Mysteries and Masks

 It's been a nice weekend. On the warmer end of the spectrum, but the sewing room was cool.  The Scientist in Training heads back to college today. School doesn't start till next Monday, but she's got some things to do before classes kick off.  She kept me company in the sewing room Sunday as I finished off the set of masks she requested.  

Mask pattern from Laundry Basket Quilts 

The red one is for the SIT, the newspaper print for one of her friends from the school paper and the rest are for her roommate.  

The rest of my stitching time was split between the two latest Bonnie Hunter Mystery quilts.  The pieced borders for Frolic are finished.

Frolic, 2019 Bonnie Hunter Mystery Quilt

The pieced borders turned out nicely.  Just one narrow black border left to add, then Frolic will be a finished flimsy.  I might just get this one done before this year's mystery starts. 

There was good progress on the other mystery, Unity.  I finished the last sawtooth star last night.  

Unity, 2020 Bonnie Hunter Sew-In-Place Quilt Along

I need to sew the last few stars together and then that length of pieced border will be ready to stitch on. I'm almost finished with step 3, finally! 

That's what I've been doing in the sewing room. Linking up with Monday Making.  

Christmas in August

In these days of social distancing, weekends have become pretty predictable.  The Scientist in Training has been home most weekends, it's the only human contact she gets.  It's been a pretty lonely summer for her. We've tackled a few home improvement projects. My Guy redid the dryer vent as we discovered mice were getting into the house that way (no mice since, so that worked).  

I took Saturday as a nothing but play on the computer and in the sewing room day.  There was a good bit of sewing, but there was also a good bit of sewing room clean up too. The clean up is still a work in progress, but now I can at least walk into the fabric closet. Replacing the closet light did wonders for visibility. I vacuumed and put away all the fabrics that got drug out as candidates for masks. I'm in the progress of putting away all the Christmas fabrics as I finally got the borders on the 2019 Christmas Mystery quilt. 

 2019 Christmas Mystery
designed by Carrie Randall (Quilter's Hideaway)

   

The poinsettia fabric worked really well as the border.  It needs a back, but I still haven't dealt with the backing for the Storm at Sea quilt, so it will just have to wait till that is done. 

There was also really good progress on Unity. 

 Unity, 2020 Bonnie Hunter Sew-In-Place Quilt Along

 

The third border is finished and attached. Just 8 more sawtooth stars to finish to have step three done.  I may actually get to step 4 later this week.  

That was my weekend in the sewing room.  Linking up with Monday Making, Monday Design Wall and Main Crush Monday.  

Solving One Mystery to Start Another

The staycation has come to an end, it's back to work today.  It's been a nice few days off.  I didn't get as much time in the sewing room as I'd hoped, but I did get in one nothing but sewing day during our break.  Sad to say I'm already ready for another one.  

One of the goals last week was to finish off the binding on Mosaic Mystery.  The last of the binding was stitched down on Saturday evening and the last glamour shot was taken yesterday. 

 Mosaic Mystery Quilt (Farfalla)
designed by Cheryl at Meadow Mist Designs
Started August 26, 2019, Finished July 11, 2020 

 

I'm happy with the finish, though I really wish there had been enough of the butterfly fabric to make that final border just a bit wider.  The binding is the same dark purple as the last border.  

 The quilting is a meander, with what looks like a butterfly showing up here and there in the quilting. 

I've shown the label before. Farfalla is the Italian word for butterfly, as I learned from one of my light summer reads.  It seemed to fit this project.  

There's no plan for this project at the moment.  Usually the Scientist in Training's roommate asks me to donate quilt to their fundraiser for the regional service dog training organization she works with.  Since so much has been canceled due to the pandemic, not sure they'll have the fundraiser this year.  But I've got that covered if it does go ahead.  

Finishing up Mosaic Mystery was my July One Monthly Goal.  I'll link up with Elm Street Quilts at the end of the month when that linky party opens up. 

This finish is timely in that the next Meadow Mist Designs mystery starts this month. The fabric requirements were posted last week for the Morewood Mystery.  The SIT helped me poke around in the stash last night. Here's where we ended up just before dinner last night. 

The two blue florals have been in the stash for a while, as has the purple, green and blue print. Only the pink/purple fabric is recent.  But they were all in the stash.  I like the combination, but someone recently commented on the blog that my color schemes for many of my quilts looked the same.  Case in point here's the fabric pull for Frolic (which is still on the design wall). 

