Clue #1 of our En Provence Mystery is HERE!

The first clue of our En Provence Mystery has been released and we're off to the sewing races...yippee!

And this is what resulted - LOTS of neutral 4-Patches:

Neutral 4-patches from Clue #1 of our Mystery

These 4-patches came out great via Bonnie's explicit instructions w/NO pinning!

Chain piecing the 4-patches w/NO pinning!

And several hours of piecing later:

ALL the 4-patches are sewn and ready to 'twist'

Once the sewing and 'snipping' are complete, time to twist & press:

Pressing is good ;-)

All tucked away, ready for Clue #2:

Clue #1 tucked safely away

And that, as they say, is that for Clue #1!

If you'd like to see what EVERYONE else is up to, including getting to view ALL their yummy fabrics, just follow this direct link: http://quiltville.blogspot.com/2016/11/en-provence-mystery-monday-link-up-part.html

Back to quilting!

Later,
~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!

It's Almost HERE!

Yes - I'm not ONLY talking about Thanksgiving, I'm also referring to the annual Bonnie K. Hunter Mystery...Yippee!!!

And this year, it's:

Every year for the past several years, our fearless Mystery Leader, Bonnie, shares a Quilt Mystery with us - an original quilt pattern designed by her and released with each clue, that she shares w/ALL us faithful quilt followers for FREE for a limited time.  The first Clue will be released on Black Friday, as it has been since the inception of this exciting Quiltville Mystery.

Bonnie generously gives us time to assemble the necessary Mystery Quilt fabrics well in advance of this annual mystery start.  Here's a pic of mine:

Mystery fabrics chosen!

Most of the year, Miss Betty & I spend a considerable amount of time creating gifts and volunteering our time to create and quilt for several worthwhile projects, including Quilts of Valor.  We are honored to do this incredible volunteer work for such a worthy cause.  In November we have already quilted almost twenty (20) QOVs and counting, and over one-hundred for this year of 2016.  While we feel so fortunate to be able to participate in such an important venture, we take time each year to sharpen our quilting saw and refresh our creative spirit.

Bonnie's annual Mystery fills the bill and then some in allowing us some much-needed quilting 'down time', and most importantly - this quilt mystery helps keep us from turning into a Quilting Grinch!

Don't turn into a Quilting Grinch - join in ALL the Mystery FUN!

To join in ALL our annual Quiltville Mystery FUN, it's NOT too late...just follow this direct web link for ALL the Mystery details:  http://quiltville.blogspot.com/p/en-provence-mystery.html 

Time to finish putting up that Christmas Tree so we won't miss a minute of our Quilt Mystery!

Happy Thanksgiving!

~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!

Why I Stand - 2016 Veteran's Day

A Tribute to Honor our Veteran's and Service Members on Veteran's Day:

Thank YOU.

May God Bless the USA on this, Our Veteran's Day.

~Deb

Look what 'WE' get to quilt...!

Just picked these up from those wonderfully talented Comfort Quilters of St. Joseph, Thanks Donna G!  Can hardly wait to start quilting these gorgeous Quilts of Valor beauties!

Is this QOV quilt top wonderful, or what?

QOV quilt top - includes pieced blocks w/wonderful patriotic panels, and even Uncle Sam!

This quilt top we've affectionately named "temporarily", Uncle Sam QOV ;-)  will be custom quilted to enhance ALL the creative piecing and the patriotic panels.  We'll probably save it 'til last so we can focus our quilting attention on it, once the 'others' have been quilted.

Speaking of 'others', how about this beauty - don't you love the Eagle?

Gorgeous Eagle/Star QOV

Some Stars and Wave quilting, possibly?  In Rainbows Patriotic?

This interesting QOV quilt top really didn't show it's 'true colors' until I photographed it - THEN I noticed the distinct and quite interesting quilt design...do you see it?

Distinctive 'water' quilt pattern in this QOV quilt top

Will probably take advantage of this QOV's quilt design and incorporate some water elements and matching thread to enhance an already neat quilt!

And our final QOV quilt top in this wonderful grouping:

ALL Over Stars QOV quilt top

And IF you noticed, the appliqued stars on this Quilt of Valor quilt top are ALL pieced!  They are NOT from a panel - even I did NOT notice the incredible piecing designs until I brought this beauty home and started photographing.

This final ALL Over Stars QOV quilt top will quilt out beautifully with Becker's Star panto with LAVA Diamond Head quilting thread, and possibly custom the outside blue star border...we'll see. Can hardly wait to get started!

Combined with ALL the QOV quilt tops I also picked up from our Doris on Thursday - we've got plenty to keep us occupied for quite awhile ;-)

Time to get to it...Miss Betty doesn't like being kept waiting...

