CASE OF THE SECRET GARDEN

I put my Case of the Secret Garden pieces and supplies in an Art Bin with dividers for taking along while I travel.  It's very handy!

CASE OF THE SECRET GARDEN CLUE 3

 

These are the two 'blocks' I'm stitching by hand for clue 3.

And here's my set up for stitching.  Very handy!

BEA'S QUILT ALONG FABRICS

I just pulled 7 fabrics from my 30's stash for Bea's Quilt Along.  I'm not sure what I'll use where but these are the 7 I've selected.  Probably the stripe green will be the border.  Or the center fabric for border, as that is where the others came from.  We shall see, but a quilter reserves the right to change her mind:)  So I'm ready for the first step in March.  Sort of.

BEA'S QUILT ALONG

My friend Bea is hostessing a quilt along.  This one promises to be a skill builder so it's perfect if you are adding to your repertoire of skills.  Hop on over to Bea's blog here to get the details and yardage requirements. 

Bea is so sweet in sharing her skills.  Notice she offers EQ information and help, plus many other great things (including super pictures of her baby, Sonja).

BTW, Bea is not pronounced like a buzzing bee.  It's be a, as in 'be a quilter', hence the name of her blog.

CASE OF THE SECRET GARDEN

 

This week has been filled with doctor appointments, but I have managed to get all the cutting done for the little shapes of the Inklingo mystery.

 

With Inklingo you print the shapes on the wrong side of your fabric (using an ordinary ink jet printer), so you don't need templates.  Then you cut on the cutting lines.  The cut out shapes still have the seam line showing, as well as cross-hairs at the corners, and match points along the way.

Now on to the sewing part of Clue 3. 

You can find a link to Inklingo and also The Case of the Secret Garden (COTSG) mystery in previous posts as well as on my side bar.

WHOO KNOWS?

 

Meet Borachio, the first block in Sindy R.'s new BOM, 'Whoo Knows?'.  Sindy used browns and greens for hers, but I'm going with brights.

The eyes are a fussy cut from an ugly free FQ on a shop hop.  It's really horrible brown flowers printed on off-white.  I think making eyes out of the flowers proves there are no ugly fabrics, it's all in how you use it, LOL!

Block patterns are free for one month, or you can buy the whole quilt pattern now.  Hop over to Fat Cats to check it out.

HAPPY VALENTINES DAY

Happy Valentins Day all.  It's a dark and cloudy day here, so it was hard to get a nice picture of this little Patchabilities wall hanging that I made a few years back.

Case of the Secret Garden

Step 2 for any Inklingo project:  test the colors on your fabric.  You can see this really well on my white, but it's printed the same on all of these little 5 x 5 swatches.  You select the color you'll print on the back of the fabric, cutting lines and stitching lines with hatch marks at corners and match points.  You want the lightest color that you can see. 

This is a little tricky on the prints, because what you can see on the lighter parts doesn't necessarily show up on the dark.  These tests are on the back of the fabric because that's where the marks get printed.

So what was Step 1, you ask.  Select your fabrics of course.  Here's what I'm using in the COTSG, right side out.

The quarter is for the size of the print which was important here, because the pieces are small.  Now on to printing the shapes on my fabrics.

ATW BLOCKS

I finished three more blocks for the Around the World Swap.  Here's the most recent 6 I've done.  So now I have 14 done,  6 to go when their FQs arrive.  I think this pattern, Patience Corners from quilterscahche.com would look super for an entire quilt, in coordinating colors of course.

GOLDEN QUILTER AWARDS - VOTE!

Voting is now open, and I voted for my favorites.  You can too.  Click here to make your choices count and for a chance to win prizes.

BIRD HOUSE MUG RUG

I finished another mug rug this morning, this cute little bird house.  Warning: Mug rugs are VERY addicting!

