Rainy Day Sewing: Grand Illusion Part 1

We are having a wonderfully rainy day here in Santa Fe.  Rain is a welcome sight in the high desert and today was perfect for having a day off of work with nothing pressing to do and no errands that needed running.  I sewed and listened to the rain falling on the skylights and drank hot tea and listened to podcasts on the laptop and made cookies.  A cozy not-too-chilly wintery day.

I am happy to report that I finished Step 1 of Bonnie Hunter's mystery quilt.  It feels great to be caught up before the next step is posted.  I am reveling in this as it may not last LOL!

Here are examples of my first 100 blocks.

Due to the rainy day, I couldn't quite capture the true colors of the blocks but you get the idea.











Check out everyone else's blocks at the link up here:
http://quiltville.blogspot.com/2014/12/mystery-monday-link-up-part-1.html

New step will be posted bright and early tomorrow morning.

Mini Stems for the Parade

Just a quick post to add my mini Stems quilt to the AYOS parade.  It was a busy holiday weekend and I nearly forgot to post my entry.

 I used an older Fig Tree line called Cinnamon Stars and Moda Bella solid in Fig Tree cream for the background.  This has a slightly autumn feel to it with the darker colors.  This was a fun quilt to make and I may have to add the "regular" size version to my list of quilts to make.

Hop on over to Sherri and Sinta's blogs to see the rest of the parade.

We all enjoyed our Thanksgiving here in Santa Fe.  We celebrated with a turkey dinner on Friday (I worked all day Thanksgiving).  The kitties hung out in the kitchen all day and were rewarded for their hard work supervising with some little bites of turkey.  Remy decided that turkey is his new favorite thing and purred up a storm until falling sound asleep in his box.

Hope everyone in the US had a great holiday weekend!

Winter is Here and Getting Ready for the Mystery Quilt

Winter has arrived in Santa Fe, which had me scrambling for hats, gloves, socks, and 57 layers of clothes.

We had snow that stayed for a few days, then slightly less cold weather, and then graupel on Sunday, and then cold windy weather today.











Gomez and Stella are taking advantage of the pile of quilts on the couch and spend their days curled up.

I have most everything ready for our Thanksgiving dinner this week (which we are having on Friday since I'm working on Thursday).  I know there may be one quick trip to the grocery store for a couple things but not much.  

I am really looking forward to starting Bonnie Hunter's mystery quilt on Friday.  Even though I don't *entirely* have past years' mysteries done (ah hum), I'm going to join in on this one.  

I'm using Bonnie's color choices this year but a bit more toned down. Here are the slightly different paint chips that I am using as a rough guide to my color choices.

















Yellow is not one of the colors I use very much so I did purchase yardage but the rest I mostly pulled from stash. 

Blacks and neutrals are pulled and waiting to go also.  

Can't wait to see everyone's fabric choices this year.

An Overdue Trip to Michigan for this Aunt

The end of October brought a long overdue trip to Michigan to visit the family.  I planned my trip to coincide with Halloween because I wanted to join in on the fun of trick-or-treating with niece Mackenzie (4 1/2 y.o.) and nephew Cameron (20 mo.) and newest nephew Benjamin (2 mo.).

We visited a cider mill and went pumpkin-picking.

Celebrated October birthdays (mine and sister-in-law's).


















Carved pumpkins...


















.....and took lots and lots of selfies. (I taught Mackenzie how to do this on my iPhone and now I have eleventy billion photos LOL!)

Trick-or-treating was short-lived as it snowed and snowed and the wind was blowing like crazy.  Only in Michigan....

My visit was much too short but I did fit in a trip to my favorite Michigan quilt store Mabelena's.  I picked up some new Fig Tree fat quarters for a soon-to-be project and some great Boo Crew fabric on sale for a future Schnibble project. 

 

My visit was way too short and I hope to get back soon before this little guy grows up too much.

Sending Love to Canada

Sending love, hugs, and heartfelt sympathy to Canada.  I was horrified to hear about the terrible, violent attack in Ottawa.  My thoughts are with everyone, especially the loved ones of the soldier who was killed today.

May peace return to your fair city soon.

Of Aspens and Quilt Shows

The aspens are changing colors in the mountains, and cooler nights have arrived.

Mr. SBQ's parents were in town last week and we did all the tourist things--Georgia O'Keefe museum, history museum, art museum, Indian art museum, Taos, Acoma pueblo, shopping on the plaza, eating at great restaurants, looking at scenery, and strolling along Canyon Road.   It was a busy 5 days LOL!

Canyon Road sculpture gallery

Yesterday was my day off and we actually had a proper overcast-and-rainy day in Santa Fe.  I ventured out to the Quilt Fiesta quilt show held by the local quilt guild.  It was a small show with about a dozen vendors (which is great because I'm on a no-buy at least until my trip to Michigan later this month.) Here are a few of the quilts that caught my eye from the show. 

