Clue 5, and I'm Still Alive!!

I'm keeping right up with the Quiltville "En Provence" Mystery Quilt!  This week's Clue is making some 3 1/2" half square triangles with our dark purples and neutrals.

As I mentioned in my last post, I am running super-low on my dark purples.  So, of course, I did not have enough for this Clue.  I went stash diving, and came up with 2 more dark purple fabrics that I didn't originally include because I felt they weren't dark enough.  Well, good news, boys...you made the cut!  Now get in there!

Bonnie is using her new Essential Triangle Tool for this clue.  I did order her tool, but it is in transit, and I want to do some selfish, non-gift sewing NOW!  So I'm going to bust out my Easy Angle ruler for this:

Yup, the wrapping is still on it!  I found a written tutorial by Bonnie on how to cut strips with this ruler HERE.  She also did a super-helpful video tutorial making HSTs with this ruler for her Celtic Solstice mystery quilt HERE.

Okay, so here's where I freak out.  I hate math.  Like, I really HATE math, because I'm generally not very good at it.  But I put on my big-girl panties, stopped whining (after a while) and figured it out.

So we need 3 1/2" HSTs so that they will end up 3" finished in the quilt.  Alrighty.  Based on Bonnie's info, you need to cut the strips 1/2" larger than your finished measurement (3").  That means I need to cut 3 1/2" strips, one neutral, one purple, right sides together for each HST unit:

That wasn't really too bad!  Of course, once I get Bonnie's Essential Triangle tool, I won't need the Easy Angle ruler, but I'm glad I know how to use it.  Just in case of a triangle emergency.

And TA-DA!  I have 32 units ready to sew (I'm making 1/2 of the required 64):

So, as always, I chain-pieced them through the Featherweight:

And then pressed them in to perfect little units:

I clipped the one little dog ear on each little square, and I'm all done:

I think the new fabrics fit right in, and I'm really digging the reproductions!  I'm off work for the next 2 weeks, so I should have no problems keeping up.  Woot woot!! 

Head on over to the Link Up to see everyone else's progress!  Bonnie used my pic in her collage on the link up page again (the center middle one)!  I'm so giddy! ;-)

But seriously, check it out!  Some of these creative quilters are "guessing" at set ups with the blocks we've made so far, and I'm totally loving some of them!  I need to plan a leader-ender project, and I already know how to make these blocks, so hmmmm...

"En Provence" Clue 4, and a Finish!

I'm so proud that I'm keeping up with this year's Quiltville Mystery Quilt "En Provence" by the amazing Bonnie Hunter!  This is Week 4, and I'm still chugging right along.  

Bonnie is having us make more Tri-Recs triangles, this time with our neutrals and scrappy dark purples:

I only had to make 40, instead of 80.  It's a good thing, too, because this is all that is left of my dark purples...I sure hope we don't need much more:

So after some chain-piecing, I got mine done:

These are so cute and pretty, and I really love using those Tri-Recs rulers!  I see a Storm at Sea in my future!!

Check out the other participants' progress at the Mystery Monday Link-Up on the Quiltville blog!  I love seeing others' creativity with the colors and fabrics!

And in other quilty news, I also finished a quilt for my friend's son:

This is pre-wash, so it's not as magical as it will be once it gets all crinkly!  My friend's son is in cub/boy/eagle scouts, and has a bunch of patches.  She wanted something so he can display and use them for years to come, and she came up with the idea of a quilt.  Only she doesn't know how to quilt.  But guess who does? ;-)

I really should not have volunteered to take this on, especially during Christmas-gift-making time.  But it's done, and she'll love it, so there you go!

And Then There Were Three...

Our third clue in the Quiltville Mystery Quilt "En Provence" is a repeat of the first clue...only this time the four-patches are in our PURPLES!!  Okay, tons of four-patches it is!

Sewing, sewing, sewing:

 

And spinning the seams:

 

And DONE:

There are some that I'm not sure have enough contrast, but they'll probably work.  I hope!

But check out these Quiltvillians who are really gettin' 'er done at the Monday Link-Up Party!

"En Provence" Quiltville Mystery Quilt - Clue 2, er, Deux

The Second Week's Clue involved the Tri Recs rulers, neutral fabric, and your chosen constant fabric.  I actually bought these rulers a while ago, but have never gotten around to learning how to use them...you know, with how scary-mathematical they look and all! :-)

I don't know about you, but I love learning through watching others, so the fact that Bonnie included some how-to cutting & sewing vids for the Tri-Recs in her post was totally awesome for me!

So after letting Master Bonnie teach me the Tri Rec ways with her fantastic tutorials, I ended up with what I think I was supposed to have:

It was actually pretty easy, and I daresay, kind of fun!  At the very least, it was WAY easier than I had thought it would be.  I've always wanted to make those star blocks with these units, so I'm really excited to have this little skill in my back pocket...or at least I know where the videos are for future reference! 😉 So, let's sew these suckers together!

