The Road to En Provence!

I have a completed En Provence block!

I am tickled pink to have this much to show today :*)  I know there are a few of my fellow quilters who were able to keep up better with the clues and have their tops complete.  But I had to let mine sit for a couple of weeks, and then cut/stitched like a maniac this weekend to play catch-up.

First I had to cut lots of quarter-square triangles for both clues .....

We were finally able to cut into our greens for these clues!  I chose to keep my greens very dark, and then used light yellowy-greens instead of the yellow Bonnie called for.  I'm not usually fond of yellow in a quilt (unless it is a yellow quilt !)  Here are the fabrics I used...

I set up a little production line, using Block #7 I Believe Sampler pieces as my leaders/enders....

My plan was to at least get all of my Clue #6 units made - and I did!

Once these #6 units were done, I had all I needed to put a full block together, which of course I shared at the beginning of the post ;*).  And then I got the #7 units halfway sewn as well .....

I couldn't resist stitching a couple of these together to see how the finished units looked...Pretty!!!

Then of course I had to piece at least one sashing section too!

Oooo - I love that touch of magenta in there!  I think I'm going to really like this quilt.  I will have to go back and make a few more of each clue to give me 9 blocks total, but it feels really great to have almost all of the pieces assembled, ready for making the blocks.  I'll keep you posted!!!

Linking up with Bonnie's Linky Party today where you'll find lots of gorgeous En Provence quilt blocks and quilt tops to enjoy - come on over!!!

Hugs & Blessings!

Teresa

=^..^=

How I said Goodbye to 2016 .....

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas!  

We had a lovely Christmas and, as is our habit, a nice, quiet New Year's.  Although we have no family near us, we are surrounded by good friends and fun things to do during the holidays.  I was especially happy to have a few days filled with nothing but puttering in my studio - it was heaven!!!  I managed to finish out the year by cranking out a few little Christmas projects and even a couple of finishes.

My favorite finish is Hello Mr. Moon - I made two of these!  One was a gift for my sister and the other I am keeping for us. =^..^=

This adorable little quilt is designed by Teri Henderson Tope, and you can find the free pattern at Bernina's We All Sew site.  I loved the freedom of the "messy" outlining she calls for around the cat and moon, and it was great fun learning how to do the swirly quilting design in the background.

I also made these Christmas Tree mug rugs for my Quiltfest group, using my buddy Kevin the Quilter's tutorial but eliminating the bottom row of the tree so they would be small enough to fit.  Thanks Kevin!!! 

The blue one is for Belinda who shares my love for all things BLUE!!!  (Yes, I have a blue one cut out for me too!)  And Joanne is my bird-loving friend, so hers has a beautiful seasonal bird fabric on the back.

This was a really fun project, challenging myself to use only my crumb scraps for the pieces.

I even pulled from my brown crumb jar for the tree trunks... who knew there could be so many colors of brown?????

One more of my Folk Art Album blocks is finished....

This is the 10th Folk Art Album block completed!  I have enjoyed this hand Applique project, especially finding ways to make it a little bit special...

Can you tell that I used metallic thread for the red buds?  I also added those french knot clusters in the center of the three-leaf section that looked a little boring to me before.  I have to admit, I'm ready to be done with this project.  Only 2 more - this one is next up for stitching.  Don't you just adore that hummingbird???

I shared my January Christmas UFO project, I Believe, with you in THIS previous post.  Since then I have finished two more blocks ....

I Believe Block #4

I Believe Block #5 - Yikes!!!!

Of course, as soon as I pulled this photo into Blogger, I saw the mistake!!!  That will have to get fixed first thing tomorrow morning :*)

In order to finish this top assembly in January (from start to finish!), I've committed to making a block per day on the days I am at home.  This week has been impossible - I've had activities every day!  Starting this weekend, this project and my En Provence blocks will be getting lots of love :*)  I'll share more about my thoughts on EP in my next post.

En Provence Clue #5 complete

Some friends are coming over to sew tomorrow, so I need to go get things set up.  As I type, it has begun to snow, so hopefully we won't get "snowed" out!  Actually, we're not expecting anything more than perhaps an inch at the most.  I'll be back this weekend to share my January goals with you.

