Monday, November 27, 2017

The Annual Bonnie Hunter Mystery Begins!

Once again, the annual Bonnie Hunter Mystery - this year On Ringo Lake, has officially begun!  This is one Mystery I treat myself to each and every year, in between the tree trimming, the Holiday festivities and ALL the Christmas shopping and wrapping, I find my solace and a bit of serenity amongst the Holiday chaos within the confines of this Annual Mystery.

Our first Clue includes our turquoise and brown fabrics, combined into 9-patches, aren't these cute?

Clue #1 - 9 patches ALL finished!

Bonnie suggested we 'strip piece' to create our 9-patches, my favorite way to sew these in bulk.  Here's my brown/neutral strips, ready for cutting.

Brown & neutral strip sets complete

Once the brown/neutral and the turquoise/neutral strips were completed, time to cut/sew/press!

Strip units cut to size and ready to assemble into 9-patches

Course, had a little help from our Hershey friends ;-)

Hershey's Pot of Gold - Caramels in Dark & Milk Chocolate...YUMMY!


ALL ready for Clue #2!

Clue #1 tucked away

To see what all the other Mystery participants are up to



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Hope you ALL had a very Happy Thanksgiving - Enjoy your Holiday Season w/Family & Friends!

Got our Family Christmas Tree up just in time to start this Holiday Mystery - w/help from two of my favorite Tree Trimmers, Jaclyn & Jade ;-)


Family Christmas Tree up and ready for presents!


Later,
~Deb


Thursday, November 9, 2017

Quilting for Our Vets

Miss Betty & I have been proudly quilting for our Service Members and Veterans since 2010, right after building the very first Betty Boop RED wooden quilting frame and feeling confident enough in our quilting to apply those skills to a Quilt of Valor.  More than 100+ QOVs later, and we couldn't be more committed - quilting for our Vets is a true privilege and honor.

This week, we finished several quilts - including this very special Quilt of Valor for an even more special Veteran, soon to be awarded his much-deserved QOV to honor his sacrifice and service for our country.

Quilt of Valor coming off the frame

This very special QOV was started over a year ago and languished while this quilter stayed busy quilting 'other' QOVs, trying to decide just 'how' to quilt it.  Finally realizing that finished is good, especially since the intended Quilt of Valor recipient is not getting any younger, it was time to quilt!

A close-up of a couple of the embroidered blocks:

Liberty Bell



Striped Star

This wonderful Quilt of Valor created by one of our East Central IL QOV Volunteers, Doris and finished up by Miss Betty and me:





Quilted in Gold thread to bring some 'Bling' to an already wonderful QOV and original quilt design created by Doris:

Border quilting in Gold Fantastico #5087 thread




Star quilting back


 This unique Quilt of Valor was hand-sewn by the creator and wife of a Veteran, bordered out/quilted/bound/labeled by Miss Betty and me, to be awarded on Veteran's Day:

Hand-sewn QOV coming off the quilt frame - ready to be bound/labeled

A very dedicated fellow East Central IL QOV Group Leader confided they had fallen behind with their Quilts of Valor awarding, since both their volunteer longarmers were temporarily unavailable due to illness/surgery.  We offered to help get them caught up.

One of their first quilt tops this group submitted was created by a NEW topper, and we think she did an amazing job in creating this patriotic quilt top:

Colorful QOV coming off the frame

Aren't these patriotic fabrics great:

Patriotic fabrics create a neat quilt

The second is a stunner!

Patriotic Mystery - coming off the frame...WOWza

Nothing says it better than Red/White/Blue and pieced to perfection - a joy to quilt:

Star Spangled Banner quilting design - quilted out beautifully

Thank YOU, Donna G!



One of two QOV Mysteries recently completed, gets quilted to soon be awarded to a very deserving Veteran:

Quilt of Valor Mystery quilt coming off the frame


And we've been binding and binding and binding in between quilting but...we STILL have more to bind and label...time to get back to it!

Later,
~Deb