On Ringo Lake--A Finished Top!

My One Monthly Goal for the month of February was to finish assembling the top for my "On Ringo Lake" quilt. I was barely able to meet that goal, but unfortunately did not have a chance to get photos of the top and write a blog post about it in time to link up at the end of February. Since I missed that deadline, there didn't seem to be a reason to rush into the reveal post, but today is finally the day!

I started this project in November, 2017, as part of Bonnie Hunter's annual Thanksgiving to New Year's mystery quilt. I liked Bonnie's color scheme very much, but felt the need to go my own direction. I replaced her colors of aqua/turquoise, chocolate brown, and salmon/coral with red, black and grey, plus black-on-white for the backgrounds. My choices were inspired by several of my sewing-themed fabrics.

The prints in the first photo were too large for all the little pieces we used in our quilts, but you can definitely see my color inspiration. The fabrics in the next photo were all included in the quilt piecing.

As usual, Bonnie's design included many units made from lots of little pieces--we made 9-patches, flying geese, chevrons, and other parts. It seemed like I kept needing to cut more background pieces every few days! Eventually I had all the parts needed and it was time to join them all together.

Here is a close shot showing off some of my fabrics. I can see a few sewing prints with needles, pins, zippers, scissors, etc. There are also some music-themed fabrics, which I have been collecting to make a quilt for my musician husband.

Bonnie's quilt was designed to finish at 75" x 90". I made about 2/3 of all the different units for a finished size of 60" x 75", good for a throw quilt. Here is my version of On Ringo Lake. The red, black and grey fabrics inspired the name for my quilt--Fire and Smoke (On Ringo Lake.) It feels so wonderful to have this one completed!

Fire and Smoke (On Ringo Lake)
60" x 75"

Linking up to:

Needle and Thread Thursday at My Quilt Infatuation

Whoop Whoop Friday at Confessions of a Fabric Addict

Finished or Not Friday at Busy Hands Quilts

Oh Scrap! at Quilting is more fun than Housework

Julie in GA

15 Minutes and Stash Report Sunday 3/11/18

Finally, a major change to my stash report! That's because I finished a quilt top--my version of Bonnie Hunter's 2017 mystery quilt "On Ringo Lake" is a completed top!! Too bad I haven't been able to get any photos of the whole top yet, but I promise to share it very soon. Here is a shot of a small portion of the quilt.

My quilt finishes at about 2/3 of Bonnie's original size. I haven't measured it yet, but I believe mine should be around 60" x 75". My calculation of the amount of fabric used came to 9 yards (as compared to the 16 yards listed for the full pattern.)

2018 STASH TOTALS

Used last week:                 9.0 yards

Used year to date:            16.0 yards

Added last week:                0.0 yards
Added year to date:         2.125 yards
Net used year to date:   13.875 yards

Kate's 15 Minutes to Stitch challenge at Life in Pieces has us tracking how many days each week we get in at least 15 minutes of quilting time. I'm struggling to figure out what to do next after such a major finish, but I have pulled out a couple of projects that were ignored while the mystery quilt was filling my time. I'm still holding steady at finding time to quilt every single day! I missed posting last week, so this covers a two-week period.

15 Minute Challenge:  
2/25 - 3/10        14 of 14 days
2018 Total          69 of 69 days

Check out more stash reports at quiltpaintcreate, and join the 15 Minutes to Stitch challenge at Life in Pieces.

Julie in GA

15 Minutes and Stash Report Sunday 2/18/18

My stash report doesn't show any changes this week--no new fabric added and no fabric used. On most projects, I deduct my usage as I get blocks made rather than waiting until the quilt is complete. I prefer to see those numbers change in small increments every week rather than waiting for weeks and weeks for one big deduction when a project is together--that's just too discouraging for me!

One current exception right now is On Ringo Lake, the Bonnie Hunter mystery. I didn't figure out my usage as I was making all the units for the quilt because I didn't know how many units I would actually use in my smaller version. I am in the process of joining the parts together, with the goal of having it all assembled by the end of the month. I will calculate my usage and report the grand total then. Here is a preview of one corner that is together and waiting for some trimming.

