Clue Three

Here are a subset of my clue 3 blocks for Bonnie Hunter's Good Fortune Mystery quilt.

And unlike previous years, the final layout for this quilt is so obvious that I am going ahead and sewing these blocks together.

And yes, I have not been able to blog over the last two days because I was trapped under a boulder. Luckily, Buddy gets up quite often for a snack and that lets me take a breath. He thinks I will mistake him for a cat if he sits on my lap and purrs, but its more the sensation of being in an avalanche...I suppose.

Barbara at Cat Patches was planning to go outside to counteract the short days we have in the Northwest. That is exactly the kind of advice I would give, but not do. And if I were still in Virginia, I would be outside with a snow shovel. Instead, I decided to string my IKEA squirrel lights across the top of my design wall. While I was hanging them, Molly would sneak attack from behind the design wall and bat at them. She decided they were a very boring cat toy because she did not get to activate gravity by having either me or the squirrels fall to the floor.

Back to Tiny Town

With this last pile of teal half-square triangles, Molly certifies that I have successfully completed Clue 2 of Bonnie Hunter's Good Fortune mystery.

And along the way I made some more mini spools (2 inches unfinished).

Return of the Demented Garden Mosaic

Here's the Demented Garden Mosaic (a pattern from Free Spirit) after its been through the first step of machine quilting. Because of its size and the amount of seams, I layered and quilted it to the batting only.

I simply ran down the white squares using white thread. I'm trying not to interfere with the psychotic, I mean, psychedelic pattern.

Next, I will layer on the back and sew through the dark squares with a dark variegated thread. I am going with a garden print from Dear Stella for the back...it's a different garden mosaic. (And I guess growing fish in the garden makes it demented too.)

Clue Two Half Square Triangles Continued

Here are the Clue Two half square triangles that I have made so far. I wonder how many I have and how many more I have to make. Molly's special tip for counting pieces is to delegate the task to Buddy.

Buddy estimates that I have made 80 percent of the half square triangles that I need.

Molly thinks Buddy just pulled that number out of his ...

Bonnie Hunter's Good Fortune Clue 2

We're well on our way into Clue #2 of Bonnie Hunter's Good Fortune Mystery Quilt.

With a pile of four-patches and half square triangles, we can all agree that the final quilt layout is quite obvious. I was going to show you my prediction of the layout, but Molly suggested that if it was that obvious, maybe it would be better to provide a tutorial for impeccable piecing. I think that sounds like catsplaining...but Molly has been around quilting since she was 3 months old, and I started in my early 20s, well past the average life of a cat. So the cat tutorial wins...

First, Molly recommends that you make sure that your presser paws are correctly aligned to guarantee a quarter inch seam.

Molly also recommends making a chain with your piecing of half-square triangles. She doesn't care about time management, but this will make an excellent cat toy.

Molly recommends against aggressive pressing. Pressing a half square triangle should feel like a long cat nap.

And if you insist on using an iron for pressing, Molly recommends that you take care to prevent burns.

Last but not least, under no circumstances allow your staff to publish unbecoming photos.

Good Fortune strips for Part 2

We received the next clue for Bonnie Hunter's Good Fortune Mystery...half square triangles from blue and neutral...for me, it is teal and white. Here are the strips I will be using. I have additional constraints on my quilt...the inclusion of cat fabrics and birds, mice and bugs to keep the cats amused.

Bonnie used some Y2K fabric in her quilt. I do have some Y2K fabric but it doesn't go with my color scheme. This fabric was designed by Nancy Crow. I also have it in a gold colorway.

Molly is not sure that I have included enough feline featured fabric (FFF). She is glad that I didn't include any fabric featuring criminal ponies that nip at kitten ears.

Under the radar

Yes, I made all XXX of the four patches for the Bonnie Hunter Good Fortune Mystery. Of course, I used my usual outstanding accounting procedures. I counted them and found that I had (XXX - 1) of them. I had taken one out because it used the same fabric within the four patch...so I remade that four patch to reach XXX. Then I realized I had a handful laid out on the design wall. So the official count is >XXX and that's good enough for me given that my counting as an error margin of ten.

And yes, they are all twirled.

And yes, the Demented quilt (Garden Mosaic from Free Spirit) is getting some attention again.