Looks like it will be a busy week:

• WOB block for Sarah is HARD!  EPPing a myriad of tiny shapes.  OR, make alternate block.
• Second clue for COTSG (inklingo - see previous post)
• Borachio, first block in Fat Cats new BOM, Whoo Knows?
• Keep up with ATW Swap blocks (2 more FQs have arrived)
• Step one of Contess BOM, IF missing fabric 7 arrives

 

 

 

Hints: 

• The Inklingo mystery is perfect for beginners at printing on fabric with an ordinary ink jet printer.  This week is all about the printing, step by step, taking the mystery out.  http://www.lindafranz.com/blog/the-case-of-the-secret-garden-clue-2/
 
• Sindy's Fat Cats link http://www.fatcatpatterns.com/
 
• Women of the Bible link http://groups.yahoo.com/group/WomenoftheBibleQuilt/

 Hope you find time to keep busy stitching too.



CASE OF THE SECRET GARDEN

 

Linda and Monkey are up to mischief!  They have created an Inklingo mystery, The Case of the Secret Garden, and it's for gals just like me.

Me?  Why me?  Because I love how Inklingo prints cutting and piecing lines right on your fabric.  Because it's so easy to stitch that way.  Because you don't need to make templates for tough pieces.  Well, that sounds like it would be for anyone.  Why me?

Because I have sewn Inklingo blocks (hexies) that someone else sent me, loved it, ordered it (hey, some of the shapes are free), and shelved it.  Printing on fabric seemed confusing.  It must be hard.  Well, probably not hard, as everyone else seems to do it.  There's even a Yahoo group for Inlingo users, and they are nice -- no dumb questions except the ones you don't ask.  Linda is nice, and answers questions, and she has Monkey to boot.  So why don't I use it?

I don't know.  But, The Case Of The Secret Garden promises to get folks like me going.  All the mystery will be taken out.  It's a small project, no big commitment.  It only takes four fabrics (from stash in my case).  New clues will be posted, and there will be support from others making the same thing at the same time.  Baby steps.

So with encouragement from my online friend Cyn (we must meet one day!), I'm in.  By the way, it is not just for beginner users of Inklingo.  It's for everyone.  This is a new shape in the every-growing collection.

I ordered the one set I needed and didn't have last night.  Sure enough, easy peasey, downloaded on my computer.  It even came with free stuff too!  Why not?  I downloaded the first clue.  Easy.  I'm ready for more.  Bring it on, Monkey!

 

If you are confused as to what Inklingo is, what the mystery is about, or any of this post, just click on the links in the post.  I'll have a link to the mystery on my sidebar too.

 

OWLS MUG RUG

I had fun this week playing with this mug rug.  It was fun to pull the different fabrics and also to play around with the rarely used stitches on my machine.  Only the French knot eyes are by hand, and stitching the back to front binding down.

GIVE AWAY

 

Brynwood Needle Works is having a Valentin Give Away.  Click here or on my side bar to find out about it.

NAOMI, HOMECOMING

 

This week, in the Women of the Bible group, we are studying Naomi.  Her quilt block is called Homecoming.

Naomi left her homeland with her husband and two young sons,, looking to get away from famine.  Her husband and sons all died in this foreign land, but not before the sons took foreign wives.  Left alone, with strange daughter's-in-law, in a strange land, with famine there too, Naomi decides to return to her homeland.  But one of the dauther's-in-law decides to go with her, as we will learn next week.

Homecoming is a block with curved piecing and set in seams.  You could applique the melon on the center by hand, but I used curved piecing by machine.  The set-in seams might have been easier to get accurate by hand, but I did those by machine too.

I chose fabrics that remind me of farms and farming, because famine played a big role in Naomi's story.  It's very hard for us today to imagine a land where there really wasn't enough food.

A GIVE AWAY

But more importantly, an opportunity to help build clean water wells in Africa.  But yes, there is a give away iinvolved.  Hop on over to Learning to be Me's blog to learn more.

AROUND THE WORLD SWAP

I've received four blocks back from the Around the World Swap.  These are blocks representing the makers, using my fabric plus theirs.  I love how they've each selected different colors to go with mine.  The yellow looking one, bottom right, is actually is light lime'ish green.

The top left is from an architecht/engineer, representing her skills, top right is Carol's star from Carol, bottom left is Dutchman's puzzle from a Dutch gal, and the other is a shooting star from Colorado.  Fun!

