. Last year I went totally scrappy for Grand Illusion and I wasn't as happy with the results. Nothing really wrong with it but a little too busy. So this year I am aiming for something in the middle.
I am changing only one of the colours and that is the gold to blue. Why you ask? Mainly because I have plenty of blue in my stash compared to golds. Plus I'm not a huge fan of gold and yellows. The other colours are staying but I am going to use less variety in each colour group. There will be some variety as you can see but I hadn't taken any out of my scrap bin of small pieces.

 I love the grey I have selected but looking at the picture here I am wondering if it is  little too dark. I wonder if I remove some of the darker blues would it make a difference or maybe I need to look for a lighter grey. So no cutting for me yet due to the grey dilemma. May have a look at what others have selected as their grey.

On the left is a possible second choice for the grey. The original choice is on the right. Tell me which one you like better and help me decide which one to use so I can get started. There is an Allietare button in the right hand side toolbar if you want to join us.

Until Next Time

Keep Stitching

Cynthia