New Year's Eve on Easy Street

This morning we got Clue #7 which begins with combining the components of Clue #2 (64 Flying Geese and 64 Background rectangles) for completed units.  Of course, this should be scrappy, but that meant I needed to spend far too much time and effort making sure that the background rectangles and the background of the Flying Geese do not match in any way.  It worked out just fine, but probably took longer than Bonnie had intended.

Now on to the building of larger units!  YIPPEE! I've been waiting for this! The instructions call for the assembly of four half square triangle units in two different sizes.  I hear Bonnie's advise ringing in my ears as I construct the rows noting that I can hide any sizing discrepancies in the seam allowances.  DONE!  Thank you,  Bonnie.  Without giving the detailed directions in this blog, here is the result of my efforts. (Am working from a different computer and having trouble cropping - sorry.)

Small Half Square Triangle Units with Large Half Square Triangle Units

Bonnie also noted that we shouldn't stay up too late this evening as our BIG FINISH will be posted tomorrow morning!  I'm so excited!

I have also ordered my new SewAdjustable Table from SewMates since my wonderful children (what is the proper way to refer to college age kids, anyway?) gave me a "Quilting Fund" jar and primed it with a generous nest egg.  I just noticed that the jar has been located in my sewing area and that my dear husband, who brought it to its place of honor also seems to have dropped a few bills in as well.  What a guy!  My newly acquired desk/sewing chair has made its way down here as well and is about to be assembled for the big day tomorrow.

Happy New Year to all!

Double Bricks and a twist!

Clue # 6 for Easy Street was posted on time Friday morning and looked to be too simple for a full week's work.  We are cutting 2" strips of background fabrics, sewing them together in strips and cutting 3-1/2" squares. Total squares needed are 128. We have "extra credit" (early prep for another step to follow) of 16 5-1/2" squares cut into an X to yield 64 quarter square triangles. Piece of cake!

At least that's what I thought!  After some heavy exercise in order to impress the surgeon of my progress, then showing off for said surgeon, navigating traffic and snow in the hour plus drive to the 30 minute appointment to the surgeon all took their toll and made it quite difficult to do any more than half the work on Saturday. Got up this morning invigorated and ready to complete the double brick blocks and cut the quarter square triangles to be ready for the next clue.

Quarter Square Triangles

Double Brick Blocks

The twist is that instead of having the progress link to her website on Monday, we will be getting Clue #7! Yeah! While I appreciate easier work these past few clues, I have been more than anxious for Fridays to come to get on with the next steps toward completion.  Bonnie's note said that we are "on our way to a RAPID FIRE FINISH"!

I, for one, can't wait!

Squatting Turkeys?

What a wonderful name for these fat flying geese! Just after Bonnie Hunter posted Clue #5 for the Easy Street mystery quilt last Friday, her blog followers started sharing possible names for the block which is NOT a flying geese block, but very similar.  There were many suggestions but my personal favorite is Squatting Turkey.

I must admit that I was anxiously awaiting Clue #5 and while many other things were awaiting my attention, I decided to rearrange and preliminarily organize my sewing area. I really like the rearranged space and am now looking forward to the possibility of getting a new chair and possibly a Sew Adjustable table. They would both be welcome additions to my space, but I need to get over the "do I really need to spend that money on myself" question. It is one I struggle with often as I'm sure most of us do.

Clue #5 was quick and easy to sew as promised, but the rotary cutting proved more of a workout than I expected. It is wonderful therapy for regaining motion in my wrist and arm, but surprises me how strenuous the repeated motion can be. Once I get into the groove, the cutting is complete.  Perhaps that is why I tend to cut too many pieces.  Oh well ... I will just end up with a fancy strip on the back.

Here are my Squatting Turkeys from Clue #5. There should be 64, but I ended up with 65. Sorry for the poor quality photo.  For some reason I was not able to crop out the Flying Geese units from Clue #4 that are also on the design wall.



Squatting Turkeys


Am linking up to Bonnie's website for Clue #5 of Easy Street here http://quiltville.blogspot.com/2012/12/mystery-monday-link-up-part-5.html

Busy Christmas Eve here. Pt this morning and noon church service. I just love the guest tenor at this early service and look forward to hearing him share his talents with us again this year. 

Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas!

Waiting for Clue #6 .....

Sharon

More Flying Geese!

Easy Street Clue #4 was posted early Friday morning and given the busy day that lay ahead, I promptly reviewed the information and printed out a hard copy for my reference.  I did borrow the advise of another Easy Street participant and bought a thin binder to keep all of my clues in an orderly fashion.  This proved to be very helpful since Clue #4 did reference the steps used in Clue#2 for cutting and piecing more Flying Geese units.

I admit that somewhere along the way I have ended up with extra cut piece from various steps, so have kept them all in a pile should I have use for them in future steps.  Yippie! I had at least 20 leftover geese cut from Clue #2, so was ahead of the game when I started (and completed) the cutting and piecing on Saturday.

It was a gloomy and rainy day here in Chicagoland, so sewing in the basement was just what I wanted to be doing.  I must admit that it was nice to have company in the basement as my college age son was enjoying his first day of break playing video games in the other area of the basement. Of course, the continued encouragement of my dear husband has been a wonderful shot in the arm when the arm gets too tired to finish my work.  He is so supportive of my quilting and recovery efforts.  I am truly blessed!