These are 4 out of 20 I'll be receiving.  Already have setting plans spinning through my head:)

EASTER MUG RUG

This morning I finished up an Easter mug rug I've been working on.  The hand-embroidered vine wrapping around the cross was fun to do, but doesn't show up very well in the picture.

WINTER WONDERLAND QAL

Patchwork Posse's Winter Wonderland sew along has started.  The first row is Delectable Mountain blocks.  She has a really easy way to make them, so although I really planned to just follow, not sew, this quilt-along (QAL), I had to give it a go.

The block finishes at 12x8, and she says to make 4.  That would make a 48" row.  I'm thinking maybe I'll make three for a 36" row.  We shall see.

Anyhow, here's my first block, and below is how to make them.

 

To start, cut two 8.5" squares, one of each color.  Put them right sides together, draw a line down the diagonal, stitch 1/4" each side of the line, cut on the line, open and press.  In other words the way you probably already make hsts (half-square-triangles).  I squared mine to 8" at this point.

Lay them rst (right-sides-together), opposite colors facing.

Slice into 4 two-inch strips.

Arrange the strips like so, and stitch together.  Voila!  A quick and easy block.

 

Here's my row of 3.  It's 8 x 36; seems pretty big to me.  She says to make four, for a 48" length.

There's a link to this row-along on my side bar, and in an earlier post.  I still don't know that I'll be stitching all of it, but this would have made a super block for a row swap I was in last year, for the theme northwoods.  Hmmm.....................

WOMEN OF THE BIBLE: DELILAH

This week we are studying Delilah.  Her story of course includes Samson.  Samson's mother was told that God was giving special strength to the son she would bear.  In return, his part of the bargain would include living clean and not cutting his hair.

Delilah was a prostitute who three kings offered a large sum if she could learn Samson's secret to his strength.  The secret of course was God's promise to his mother.  Delilah used her feminine wiles to nag and beg Samson to tell her.  When he finally did, she cut off his hair while he lay sleeping, his strength was gone, and she delivered him over to the Philistines. 

They gouged out Samson's eyes and imprisoned him.  While in prison his hair grew back and so did his favor with God.  In the end Samson used his regained strength to kill many Philistines, and himself, when he took down their temple by knocking over the supporing pillars with his strength..

The block for Delilah is called Blind Man's Fancy.  Since Delilah used her beauty and feminine powers to learn Samson's secret, I decided to use feminine colors for this block.  I used the stripey one, because it reminds me of hair, and hair was a key player in this story.

This lesson makes us think about times we have used manipulation to achieve our goals. It also reminds us God uses all sorts of people, not just saints, to further his plans.

This 6" block is fiddley, with many small pieces (as this picture demonstrates), but with paper piecing it is not difficult.

There is a paper piecing tutorial on my blog tutorial page.  Sometimes it helps to see how many people do it, and use what works for you.

CASE OF THE SECRET GARDEN

 

These are the 'blocks' I'm hand-stitching for Clue 3.

 

And here's my convenient set up.

The Patchwork Posse is starting a row robin this week.  The free row patterns are by various designers and will be posted twice a month.

Not sure if I'll be sewing this one, but I do love row quilts and will surely follow along.  Read all about it here.

ELM CREEK PINS

While at the Jennifer Chiaverini book signing for her new book, Mrs. Lincoln's Dressmaker, I also asked Jennifer to sign my Sylvia's Bridal Sampler pattern book and my copy of her book The Giving Quilt.  Those books both have pins associated with them, and she so generously gave me these.  Love them!  I will add them to my quilt pins collection.

JAEL, redo

There are times when you live with less than perfect blocks, and there are times when they drive you crazy and you redo them.  That's the case with my Women of the Bible block for Jael, Arab Tent.  Jael was quite the strong woman; after all, she killed Sisera with a tent peg through his temple.  My wonky block wasn't doing her justice.  So this afternoon I took out part and redid it.  I like the moons in this fabric much better, and the curves are better this way too.  Still not perfect, but much better!

SUPPORT YOUR LOCAL QUILT SHOP

Don't forget to support your LQS tommorrow.  I shop on-line sometimes, but nothing beats a brick and mortar store.

I sure want my LQSs to stay in business!