Grassy Creek Mystery Quilt

Grassy Creek Mystery Quilt is now a top!  So glad to have it this far, I even ordered a backing for it! 

 Woohoo!!

As you may know, if you follow Bonnie Hunter, this quilt had lots of lovely string blocks.  I was not able to make those as I didn't have enough grays in my stash for the variety needed.  But I am pretty happy with the way this has turned out.  
 

Still Sewing!

 Yes, I'm still sewing on Grassy Creek Mystery.  Sometimes it doesn't go as fast as you would like.  I've been working on the quilt everyday, just not as much time on some days. 

I do have all the blocks sewn together and the small green border on.  But I have been spending time trying to figure out how to do the next border.   It's been too cold and snowy to get any outside pictures, so I have this sad indoor picture.  But at least you get to see a quilt, right?

I have some gray fabrics but not enough of each to do a whole border.  These are the two I have:

So I decided to make the number of string blocks the pattern called for, but use these fabrics.  We'll see how it goes!

Excited

 I'm so excited!  Grassy Creek Mystery is starting to come together!  Here it is on the design floor:

I'm starting to sew it together.  

Planning Ahead

 I was trying to do a little planning ahead on Grassy Creek Mystery.  I'm almost done with the Ohio Star Center blocks, just a few more to go.  So, I started thinking if there was an alternate block or how would this go together.  For me, there just weren't enough pictures of how to put this together.  Then I got this idea, outline the Ohio Star Blocks on the drawing.

Now I get how this will be going together!  Once I finish the last few blocks, it's on to the finishing pieces, sashing and borders.

Ohio Star Center

The Ohio Star Center blocks are coming along. 

Slow and steady.

More Progress

 I made more progress on the blocks.  I finished up all the center Ohio Stars and have started framing them.  First one done!

I'm excited to keep going and get this quilt finished!

Building Blocks

 So I started building blocks with the parts that I had made.  I like the way they are turning out.

The Big Reveal!

 The Big Reveal!  Did you see it?  Such a pretty quilt.  Grassy Creek Mystery!

I have a dilemma.  How am I going to make the outside border?  She has the lovely string blocks and I don't have the variety of fabrics to make that.  I'll have to keep thinking about this as I finish up some things that I can.  To complete the inside of the quilt, that is.

I got this far on Winter's Walk.  I love the way this cute little wallhanging is coming along. 

What fun projects are you making progress on?

A First

This is a first for me, I have stayed caught up with Bonnie Hunter's Mystery quilt this year!

I ended up with all of Clue 6 blocks being from the same fabric.  I didn't have enough grays to create the string blocks so they ended up one solid piece but from a fun gray with movement.  I really like the way they look and I hope they blend well with the finished quilt.

I also finished Day 6 on Winter's Walk quilt along on Jen Daly's website.

  

I hope to get Day 7 completed today.  Fingers crossed!

 

Enough Already!

I keep thinking about my New Year's Resolution, enough already!  Right?  Keep it simple.  One of my biggest "problems" are backings and quilting my tops.  So I'm going to make a backing a month for one of my tops.  The goal is to get these tops closer to the finish line.  So I promise, this is my last post on New Year's Resolutions.  Thanks for reading as I "think out loud" about what I want to do.

I have been working on "Walk In The Park" by V and Co.  

I have the big pink flowers completed and am working on the leaves.  I'm also in the process of bagging up the small flower blocks.  Lots of little pieces for that block.  I've been working on this as a leader/ender as I work on Grassy Creek Mystery Quilt.  The background in the kit I bought has a whitish/gray grunge, so it's a little different.

 

Fantasy

 I decided my method of trying to organize my UFOs was a fantasy!  I don't really want to create more paperwork or whatever in my sewing room.  So I'm not doing the notebook.  I will continue to use my app, "Quiltful" as my tracking device.

I finished my nine patches and the flying geese blocks for Grassy Creek Mystery.  Still cutting the red rectangles.  Need to find more reds in my sewing room in order to get enough cut.

.And did you see?  I guessed correctly, gray string blocks! A decision will be made soon as to how I will handle this part.

Tweaking My Resolution

 I decided on tweaking my resolution for 2021.  I have a few UFOs in the basement, but most are located in my quilting room.  So I'm starting in the quilting room and will move to the basement when I have completed my sewing room.  But for now, just documenting the quilting room.