The geese pieced together well and as expected, when assembling them into complete units with 64 of the previous Flying Geese, several of these birds seem to have had a nose job.  Meaning that their beaks are sometimes cut off and hidden in the seam.  As I mentioned in the lessons learned in Clue#2, this is a learning piece and I am happy with the overall outcome. Here are the assembled units now on my design wall.

64 Double Flying Geese Units

I am really getting excited about how this will all come together.  Bonnie said in today's post that we are half way complete and that there are no more Flying Geese.  I also pre-cut the 145 assorted 3-1/2" green squares for use in a future clue.



Assorted Green Squares


Since its Linky Monday, here is the link to Bonnie's page showing everyone's progress.
http://quiltville.blogspot.com/2012/12/mystery-monday-link-up-part-4.html

All done for now with Clue #4.  Anxiously awaiting Clue #5 on Friday. So glad to have this opportunity. What a wonderful gift from Bonnie that I am thrilled to have given myself!

Even better is that both my son and daughter are home from college.  These are all the gifts I need!

Oops!

Was so excited when I saw an email direct to me from Bonnie Hunter!  When I openned it, I was more than embarrassed that she was kindly letting me know that she had removed my link because I had incorrectly linked my main page instead of my updated progress page.

I'm soooo embarrassed!  I think its fiixed now.  Funny thing is that I was wondering about it when I did the link this morning.  Pays to check twice!

Baking is done and am wrapping and shipping boxes this morning.  Can't wait for Friday's next clue.

Shaded 4 Patch

Clue #3 arrived on schedule yesterday, but my day was filled to overflowing so I just read and re-read the instructions several times before finally prining them out this morning.  I was thrilled to see that we were using the same background pieces used last week in our Flying Geese since my incorrect cutting provided far too many leftover right wings. This time I cut correctly and even cut left only wings to match with my leftovers. Yeah! 

It should be noted that I do have a pile of extras from previous cutting sessions including the 3-1/2" triangles from this week. Seems I got on a roll with cutting pairs and forgot I was cutting/counting singles. Oh well, I'll put them all together in some fashion and put them on the back.  I like adding something fun from the front onto the backing.  I think it gives the quilt more life than just a solid backing.

Bonnie's explanations and instructions were great although I did find piecing the left wing with the wing up simply did not work for me. I could not get all of those seam allowance to feed nicely so I flipped it upside down feeding the 2" sqaure on top. Note the differences below.


This is Bonnie's chain piecing of the left wings onto the right wing/2"corner square unit.



This is my chain piecing method adding the left wings onto the right wing/2" square unit.
 My squares are red and Bonnie's are purple.



Using the Easy Angle ruler to cut the 3-1/2" tirangles was straight forward and I greatly appreciated Bonnie's advise about matching the assembled corner square unit to the single triangle most helpful. I did need to follow the triangle for piecing the center seam thus burying some piecing inconsistencies. 

64 completed 3-1/2" Shaded 4 Patch

I am very glad that I shopped my stash and am really pleased with the units that are awainting final assembly.  It will be nice to use the green fabrics, hopefully soon, since these pieces are looking like a patriotic quilt at this point.

Have also cut my "TWO 3" squares and cut each diagonally resulting in 4 triangles to be used later" but did not take a photo at this time. Decided to use the same green for both squares since I'm not certain where they will finally land.

Busy week ahead with a holiday event or gathering on every day this week plus still have some baking to do before sending packages off to relatives (hopefully on Monday) along with pt 3 days this week and best of all ... my kids are coming home from college for the holidays! I know I just saw them at Thanksgiving, but they aren't home that often anymore and I love hearing their laughter in the house.

Looking forward to Clue #4!

Enjoy your week!  Will link this page to Bonnie's page on Monday once its up.

Monday, December 10

Adding the link to Bonnie's page here http://quiltville.blogspot.com/2012/12/mystery-monday-link-up-part-3.html

Flying Geese

I'm a bit behind in finishing and posting my completion of Clue#2 for Easy Street Mystery Quilt.  I was so excited to get the clue last Friday morning that I went right about watching the flying geese tutorial and then cutting all my fabrics.  Here are some things I learned...

first ... when cutting your fabics, make certain that you have placed them correctly when cutting in order to get the right number of mirrored background pieces.  I thought I had done this correctly, but on closer inspection realized that 2 of my fabrics look similar front and back although they are definitely NOT the same front and back!  The trick became cutting more pieces without waste.  I figured it out though. Lesson learned.

second ... it may take longer, but sometimes cutting a single layer of fabric when you are using a new ruler or other tool will result in more accurate cutting.  The precision of your cutting has a domino effect, so it is clearly very important.  Another lesson learned.

third ... when cutting and piecing something new, a sample swatch is a good investment of your time and effort and most likely will save you time in the long run.  Lesson well learned.

finally ... I am proud of the flying geese I assembled.  They are not perfect and got better as I became more familiar and comfortable with the process.  I did need to restitch a few based on the other lessons learned, but am not going to redo every unit.  This is a learning piece for me and I am comfortable with and proud of my work.  Life lesson learned.



Here are piles of my Flying Geese. 128 units in total.


Since Bonnie gave us a heads up on cutting some background rectangles for future use, I took the opportunity to get that done now.

Pre-cut background rectangles for future clue use.

I am so glad that Bonnie has offered this opportunity to all.  It is a fun thing to do and learn from even during this hectic time of year! Here is my progress link to Bonnie's Blog   http://quiltville.blogspot.com/2012/12/mystery-monday-link-up-part-2.html

Anxiously waiting for Friday and Clue#3!