Another mystery solved

Yea!! I have finally gotten all of the pieces of the Yankee Pride Spring 2010 mystery quilt together.  We had a very nice Vermont summer day here which was helpful in the final push to get this done.  Along with the nice temperature we did have a windy day, which presented a challenge in keeping all of these pieces oriented in the correct direction.  I still have an inner and the outer border to still put on, but I love this quilt.  I have to say, this was a complete mystery for a long time.  The only thing I knew was that there were what felt like a million of those little burgundy 1 inch squares. 

The other finish that I have to show is another baby quilt.  A coworker of mine is having a baby any day now.  Maybe this weekend?  We will see if she is at work tomorrow.  When I started the quilt I didn't know if it was a boy or a girl, so I picked neutral colors.  I hope the baby enjoys it.  I was very happy with the results.

I will be back soon........Kristin

Mystery Solved

I have finished my Yankee Pride Fall 2009 Mystery quilt!  I feel like I have had a very productive President's Day around here.  I have put on the 3 borders and completed the backing.  I had to piece it because I wanted to use what I already had in my stash. 

The next mystery series starts in 2 weeks.  Whew, piecing done just in time.  Now, I have to focus on getting quilts done this year, not just piecing the top. 

Well, that is it for today.  I will be back soon.

Happy Valentine's Day

Happy Valentine's Day.  This is what I have made for my sweetheart(s).  The cookies that still need filling will get either raspberry filling or black cherry filling.  Both of these are favorites of my husand.  The others with the sprinkles are form my son.

The next thing I have to share is the Yankee Pride Fall 2009 Mystery quilt.  Next weekend is our reunion where we bring our completed tops and see how different they all look.  It is the big reveal.  That meant it was time for met to get cracking on this.  I haven't touched this since December.  Here is the top put together.  This quilt is for my husband.  I haven't made him a quilt in a very long time, he was due.

Here are the inner and outer border laid out.  I hope to get to that tomorrow since I am lucky enough to get President's Day as a holiday.  Wohoo!!!

Next up, my February assignment for the Star Crazy quilt that I am doing.  I love how this looks already.  The colors are a lot of fun.  The one inch squares were not even a pain to work with, I was worried about all of them when I was reading the directions.

And my final picture is of a new reading or TV watching area that we have created in the master bedroom.  Moving the furniture around turned into a painting project too.  The color is very similiar to what we had before, but a little darker shade.  I really love how this has turned out.  New paint, new book shelf (kind of hidden by the chair), and new chair.  Today we finally hung the pictures up.  Only took us five years of living in this house!  The only thing I still need to get is a floor lamp so I can see to read or stitch at night.

Well, that is all I have for now.  I will update with pictures of the borders on the mystery quilt when they are done.  Time to settle in and watch some Olympics. We were very excited to see a Vermonter win the first USA gold last night!  Go team!!

How about a look at a few quilts I have been working on while absent from my blog? 

2009 seemed to be a baby boom at work.  Here are the last two baby quilts for the year.  A co-worker and good friend is having twins!  A boy and a girl, they should be making their arrival by the end of the month.  Knowing my friends tastes, I really didn't want to make the quilts using the typical baby fabrics.  Instead I decided to use bali fabrics in a traditional block.   I used the same pattern for both the boy and the girl quilts.  I really like how they turned out.  Hope the babies do too!

The other top that I have been able to get together was the Fall Mystery quilt from Yankee Pride, my local quilt store.  This is for my son and he picked out a lot of the fabric.  I have to say, by the time I was done with this I had seen enough orange to last me quite a while.  He loves it which is what is important.  Now I just need to get it quilted.

Well, that is all for tonight. 

Kristin

Yes, I'm still here

First, Happy Belated Easter. I hope everyone had a nice weekend. We went to visit my parents and had a great time. This is a picture of their backyard. If you look very closely to the right of the big tree in the middle, there is a doe that spent the day watching us and resting in the nice pine straw. We were wondering if she was going to have a fawn or if she was sick, but no baby deer or obvious injuries. She was gone the next day.

Next up is an update on the knitting front. A woman I work with got a group of us interested in knitting blocks for a blanket for refugees. The blocks are to be 13" sq, any pattern, and the blanket will be 6 x 7 blocks. Here is what we had collectively as of Wednesday (with a few that are done but not in the picture). This has been such a fun project that we have decided to continue to meet at lunch on Wednesdays and see what else we can do. One suggestion is hats for premature babies.

An update on my mystery quilt. Here are assignments 1 thru 5 all done. Hmm, I still really have no idea where we are going with this one. The big mystery reveal will be in two weeks. My son is anxious for the results as this quilt is for him.And my final progress is some cross stitching that I worked on while away for Easter. I just love this design. The only bad thing I have noticed, is the words are stitched over one thread. I seem to have finally reached "that" point with my eyes that I have had to borrow my husbands reading glasses to see.