We had a big snow yesterday so I've been out shoveling the driveway and sidewalk while my husband does our lane.  Such a pretty morning today!  It sparkles so, but I couldn't catch that with my phone.

Progress is being made on my nine patches for Bonnie Hunter's Mystery Quilt. 

Hope I can get all of this clue completed before Friday, but I'm not going to stress if it doesn't happen.

Day 5 Is Done

 Day 5 is done, I love how this is coming along.  Looking at the picture, I see I am a little off on my scarf.  But I'm going to leave it.  This is for fun and I'm not going to stress myself with perfection.

And did you see?  I did guess wrong on Bonnie's mystery.  We have 9 patches and flying geese and red pieces as our clue for this week.  Here is one of my 9 patches.

Hope you have a great day!

Restful Day

 I hope you had a restful day, yesterday.  Or at least enjoyed your day!   I had finished clue number 4 for Grassy Creek Mystery by Bonnie Hunter on Thursday so I'm ready for the new clue!  

I was also able to finish Day Four of "Winter's Walk" Quilt Along by Jen Daly. 

I have Day 5 all cut out and ready to sew.  I will get that block sewn before I start the next clue on Bonnie's Mystery.  I borrowed that tip for some other quilter/blogger.  I'm not sure who, but I love that tip.  I start off my day in my sewing room stitching some things together, so I already have made progress on my project. 

With the new year approaching, I been thinking of what tip I want to add to my routine.  It needs to be something about picking up or cleaning off or clearing off my cutting table.  I am terrible about stacking stuff on my cutting table, making it hard to work on my project.  But I need to piggy-back it to some other part of my routine or I will never do it.  Any ideas?  What tips do you use to keep yourself productive?  

No Whining

 One of the rules of Bonnie's Mystery Quilts is "No Whining".  I do want to clarify, I wasn't whining, just trying to guess what's next when I was talking about the string blocks.  Who knows what is up her sleeve!  

One of my challenges for the mystery quilt is to only use stash, which is why I was even guessing.  I debated changing the color scheme or even just a few of the colors.  But in the end I decided to keep everything as Bonnie suggested.  And however it comes out, that is the way it was meant to be.

We had beautiful sunrise and sunset yesterday.  Such beauty makes me want to try to make a quilt like one of these pictures.

Sunrise

Sunset

So much beauty to be enjoyed!

Uh-oh

 Uh-oh, Bonnie gave us a hint of a block to come, gray string blocks.  If you go to her blog, she has a friend that is offering gray strings at her quilt shop.  I am low on gray and I thought I might go with some yardage I had.  But yardage doesn't make great string blocks.  Not sure if this will put me on hold or if I will do plain blocks for those.  I love the look of string blocks, so we'll see what happens.

I tried to get a picture of the Bethlehem Star last night.  It's not a great picture, but it will trigger a memory for me when I look back at this.  Did you get to see it?  

Another Clue

 Bonnie Hunter had another clue to her mystery quilt, Grassy Creek Mystery, on her blog today.  I'm almost done with clue #3 but I had to see how clue #4 was going to look.  So I made up one this morning.  Once I finish the last of my #3 blocks, I'll be ready go!

I like the way it looks.  I'm really curious to see how this block will be used in the quilt.  Is it sashing?  Will it have more pieces added to it?  Looking forward to the next clue!

Mystery Quilt Progress

 The mystery quilt progress is coming along.  I'm working on Step 3 of Bonnie Hunter's Mystery Quilt Along, "Grassy Creek".   I do have a link attached but it won't work once Bonnie removes the clues from her blog and it becomes a pattern in her shop or in one of her books.

So far I'm happy with how they are coming along.  I do think I may lose a few points once they become part of a block.  I'm trying my best, but these are tricky!  Love that I'm always learning.

How was your sewing today?  Any tricky blocks for you?

Startitis

Startitis has hit again!  The Bonnie Hunter mystery quilt was too much to resist!  I have Clue 1 completed:

and Clue 2 is almost done.  

 

If you're interested in her mystery, check it out here: Grassy Creek Mystery   She will have this mystery up for a period of time for free at her website and then the pattern will be added to her store.

There are so many QALs and Countdown to Christmas, and other mystery QALs, it's hard to decide which one you would like to do.  Which is why Startitis hits so hard!  What are you working on?  Has Startitis hit you?