Celtic Solstice Top - Finally!

Every once in a while someone will ask me how long it takes to make a quilt. The answer is usually, "as long as it takes."  Some projects we have tunnel vision and work on exclusively from start to finish, but others take longer as they are put aside in favor of things with a higher priority at the time.

Celtic Solstice was started the Friday after Thanksgiving 2013 and just now the top is done.  The parts and pieces are in this post. This was a Bonnie Hunter Mystery. She has taken the instructions down, but her blog is worth reading here. She posts regularly and has a mystery that starts every year on the Friday after Thanksgiving.

I changed a couple of things on my version.  The first was size.  The mystery clues were given for a smaller version and a king size version.  I wanted a queen size quilt, so had to wait until all of the clues were in to determine just how many of each unit to make.

I also changed the orientation of the pieced border units. and added a corner unit to make the corner turn.  The unit used was the same as in the block nearest the corners with the pinwheel in the center.

I used the colors given in the mystery except that I used blue for the final border.  The original instructions called for green. I just like blue better, that is the only reason.

This is a scrap quilt, but I did purchase the blue for the border and a couple of greens and oranges because I did not have enough variety.  

And still, try as I might, sometimes the same fabrics were close together or next to each other.  It just works out that way sometimes. It doesn't bother me when it does.

It is a bright and cheerful quilt, don't you think?

My version is 101.5" square.

It won't fit on my design board.  The board is only 96" x 96".  Sorry the photos do telescope.  

When it is quilted and bound, I will take a photo of it hanging on my quilt display stand -- just don't hold your breath, I don't quilt that fast. LOL

This is the first mystery quilt I've participated in.  It was fun, but I do like doing my own designs.

Until next time,

xoxoXOXOxoxo

Lois

Celtic Solstice and Hexie Progress - slow but sure!

Are you a slow stitcher or a fast one?

Do you get things done really quickly or savor the process?

Do you work on one project until it's done? 

Or are you like me with several things going at once?

Here is where Celtic Solstice is today.  The left portion is all stitched together.  The right portion is webbed and ready for the horizontal rows to be stitched together.

I showed you the first two borders here. The final border is a bright blue.

The pieced border is only stitched into "twosies" at this point.

In addition to Celtic Solstice, my evening hand stitching project is hexies.

When the diamonds are added, they will fit like this.

Of course, I have to add some more neutral to the final points before adding diamonds.  And, I'll have to make 5 more diamonds, too!  I cut more neutral fabric this morning for more hexie variety.

Then, there is the pyramid project that I showed you here.  All of the setting triangles are stitched now, so it is just a matter of sewing the diagonal rows and deciding if a border is needed. 

I need to take a photo of the pyramids now that all of the setting triangles are done.

So which are you? Fast, Slow, one project at a time or working on many projects?  I'd love to know so leave a comment below.

Until next time,

XOXOxoxoXOXO

Lois

Celtic Solstice Parts and Pieces

Have you ever participated in a mystery quilt?  I had not until last November when Bonnie Hunter posted her Celtic Solstice Mystery Quilt.  I liked the colors, but at the time had no idea what the quilt would look like.  And so I began collecting stash fabrics and purchasing a few to fill in.

Once the clues started being posted, I cut some of each clue each week.  This was happening between Thanksgiving and Christmas, folks!  Too busy to make a lot of each, I just made a few.

My project lately has been to finish all the parts and pieces.  Here they are grouped in bundles of 10.

This sure doesn't look like a queen sized quilt, does it?  But it is!   All but the borders are here!  Well, actually one border is here.  The blue and orange units on the upper left are a pieced border yet to be assembled.

These are the two blocks that will be alternated in the rows.

While Bonnie gave the instructions and number of pieces for two sizes, one was just 75 x 75 inches and the other was a whopping 111 x 111 in. king sized quilt!

Enter Electric Quilt to figure out a Queen Size!

I also took liberties with the color of the outside border and the placement of the orange and blue pieced border.  Of course, this could change - it's not done until it's pieced!

I think I'm going to love it.  Thank you Bonnie Hunter at Quiltville!  If you have not been to Bonnie's blog, jump on over there - she has a ton of good information and is an avid scrap quilter!

Next week, friend Diane and I will travel to our friend Joyce's cottage for a mini quilt retreat.  These parts and pieces will be going with me and there will be a lot of sewing going on!  Three friends, lots of scraps and parts and pieces, laughter, fun and food!

I'll report back to let you know the progress of my queen sized Celtic Solstice!

Until next time,

xoxoXOXOxoxo

Lois

Celtic Solstice Update and Christmas Projects

Hope you all had a marvelous Christmas!  We had a house full with lots of love, laughter, wrapping paper all over the place and food, too!

Getting ready for Christmas certainly curtailed my stitching on Celtic Solstice, though I have made some of each of the clues.

