Celtic Solace #1

I am so excited to be working on Bonnie Hunter's mystery quilt, Celtic Solace.  I've never done a mystery quilt before.  I'm the person who has to lay out the finished quilt, count the pieces, get the fabrics chosen - all the gritty stuff - before even beginning the quilt.  I never just jump in and wing it.

After waiting impatiently for a couple of weeks to get the first set of directions, my first blocks are finished! 

If you would like to join, just click this link to get started - http://quiltville.blogspot.com/2013/12/celtic-solstice-mystery-monday-link-up-1.html

 

Can't wait for the next instructions.  Thanks Bonnie!!

I've been surfing for awhile on Pinterest, Facebook and different blogs that I like and I've come up with a list of trends I see emerging.

Trending:

Modern quilts
Hexagons
Zig zag - quilts and fabrics
Owls
Fresh, clean prints
Scrap quilts
Gray as background
Big stitch quilting

Have you noticed any trends?

I've recently gotten interested in "big stitch quilting".  I've been seeing it all over the internet and magazines and now I'm hooked.  It's just hand quilting using perle cotton thread (size 8) and big stitches.  Nothing fancy here. 

 

One of the quilts I made was this rail fence. I purchased 1 1/2" strips in a coordinated set called Honey Buns and wanted to use them in a "big stitch" quilt.  Would you believe it only took me 1 week to hand quilt this? It's not large, but I was surprised how quick it went.

The other one I did was this cute triangle quilt. I had recently learned how to make half square triangles super quick and wanted to try that out. Then I added the big stitch quilting.  I used a wool batting and that made it really soft and drapey.

Now I'm dreaming up a couple more quilts just so I can hand stitch them. Crazy how everything old is new again!

Hello Kitty Quilt

A few years ago, I started a "Life List of Quilts".  This is a list of all the people I want to make a quilt for in my lifetime.  As I make a quilt for someone, I take a picture of it and save it in a binder. You wouldn't believe all the quilts I have made and given away. I've forgotten some of them, so the binder serves as a reminder. Plus I warn the receipents that this is the only quilt they will ever get from me, so take good care of it!

This is the latest quilt on the Life List.  It's Hello Kitty for my niece, Jenny.  She loves anything Japanese, especially Hello Kitty.  She's 21, but nowhere does it say you can't have a fun quilt at any age.

This quilt sprouted from my Pinterest obsession. I saw a version of this quilt there last year and my passion began. I went to half price book stores and found Hello Kitty coloring books. Then I shrank and enlarged them to fit the background block size. I also used Transfer Eze to transfer the designs onto fabric.  Fabulous stuff. I really enjoy hand embroidery, so this quilt was the perfect project. What's your favorite embroidery?