Saying Good-Bye

Saying good-bye is never easy and on Thursday I had to say it to Guinness, my heart and soul kitty.  I loved him to bits and will miss him terribly.

Sewing will not be the same without my constant sewing companion.  Good-bye my luv.

Debi

The Big Reveal

Bonnie shared "The Big Reveal" of Celtic Solstice on January 1st and it was very exciting to see the finished quilt.  I wish I could say I had a big reveal to share but right after my holiday company left our whole household came down with the creeping crud.  I did get this done--LOL!

Yep, printing off the instructions for the last clue; however, a few days ago I did actually sit at my machine and finished this one unit.

After taking this photo I noticed the little yellow triangle does not come to a point.  It is a good thing there is a frog in the block since the frog-stitch will come into play sometime this weekend if it really bothers me that much.

I also spent a little time sewing one whole block because I happened to have the pieces and parts available to make one!

I still have lots to do on each step of Celtic Solstice and then I will need to make all of the blocks.  Speaking of blocks, I think I am going with the alternate setting for my quilt as I really do love the star block, plus I just may make mine a queen size too.  Let's hope I can get it all done before the next linky-party.

Coconut says she is more than ready for me to start sewing again.

Take a look at all of the unbelievable progress that everyone has made on Celtic Solstice.  

Cheers,

Debi

Part 4 and Thanks!

It looks like I made linking up just under the wire--whew!  I can hardly believe I actually got all of part 4 done although I still need to twirl those seams.  I just love making those little 4-patches.

Company this weekend so I doubt that I'll make much progress on Friday's clue but I sure can't wait to see what is ahead.


Linking up is such fun and I want to take a minute to thank everyone who has taken the time to visit my blog and to leave such nice comments.  I recently received a lovely note from Mary Huey and a very sweet and generous offer for a piece of nasturtium fabric for my quilt.  Look how beautiful!

Thank you Mary!!!  Mary has a lovely blog as well and you can visit her at Rose-Colored Trifocals to see her progress on Celtic Solstice.

Want to join the party?  Celtic Solstice at Quiltville is where it's happening.

Cheers,

Debi

Read All Directions

What happens when you casually read the well-written directions Bonnie writes for clue three of Celtic Solstice?

Now you may ask what's wrong with these cute little 2" squares?  Well they should have been nice long 2" strips!

Much better, although I was able to use those 2" squares to make cute little half square triangles.

After actually reading the directions I cut correctly and ended up with a finished pinwheel, but don't look too closely as those center points don't quite match up--LOL. 

Thankfully I still have plenty of orange and yellow strips to cut and sew and surely at least a few of those center points will match.

There is still plenty of time to join Bonnie's Celtic Solstice mystery.  Why don't you join us?

Cheers,

Debi

Nasturtiums and Celtic Solstice

Chevrons!  I can't believe I have never pieced a chevron in over 30 years of quilting!  A few done and tons left to sew.

Why did I go with Bonnie's color scheme on this mystery quilt?  Because it does really remind me of Ireland.

Nasturtiums in the back garden of a B&B we stayed at in Castlebar, Co. Mayo, Ireland in September, 1996.  Not a great photo because a) I took the photo and my photography skills are not great; b) it is a photo of a photo.  LOL!

Although the colors are out of my comfort zone I am having great fun sorting through fabric and using pieces that I never thought I would use--corn, lemons, celery, apples, grapes and shamrocks just to name a few.

There is still plenty of time to take a mysterious trip to Ireland and make Celtic Solstice with Bonnie and her peeps. 

Cheers,

Debi
 

Irish Eyes are Smiling!

I can hardly believe it's mystery time already and Bonnie Hunter of Quiltville has created one that calls to me--Celtic Solstice.  Ireland gets all the credit for my love of travel as it is the first place I visited when deciding to take a trip to Europe way back in 1996.  I loved it so much I went back in 1998 and hope to return someday.

Sadly, I didn't get much done over the weekend as I am trying to finish up another project before starting the mystery.  So much for the best laid plans as I didn't get the first project done and barely made a dent in our "homework" for week one but I have the whole week to attempt to get caught up.

Here is a sampling of the little I got done.

The doll is something I picked up in Ireland in 1998 when I visited the Doolin Crafts Gallery.  Irish Molly is made from hand-made felt and at the time I had sheep and was fairly active in my local spinning and weaving guild so she was of interest to me.  I am not sure I think Irish Molly is that cute, and I'm not really in to dolls, but she is a little different.

Here is a close-up of two of the neutral fabrics I selected from my stash.

I can't believe I am finally able to use that shamrock fabric and the good news is that I also have some in black which is in my green pile.  I also pulled out a fabric that had an Italian flare--see the Leaning Tower of Pisa.  I just love novelty fabrics and Bonnie's quilts are perfect for such fun fabric.

The mystery has just started and there is still plenty of time to join the fun.  Why not sort through your stash and join Bonnie and her peeps and create Celtic Solstice.

Cheers,

Debi

Rose Colored Glasses

Last week I went into our local antique shop just to see if they had any vintage sewing machines and they did not.  I did happen upon a embroidered pink and white quilt top that I liked as I have had a thing for pink and white quilts for awhile.  The top wasn't very expensive and at first glance it looked like it was in decent shape so I bought it.  

Apparently I had my rose colored glasses on when I looked at the top and only saw one place where it was coming apart and I thought I could fix that without any problems.  Once home I discovered all kinds of problems including a little hole in one of the blocks--sigh.  I decided to frog stitch the entire quilt and patch the hole.  

Here is the block with the hole above the embroidery.

The quilt top was hand pieced and I thought it would be a breeze to take apart but who would have thought the quilter would have sewn two lines of hand stitching on each and every block!

I have the quilt completely apart now and have patched the little hole as well.  I purchased some pink polka-dot fabric to use as stashing and now all I need to do is take some time to put it back together again.  Had I realized how much work this little top was going to take I am sure I would have folded up and put it right back on the shelf.  Note to self, be sure to remove rose colored glasses when looking in antique stores.

Cheers!

Debi