I also had to prep 110 angels for my 2 and 3 year old classes. Here is the "grown-up" version I did for my own tree.

 

For the kids, a sparkly star sticker and chenille wire halo were used.  they attached a white cupcake paper for the wings.  On mine I used copper wire for the halo, painted a wooden star with copper metallic paint and used a heart shaped lace doily for the wings.

 

Then there were the "Jingle" pillows I needed to make.  They are Pottery Barn knockoffs.  I made red for the family room.

 

 

Blue for the foyer.

 

 

The other pillows were made other years.

 

 

We just needed a "Believe" pillow to join the Silent Night and Holy Night pillows in the Living room.

 

 

I will admit the "Believe" pillow did not get completed until the day AFTER Christmas.

 

 

And Miss Summer just had to have a tutu for Christmas.

 

So that's why my Celtic Solstice clues are barely started!  That's my story and I'm sticking to it.  Here is where I am on Clue 1.

 

 

A lot cut and quite a few stitched -- but not done!

 

And Clue 2?

 

 

There are actually a few more than this done now, but they were not when I took photos.

 

Clue 3?

 

 

Ditto.  A few more are done than when the photo was taken.

 

Clue 4?

 

 

I actually have quite a few more of these done now.  Love making 4-patch blocks.

 

And Clue 5?

 

 

I think I have about 20 of these done now and more cut and ready to go.

 

So, I am really behind, but hope to catch up this week with New Year's Day off work!

 

 

 

A 3-ring binder helps keep the instructions in order.

 

 

The yellow post-it notes help me find the page I need quickly to check numbers or pieces to cut or units to make of each clue.

 

It is a lot of fun and I can't wait for the reveal when we get to know exactly how all these units will be joined into the quilt.  This is a challenge for me as I like to know where I am going on a quilt.  Hope you are having as much fun with this if you are doing Bonnie Hunter's  Celtic Solstice Mystery.

 

Best wishes for a happy, healthy and productive 2014!

 

xoxoXOXOxoxo

 

Lois

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

On The Design Wall Now

Hope you all had an excellent Thanksgiving!  We had a house full.  Our number for holidays is always somewhere around 20 with 22 being the minimum.  Sometimes our grand kids bring friends and sometimes our children's in-laws come so it varies from holiday to holiday, but it is always a lot of fun!

Not much went on in the studio most of the week, but I had pulled out a really old UFO after the Vines and Stars came down off the design wall.  I cannot stand for it to be empty!  The UFO began a very long time ago when several of us decided to make a charm quilt.  A charm quilt, if you are not familiar with the term is a quilt that contains only 1 template piece, but repeated in 1,000 different fabrics.  Jo, Joan, Lorinda and Bonnie, remember those days?

We exchanged 10 fabrics each month in a designated color.  The rule was, for instance on red, it could be any variation of red from pink to burgundy and light or dark. We each had all of the templates and drew around them on the fabric, cut them with 1/4" seam allowances and gave them to each other according to the color of the month.  I made a move during that time, so mine were mailed each month.  All 10 pieces would go for a standard 1st class postage stamp.  Obviously, since I am still working on it, mine never got completed.

Here is what it looks like with 976 fabrics.  I do not guarantee that there are no duplicates, but that is still a LOT of different fabrics.  I am still hand piecing the rest of the missing pyramids.

 

 

The contrast is a little weak on the bottom row, so pieces will be moved around.  Each of the larger triangles is made up of 16 smaller triangles.  I have not decided how I will handle the half blocks on the two side edges.  If I piece them, I will need another template that is half of the original triangle or pyramid shape.

 

I have also decided to participate in Bonnie Hunter's mystery quilt Celtic Solstice.  I have never done a mystery before, because I really like designing my own quilt and, if you know me well, you know I have a tendency to want to be in control of the design.  Not knowing in advance where I'm going with something is a bit unsettling to me.  Okay, I admit it, I'm a control freak!  There, I said it!  You may all laugh now, because you probably already figured that out.

 

The first clue was given yesterday on Bonnie Hunter's blog.  It will be a challenge to actually follow the rules, but at least I'm going to give it a try. 

 

Here are a few of the clue one pieces made using the Tri-Recs ruler set.

 

 

You can read more about the mystery on Bonnie's blog.  It is not too late to join in on the fun.  I do like the scrappy look of Bonnie's quilts, but usually decide on my own patterns rather than use a predesigned quilt pattern.  The few times I've tried to follow a pattern, I end up changing it so that in the end it does not look like the original.  It's more fun to put a personal touch on anything, don't you think?

 

Hope you have a wonderful weekend!  Stay tuned for more on the progress of the pyramids and the mystery quilt.

 

xoxoXOXOxoxo

 

Lois