Hugs & Blessings!

Teresa

=^..^=

Happily Productive!

It's so nice when I am able to get almost everything on my To-Do list accomplished in any given week, but especially this week given that we are so close to Christmas!  I finished up several hand-made Christmas gifts this week and wrapped them up, ready to ship off to my loved ones!

And I am happy to report that my Clue #4 tri-rec units are completed for Bonnie's En Provence Mystery Quilt (EPMQ)!

And I did them right the first time LOL!!!  Actually, I really enjoyed stitching up these units.  Because we had just finished making them for Clue #2, my mind was already in tri-recs mode and I was able to crank them out with no problems.  And what joy to work with these rich purples!!!!

I'm now caught up on all the EPMQ clues so far, as you can see from my completed Clue #3 dark/light purple 4-patches shown in the above picture.  Bear in mind again that I am only doing half the units Bonnie calls for because I am just planning to make a lap-size quilt - unless I end up loving it of course, in which case I have plenty of fabric to make a bigger quilt :*)

Since the 4-patches were so scrappy this time, I only cut one strip off of each of my purples, so it didn't make sense to use my Sizzix cutter for the strips.

However, I did use it to cross-cut the sections for the 4 patches -

How nice to be able to have all of them cut with one simple turn of the handle!  I love turning my 4-patches over so I can admire the cute little swirls on the back (smiles!)

I'll be linking up with my fellow mystery quilters over at Bonnie's Monday Linky Party - click HERE to come over and see all the En Provence loveliness!

And for those of you who are still hanging around, I bet you are hoping for a picture of Rocky - right?  Well, here is Mr. Snoopervisor hard at work making sure I get that perfect 1/4" seam on the strips for the 4-patches...

I think he really likes the vibration of the machine, because he only gets up there when I am actually sewing.  After all that hard work, he decided to take a well-deserved nap - I spied two adorable little sets of kitty toes and an impressively furry tail sticking out from under my foyer quilt rack...

 I think he likes to take naps under there because the heat vent under the quilts makes it toasty warm :*)  He's actually inside the quilt there - that cat sure does love him a quilt!!!

Hugs & Blessings!

Teresa

=^..^=

It Was Sew Much Fun, But ....

This morning, I dove straight in and churned out my Clue #2 units for Bonnie's En Provence mystery - DONE!!!

However, this was not my first rodeo with Clue #2! .....

🙀🙀🙀

When I went to bed last night, I was so happy because I had finished up half of the units I needed and was excited about finishing them up today.  So you can imagine my dismay when saw friend Kevin's  Instagram (@photokevin74) post first thing this morning showing his beautiful little finished units - which had the colors reversed (I thought!).  I even commented that he was really switching things up this year.  Then I got to thinking - would he really switch it up that much?  Was it possible.....  Headed off to check Bonnie's posted clue again, and sure enough!

I had reversed my fabrics!!!

UGH!!!!

Bonnie saw my "Oh Crap!!!" comment on Kevin's post and reassured me, saying maybe I could use them on the back or for a second border.  She's such a sweetheart - don't you just love her???

Today's units went a little more quickly since I had already answered all the questions - how many strips to cut, what method to use, etc.  I didn't get an order into Bonnie for her amazing new ruler early enough, so I decided to use my Marti Michell Set C tri recs templates since they cut dog ears and everything, leaving virtually no guesswork at all - the large triangle is shown here from yesterday, cutting my incorrect units ....

There are few things that make me happier than some time spent mindlessly chain piecing and either watching a show or listening to a good book!  Right now I am listening to the 3rd in the Gamache series by Louise Penny.  If you love mysteries you have to check her out by the way - but it is important that you listen from the beginning!

See my little Leader/Ender there?  (One of the things I love about using L/Es is that I can always find the beginning of my chain hehehe :*)  I had some leftover pieces from another project this past summer and just couldn't toss them!

That pink is one of my favorite fabrics - and these little leftovers were all I had left of it.  So I cut the largest pieces I could to make some tiny 4-patches.

