Harvey

Harvey is a finished quilt top!

I used a variety of purple fabrics from my stash. Even though the background looks white, it's really a pale gray cross-hatch design that looks great with the purples.

The plan is to get this one basted and quilted in November since I want to give this to my Mom for Christmas.

It's a large quilt for a Schnibbles pattern, finishing at 72" x 72". I needed two helpers to hold it up for the picture since it was too big for the design wall! Harvey should make a great lap quilt.

Are you ready for Grand Illusion?

Grand Illusion is the name of this year's Bonnie Hunter Mystery Quilt.

A couple weeks ago, Bonnie gave the colors and yardage required to make this year's quilt. I hustled over to Lowe's to pick up the Valspar paint chips Bonnie uses as inspiration for her color choices.

Last year I said I would use different colors for my second mystery quilt, but I really, really liked Bonnie's color choices of yellow, green, aqua and pink, along with black and white.

I plan to make mine smaller than Bonnie's quilt.  Last year, I made half the required units for the smaller of the two sizes Bonnie included.  I haven't decided if I will make half the units again or make them half the size of Bonnie's pattern.  I'll wait until I see the cutting directions to decide.

I think these colors will make a great baby quilt for a girl and it just so happens I have a new niece on the way and she's due in March - perfect timing for the finish of this mystery quilt.

I actually had a many of the required colors in my stash already, but I needed to add some blacks and whites for variety.  I picked up a few more fat quarters during the shop hop last weekend, so I'm all ready.  How about you?

Massachusetts Quilt Shop Hop

For the second year, I participated in the Massachusetts Quilt Shop Hop with my friend, Diana, and her sister, Alice.

Last year Diana and Alice did the shop hop over two days and I went along for one of the days.  This year, we did all 8 shops in one day.  I live the furthest away and had to leave my house at 5:30 am!  I drove an hour to Diana's house, then together we drove an hour to Lee, MA where Alice lives.  From there we drove another hour and 15 minutes to the shop that was the furthest east, Appletree Quilts in Auburn, MA.

We found that the shops were much less crowded than they were last year.  From what we could tell, a lot of people did the shop hop on Friday.  I can tell you, I appreciated the less crowded stores on Saturday, but I hope the shops did as well as they did the prior year.

I enjoyed all of the shops and made purchases in 7 of the 8.  I would have made a purchase in all of the stores except as the day wore on, my enthusiasm started to drop off.  I was looking at fabric and enjoying it, but just not able to bring myself to take bolts off the walls to have them cut up.  I think it was mainly being tired that curbed my enthusiasm and not any fault of any of the stores.

I found all the store personnel to be friendly and helpful, but, without a doubt, the staff of Quilts and Treasures in East Longmeadow was the most engaging, friendly, outgoing and helpful.  They really went above and beyond to be helpful and they were so cheerful.  

Before we left, I made a list of fabric and rulers I wanted and/or needed.  

I found two of the three rulers/templates I was looking for - a tumbler template, and a thin 12" long ruler.

I also found some red, off-white, and blue for a future patriotic quilt:

 

I found several soft floral fabrics for a quilt like one I saw in Vermont a few months ago:

 

I found fabric for this year's mystery quilt from Bonnie Hunter:

 

And I found fabric I didn't need at all:

Then there was the free fabric, a star-themed fat quarter from each shop:

 One shop was out of star fabric, so we were able to pick any fat quarter we wanted and I chose a green that will go in the Bonnie Hunter mystery quilt.

Even though I was totally exhausted by the time I got home at 9:30 pm, 16 hours after I left home in the morning, I had a great time.  The scenery was gorgeous, the company was great, and we had fun. 

Schnibbles Progress

October 14th would have been my niece, Meghan's, 24th birthday. It was a tough day. It still does not seem real that she's gone.

Somehow, life goes on for those of us that are left behind.  My parents and my sister took Meg's son out to dinner at her favorite restaurant.

I spent the day in therapy - sewing.  When I sew, I don't have any noise - no TV, no radio. It's just me and my thoughts.  Sewing really is therapy.

Harvey is the October Schnibble, I have the center portion all pieced.

I've also been making progress on another Schnibble, Double Dutch.  I have all the blue/aqua and yellow/pink triangles completed. Now I just need to put it all together.

 

Until we meet again

Our family experienced the full spectrum of joy and grief this week as my niece Kate welcomed her new son Brennan then days later we lost my dear niece and God-daughter,Meghan, just two weeks shy of her 24th birthday.

Meghan was born with a hole in her heart. After it was surgically fixed, her heart needed a pace maker to regulate the heartbeat. In all these years, no one ever led us to believe her lifespan might be shorter than normal.

This past week she passed away from acute congestive heart failure. She was a single mother, leaving behind a two year old son, Adam. Our family is just heartbroken over the loss of Meghan. Thankfully we are all very close and will do whatever it takes to make sure her son is cared for and loved.

Meggie, we will keep you close in our hearts, until we meet again.