...and I'm waaay behind in posting about this year's annual Bonnie Hunter 2024 'Old Town' Mystery - been so busy creating/quilting/Awarding quilts for Our Beloved Vets, making a Thanksgiving dinner for family, gotten a bit behind ;-)
Caught up...for now w/Clue #1 & Clue #2 - in fact, I got so caught up I decided to create a second Old Town Mystery out of Patriotic fabrics, keeping the REDs & Neutrals, swapping out the Turquoise/Aqua for Sapphire BLUE and the Coral for GOLD!
Patriotic Version fabrics:
Patriotic Fabrics for BH 2024 Old Town Mystery - ALL cut and ready for assembly!
Clue(s) #1:
Clue #1 - Patriotic Version
Clue #1 - 'Bonnie' colorway
Clue(s) #2:
Clue #2 - Patriotic Version
Clue #2 - 'Bonnie' Colorway
Don't forget to Twist & SHOUT those seams!
Twist & SHOUT those Center Seams!
Thank Goodness for LEFTOVERS - Thanksgiving Leftovers RULE!
And what better way to start preparing for Our Country's 250th Anniversary, as our Amazing quilting Ancestors did, by creating Beautiful quilts...right?
This one is especially appropriate, as it was originally created on Abraham Lincoln's Birthday earlier this year. It's only fitting that the very first quilt we decided to quilt to help Commemorate our Country's 250th Anniversary = 1776 - 2026, would be this quilt:
1st Patriotic quilt to be quilted for Our Country's 250th Anniversary
...and the quilting design chosen was, once again, appropriately so - Victory by My Creative Stitches:
Victory digital quilt design
Quilting it out:
1776 fabric for the Borders!
The backs always display the quilting perfectly, don't they?
Another 'America The Beautiful' Patriotic quilt just came up in my quilting queu - I really do LOVE this quilt panel!
'America the Beautiful III' coming off the frame
Each one has been quilted w/a different quilting design - this one quilted w/another of Christy Dillon's great digital quilting design, Sea of Starsw/Silver Glide quilting thread in the needle/bobbin:
Sea of Stars digital quilting design
And as is typical w/My Creative Stitches digital designs - stitched out Beautifully with very little backtrack!
Quilting out Beautifully - NO thread breaks or shredding
The quilting was 'started' on Tuesday - right before a major T-storm hit our area that same afternoon. We were fortunate - we only suffered minor wind damage and a fallen tree that took down some power lines and 'temporarily' interrupted my quilting:
Service Workers on the job
In less than 24 hours these Amazing Service workers had our power lines repaired and our service restored...Thank YOU!
Of course it is! This one hosted by AccuQuilt and APS - it just started so there's plenty of time to join in ALL the quilty FUN ;-)
I will be swapping out the 'default' colors to Patriotic and creating a Quilt of Honor to be Awarded to a Veteran later this year. Will probly be adding a few more borders to 'bring it to size' but, the interior is a wonderful design and pefect for just such a quilt.
Was able to cut out ALL the pieces in a little over an hour - despite NOT cutting enough the first time and/or mis-counting...Whew!
Pieces ALL cut and Ready to Sew!
I like to keep my projects organized and ready to go to the sewing machine - these baskets also 'stack' so... win/WIN!
They also fit into a rolling cart that I keep next to my cutting station - keeps things handy and organized.
Cutting Cart
I must say - there are PLENTY of ways to cut fabric BUT...AccuQuilt makes it Fast & FUN!
The 10" Cube is being used to cut out most of this quilt:
Using the GO! Big for this operation - performed FLAWLESSLY (An early Christmas present last year w/Saved up points ON SALE during Black Friday - what a WONDERFUL Gift! Especially since I'd recently broken my right elbow and was having difficulty cranking my hand-turned cutter...the GO! BIG was a lifesaver for my quilting adventures)
Now that ALL the pieces are cut & organized, Time to Sew Mama, SEW!
Chain piecing these pieces together is a Breeze due to the accuracy of the cuts!
I NO longer avoid piecing more challenging quilts w/AccuQuilt cutting system - ALL the pieces are cut uniformly and accurately and fit together like a glove...NO worries getting a perfectly pieced quilt...EVERY time!
Please NOTE: I am NOT an AccuQuilt paid Advocate and/or Affiliate - I probly should be but, currently just a very happy quilter who LOVES speed & accuracy while having FUN quilting ;-)
Loving how these units are turning out:
Square-in-a-square units sewing together Perfectly!
Bunny Bags from Kimberbell are just the cuttest, aren't they?
Lion King remnant
This Lion King remnant is a 'leftover' from my youngest son's 'King' days - how FUN to stumble across it in my latest round of fabric sorting! I saved it in a bin w/several other fabrics, planning to use in some project 'someday'. Once I saw this latest Kimberbell Bunny Bag embroidery project, I knew exactly what fabrics I would be using ;-)
I did modify this design a bit to take advantage of my Lion King remnant and I used brown felt for the bunny body:
Brown felt bunny front w/candies
I also inserted some Easter background quilting to stabilize the heavier felt for the bunny body and ears, using Metallic thread for color and effect to stitch-out.
Even though I stitched out the bunny tail - I chose to add a white cotton ball for good measure ;-). The woven jute ties came with some of my latest plants, and I saved because I thought they might come in handy!
This Patriotic Quilt will be quilted/bound/labeled and Awarded to one Our Beloved Area Marines:
Patriotic Quilt utilizing Remnant fabrics w/Abe Lincoln Panel
This is one of many that are being created incorporating 'remnants' into blocks and sashing, combined with various Patriotic panels to create Beautiful Patriotic Quilts to Honor our Amazing Service Members and Veterans for their Sacrifice and Service for our country.
Here's another recently created Patriotic Quilt from 'remnant binding strips':
Patriotic quilt
We fondly refer to these Patriotic 'Remnant' blocks as 'potato chip' blocks, as the Creator of these wondrous blocks/quilts does, too: ...because once you get started making them, You simply CAN'T make Just ONE!
Not only are they FUN to create - they give us an outlet for our binding remnants that allows us to utilize even the smallest pieces of fabric to create Beautiful Patritic Quilts for our Beloved Vets and Service Members...win/WIN!
A few examples of these blocks:
Blue Center 'Log Cabin/Potato Chip' block
RED Center 'Log Cabin/Potato Chip' block
There are MANY ways to assemble these 'remnant/potato chip' blocks - we chose the Log Cabin style to reflect not only our Lincoln Log cabin state but, because of the simplicity of piecing this block. We use 2 1/2" strips throughout cut to 4 1/2" lengths because once again, that's what we have the most remnants of, because that's the size we typically use for our bindings = simplicity ;-)
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