Heaven knows what I'll do with them, but I have no doubt the perfect use will hit me out of the blue one day, and I'll be glad I saved them :*)

And what did my little Snoopervisor do while I toiled away today?  Well, most of the morning, he did this....

Poor little fellow has not felt well since we came home from our Thanksgiving travels - we think he's reacting to the flea meds we had to give him.  He had us pretty concerned there for a few days, but he's beginning to perk up and eat again without throwing up - a good thing, right?

Last night, he was on duty and not missing a thing sitting in his current favorite spot for Snoopervision .....

While I was stitching this morning, My Guy put up the Christmas tree and got down all the ornaments & decorations, so I will be doing my Mrs. Claus thing the rest of the afternoon.  Then tonight, he and I will waste 3 hours watching the Carolina Panthers do their thing (whatever that is - it's certainly not football) LOL!!!  And I'll be finishing up the stitching on this Folk Art Album block....

I still need to finish the white and then the yellow on the daisies ...

.... and then the special little touch will be stitching this adorable little bee!!!

I completed the stitching on this block last week....

That leaves me with two blocks left in this project, and I'll be ready to make the sawtooth sashing and assemble the center.  Woohoo!!!!!

I still have the last one to prep for applique, but this one is already fused down and ready for stitching next.  It may be my favorite of these blocks :*)

Linking up with Bonnie's En Provence linky Monday and Kathy's Slow Sunday Stitching.

Hugs & Blessings!

Teresa

=^..^=

4-Patch Heaven!

It is so much fun getting back into the start of another Bonnie Hunter mystery!

Our first Clue is all about neutral 4-patches, and I surprised myself a little by deciding to go with only two fabrics for my neutrals...

The Kona Bay on the bottom is a lovely batik

After all, you all know me well enough by now to know that I LOVE scrappy, right?   My problem with this project was that I didn't want to use black/white or gray neutrals with these colors....

.... and I didn't have enough beige/tan fabrics to really do scrappy justice.  Since the rest of the units will all be super scrappy, I think the low-key neutral might help pull it all together.  We'll see....

Here are my finished 4-patches!  Pretty boring, right?  Not much to them, I have to admit!  As I said in an earlier post, I'm only making half of the number Bonnie says to make, and I ended up with a few extra.

And of course I have to show off all the nice little center spins on the back...

Four-patches are really fun to make and go very quickly.  Bonnie is starting us off easy :*}  Of course I used my Sizzix cutter, using a ruler to line up for the subcuts to keep them square....

Snoopervisor Rocky had to inspect the machinery to make sure that it was both safe for me to operate and comfy for him to nap upon....

It seems there is no stage of the quilting process that does not fascinate him, and no surface upon which he cannot recline while he Snoopervises!  This was his first experience with the cutter, and he thinks it is great fun!  As for me, I am beginning to believe there is no space in this studio where I am safe from the danger of cutting off his tail!!!

Uh-oh!  I think he's zeroed in on a problem with the lighting!!!

A new tool I used for these units that made them go even more quickly was this Ideal Seam Guide ...

The purple Gauge at the top has holes for you to put the needle down at the size seam allowance desired (it even includes a scant 1/4").  Once that is in position, you just lay the Guide next to it, and the sticky surface on the bottom adheres it to your table.  It is not permanent and will pick up fairly easily with a little tug, and is reusable.  With this little toy, I was able to pretty much just guide the little units toward the needle while reading War and Peace and they came out perfect!

My goodness - look at the dust on my shank!!!!

This is a wonderful tool especially for sewing up those long strips!  I have tried several little gauges and guides to give me that perfect 1/4" seam, but this one gives me the most solid edge for lining up the fabric as it feeds into the machine, as well as a nice long edge.  This one is 5" - all I need for my machine - but you can get them in 10" or even 15" I think.  So far, I'm giving it 5 stars.

My health continued to improve today and I felt a lot more like puttering in the Studio.  Tomorrow I plan to stitch on a couple of bindings and then finish up the last block of a BOM I'm doing for one of my guilds.  Hope you have something fun planned too!

I'm linking up my little 4-patches with Bonnie's linky party HERE - you can see what others have linked up if you hop on over there!

Hugs & Blessings!

Teresa

=^..^=