On Ringo Lake, pattern by Bonnie Hunter

2018 STASH TOTALS

Used last week:                  0.0 yards

Used year to date:            6.25 yards

Added last week:                0.0 yards
Added year to date:         2.125 yards
Net used year to date:   4.125 yards

Kate's 15 Minutes to Stitch challenge at Life in Pieces has us tracking how many days each week we get in at least 15 minutes of quilting time. I'm still plugging away at getting in 15 minutes or more every day. I've maintained my 100% success rate for another week!

15 Minute Challenge:  
2/11 - 2/17           7 of 7 days
2018 Total         48 of 48 days

Check out more stash reports at quiltpaintcreate, and join the 15 Minutes to Stitch challenge at Life in Pieces.

Julie in GA

Design Wall Monday 2/12/18

There's good news and bad news about my On Ringo Lake quilt project:

Good news #1:  All the parts for the quilt have been made!

Good news #2:  Assembly of the parts has begun!

Bad news: Lots of thick seams making assembly/pressing very difficult. I have taken down all of the blocks and sashing from the design wall, pressing some of my seams open to make joining them together a little easier (I hope.)

This is the center of my quilt, with a few stray cornerstone squares still on the wall.

On Ringo Lake, pattern by Bonnie Hunter

I'm linking up to Design Wall Monday at Small Quilts and Doll Quilts, Monday Making at Love Laugh Quilt, and Moving It Forward at Em's Scrapbag. Check out all of them for tons of amazing quilting inspiration! 

Julie in GA

Design Wall Monday 2/5/18

Today is the final link-up for Bonnie Hunter's 2017 mystery "On Ringo Lake" where everyone can show the progress on their quilt. I would have loved to show a completed quilt top, but that just wasn't possible. Last night I made five more blocks, with four left to make for my planned 32 blocks total. I also need to make 8-10 more chevron sashing sections, and maybe a few more corner units, plus all but one of the outer setting triangles. After that I can start joining everything together.

On Ringo Lake mystery quilt
Pattern by Bonnie Hunter

Here's a shot of the upper half of my design wall, giving a slightly better look at fabrics, plus the single setting triangle at the top center. My setting triangle is slightly different than Bonnie's design. The red squares around the outer edges will actually be triangles; I just haven't cut any of them yet and had the squares available. 

I'm anxious to regain the use of my main design wall which has been filled with this project for several weeks. I'm hoping to get this quilt top assembled by the end of this month. Once all the remaining blocks and parts are made, I will spend some time rearranging pieces on the wall before stitching everything together.

The other thing still needed is a name for my version of On Ringo Lake--that name just doesn't seem to fit. Any suggestions will be very welcome, since I am drawing a total blank!

I'm joining the link-up for the On Ringo Lake mystery over at Bonnie's Quiltville blog. I'm also linking up to Design Wall Monday at Small Quilts and Doll Quilts, Monday Making at Love Laugh Quilt, and Moving It Forward at Em's Scrapbag. Check out all of them for tons of amazing quilting inspiration! 

Julie in GA

February 2018 One Monthly Goal

I thought I had my One Monthly Goal all figured out for February, but now I'm second guessing myself. My plan was for the goal to be finishing the top for my version of On Ringo Lake, Bonnie Hunter's 2017 mystery. My main design wall is covered with all the parts that are done so far, and I would love to get the top assembled and reclaim the wall for other projects.

The reason I'm hesitating? February is a short month, and I know we are going to be very busy at work. I'm not sure I will have the energy to deal with all those little pieces (I still have more flying geese and sashing units to make before I can make any more blocks.) On the other hand, I really want to see how this quilt ends up looking in my color scheme. 

Okay, decision made--I'm going for it. One quilt top coming up (I hope!) I will report back at the end of the month and let you see how it turned out . I am joining the One Monthly Goal link-up for February at Elm Street Quilts. Check it out to see what others are hoping to get done this month!

