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.

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.