Last guess on Easy Street

This is my last guess on Easy Street, Bonnie Hunter's mystery quilt. Missing is the black squares, have not cut them, but I think they will go in the center of the blocks. I show only 2 designs, but maybe there will be multiples.

Sorry, a little messy since it is not sewn together, and I don't know if it right. BUT it is fun to guess.

Easy Street - Step 4

I have half the units completed for step 4 of Bonnie Hunter's current Mystery Quilt - Easy Street; and have cut the green squares. Here is a configuration that I found pleasing, but it is most likely not correct. This is my first mystery and I am really enjoying it.

Bonnie must be having a good laugh at all of us putting the units together for “guesses” to the mystery quilt when we only are 50% done. I'm laughing with her, it's a hard puzzle when you are missing pieces. And ... Like so many others, I didn't even include the 2”x3½” rectangles we cut in step 2. Where do they go? In the border? I want to know. Another guess using the rectangles (with missing parts).

Friday does not come quick enough!


Happy sewing! Linking up to Mystery Monday - Easy Street, Part 4.

Sewing in December

Hurray. I finished a Christmas gift before the 25^th. Sometimes I have had to ask for a gift back so I can finish it in January. Has that happened to you? I can't be the only one!

Made the table runner using the Double Slice pattern at Missouri Star Quilt Co. except used 5½” squares, first cut at 2”, second at 2¾”.


These two tops have been hanging around and I finally sandwiched them for Project Linus. They will be tied by the church group and then ready for delivery!

Excitement – a new iron! Well for most people a new iron is not too exciting, but a quilter, excitement plus, especially when it was $5+ tax. That's right, $5. My iron choose this week to go on a permanent vacation, no more heating up. After, 4 years of constant use, dropped a few times and sharing at sewing events; who can blame it.


It came happened at the right time. I had just received my Birthday gift reward from JC Penney; $15 off any item $15 or more. All I wanted was an iron that heated up hot and had different setting, so got the cheapest Sunbeam model, $20. Paid $5.42.


It has been a busy week and I must start Step 4 of Bonnie Hunter's current mystery quilt, Easy Street. I figure after step 4 we will have completed 60-70% of the quilt. It's hard to estimate how the quilt will look since, maybe, we have completed part of the border. Here's part of my step 1-3.

Happy sewing! Linking up to Crazy Mom Quilts and Confessions of a Fabric Addict.

Easy Street - Step Two

December is always a busy month with 4 birthdays in the family I must be crazy to be doing the mystery quilt. WOW! My daughter just turned 21! It's not surprising that I didn't finish step two until Thursday, right before step three was posted. I have cut some of the units for step 3, but have not sewn any together.

Made this bag for a friend's daughter who turned 4 this past weekend.

Used this bright lime green print for the lining and 2 patch pockets. 

Sunday went to the local theater with some friends and saw “A Christmas Carol”; then dined at PF Changs. Very yummy. One lady suggested reading our fortunes with “in bed” at the end. This was hysterical. Mine read “Start a new exercise program tomorrow in bed”. Another - “Someone will come by this week to help you with your problems in bed”. 

Another busy week here with college finals. Linking up with Bonnie Hunter's Monday Link Party. Hope you have a great day.

Easy Street, step one

I have joined the fun and am participating in the current Bonnie Hunter mystery, Easy Street. I have chosen solids. I love her colors but just don't have the selection. When I started looking at my bins, the solids jumped out. 4 colors + a background. I think it will end up looking South Western or Halloween depending on the pattern. Turquoise, Wine, Green, Orange and Black. Orange as my constant, black as the background.

My son stated that Halloween is over and my DH has asked if I have become a giants fan, wonder why? 

LOL, these comments are not surprising. I plan on making half the quilt so if I'm not in love with it, I can finish it, and move on to another project or add some more blocks to make it the right size.

Linking up to Easy Street Link up #1. Thanks for stopping by and have a nice day!

A Bag of Crumbs

A friend of my inherited a bag of crumb blocks and passed them on to me last month. It included incomplete strips and cut squares. Most of the blocks were made of 4”-5” strips of smaller strips. The blocks needed to be squared up to 8½”, others just needed a strip added. Ended up with 20 blocks and left over 4”-5” blocks which I squared up to 4½” since I planned on adding wide sashing. Almost done, just need 6 more sashing pieces on the side. Thinking about adding a wide orange border.

