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Monday, April 18, 2016

Friend Stitching Mountain Time!

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It’s been a busy couple of days up on Buck Mountain!

I have mentioned before that Mona and I haven’t been able to get together and sew for months and months as her schedule of going back and forth to Ohio and my crazy schedule of flying off to everywhere had us very hit and miss since before the holidays.

I would say this craziness has been going on since last November!

We stay in touch via phone and text message, but it’s just not the same and I was ever so glad to have her walk in the kitchen door of the cabin on Friday evening and yell “HELLO!!!” down the stairs to where I was in the basement family room.  Of course all of this glorious reunion was accompanied by Beanie excitedly yapping that she also gets to come see her friend Sadie who was also whimpering and shaking her tail in utmost happiness!

We quickly set about making plans for the weekend and what we wanted to do for her NEXT project because she brought two more completed tops to show me and is eager for more.

I have a HUGE laundry basket full of smaller shirt scraps here at the cabin to work from so we decided on a Log Cabin variation for her, to get her started in the land of Half Square triangles.  Each block has only ONE half square triangle, and they are rather large, so very forgiving.

These centers are surrounded by two rows of log cabin rectangles with one half being light, the other half being dark.

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Mona, digging in and making one light pile, one dark pile!

This was also the first time she got to use the Accuquilt Studio.  All of the logs are cut from 2’’ strip widths, so it is putting the small random shirt pieces to good use, and she is learning a new toy as well.  I think there may be an Accuquilt GO in her future!

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While she got busy with that, I put a binding on!

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I got borders on the QOV auction quilt!

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And doggies napped!

It's a tough job supervising the Quilters! Love it when Beanie comes over and she and Sadie curl up for a snooze!  I think it is so sweet how Sadie doesn’t mind sharing her bed.  There is room for two!

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I worked my way into some purple string piecing.

The black long bed 301 is in the table that I bought for my birthday.  It said it was a table for a longbed 301, but actually, this table is for a 400 or 500 series..it’s a bit too big for the 301, and I have to seat it just right with the end of the fold down tray catching the end of the table or it is too tippy.  There is a gap at the back edge of the machine as the table hole is a bit too big, but it WORKS fine….

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I set Mona up at the short bed in the table so we were face to face!

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Swimming in a sea of purple!

I have secret plans for these!

Funny:  The Hubster went out to paint one of the sheds yesterday.  He came in to say that he had used some of my phone book paper to cover up the windows and mask them.  I feigned a “OH NO!!! YOU DIDN’T!! Not my foundation paper!!”  and we had a good laugh.  Truth be told, this is the ONLY phone book up here and I’ll have to bring more next time as it is almost gone.  It was just enough to get me this far.

Don’t mess with a quilter’s phone book!

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Mona’s Show & Share ---

Scrappy Mountain Majesties from the free patterns tab!

All recycled shirts!

We were tag-teaming this project – hers is done, mine is still in large half square triangles ready to be sliced, diced and sewn back together.

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Close up!

Hers is ready for quilting, and I’ll be taking my blocks with me when I go to the Grand Hotel Needle Arts Seminar on Mackinac Island in a couple of weeks.  I have a friend bringing me a machine, and I can stitch in the evenings with everyone else, retreat style.  Should be fun!

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Mona’s Disappearing Nine Patch!

I love this!!  We have been picking patterns that would be easy to assemble and give Mona a feeling of great accomplishment and this  Split 9 patch was a great way to go!  She started with some charm packs gifted to her by her step-son for Christmas, including a lot of blue and green.  We then went to my stash and pulled MORE blue, green and neutral to go with them. Mona learned to treadle with this quilt!  Didn’t she do a great job on it?

The thing I love the most about a new quilter who hasn’t been “poisoned” or “influenced” by other quilters is they have no fear over what to put with what.  She just went with it and the fabric choices and placement are eclectically Mona.  No matchy-matchy going on in here other than keeping within certain color families.

Check it out:

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So much fun!

This quilt is likely to be gifted back to her step-son who gifted her with the charm squares that started this whole project. Isn’t that how quilting goes?  Fabric is the gift that keeps on giving!

I plan on heading down the mountain as soon as I do a bit of light house keeping around here – Everything is really dry on the mountain and the dust has settled on every horizontal surface in the cabin.  Yes.  There will be dusting, and a bit of vacuuming and some straightening of the sewing nook before I head out.

My plan is to load the QOV auction quilt in the machine this afternoon, get that going, and start packing for my Iowa trip that starts Wednesday.  I also have some kitting up to do for students who are taking my A Little Bit Hexie workshop at The Grand.  That will be fun…and I’d like that off of my to-do list as quickly as possible so I can enjoy the time between Iowa and Michigan.

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Quiltville Quote of the Day!

While the rest of the world seems to begrudge Monday, I have always loved Monday for representing a brand new week and a completely clean slate stretched out before me. Don't pull the battles of last week into this one! Have an awesome Monday, everyone!

