Tuesday 25 December 2018

Good Fortune Part 5

What a busy few days. First finishing off parts three and four, just  a day before part five was due to be released, getting ready for Christmas (still have some food shopping to do for Christmas lunch - some welcome extras now), and general house stuff. I did have time to catch up of Moda Blockheads 2 blocks. I'm really interested to see how all these red, white, and blue ROOSTERS quilt is going to turn out.
Sew, onto part five of Bonnie's Good Fortune Mystery. It was a pretty easy step - great at this time of the year. I spent Saturday evening cutting all the pieces - double checking the number twice!!!. I had all pieces laid out ready to sew Sunday morning.
 And that is what I did. They were easy to piece following Bonnie's instructions for cutting, and I sat chain piecing while binge-watching Vera. I have replaced Bonnie's suggested blues and oranges for purples and pinks. See what others are doing with Good Fortune Mystery Part 5 link up.
 This is the last blog before Christmas. Have a wonderful Christmas or holiday period. Safe travels and happy sewing - may the Christmas fairy bring you lots of fabric and notions.

Thursday 20 December 2018

Sewing, Sewing, Sewing...Good Fortune catch-up

After being away for a week, it has been a busy few days catching up on Good Fortune Mystery quilt. I am two steps behind so first step was to cut all the pieces for part 3 - greens and neutrals. Once ready. I decided to do five of part 3 and alternate with five of part 4. That's just me, in my head it is quicker (but of course it is not). I guess it's the satisfaction of seeing both parts getting done.
 Part 3 was actually two units - half chevron's and BONUS half square triangles. I love bonus triangle and this time Bonnie has included them as part of the mystery - woo hoo!
I have finished ironing all the bonus units, but trimming the dog ears will have to wait. I also enjoy string piecing. Part 4 was pink string blocks. I first did string piecing way back in Bonnie's Orca Mystery, strange enough it was pink and blue string pieced units then. Bonnie suggested oranges, and I have chosen pinks. I have a collection of plastic containers (they use to contain flour), that I put strips of fabric in to make string blocks as my leaders and enders. I have the containers sorted into colours and each time I use a new fabric I cut a couple of strips from the end - sometimes to straighten the edges. This has given me a lot of strips to use...and I do use them, usually on placemats.
 This time I had a lot of shorter strips, so made a combination of small and large string pieces. Here they are ready to trim to size.
 I cut and trimmed the units and ended up 6 units short - well two of the units from the larger string blocks ended up too small, and I must have miss counted the last four from the big unit. - so back to the sewing machine! 
 To see what other are doing go to Bonnie's Part 4 Link up Party here. Waiting another day for clue 5. Might cut our some Moda Blockheads 2 pieces - to catch up there.

Saturday 15 December 2018

Good Fortune Mystery - Part 2


Saturday mornings at home are always 'my time' YouTube surfing, while I wait for Simply Colorful to live stream. I use the time waiting to catch up on my favourite YouTube Channels, and discovering new ones. Today I discovered Sugaridoo - wow, it was really good. I am going to make some of the projects including the coasters, so I can practice my quilting. I am also watching Bonnie's Quiltcam, not live but interesting anyway, while I do this blog. I always pick up some tips from Bonnie. Anyway, I am behind in the mystery - of course, but I'm not worried. I wanted to finish an advent calendar for granddaughters, which (silly me) was mostly hand sewing, and catch up on hexie challenges, so some of that has been happening also.
A couple of weeks ago we found a last minute cruise up the Queensland Coast, so we have been away and I had no time to post part 2, or start part 3. Read our Travel Blog - Are We There Yet? Now part 4 is out and it is string blocks - I love string blocks, so later today I am going to start part 3 and 4 at the same time and continue part 4 in the coming weeks. Yes, I am going to make part 4 my leaders and enders until I finish the number required.
So part two of Good Fortune Mystery was hundreds of half square triangles. I have changed the blue suggested to purples. I used the triangle ruler method as most of my purples were smaller scraps and strips, so that worked out well. It was good to chain piece while catching up on TV - my series of choice at present is Broadchurch.
So here we are with hundreds of half squares triangles.
On to step 3 (and 4). I'll be linking this to Part 4 Link-up Party on Monday.