Funny how I ended up working on these crumb blocks with Bonnie Hunter working on 2½” crumb strips, sewing them together for a finished 8” block.


Bonnie has started a new mystery today. I have chosen solids. I love her chosen colors but just don't have the selection. When I started looking at my bins, the solids jumped out. 4 colors + a background. I think it will end up looking South Western or Halloween depending on the pattern. Turquoise, Wine, Green, Orange and Black. Orange as my constant, black as the background.

I plan on making half the quilt so if I'm not in love with it, I can finish it, and move on to another project or add some more blocks to make it the right size.

Linking up to Confessions of a Fabric Addict. Thanks for stopping by and have a nice day!

Memory Quilt

Finished a memory quilt for a friend of mine using her husbands shirts. Tony passed away about 2 years ago. They were married 57 years.

I received 5 plaid/stripe shirts along with 7 knit shirts. The knit shirts were hard to work with, used them for the hour glass blocks.

I'm using the ChunkyChurndash pattern from Bonnie Hunter, a free pattern from her blog. I increased the blocks size to a finish 7½ “. I also added a few flower printed fabrics, they seem to soften the plaids and stripes which seamed so flat alone.

Delivering this quilt today.


Linking up to Can I get a Whoop Whoop at Confessions of a Fabric Addict and Finish it up Friday at Crazy Mom Quilts.

Addicted to Basket Weave Blocks

YES, I'm addicted. Had to make these Basket Weave String Blocks after seeing them at Beth's blog, Love Laugh Quilt.

They are so much fun since each turns out different.

I have made 6 completed, but have 5 sets of strings put together.

Thanks Beth!

Made this block out of the scraps this week. My DH has claimed it for a mini quilt to hang in his office.

Linking up to CrazyMom Quilts and Confessions of a Fabric Addict.

Strip quilts for Project Linus

Didn't make it to the September Project Linus work day but a request for quilts from a head start program came in last week. They requested 22 boy and 11 girl blankets. The PL slave driver coordinator thought we should make some strip quilts. My machine was in the shop last week, but I pulled some of my kid friendly fabric and other strips putting together 3 kits for myself. 48 hours later, my machine was back, sewing so smooth and I was busy.

These went together so quickly, pillow casing and only quilting in the ditch. I using a wavy stitch

Favorite has to be this wild fabric with the monkeys.

It has been hot here, 90's, cooler tonight, tomorrow, low 80s.

Emily's quilt

My DD best friend is leaving for UC Davis in a few days. Loves animals and wants to be a veterinarian. Has worked had towards this goal for a long time, voluntary at a office, being involved with animal rescue and fostering many animals. I wanted to send Emily off with a quilt showing support with lots of love and hugs. Bought some dog fabric for the front.

About 50% of the fabric was found in my stash, including the horse fabric on the back.

I was very happy with the fabric I selected for the binding.

Emily – Wishing you the best, study hard and have fun!


Linking up to Can I get a Whoop Whoop at Confessions of a Fabric Addict.

Dump and Sew

When Beth at Love Laugh Quilt first posted about Dump and Sew I knew I had a bag of scraps to use. Several weeks before I had come home from Project Linus with a bag full of scraps and strips to make string quilts. I had made 60 blocks and was getting bored and had already started a few crumb blocks. Out dumped the bag, including the crumb blocks. I sorted a little, taking out the RW&B, and added some triangles.

Crumb blocks are at the top of the picture.


The hardest challenge of this project was not to cut as much as I normally do. There were many strips in the bag and I sewed some together, folded, cut in half, and sewed again. I sat at the machine, sewed, did not iron and did not use the rotary cutter; two hours later ended up with 14 odd shaped blocks. It actually was very relaxing letting go of rules and letting the fabric dictate what shape the block was going to end up. This is what I ended up with after ironing, and squared up the corners:

I made some connecting strips.

Final flimsy:

Yes, it looks like I threw in some perfect 16 patch blocks, but this one was made with a 3” and 2 1/2” strips (fungly fabric – lipstick & mascara). Sew, fold, cut. I think I could make a whole quilt this way.

Thanks Beth for challenge. I enjoy this method and will try it again.


Check out the other quilts at the linky party at Love Laugh Quilt.