Julie in GA

Design Wall Monday 1/22/18

There have been several quilt projects in the works around here over the past few weeks. The biggest one is Bonnie Hunter's 2017 mystery "On Ringo Lake." As usual, Bonnie's design is made up of many, many small pieces. My plan has been to make a smaller version of the pattern with 32 blocks instead of Bonnie's 50 blocks. So far, I have completed 23 of the blocks. Here they are up on the design wall along with sashing units and cornerstones.

On Ringo Lake mystery quilt, design by Bonnie Hunter

I'm still playing with ideas for the setting triangles--you can see my first attempt up top, a variation on Bonnie's design. Actually, this was my second try at the same idea because the first one came out too small. I ended up drawing the shape for the red pieces out on graph paper, adding seam allowance, and cutting it out to use as a template.

Once I decide if anything up on the wall needs to move, I can start joining these blocks and sashing into rows. That will make it easier to take down off the design wall if necessary. I also need to figure out how many more flying geese, corner units and sashing chevrons are needed for my version. I will keep plugging away at it and hope to have the top together before the end of February.

I'm linking up to Design Wall Monday at Small Quilts and Doll Quilts, Monday Making at Love Laugh Quilt, and Moving It Forward at Em's Scrapbag. Check out all of them for tons of amazing quilting inspiration! 

Julie in GA

Mystery Monday Finale

Monday is our last opportunity to link up with Bonnie Hunter's 2017 mystery "On Ringo Lake." Bonnie revealed her finished quilt on New Year's Day, and it is gorgeous! There hasn't been much progress on mine, but I'm excited to share what has gotten done.

I've finished eight blocks so far. None of the sashing units are stitched together yet, just hanging out on the design wall. I'm planning to make one change to Bonnie's pattern--where she had brown squares as the cornerstones for the sashing, which would translate to black squares on mine, but instead I am going to use red squares. I wanted to punch up the amount of red in the center of the quilt. No idea if I will follow her pattern for the setting triangles or make changes to that too. My current plan is to make a smaller quilt than Bonnie's, maybe 32 blocks instead of 50.

I'm joining the link-up for the On Ringo Lake mystery over at Bonnie's Quiltville blog. I'm also linking up to Design Wall Monday at Small Quilts and Doll Quilts, Monday Making at Love Laugh Quilt, and Moving It Forward at Em's Scrapbag. Check out all of them for tons of amazing quilting inspiration! 

Julie in GA

Mystery Tuesday, Part 5

It's been a busy Christmas weekend, but I did squeeze in a little time for stitching on Bonnie Hunter's On Ringo Lake mystery. This week's clue is more flying geese units, and this time mine are out of the black prints (brown in Bonnie's color scheme.) I've been collecting all the completed units in a shoe box, and it's getting pretty full in there!

I'm having a great time with my color choices and can't wait to see how it all comes together! I'm joining the link-up for the On Ringo Lake mystery over at Bonnie's Quiltville blog. Check out all the great mysterious stitching going on there!

Julie in GA

Stash Report Sunday 12/24/17

There's very little to report for stash busting efforts this week--no fabric added and no fabric used. What little time has been available for quilting was mostly spent cutting pieces for Bonnie Hunter's "On Ringo Lake" mystery. There are so many small units to make--nine-patches, flying geese, pieced triangles. It seems like I keep running out of background triangles and needing to cut more. I can't wait to see how it all goes together--we should find out around New Year's. Here are some of my cut pieces waiting to be stitched.

2017 STASH TOTALS

Used last week:              0.0 yards

Used year to date:       93.25 yards

Added last week:             0.0 yards
Added year to date:     33.25 yards

Net used year to date: 60 yards

I am continuing to join Kate at Life in Pieces in tracking how many days each week I get in at least 15 minutes of quilting time. I was able to find some time for quilting every day over the past week, but rarely any large chunks of time.

15 Minute Challenge:  
12/17 - 12/23                7 of 7 days
2017 Total              345 of 357 days

Check out more stash reports at quiltpaintcreate, and add your own report so we can keep the linky going. 

Wishing a very happy and peaceful holiday season to all. Merry Christmas!