And through the magic of chain-piecing, and with some help from a mind-numbing movie like "Legally Blonde" (I know, right?), I got a lovely pile of 50 units (I'm making my quilt half-sized):

And after a little starch and steam:

In her Tuesday Link up post, Bonnie says that we are done with this fabric, so I'm kind of sad because I think it's so pretty, although she tossed around the idea of using it for binding, which I just might do...or maybe a thin border?  Who knows?  I guess it's a mystery (har har har).

Speaking of Tuesday Link-Up, check it out HERE to see what all the other crazy-talented Quiltvillians are doing.  I'm super-stoked b/c Bonnie used one of my pics in the collage on her post!  And yes, I'm a total geeky fangirl! :-)

 I'm only a tiny bit concerned that my "constant" fabric is blue with magenta-ish spots, instead of all-magenta, but I think it stands out from the purples I've chosen, so I don't think it will look too wrong.  Only time will tell!

Mystery Quilting - Part 1

So Bonnie Hunter has started her Mystery Quilt for 2016!  I'm a huge fan of hers, so I'm excited to sew along in real time with her and all of the other Quiltvillians!  This year's is entitled "En Provence":

Click to go to the "En Provence Mystery" page on Bonnie's blog Quiltville

In the Intro Post, Bonnie has us pick out our fabrics based upon the gorgeous lavender fields she visited in...Provence! 😀 Here are her paint chips for the color scheme:

And here are the fabrics I pulled:

Instead of the magenta "constant" fabric, I picked the light blue w/the purple triangles.  I was really tempted to buy new fabric for this project, but I forced myself to use up my existing fabric...you know, to make more room for new fabric!   Most of these are reproductions, so I'm hoping that will be the overall feel. But I think my yellow is a little too "gold" and not enough "butter"...I'm hoping it will all work out!

I'm also only going to do half of the amounts in the hopes of ending up with a throw-sized quilt.   

So it looks like Bonnie will be posting "Clues" every Friday for us to complete.  Our first part was to make a bunch of 3-inch four-patches out of our neutral fabrics...221 to be exact!

Cutting:

Sewing:

Done:

I ended up with 120.  I love how scrappy and cute they are!  You can check out the progress of the other Quiltvillian participants in the Monday Link-Up.

I'm really going to make an effort to keep up with the clues as they come, but of course there's Christmas gift-making to do, and I volunteered to basically make a quilt for a friend of mine to give to her son.  Can't wait until I can retire and quilt/craft/knit/create full-time...in about 10 years!! 😂😂

I'm Still Here! :-)

I've been gone from blogland, but not gone from quilting!  If you really want to see what I've been up to, please follow me at Instagram HERE - my IG handle is "Liv2KnitnSew"

But here's some stuff I've completed post-Weekender Bag:

 






So, I will try to keep up better, especially because I'm participating in the Bonnie Hunter's Mystery Quilt!  I'm a huge Bonnie fan, so this is going to be fun!  Stay tuned!

Weekender Bag Sew Along - The Grand Finale!

Although I couldn't wait to just move along to the next side and get this thing DONE, one thing held me back:

See how the side pockets aren't even?  The strawberry is higher than the tulip, and although I tried talking myself into not caring, I care. 

So I ripped it out.  This was after I had already sewed it on with no less than 3 passes.  I fudged it a bit, and made the pockets match a little better before sewing it back together again:

I also broke my nail in the process :-(:

Then Pookie helped me mock up my 2nd side:

And I got that bad boy sewn on to get a finished Weekender exterior:

 

Unfortunately, my strawberry looks more like a tomato now, but whatevs :-/

So on to the sewing the lining together!  I did this much the same way I did the exterior:

I totally ignored the weird and fiddly-looking instructions about making a pocket for the stabilizer to put in the bottom of the bag...I couldn't picture it, and I was honestly too tired to figure it out.   Instead, I figured I could just do a false bottom.  So I just sewed the lining together, dropped it into the bag exterior, and then hand-stitched it around the zipper tape.  This was labor-intensive, and my fingers were sore from pushing through the layers of thick fabric/tape, but it fit together perfectly:

Then I made a false bottom by taking some cardboard and mocking up about how big I needed to make the bottom:

Then I used that template to cut out foam board (yes, the kind the kiddos use for presentations!  I got a big piece for a buck at the dollar store) and 2 pieces of lining fabric, which I cut about 1/2" larger than the board all around.  I ironed fusible fleece to the lining fabric for some extra padding:

I sewed the lining fabric pieces wrong sides together on 3 sides, leaving one short side open.  I flipped the whole thing inside-out so the right sides were now facing out, popped the piece of foam board in, folded the open edges down, and sewed them together.  My bottom ended up a smidge larger than my cardboard template, but it worked out just fine:

Voila!  A snug false bottom that isn't shifting anywhere, and which gives my bag a nice firm base:

And a shot of the interior, all sewn in:

I added some ribbons to the zipper pulls, and TA-DA!  My Weekender is finished!

 

And, I finished it in time for my trip to Playa Del Carmen!  I even made a little matching zipper bag out of the scraps:

I can't tell you how proud I am to have conquered this bag.  There are plenty of things I will do differently when I make another (oh yeah, there will be another!), and I'll summarize all that stuff in a future post.  Until then, I'm just going to bask in the glow of accomplishment! :-)