I have finished this year's Quiltville's Mystery quilt!  It is at the flimsy stage; I'll need to locate a backing fabric and finishing quilting it!  I enjoyed making this quilt.  I used all of my turquoise and purple fabrics so I had to make a stop at my local quilt shop.  It was fun to visit and see all the folks and to select new fabrics.  I have not been shopping for quilt fabrics much this year.  I have spent most of my time preparing and getting lessons set up for my culinary students.  

Thank you Bonnie for another beautiful quilt.  The quilt is no longer available via her blog but one can purchase the PDF pattern.  Here is the link for Bonnie's shop....Quiltville shop  

Bonnie is a very creative person and has so many patterns...I have purchased many and I love her books, too.  I have about 3 quilt makings at various stages...I have them in fabric bags and when I need to sew, I pull one out and sew.  This is so relaxing for me.

Mystery quilt with Bonnie Hunter 2022---Chilhowie quilt mystery

 Another great start with Bonnie, once again, offering and designing a new quilt mystery for this year 2022.  I have collected my fabric in her colorways and finished with part 1 and 2.  The colors are beautiful!

I didn't have quite enough purple and orange, or so I thought.  I found a stack of orange, of course, after purchasing more from my local quilt shop.  Ehh, it's okay.  I will have more variety!  Actually, I haven't made any quilt purchases for about 6 months, so this is my time to handle and caress the new fabric selections.

I'll post my progress once I run down stairs to get my I-pad.  I am in the middle of cutting the pieces for last week's clue.  Me behind?  Nah...I'm taking my time this year.  I have not been as vigilant with completing my Christmas gifts for this year.  

I have been taking up needlework, both crocheting and knitting, and loving it.  Progress is a little slow, but I enjoy sitting and doing the needlework for the day.  I usually don't finish large items such as afghans, but this year, I found Mikey.  I have been participating in his crochet-along and have finished 3 afghans this year!  That is an accomplishment for me!  I've been so wrapped up with my needlework!  I feel so accomplished!  I purchased a circular knitting machine, a 48 needle Sentro.  I've made a couple of beanies.  Learning curve, well?  I am finding out that not all yarns love the Sentro.  I have put this down for the time being as I need to concentrate more on getting my Christmas finished....that is, cut out and sewn!  

What has been happening since last year?

Major changes for me and my husband.  I've accepted a teaching job at G Central High School teaching culinary.  Our district has stated a new thing (most schools across have a similar form) of pathways.  I and another pathway teacher have started teaching what we know best and boy, it has been a rough ride.  I am waiting for the dream kitchens....I was promised we would have our commercial kitchens by November.  Well, November has come and gone...we have one stove/oven, which we share amongst 12 students in one class period.  I can't complain about the students, they want to learn about the culinary field.  They are doing such a great job even with the lack of pots and pans, cook tops and ovens.  We take turns sharing the oven and we use the stove with gas cylinders (Prostart requirement).  I've had to improvise may times to create the cooking experiences needed for competition.  I am still learning the ropes when it comes to requesting for equipment and food items....our purchase order system is rather slow.

I love teaching and it makes it worth all the effort and trials when my students are shining during special events.  We have made and served pancakes to our veterans back in November; we served during our Open House extravaganza this month.  Parents were beaming as they watched their child serve and perform as a culinary team. 

My colleague has had to do the same...he has brought in his personal tools to teach students the world of wood construction and they had been pretty successful.  They have built and constructed 3 very well built dog houses with a shingled roof!  At the of the semester, his crew was working outside constructing the storage shed needed to store their lumber.  

My husband switched from teaching math to taking over as a school dean.  He loves it!  I knew he would; he does great with decision making and also working with the students.  He makes his rounds to observe teachers working at their craft.  He has to evaluate and provide suggestions when needed.  He has more duties and has had to stay a bit longer on several evenings, but he loves it. Besides working as a dean, he is working on his administration license and master's degree.  I am so proud of him!  

 

 

Finishing up Christmas gifts.

 I am busy crocheting gifts for family.   I also have been machine embroidering gifts, too.  Here are the cute Mandala purses.  I purchased the embroidery file from Kreative Kiwi.   She has so many cute designs.   Check out her website, Kreative Kiwi. I need work on sewing straps for these cute purses.   

Here is a warm sweater for my mom.

Starting Rhododendron trail quilt mystery

Clue 4

 clue 1 & 3

clue 4

 I'm off and piecing my fabrics.  I knew I had most of the colors for this year's color palette.  I do need more yellows, though.   I could also use more teal/ turquoise.  I thought about using my Accuquilt. But for now it seems easier to use my specialty rulers...Bonnie's Essential triangle tool.   I really like having my fabrics in various size strips. It is easy to pull and cut into the desired shapes and sizes.  Here is clue #1 and clue#3 sewn together.   I am about halfway with clue #4.   I can hardly wait for the reveal.   This will happen usually on the start of the New Year.

Working on Grassy Creek in November.

 This is last year’s mystery quilt sew-along with Bonnie Hunter.   I was torn between using whole pieces of grays for the sashing bits, but I thought, why not go with string piecing?   I had plenty of bits and pieces of a variety of grays from other sewing projects and guess what?   I used them up!  This is a good feeling. I purchased more and am currently sewing up the last 20 for the sashing.  I have 3 rows sewn with the last two sets of blocks waiting to be joined.  I’ m looking forward to sewing the borders of more strip piecing!   I know I won’t finish in time before this year’s mystery begins, but I’ll still join.  I’m digging through my stash and it looks like I’ll have to purchase more turquoise teal.  On to the fabric store, whoo hoo!

Here’s my Grassy Creek in the soon to be flimsy stage.

Grassy Creek mystery quilt

 We have started this year's mystery sewing/quilting with Bonnie Hunter!  I have to put my fabrics together for this mystery.  I hope I have enough...I think I do.  

Here's the link if you would like to join and make your own version.

Grassy Creek, part 1

Bonnie gives clues every Friday until the New Year.  I've participated in several mysteries and they are so much fun.  I sew and sew, piece and piece and wait expectantly for the reveal!  Bonnie loves her scrappy pieces and because of her, I've ventured out to use every bit of my scraps to create my own version.  Before finding Bonnie, I would buy the fabrics as specified in various patterns and pieced them with just those fabrics.  I ended up with scraps a plenty and when a fellow quilter at a guild meeting gave out Bonnie's website, I was hooked.  That journey started over 10 years ago!  My time just flies by!

Bonnie begins setting up the mystery by giving out suggested colors about a month in advance.  This helps one organize and shop for fabrics to create the quilt top.  I have purchased small amounts throughout various mysteries and still have plenty to use as the years have advanced.  My goodness, you would think with the mysteries, I would have culled my fabric stash by now!  Not even close!  Ask my kids.  They have helped me move my sewing studio several times and the fabric boxes just keep coming.

Here is the link to read about the introduction and how to get started.

Grassy Creek - A Quiltville Mystery (Introduction!)

Have fun!  I love piecing and enjoy the whole process!