Thanksgiving in a Nutshell

I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving. We did. We were able to be together with two of our children, and one grand daughter. Wonderful times were had by all. Of course, we ate too much. It's a requirement, isn't it?









Thanks,
Lin

Bonnie's Newest Mystery Quilt, 2014

Bonnie Hunter has just released her first clue to her 2014 Mystery Quilt, Grand Illusion. This one is based on the Grand Hotel on Mackinac Island, Michigan. The Hotel is a beeyutiful place! And they treat you like royalty. (But they better for those prices!) We've gone twice to the Grand, both times when they've run a huge sale, just for Michiganders. Even then, it's expensive. But so rewarding. Ahhh...

Here's a link to Bonnie's first clue.

The Grand Hotel

And here's the first block we are to make. I'm gonna be a busy girl again. I debated if I wanted to make her mystery again this year. I loved the results last year. Here is a link to my Celtic Solstice.

And a pic of mine.

Thanks,

Lin

Strange Weather

I had to take my car in for some recall work. We had really cold, snowy weather last week. Then on Monday, it got into the 50s. Wheee!

I left for my car fix and it was 47 at home. The grass was very green. As I drove an hour south, the temp dropped. When I got to dealer, it was 35! Started snowing while I was waiting.

Strange weather indeed!

Tomorrow is Grandparent Day at our 2 younger grand daughters' school. Two hours away. I hope travelling is OK.

I thought it interesting that they call it Grandparent Day. Not Grandparents' Day. I guess that's for the kids who only have one Grandparent visiting.

Have a happy Thanksgiving Day!


Thanks,
Lin

Kitties and Zebras and Tigers. Oh My!

I finished the scarves and hats for the grand daughters. They turned out adorable, if I do say so myself.

Here's the pictures of the pattern:

The pattern is from Nancy Zieman, Nancy's Notions. Some of the work was particularly fiddly, and I did the final steps my way, which I found much easier.

Now here are my creations:

Front of Tiger

Back of Tiger

The Tiger was by far the trickiest one to do. All his Tiger stripes!

Everyone needs a Purple Kitty!

Zebra scarf and hat

The scarves all have little pockets to keep their hands warm. The Zebra's pocket is black.

Can you see Mr. Zebra's shaggy mane?

I think these guys are GRREATT!  I especially like the Zebra's fabric. I also got that thru Nancy's Notions. Wintery Fleece, I think it's called.

Meander

Look, my dog can do a meander!

I grant you it's hard to see, with the shadows, but she's got the meander stitch down!

We had freezing rain today, then up to high 30's, so a lot has melted! YAY! Back to nasty cold on Monday.

Thanks,
Lin

Looking Glass Quilt

I pattern tested for Cheryl Brickey of Meadow Mist Designs again. I enjoy testing for her, her patterns are very well written and easy to follow. And besides, she makes interesting typos. Instead of selvedges, she had savages. It created all kinds of interesting pictures in my little mind.

This pattern is charm and layer cake friendly, and includes baby, lap twin and queen sizes, all in one. I picked up a charm pack of batiks and white Stonehenge for my background. I loved the way the batik brights played against the white, but not a stark white. The little bit of Stonehenge pattern softened it. And popped the colors of the batiks. I made a baby size quilt.

All the negative space made me want to designs feathers for there. I chose to add a border on the sides--the pattern was not written that way. It just looked uneven to me. Took my new quilting recruit with me to pick out backing. I never plan ahead enough to buy backing and binding when I choose the main fabrics. Do you? I almost think the quilt has to talk to me to choose backing/binding. Wouldn't it be funny (and creepy) if all the quilts started "talking" at once? 

Here are some pictures of my Looking Glass. (I wonder how Cheryl comes up with her pattern names.)

The larger colored squares have six-pointed stars on them, a little something I learned at my recent HandiQuilter class. All-in-all, I'm very happy with this quilt.

Here's a link to Cheryl's blog.

Cheryl has an Etsy store and also Craftsy. Here are her sites: Etsy:  https://www.etsy.com/listing/211611654/looking-glass-a-digital-pdf-quilt

Craftsy: http://www.craftsy.com/pattern/quilting/home-decor/looking-glass--for-charm-and-layer-cakes/121438?fresh=true&NAVIGATION_PAGE_CONTEXT_ATTR=PATTERN

To enter the Giveaway, 

This giveaway is open to everyone, everywhere and is for a copy of the digital Looking Glass pattern.  This giveaway starts today (November 22, 2014) and will run until December 6, 2014. (If you win and have already purchased the pattern, you will receive a refund of the purchase price.)

To enter:

1. Leave a comment, any comment. If you need a suggestion on what to write you can tell me if you have any other brands than Fray Check you like, or what size pre-cuts you like to work with.

2. My followers, old and new, get an additional entry. Please leave a second comment letting me know how you subscribe.

Note: If you are a no-reply blogger then please include your e-mail address. If I can not reach you, you can not win.

This is the first Giveaway I'm running, so please bear that in mind.