I do love how Frolic came out, so I don't have a problem with the colors.  But do I want to play with the same color palette for another project?   I have till August to finalize the fabric pull for the Morewood Mystery.  I'm going to play in the stash a bit more to see what else I can come up with. 

Linking up with Monday Making, Design Wall Monday, Main Crush Monday and the July One Monthly Goal wrap up linky party when it posts.   

The July One Monthly Goal

We had a really nice weekend hanging out with the Scientist in Training.  We went on a few walks and stopped at our favorite gelato place for a cold treat. Not the most exciting weekend, but it was nice get out of town for a couple of days. 

On the quilting side of things, it's a new month so I've been contemplating what should be July's One Monthly Goal. 

Several projects are moving along towards completion.  The closest is the Mosaic Mystery Quilt.  

 Mosaic Mystery Quilt from Cheryl at Meadow Mist Designs

I finished trimming off the excess batting last night. 

The label is made and framed.  

The binding is ready. 

Since it's the closest to being completed, July's goal is to get  Mosaic Mystery quilt bound.  This year's Meadow Mist Designs Morewood Mystery kicked off this month with the fabric requirements. So it would be good to get last year's quilt completed and off the list before I add this year's.   

So that's the plan for July.  Linking up with Elm Street Quilts, Monday Making, Design Wall Monday, and Main Crush Monday. 

A More Work, Less Play Week

Last week wasn't the greatest.  Getting home late from work, sinus headaches, housework and much needed yard work took a big bite out of my stitching time last week. The morning of yard work required allergy medicine and a 2 hour nap to fully recover from the pollen and the heat.  Even getting going at 7:30 AM it was so hot that by 10 AM I really had to quit.  

So not much progress in the sewing room. About the only visible progress was on Frolic.  The last row is assembled.  

                Frolic: Bonnie Hunter 2019 Mystery

The remaining sashing strips are sitting at the sewing machine ready for the last seam to be sewn.  

The only other stitching of note was the completion of 2 more masks. 

  Mask pattern from Laundry Basket Quilts   

These two are for me. I didn't quite have enough to make it through a full week. Now I do.  

That's all from the sewing room this week. Linking up with Design Wall Monday and Main Crush Monday.  

Borders, Blocks and Other Stuff

The Scientist in Training headed back to campus to start her summer research program yesterday afternoon. The house seemed pretty empty after she left.  She'll be back for Father's Day, which really isn't that far off.  But it's going to take me a bit to get used to her not being here.  

The weather has gone from cool and rainy to hot and humid over the last week.  I'm guessing the mold levels are pretty high, as my sinuses haven't been very happy this week.  It wasn't the most productive week ever in the sewing room, but there was some good progress on several fronts.  Three of the four white borders are attached to Storm at Sea.

                                         Storm at Sea:  Quilt self designed

This quilt has gotten so big, it's hard to get a photo of the whole thing.  

There was also some progress on getting Frolic assembled.

                                         Frolic: Bonnie Hunter 2019 Mystery

The last block is almost finished. I'll need to cut more sashing pieces to finish the assembly.  Hopefully Frolic will be ready for borders by next weekend.  

Not much to show on Unity, the flying geese in the step 3 sawtooth stars take some time to make.  Though I did get one star assembled. 

I need over 30 of these little stars for the step 3 border. That's a lot of flying geese.  

Lastly, there was more stitching on face masks.

I really like this bright periodic table fabric. It's probably my favorite of out of all the masks from this weekend. 

                                     Mask pattern from Laundry Basket Quilts                                                           

That's the last of my science/chemistry themed masks. These are all going to work to share with people who haven't had good luck with the surgical masks the company has made available.  I'm hoping the t-shirt loops will be easier on peoples ears. My Guy has really liked his masks made from this pattern.  

That's pretty much my week of stitching.  Linking up with Monday Making, Monday Design Wall and Main Crush Monday.    

Frolicking with Unity and Other Stitching Tales

We've been fighting our typical spring battles with the ants and other creatures.  Last night I went to bed and got attacked by what looked like flying ants.  I finally slept on the couch because they kept coming. My Guy slept through the whole thing.  I'll be spraying the baseboards before we leave for work.  Needless to say, I didn't sleep very well. It didn't help that the dishwasher kicked on at about 2 AM.  A rather crappy end to what had been a fairly nice weekend. 