Knit 1, Purl 1

I guess the 4th time is the charm. This is my square for a charity blanket that a group of us at work are making. I fully disclosed that I am a novice knitter, but the group still welcomed me. I started this 13" block 4 times. Whew....I was wondering if I would ever get done. I guess at this point I have actually knitted about half the blanket, but only have this to show. It was actually a lot of fun once I relearned what the heck I was doing. I may actually start another one this weekend. They aren't due until April 15th so I have some time.

Not much done on the quilt front this week. A lot of the week was lost to a migraine. All I did manage to get done were the 32 flying geese that are due tomorrow for my Saturday Mystery quilt. I still don't have a clue where we are going with this, I love a good mystery. So far I have 160 half square triangles and 32 flying geese, hmmm... Stay tuned.

All right time to get the kiddo on the bus and head off to work. Have a good few days.

Batik Challenge Update #5

The top is done! I have spent a large part of today in my sewing room. What a nice treat that was. As a result, I was able to get the 3 borders on my Chocolate Truffles batik challenge. I am very pleased with the results. I am also surprised at how this top seemed to grow. I have also been able to work on my homework for the current mystery quilt that I am involved with. I just love a good mystery - books, TV shows, and quilts you name it, I love them. Here are ALL of the 160 half square triangles that we need to have done for this coming Saturday. Cool.....I wonder how these will be used.

Other than that, I also worked a little on a baby quilt that is under way. I discovered that I had 2 pieces within one block flipped. Whoops. So, seeing as I was in a groove today, I got out the seam ripper. Now the quilt is all better.

Have a great few days!

A Tisket, A Tasket - BOM 2

Whew, I was able to get this block done in the nick of time. This is the "A Tisket, A Tasket" BOM that is being published over at Bunny Hill. The next block will be available at the end of this week.






I haven't seemed to be able to get to my sewing machine much the last two weeks. I guess life is just too busy right now. This is what I was able to accomplish. The first installment of the Spring Mystery quilt that I am doing through my local quilt shop. I have to make 160 half square triangles. As of this afternoon, I had 2 of them done and trimmed. Only 158 more to go!

While, I haven't gotten much quilting done, I was able to spend some time working on my cross stitch this weekend. This has been a complete joy to work on. Well, that is all that is going on for today. I have a guild meeting this week, yipee. I love show & tell, always fun to see what everyone is up to.

Have a great few days friends.

First Finish of 2009

Yea! My first quilt top finish for 2009. I was able to spend a fair amount of time working on some projects during the holiday break. As a result, I finished the Yankee Pride Fall Mystery quilt top. Wohoo...

It seems as though I know a lot of people having babies lately. I decided that I would get started on both a Baby Boy Quilt and Baby Girl Quilt to be prepared with a gift when the time comes. It will be nice to have these on hand instead of my normal of "oh, I need that for the shower tomorrow?". It is a new year, a good time to try to turn over a new leaf. We will see how that goes. As for my stash management, the Baby Boy Quilt is adhering to that approach.

I started this this weekend, and ALL of the fabric came from the stash. I really love the colors in this quilt. I was also how surprised at how nice it was to use some fabric I have already acquired!Hope you all had a nice weekend.

Making the most of a few days off

I have been able to make a lot of progress on my mystery quilt the last few days. It is so nice to have vacation time! Here is the update and I have 2 more borders to add.

I also thought I would share some of my "finishes" from the past year. Since we are on the cusp of a new year, it seems appropriate to review what has happened in 2008.

This was a quilt pattern that was from the Quilt Sampler Magazine (I believe it was Spring/Summer 2007). I made this with the thought that deep in our very long winter in Northern New England, I would look at this and think of warm caribbean breezes and sand in between my toes.

This is my Sring 2008 Mystery quilt from my local quilt store, Yankee Pride. The color that I selected from the available colorways was light bali. This was the background fabric. I have worked on getting better at a scrappy look. This is not easy for me at all, although I think I have made some good progress with the mystery quilts.

Time to get my feet wet

Well, here goes. I thought I might start out by posting some pictures over the next few days of what I am working on and what I have finished over the last year. A kind of get to know me few posts. I have to admit, this is kind of scary for me. I have always been a reader or lurker of blogs (at least over the last year or so that I have really been following various blogs). I am now jumping into uncomfortable territory, but there are some may wonderful blogger peeps "out there" in the blogosphere, I figure I am in good company. I hope you enjoy.

This is what I am currently working on. I took a little break over Christmas as my sewing room is also my guest room. I am now ready to get back to work! This is a mystery quilt that I have been making with a group at my local quilt store, Yankee Pride Quilts. When I started I was able to pick the design fabric. I selected the red bali from the available colorways. These are the alternate star blocks that are done.

And here are the connecting blocks that I am in the process of completing.