Saturday, December 31, 2016

Just in time for the New Year - Clue #6 of En Provence is In The Bag!

Finished our latest En Provence Mystery Clue #6, just in time to ring in our New Year!

Clue #6 of our En Provence Mystery
After getting caught up the very night before this latest clue was released, the morning of Friday, December 30th, there was NO time to waste to stay caught up!  I could hear my Mother urging me on to FINISH...especially since this is 'her' Tribute Quilt...OK Mom, Stop pushing ;-)

My Mother passed away suddenly the Monday after Thanksgiving five years ago, and every year it's a struggle to get through these holidays without her.  I'm hoping this En Provence Tribute Quilt will help a bit with this struggle.  At least there's been some healing in just the creating - funny how that works, isn't it?

I hadn't even planned to participate in the annual Quiltville Mystery this year, that was 'until' I saw the colors - they are ALL my Mom's very favorites!  There was NO choice, really - it was meant to be, in honor of her 5-year passing.

Anyway, to continue with the documentation of this very special quilt.  I followed Bonnie's instructions to the letter for this clue, well almost...

Remember those 'extra' neutrals I mistakenly cut in Clue #1 that I failed to mention/admit until Clue #2?  Well guess what - some of them were able to be used in this clue...how neat is that?

So, ALL I had to cut were the greens and lilacs, start stacking and whacking with Bonnie's Brand-NEW Essential Triangle Tool - and it worked like a jet!  Check these pics out:

Essential Triangle Tool - Perfect pieces every time!

Did just like Bonnie suggested in Clue #6, stacked four (4) layers of the greens/lilacs/neutrals and then cut out the correct quarter square triangles...easy/peasy ;-)

Cutting the full length of four strips at once - Who knew?

In NO time, it's off to the sewing machine to strip piece:

Strip piecing the quarter square triangles

All was going well until...something went wrong:

I don't think this clue requires THREE fabrics sewn together at once, do you?

As usual, in my zeal to finish, picked up three (3) units and sewed them together.  Didn't realize it UNTIL I started noticing that I was having to flip fabrics of the quarter triangle units prior to sewing them together because the right sides were NO longer facing...oops!  Did some picking on three mis-sewn units - not too bad, really.  And, started paying more attention prior to slipping each unit under the presser foot to sew!

Once they were ALL sewn, time to press:

Pressed and ready to assemble into hour glass units

And they came out fab me thinks:

Pressed/pruned, aren't these the cutest?
ALL ready to be bagged & tagged for their New Year Mystery reveal!
And here they are:

Clue #6 - Bagged/tagged

I liked this clue, once I got started, and I really did NOT think would!  Until now, these hour glass units have never been a favorite of mine to do.  I love how they look, just couldn't seem to cut/sew them accurately enough for my taste.  With Bonnie's tutelage, they turned out pretty good, and I think Mom would even approve.

Anxious to see what Bonnie has in store for us in our upcoming clues in the New Year!  In the meantime, to see what EVERYONE else is up to with our En Provence Mystery, just follow this direct web link:  (Please Note: NOT available until Monday, January 2, 2017, w/Monday morning link-up.  Check back then for the updated link...Thanks!  UPDATE 1/2/2017:  the Monday Morning linkup has been moved to January 9, 2017 by Bonnier herself...see you ALL then!!)

UPDATE January 4, 2017 - making progress on Clue #7:


A family emergency took precedence over block assembly of En Provence, understandably.  Now that things have settled down a bit, we're back to the joy of piecing our blocks.  Here's the first one...loving this!  And so would my Mom.

January 9, 2017 - 1st Block!


UPDATE January 9, 2017 - our latest En Provence Mystery link-up: http://quiltville.blogspot.com/2017/01/mystery-monday-link-up-part-6-7.html


Until then - Happy New Year EVERYONE!
~Deb

En Provence Intro
En Provence Part I
En Provence Part II
En Provence Part III
En Provence Part IV
En Provence Part V
En Provence Part VI & VII
En Provence FINISH!

2 comments:

  1. It's going to be beautiful Deb! I am using Bonnie's choice of colors too. This has been my first Bonnie Hunter mystery quilt.

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