It was a productive weekend in the sewing room. Step 2 of Unity is done!!! 

Unity, 2020 Bonnie Hunter Sew-In-Place Quilt Along

I'm really happy with my fabric choices at this point.  I've already gotten a start on Step 3, but those 4" stars aren't going to go quickly.  I'll just keep plugging along. I have deep admiration for those who can finish a step in a week. That's a lot of stitching!

Frolic is moving along again. 

Frolic, 2019 Bonnie Hunter Mystery Quilt

The last row of dark blue stars are all sewn together.  The long sashing piece that goes with the row is at the machine. It just needs one more seam.  Both rows should be sewn together by next week.  Soon it will be time to finalize the borders and get those stitched. I may actually get this mystery done before the next one comes out.  

There was also some mask making this weekend.  

Mask pattern from Laundry Basket Quilts

I pulled out my stash of chemistry themed fabrics to make this next set.  These are for some of my co-workers who aren't having a lot of luck with the surgical masks. I still have several more to make, but these four are a good start. 

That's my week of stitching.  Linking up with Monday Making, Design Wall Monday, and Main Crush Monday. 

One of Those Weeks

For some reason, last week just didn't go very well in the sewing room. Mainly because I didn't speed much time there.  What time spent with needle and thread was spent doing embroidery.  I did make some progress on that front.  

Half the butterfly is finished, so now I can move the hoop to start on the second half.  

There was no change in Unity.

Unity, 2020 Bonnie Hunter Sew-In-Place Quilt Along

Step 2 is still in progress. I'm hoping the rest of the steps don't take so long or else this is going to one long term project!

I did finish one more Frolic block, so there's slow progress on that project.  The big achievement for the weekend was getting the Mosaic Mystery top prepped for quilting. 

Now I just need to find a box and package this up along with the batting then ship it to Trudy.  

Since the second week of May wasn't so hot, there's not much progress to report on my efforts to earn a PHD in 2020.  My report looks exactly as it did at the end of April. 

Hopefully by Mid June, Mosaic Mystery will be finished and the Storm at Sea quilt will bewell on it's way to being finished.  

That's is for my week.  You can check out Monday Design Wall and Monday Making to see posts with lots more progress.  

Return to Office Stitching

Hope everyone had a lovely Mother's Day.  Ours was very, very relaxed. My Guy made a wonderful spaghetti dinner and the Scientist in Training took me out for ice cream.  Otherwise, they left me alone to hang out in my sewing room.  It was a pretty nice day.  

Today I have to put on real clothes (no T-shirts or yoga pants) and spend the day in my office at work. I've not been there in six weeks.  I doubt much has changed, but it will probably feel weird to be back. We'll be operating under a new normal with face masks as the newest addition to our personal protective equipment.  Part of my stitching time was devoted to bumping up our face mask collection so we have enough for a week.  

The top mask is My Guy's Hawaiian shirt face mask.  In the summer he wears Hawaiian shirts on casual Friday, so he wanted an equally loud mask to go with those.  The red plaid mask is mine and the black shaped mask is for the SIT.  There are a couple more in the works that didn't make the shot. Hopefully those will be finished today. 

There was some good progress on Unity Step 2. 

Unity, 2020 Bonnie Hunter Sew-In-Place Quilt Along

I'm massively behind on the clues. That's OK, I'm really enjoying all the stitching and watching something new develop on the design wall.

That's my progress for the last week.  Hope you've made good progress on your design wall projects.  Linking up with Monday Making, Monday Design Wall and Main Crush Monday.  

This N That

It was a very slow paced weekend, with laundry, household chores and naps on the agenda.  The work from home set up just isn't as ergonomic as my office set up and my back has been very unhappy.  So much so that I've not been sleeping very well.  So the naps were very necessary, but I didn't get as much done in the sewing room as a consequence.

The big accomplishment for the weekend was getting the backing for Mosaic Mystery all pressed, dethreaded and ready for shipping. 

The quilt top is on the agenda for the same treatment next weekend. 

Then there was a stitching detour to make a couple more masks. 

My Guy goes back to the office today as part of phase 1 of the return to office plan.  I don't go back till next Monday.  He needed two more face masks so he'd have one for each work day.  Since I'm almost out of elastic and need to make myself three more masks before then, I tried a pattern from Laundry Basket Quilts that uses T-shirt strips as the earpieces.  My Guy isn't a fan of the face mask itself, but said the ear pieces work just fine. So I'm going to try the top mask design with the t-shirt earpieces next.  (Our company is providing surgical masks, so we aren't required to bring our own, but we can if we prefer. My Guy tried one of the surgical masks when he was in last week and much prefers the home made ones). 