Julie in GA

Mystery Monday, Part 4

The instructions for part 4 of Bonnie Hunter's 2017 mystery "On Ringo Lake" were posted on Friday. Our unit for the week is a square with triangles on two sides--I don't know if there is an official name for these units, but we are making lots of them. I have 40 of them done and many more started. Bonnie used brown and aqua for hers, but my colors are black and red.

As usual, I couldn't resist playing with a combination of parts from all four weeks. I don't imagine this is anywhere close to Bonnie's design, but it's fun to try out some possibilities! 

I'm joining the link-up for the On Ringo Lake mystery over at Bonnie's Quiltville blog. I'm also linking up to Design Wall Monday at Small Quilts and Doll Quilts, Monday Making at Love Laugh Quilt, and Moving It Forward at Em's Scrapbag. Check out all of them for tons of amazing quilting inspiration! 

Julie in GA

Mystery Monday Part 3

This is the third weekly post to share progress on the new Bonnie Hunter mystery "On Ringo Lake." I didn't get much stitching done on this clue, just a few units to test Bonnie's different methods for making them. It's a good thing I checked, because my first attempts were coming out too big.

I got lots of the diamond pieces cut, but still need to cut many more background triangles to go with them.

I'm joining the link-up for the On Ringo Lake mystery over at Bonnie's Quiltville blog. I'm also linking up to Design Wall Monday at Small Quilts and Doll Quilts, Monday Making at Love Laugh Quilt, and Moving It Forward at Em's Scrapbag. Check out all of them for tons of amazing quilting inspiration! 

Julie in GA

Mystery Monday (on Sunday) 12/4/17

It's not Monday yet, but Bonnie has posted the link-up for her 2017 mystery "On Ringo Lake" a day early due to her teaching/travel schedule. We got the directions for Part 2 on Friday, making lots of flying geese units. I have around 60 done, plus plenty more still to make.

My color scheme is a complete change from Bonnie's. She used turquoise/aqua (my reds), dark brown (my blacks) and coral/melon where I have the greys. Just as I feared, my range of greys may have spread a bit too far. Some are almost as dark as the blacks at the centers of the nine-patches. Others are so light, they practically disappear into the black-on-white backgrounds. I will have to try to stick closer to the medium greys.

I'm joining the link-up for the On Ringo Lake mystery over at Bonnie's Quiltville blog. I'm also linking up to Oh Scrap! at Quilting is more fun than Housework, Design Wall Monday at Small Quilts and Doll Quilts, Monday Making at Love Laugh Quilt, and Moving It Forward at Em's Scrapbag. Check out all of them for tons of amazing quilting inspiration! 

Julie in GA

Mystery Monday Design Wall

Like so many quilters all over the world, I waited eagerly for Bonnie Hunter to post the first clue for her 2017 mystery quilt. I was too busy last year to participate in the mystery, but I hope to squeeze it into my schedule this year. "On Ringo Lake" Part 1 went live on Black Friday, and I was happy to spend my time cutting and stitching little squares of fabric rather than fighting the crowds at the malls.

One thing I always try to do with a mystery quilt to make it my own is to change up the color choices. This time I was very tempted to go with Bonnie's colors because I liked her combination of aqua/turquoise, chocolate brown, salmon/coral, and lights for the background. My colors headed in a very different direction. My inspiration came from a group of sewing-themed fabrics that I have been saving for several years.

There's my color scheme--red, black and grey with black-on-white prints for the backgrounds. I'm hoping I can use one of these fabrics as a border for the quilt. The prints may be too big for the little pieces that Bonnie's quilts tend to use. I also have quite a few smaller sewing prints that will be included in the piecing, along with many other fabrics in these colors.

Our assignment for week #1 is to make nine-patch blocks . I've got a good start on these little cuties and should have no trouble finishing the rest before the next clue is posted on Friday.

I'm joining the link-up for the mystery over at Bonnie's Quiltville blog. I'm also linking up to Design Wall Monday at Small Quilts and Doll Quilts, Monday Making at Love Laugh Quilt, and Moving It Forward at Em's Scrapbag. Check out all of them for tons of amazing quilting inspiration! 

Julie in GA