Thanks, 

Lin

Give Away Scheduled with Blog Hop

I will be participating in a Blog Hop on Saturday, Nov 22, with a giveaway! Please check it out!

The Blog HOp is made up of people who pattern tested for Cheryl of Meadow Mist Designs. Here is the schedule of Hoppers:

Friday November 21st: Cheryl @ Meadow Mist Designs

Saturday November 22nd: Lin @ Lin's Quilts

Sunday November 23rd: Beth @ Cooking Up Quilts

Monday November 24th: Michelle @ From Bolt to Beauty

Tuesday November 25th: Chelsea @ Patch the Giraffe

Wednesday November 26th: Shauna @ Shauna's World

Winter is still here. And so am I.

I wish I were in the land of cotton. It would surely be warmer. High today is 17 degrees! It's way too early to have this kind of weather!

Thanks for listening to me whine,
Lin

Fray Check

Anyone else have trouble with Fray Check? I opened two (TWO) packages today and found neither could be used. The glue had dried. I could understand if I had opened them and had stored them carelessly in my home. But these were brand spanking new, still sealed in their packages!

I plan on sending a note to Dritz.



Anyone got recommendations for a better brand?

Thanks,
Lin

Supernova Revisited

I finished my Supernova blocks to send to Pam in Kalamazoo, MI. These are my last two. Woo Hoo. Waiting for mine from Pam, then to decide how to put them together. I'm thinking of sashing to separate all those bright, saturated colors a little. We'll see. I think I would use the gray we've been using as background for continuity.

Here are my new blocks:

They're mostly Kaffe Fassett fabrics. I thought they all were, the page they were listed on said his name, but they fooled me! Now I don't know which ones are his. I think they are all of a likeness tho, so I'm happy.


Here are some of our other blocks. I think this will be one sensational quilt!

There's one block plastered on top in this pic.

Thanks,
Lin

Winter

It has turned into Winter. I don't like winter. Bah Humbug!

On Friday we had our first ice on the lake

It was melted by mid-day. I could live with that. But today.....

From approximately the same spot. It's still coming down,

I took Trixie out for a walk. It's below freezing, and big globs of snow coming down. We walked for almost 3 miles. She enjoys snow. (silly dog) I fell once, slid on a small incline, on the tire tracks. We almost got plastered to a car too. Some guy came barrelling out of his driveway backwards, without looking. Since he only was a short distance up his drive, I didn't even have a chance to hear him until he was almost on top of us. He did stop and apologize very profusely. Lesson learned for me: when I walk near there, give that house wide berth.

Thanks,
Lin




































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Christmas. Shhh! Secret stuff.

For Christmas I'm going to make hats and scarves for my grand daughters. Here are some pictures of the booklet I found on Nancy's Notions.

 I also bought the fleece to make these delicious-looking warmers.

Here's the fleece for the zebra. Isn't it adorable? I'm making a cat, zebra and tiger. Better get busy!

Thanks,

Lin

New Quilt Bloggers' Bee

Our November Queen, Jill of Pie Lady Quilts, for the New Quilt Bloggers' Bee asked for improv tree blocks. First time for me to do improv. What an education. The biggest thing I learned is to start with your background much bigger than you plan the block to be. I was surprised by how much I lost.

Jill asked for improv trees with low-volume backgrounds.

Here is what I will send out tomorrow:

Jill said she would trim them when she gets them, so I will send with messy edges, even tho it really grinds on me.

In the tut to make these babies, it said to be sure to keep the pieces together after you slice open your places to put limbs. It sure is easy to forget which way it up when all you have is a little triangle and a slice of "limb." I had to keep laying them back down on the table.

Hope Jill likes them!

Thanks,
Lin

Christmas in November!

I finished the quilting on my Christmas quilt. I don't know why, but I certainly dragged my feet on this one. I admit, I still need to get the binding on it.

It's just a flimsy here

My first attempt at ribbon candy.

It's mostly done with continuous curve lines.

Here are shots of the border:

The darker green border has squared swirls. First time for them too!

These are Wild Feathers from Angela Walters book Shape By Shape. I used this book as inspiration.

Here's another kind of inspiration:

Out my back door. Aren't the colors lovely???

Thanks,
Lin

HQ Event Pictures

Here are some more pics from my Handi Quilter Event.

The decor in our Holiday Inn Express. Can you see these in quilts?


Below, some of the teacher's samples:

The above was done with the new couching foot for the Handi Quiiters. She just drew a horizon, lines for the river and mountains on a base fabric, then started filling in with many different yarns. I think it's pretty impressive. I have not succumbed to buying the couching foot. I just don't think I'd use it enough.

The two above were quilted and painted. Mary Beth said she didn't think it had enough so she couched on the sparkly yarn. From a distance it truly sparkles!

A sample of some of her ruler work

Samples of many different backgrounds.

We met up with Dar, who was also staying in the Holiday Inn, and the three of us hung around together.
Dar, me, and Jean.

Thanks,
Lin