There was some progress on Unity as well. 

2020 Bonnie Hunter Sew-In-Place Quilt Along

The first border of step 2 has been sewn on and I've got a good start on the second border.  It will probably take me all this week to finish off this step.  I'm way behind but that's fine, I'm enjoying the process.  

That was my week of stitching stuff.  Linking up with Monday Making, the Monday Design Wall and Main Crush Monday.   

Finally Finishes

It was a good week in the sewing room.  I've not had more stitching time during this period of social distancing as work has been just as busy as always.  But the changes I made to work on only three projects at a time and to limit the weekly to do list to just four items each week is starting to pay off.  Playing along with the 2020 PHD program and the One Monthly Goal have helped with the focus too.  In fact this month I actually met my OMG a few days early for a change. 

This month's OMG is to finish the Winter Quilt Along project.  That happened last Friday.  

Stripes from the 2019 Quiltygirl Winter Quilt Along
Started November 11, 2019
Finished April 24, 2020

I'm really happy with how it came out.  Thank you Alycia for a very fun and easy quilt along.  Both the red and blue fabrics are left overs from other quilts. The binding is the same blue as the stripes.  There's about a fat quarter left of the blue and just over a half yard of the red.  The backing is left overs from backing two other quilts.

The white print is left over from Twinkle Stars and the blue check from Vintage Dresses.  I suppose you could call this one Leftovers, but I went simple and just named it Stripes.  This quilt will be donated to the Quilts of Valor program once it's washed.  

The second milestone is that the Mosaic Mystery quilt is now a finished flimsy. 

 Mosaic Mystery Quilt
from Cheryl at Meadow Mist Designs

I'm pretty happy with how it came out. I only wish the butterfly print border was just a bit wider, but there wasn't that much of the print left over. Next up is to finish the backing and then do the dreaded thread clean up of both before shipping it out for quilting.  So this one is likely a June finish.  

So a good week on the finishing front.  I'm still behind for the year and it's not likely I'll catch up.  The goal is still to finish at least eight quilts this year.  I'm a quarter of the way there and we are almost a third of the way through the year.  The next three quilts on the list just need borders and backings, so hopefully those will go more quickly. 

Linking up with the April One Monthly Goal, Monday Making, Monday Design Wall and Main Crush Monday.   

Moving Right Along, But Nothing to Show

The weekend went way to fast. We did some much needed yard maintenance on Saturday.  Both of us paid for it on Sunday.  There is something to the fact we aren't as young as we used to be.  So between battle of the branches on Saturday and the Sunday morning retreat to the recliner with my heating pad, not much else got done. 

There has been progress on all the active projects, just not stuff that photographs well.  Mosaic Mystery needs one more border to be a finished flimsy. 

  
It would be nice to get Mosaic Mystery finished soon.  Cheryl at Meadow Mist Designs has already posted that her 2020 mystery will start July 2nd. 

There is visible progress on the Unity Mystery Quilt.  

Unity, 2020 Bonnie Hunter Sew-In-Place Quilt Along

All the blocks are made for the medallion center, but all the pieces still need to be sewn together. Clue 4 comes out today. It's OK to be behind, I'm just enjoying the process and the newness of the project.  Hopefully Unity will get finished before the newness wears off.  

That's it for me this week.  Linking up with Monday Making, Monday Design Wall and Main Crush Monday.  

Weekend Progress

It was a quiet weekend, though not all of it was spent in the sewing room. The Scientist in Training didn't plan on being home for more than a week and didn't bring home all her books or clothes for the warmer weather we are starting to have. So I rode along as she drove the two hours back to her apartment to get the things she needed to ride out however long campus is closed.  

After we got home, I headed to the sewing room and finally made some good progress on last week's To Do list and March's One Monthly Goal.  I've got the binding sewn to the front of Twinkle Stars and have stitched around three corners.  

I've got two days to finish the hand stitching.  That should be doable, but I'll probably take it down to the wire with the last stitches happening on Tuesday.   

I've started stitching the Frolic blocks and sashing together.  