Happily Scrappily Irish quilt from my book Adventures with Leaders & Enders  shared by a student during my March workshops in Michigan.

Have a great Monday, everyone!


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24 comments:

  1. I love your entire post and pictures but my FAVORITE is Sadie sharing her bed with Beannie ... how adorable is that!! Travel safe and have fun ... Mackinac Island and the Grand Hotel await you ... they just did some remodeling to the front part of the Grand Hotel ... should be fun!! Linda H

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  2. Oh !!! You're making a kit for me 😊😊 I just can't wait to see you at the grand hotel.

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  3. My first thought at your HST squares with log cabins was that they were sailboats! Could be I suppose!

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  4. I would say mona is definitely hooked....love her quilts and yes, a new quilter's enthusiasm is infectious!

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  5. Mona has been BUSY! So glad you could SEW together at Quiltvilla this time. Another quilter's scraps are always more fun to sort through. I love the Purple Strings. I can hardly wait to see. Our PNW group is waiting to see if there is a NEW project from your book in September for our workshop. Will this Purple string on be in there? Happy WEEK! I am going to a New Quilt Guild Meeting today. Monday means Dancing with the Stars for me right now.

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  6. Love Sadie! What a sweetheart! So happy you had Mona time! Hubster need 50 lashes with a wet noodle for using the phone book!!! Lol

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  7. Looks like your two (four, including the dogs) had a good time--Yay!

    Your purple strings are pretty, but I've been working on a purple quilt, and I'm about purpled-out! Love Mona's blocks.

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  8. Can't wait to go to Mackinac Island. Maybe I should bring my (still infinished) hexie project from Tuscany. My non-quilter SIL finished hers. Sigh. Only 3.5 weeks!

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  9. Mona's quilts are FABULOUS!! Here's hoping you got TONS of sewing done up at the Grand Hotel. Off to see if I can find my Grand Illusion. It still needs borders applied! Sigh...

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  10. Anonymous1:58 PM EDT

    I spy a whole basket of gray strips in the background of the picture where Mona is digging!

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  11. Looks like a very fun weekend for all involved, Bonnie!! Can't wait to lay my eyes on you in person come Thursday this week!!! Only 3 more days!!

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  12. OMG!
    There is an UFO waiting to be done somewhere in my sewing studio. Exactly Mona's HST Log Cabin.
    Started that project two years ago, before I knew the scrap user's system. I completely forgot it until I saw your blog post.

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  13. Anonymous4:01 PM EDT

    Sewquilty said: My current project is a scrappy Grandmother's Flower Garden with all purple flowers! Love those hexies!!!

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  14. Your wonderful idea of using phone book pages for foundation piecing is so terrific, NOW worse than you hubby using some of the pages is our phone company reducing the size of the phone books. I used to get an 8 1/2" or 8" by 11" or 11 1/2" out of a page now it is about 6" x 8". Now that is nothing less than highway robbery from quilters. Have a great trip.

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  15. Anonymous6:00 PM EDT

    I knew I stashed many years' worth of old phone books in my sewing room for some reason. I use them to elevate my portable machine and extend the bed, for starters.

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  16. Those who begrudge Mondays are those who are not following their passion in life. If you love what you do then Mondays will be a joy.

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  17. So looking forward to the Needlework seminar at the Grand! Practicing with my thimble to do the Hexies, so make a kit for me too. Digging in the scraps tomorrow to prepare for Charlotte's Baskets. Pleased to say my Grand Illusion is done so I can show it Saturday night! Also have a special quilt to "show and tell" Sunday night. Getting very anxious to learn!

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  18. Wow go Mona love her disappearing nine patch!! Travel safe see you Saturday 😊

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  19. Love Mona's block in your first picture. Is there a pattern for this?

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  20. Bonnie, I love Mondays too. It's the beginning to a whole new week. Think of the possibilities! Spring Monday's are especially wonderful with Mother Nature blessing us with beautiful colors and singing birds. Today was an exceptionally wonderfilled I got an e-mail this evening telling me that I had moved from the waiting list to the in list for two of your classes! Doing the Happy Dance. Then I read this wonderful post filled with friends and love and the comments and I see that I will be seeing a lot of these people either in Iowa or at the Grand. It was a Grand Monday.

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  21. Mona's quilts are amazing. She really is a natural. I really love the auction quilt you have made. I know you are busy but I was wondering if there is any chance you would do a tutorial for that quilt?

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  22. Sadie & Beanie are BFF and thanks for that sweet picture of their snooze! I loved seeing all the quilts out on your rail fence, too. The Log Cabin Variation is so handsome in all shirts and so masculine that way.

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  23. I love Mindays, too.. Pretty much for the same readons...

    My fav picture.... Sadie and Beanie, sll snuggled up in Sadie's Bev.... Absolutely adorable...

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  24. So great that you and Mona were able to hang out together at long last! She's such a sweetie! And I know you needed and deserved your cabin time!
    Safe travels to Iowa and South Dakota! WE fly back from Paris tomorrow. And then home for a bit, finally!

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