Later,
~Deb

Veteran's Day Star Blocks Underway!

A Quilts of Valor Stars Facebook group that I belong to, has just launched a Patriotic Veteran's Day Star block drive, here's my very fist block:

Veteran's Star Block

This Patriotic Star block is also referred to as a Disappearing 9-patch, and here's why.  We first start by creating a 9-patch block:

9-patch block

Since I love to create quilts from strips, I generally try to find a way to modify ANY pattern to do just that!  And this block is NO exception ;-)

Sewed the fabric strips together first:

Gold/White strips sewn together, then cut into 3 patches

Blue/Red strips also sewn together and cut into 3-patches

Then, sewed the 3-patch strips together - being careful to get the Blue/Red strip centered between the Gold/White strips:

Sewing the Blue/Red and Gold/White 3-patches together

UPDATE 10/3/2016:  Oops - looks like I left out WHY the Disappearing 9-patch is aptly named...here goes:

Resulting 9-patch...right?

Cut in half - vertically & horizontally...carefully ;-)

On to sewing the squares to create the star points.

Just one teensy-weensy problem IF one fails to sew properly, and sews a FAT seam - at least in the quilting world, that's what my Great Aunt Kathleen, my Grandmother Genevieve's sister, used to call it...can you see it?

My FAT seam is just that - need to 'slim down' my seam line area and make sure to stitch
point-to-point.  Or even better - a thread or two 'inside' the seam line,
towards the outside corner works great!

When I flip it over to check - the corners don't line up, that's definitely 'a tell'

NOT a good sign, when those corners don't line-up perfectly!  Time to rippit, rippit ;-)

Now that the ripping is complete and the re-sewing is done, time to trim and press - doesn't our finished Patriotic Star Block look nice?

Disappearing 9-patch results in this gorgeous Patriotic Star block, the first of MANY - 
promised ten (10) to the Quilts Of Valor Stars Group
and will be adding several to our QOV Panel Challenge!

Want to join in creating the Veteran's Day Star blocks with the Quilts of Valor Stars Group?  

Just follow this direct web link to their Facebook page - Membership is OPEN to anyone interested in furthering the QOVF Mission through Quilts of Valor: https://www.facebook.com/groups/167045153475870/

UPDATE 10/19/2016 - the Patriotic Star Quilt Top is Finished!

And the Rockets Red Glare block getting embroidered

Patriotic Star Quilt Top w/embroideries - ready to quilt!

Time to get back to it!

Later,
~Deb

Time to Brag a Bit on My Girl...;-)

I do take her for granted.  Probably more than I realized and definitely more than I should!  Referring to one of my very favorite girls, 'Miss Betty' - my pet name for my longarm quilting machine, in honor of my Mom who not only enjoyed watching Betty Boop re-runs, but who even resembled her!

'Miss Betty' - one of my very favorite girls!

Got a great reminder recently, while being in a fairly heated 'online' conversation about frame quilting systems, and specifically longarm quilting systems.  As with anything, EVERYONE had their ideas of What and more importantly WHY they loved their longarm.

One of my most favorite things I adore about Miss Betty - are her absolutely Beaut-ti-FUL quilting stitches:

And look a little closer - did you notice?

Gorgeous, even stitches w/nice, sharp points and perfect tension!

Did you notice that there is Gold Glide thread in the needle on the Top of the quilt AND white poly/cotton in the bobbin?  Do you notice ANY pokies?  Me neither!

That's what I LOVE the most about Miss Betty - while others talk about how they MUST use the same color thread in their needle AND bobbin to avoid 'pokies', Miss Betty and I rarely do!

And another thing - check this out:

Quilting out a panto - left to right from the back of the machine!

Sorry, it's not the best pic and I'll try to get a better one later however, the point is - Miss Betty can not only quilt pantos from the standard 'right to left' BUT, just as well 'left to right' - we do it ALL the time!

So many longarmers talk about how they can ONLY quilt pantos from the standard, right to left from the backs of their machines.  Miss Betty and I just chuckle when we hear this...  Thanks to ALL you wonderful longarmers out there for reminding me just how good I've got it w/Miss Betty ;-).

And while we were quilting, got our first embroidered block finished up:

Americana Liberty Bell all embroidered out
for a Purple Heart Veteran quilt

Only three more Americana embroidery blocks left to go and we'll be ready to start assembly!

Time for some shut-eye...

UPDATE: 9/16/2016 - another embroidery block finish:

Once my embroidery machine has a chance to cool off, will start on the next block - a hearts & flags block.  This Star & Flag block took 3 hrs., 43 min. to complete!

Later,
~Deb

9/11 Tribute - Fifteen Years Ago Today...

In Memory of Those Who Fell...

In Honor of Those Who Remain.