2019 Bonnie Hunter Mystery Quilt:  Frolic

I'm happy with how it's coming together.  I still need to finish piecing 5 of the light blue blocks, but there's enough done to start getting the completed bits and pieces sewn into rows.  The blocks were starting to fall off the design wall, so I just took most of them down but for the ones being sewn together.  

The second border has been added to the Mosaic Mystery.

 Mosaic Mystery Quilt from Cheryl at Meadow Mist Designs

I just need to add a final dark purple border to have a finished flimsy.  Hopefully I'll be able to finish that next weekend.  

It was a good weekend with a lot of progress.  Hopefully this week will be as good.  Linking up with the normal Monday linky parties of Monday Making and Design Wall Monday. 

Just A Bit of Stitching Stuff

I'm not really ready to head back to work this morning, so maybe it's good I'm working from home a bit this morning.  We are trying out remote access options in case we have to use them in the coming weeks.  It's been nice to take refuge in the sewing room, turn on Netflix and just get away from all the other madness on TV this weekend.

I've done more hand work this week than playing on the sewing machine.  But I managed enough to finish the binding for Twinkle Stars. 

I love the rainbow colors.  It's all ready to stitch on. Now I just need to get the Scientist in Training to give me the message for her writing buddy so I can finish the label.  She promised me that she'd have that tonight. 

The second border for Mosaic Mystery has been added. 

Mosaic Mystery Quilt from Cheryl at Meadow Mist Designs

The next butterfly print border is all assembled and the two side borders are cut to size.  So there's progress, it's just been a bit slow. 

Linking up with the usual Monday show and tell linkys. You should check out what's going on over at Monday Making, Monday Design Wall and Main Crush Monday.  

Bindings, Blocks and Borders

It was a slow week in the sewing room.  I forget just how much the flu can drag down your energy levels. The older I get, the longer it seems to take to bounce back after being unwell.  

Thankfully there was the energy  on Saturday and Sunday to hang out in the sewing room.  The first priority is to get the binding made for Twinkle Stars.  

 Twinkle Stars Tutorial by Angela Feldbush of Soscrappy

It's taking a bit longer than normal because I'm trying to match up the colors in the binding strips with the colors in the narrow scrappy border.  

I'm still working on Frolic.  There's another two blocks and more sashing up on the design wall, but it's hard to tell there's been much progress. 

Frolic, 2019 Bonnie Hunter Mystery Quilt

Just two dark blue blocks left to assemble, then I can move on to to the last five light blue blocks.  

The dark purple borders are going on Mosaic Mystery,

Mosaic Mystery Quilt from Cheryl at Meadow Mist Designs

Adding borders always takes so much longer than you think it should, but at least there's been some progress. 

Not a bad week on the stitching front.  Linking up with Monday Making, Monday Design Wall and Main Crush Monday.  

Stormy Stuff

Temps have cooled off about 10 degrees to the mid 80s. Seems this year we are very gradually easy into autumn.  We hung out with the Scientist in Training in Tulsa on Saturday.  Sunday was rainy and yucky, a good day to stay in and sew.  My project slate hasn't changed from last week. 

The blue and yellow pieces are for the Simply Sensational Summer Scrap mystery quilt which has already had it's reveal. I'm playing catch up with that one.  The purple and beige are for clue 2 of the Mosaic Mystery quilt along that started last month.  The bit of blue in the lower right is a Wild and Goosey block.  The white strips at the top are for the next border on Storm at Sea.  If I'm working on the next border for SAS, that means the pieced borders are all on. So it was time for a quick trip to the master bedroom to ensure the final borders will provide enough drop to cover the mattress. 

Storm at Sea
Paper Piecing Class by Carrie Randell (Quilter's Hideaway)

I'm really happy with how it looks on the bed.  The plan is for another 7" of border, one narrow white and a wider dark blue.  That should provide ample length/width to cover the mattress. Our current quilt (peaking out from under SAS) is just a tad short.  Drives My Guy nuts when he's making the bed. 

I'm taking Friday off, so maybe SAS will become a finished flimsy this weekend.  Or maybe not. Trudy is done with the quilting on Vintage Dresses, so that may be back ready to bind this weekend.  Or I really should get going on stitching all the Twinkle Stars together as that's my September One Monthly Goal. The blocks aren't even up on the design wall as yet, so I need to get a move on with that project.  

Linking up with the usual Monday show and tells:

Monday Making
Monday Design Wall
Main Crush Monday