It was great to do something "quilty" for a change.

And now I'm all inspired to work on a new project or two :)

And of course, no post is complete without a cat photo.  Stella was snuggled on the couch among the quilts. Such is the life.

Happy October!

Or as I like to call it "Extra Hugs for Black Cats Month"

Remy was caught in a late morning sunbeam.  I don't think he moved for a full 5 minutes.

My Favorite Season

Happy Fall Y'all!!

I can't believe that October is right around the corner.  This summer just went zipping by in a flurry of festivals, fiestas, hikes, walks, busy work, sunshine, sleepy cats, good books, and who knows what else.  I am behind in all things email and blog posts and blog comments. Maybe I'll catch up when winter arrives?

There has been some sewing here and there.  (I made curtains!)

I have jumped into the Another Year of Schnibbles & a Little Bit More  (AYOS&ALBM) group for this year and have the top completed with time to spare (woo hoo!)

September's AYOS&ALBM quilt pattern is Whit by Miss Rosie's Quilt Co. Instead of using the little 2 1/2" mini charm packs,  I used a single 5" charm pack from my stash--an older autumn line by Deb Strain, which I now have forgotten the name of, and Moda Bella solid in Off-White.

I chose the Dutchman's Puzzle layout for the quilt and loved making these cutemous tiny flying geese in happy fall colors and patterns.

The blocks are 4" finished.  Fun-sized.

 Voila!  Tiny quilt top is done (it's 22" square). I need to dig through my stash for some autumnal backing and binding.

 I see a potential photo bomb about to happen.

It's Remy!! Of course.

Another Year of Schnibbles Year in Review

My parade for this past year is woefully sparse.  I guess fixing up and selling a house and packing and packing and more packing and moving across country and unpacking and unpacking will do that.  I've also been out-and-about exploring New Mexico every chance I've had so that has put quilting by the wayside.  Maybe a better quilting routine will come along this way with autumn arriving soon.  

So without further ado--here is my very small parade, allowing you to run right over and see more at Sherri and Sinta's blogs.   See I am saving you time by not getting my projects done.  How considerate of me ;)

Here was May's quilt called X-Rated (still needs quilting and binding).  

Next up is April's quilt which was a Thimbleblossom's mini pattern.  

I finished mine and use it as a curtain in our itty-bitty half-bathroom.  I call it our submarine bathroom--it's smaller than a small closet--seriously it's tiny.  My fancy-dancy (not) curtain hardware is binder clips and a wooden dowel because we can't put nails in the rental house.  Eh, whatevs. 

Moving on to.....

....wait that's it.  I didn't finish Jersey Girl back in January so that's it for this year.  

C'est la vie.  

I am ready to jump into another year of fun Schnibbles and other small projects. 

Late August Already?

Summer is zooming by here in Santa Fe.  Summer is a big tourist season and I have been super busy at Starbucks with all the extra people in town.  This week is Indian Market week  and the population of Santa Fe more than doubles.  Mr. SBQ and I will go downtown tomorrow as soon as the market opens and before I have to work in the afternoon.

I've been working on a few quilting projects here and there.  I did finish my second Charm Pack Cherry quilt. I just love the bright colors of Kate Spain's Daydream line with the periwinkle Moda Bella solid.

Purple was my favorite color as a child and this quilt just makes me happy. Stella and I can fully attest to the fact that this quilt is perfect for summer afternoon cat naps under the ceiling fan.

For the back, I chose the purple daisy print from the line.  I quilted it myself with my go-to Bernina wavy stitch.  This is a quick and easy way to quilt a quilt.

 More happy purple things at my house include these flowers blooming away in our back patio area.  The flowers we planted in early summer are doing well with the cooler and rainier summer that we are having in Santa Fe.  This is salvia and calibrachoa.

Late summer also brings an abundance of yummy blackberries to the farmer's market.  I made a blackberry-raspberry pie this week and it was divine!




















On warmer days, Stella likes to sprawl out on the cool wood floors.  

How are you spending the last weeks of August?

A Finish Just in Time

 I finished quilting and binding the baby quilt for my soon-to-be-new-niece-or-nephew.  The baby is due any day now.

I quilted it myself using a "wavy" stitch in horizontal lines across the quilt.  It reminds me of the clouds in some of the blocks.

The quilt is all washed and crinkly and in the mail.

Here's a view of the back and a close-up of the fabric and quilting.


I just love this fabric line from Kate & Birdie for Moda called Storybook.  The pattern is Charm Pack Cherry by Fat Quarter Shop.

I had lots of cat help on this project from beginning to end.

I woke Gomez up from a nap by snapping photos of him.  This is his usual sleeping spot every night--on the pillows above my head. We both like fun quilting fabric pillowcases :)