Tony's Shirts

What have I been working on? A memory quilt for a friend of mine using her husbands shirts. Tony passed away about 2 years ago, After 57 years of marriage she is devastated, living with a heartache no one can heal. It's a blessing that she has 5 grandchildren, 2 wonderful sons and daughter-in-laws that live close and see her often.


I offered to make a quilt using Tony's shirts and received 5 plaid/stripe shirts along with 7 knit shirts.

I'm using the ChunkyChurndash pattern from Bonnie Hunter, a free pattern from her blog. I increased the blocks size to a finish 7½". Also added a few flower printed fabrics, they seem to soften the plaids and stripes which seemed so flat alone. I have finished all the blocks, showing about half. I need to square up the hourglass blocks before I sew them together.


I hope this quilt gives her some comfort and she has sweet dreams with Tony's arms around her.


Linking up to Can I get a Whoop Whoop at Confessions of a Fabric Addict.

Sticks are on my design floor

I have been slowly working on this Sticks quilt, trying to use up some more scraps. Finally put it down on the floor. Where are the last 5 blocks? If I make 5 more I will find them, if I don't this will sit in the UFO pile. Guess I should just make them while I know where the background fabric is.

Another hot day, better go out and water the plants.

Linking up to Can Iget a Whoop Whoop at Confessions of a Fabric Addict.

Quilt Repair with New Borders

Other projects have gotten pushed aside this week. Along with watching the Olympics, my daughter's favorite, well loved, worn quilt came out of the wash with more frayed edges. After 11+ years of constant use. I knew this was going to happen so have a quilt half done. But... DD still wants the old quilt. It's understandable, so soft from the constant use, the flannel back – so comfy. This was the worse section.

The center is OK, no holes. So I have cut the outer border and pink ruffle off leaving the inside blocks and border. The quilt was originally made from some cheater blocks, added some sashing, cornerstones and borders. Pillow cased the quilt with a fluffy pink ruffle.

First I quilted the old quilt a little more, then layered it with the top and bottom borders. I added the new top and bottom borders using one of the quilt as you go method.

Layers consist of (1) back border face up (pink plaid), (2) old quilt, top up, (3) top border, face down (sparkle clouds). It is tempting to add the batting at this point, but it will add too many layers into the seam and you might end up with a ridge.

After sewing the seam, open up your layers and press as needed. Then lay flat, fold back one of the new borders and add the batting. Then fold down the border, pin/baste and quilt as desired (or add the side borders and quilt at the end).

After quilting the top and bottom, trim as necessary and proceed to the side borders. I wanted to add 9” borders, so I cut my new pieces 10” wide, and after quilting ended up trimming at 8 3/4”.

The quilt is slightly larger then the original size. I am cutting pink binding to finish the quilt. I better get busy, my DD says she misses her quilt. 

Linking up to Design Wall Monday at Patchwork Times!

Bright Colorwash

I've never done a colorwash quilt before unless you count this blue quilt from 8 years ago. It's not really a colorwash, it just happened at church. I was sewing with the church group and just kept using strips of blue sewn together and mixed and turned. I was really pleased with the shading across the quilt.

But … when the opportunity to order colorwash kits came from Wanda, at Exuberant Color. I did not hesitate and ordered two Bright colorwash kits. Received them, and dived right in opening and spread the contents of one across my card table. Wandaful fabric.

This is one color kit with 50+ pieces added from my stash. 

I realized strips, plaids, and geometric prints were questionable but tried a few and removed them. The subtle plaid is still in. I think the one purple with green dots reads too solid. The last geometric is still in but may not remain.

This is what I have added.

My card table is getting too crowded to continue, so I must take over the dining room table. The fun will continue.

Flimsies for Project Linus

The workshop for Project Linus is today. A day to sandwich quilts from 

flimsies given to PL. Delivered some of the tops on Friday since I will 

arrive late. These tops were sewn from some of the orphan blocks I 

brought home with me at a prior meeting. Should be a fun day and nice 

to see everyone.

Made 2 hexagon quilts from a donated top and fabric. Big 12” hexagons. 

Adding borders: 

This Scrappy Rail Fence kit was handed out at a meeting.

More crumb blocks sewn with a plaid, have a fleece to use as a back.

I'm trying to stay cool, headed for the 90's today, above 100 inland. 

I got up at 5:30am and opened my doors and window so the house 

is 71 currently. Time to shut them up tight. Have a great day!

Linking up to Quilts are for Giving!