Allietare! Linking up with Bonnie!

 Bonnie has asked us to get to know each other in our linkys so in case you are new to my blog I shall introduce myself!  I am Andee in AZ otherwise known as Angela.  I love Quiltville quilts and all things Bonnie!  I found Bonnie when I first really got into quilting through her blog and then her yahoo group while they were working on Carolina Crossroads. I fell in love with mystery quilts though I was new to quilting.  I truly learned most all I know from reading Bonnie's blog and doing her mystery quilts.  I have made them all and have a parade here if you are interested in seeing all my Quiltville quilts.
I finally met Bonnie in January of 2013--she facebooked me and invited me to breakfast.  If I was not her number one fan before that, I was after (you can be her *other* number one fan!).  She is one of a kind and in addition to her generous nature and quilting knowledge, she is an all around great gal for me to look up to.  I love how she has fun and eats yummy food yet gets in her steps and does healthy too!  She has influenced me in more ways than she knows!
Since then I have taken several workshops with her and went on the Caribbean cruise this past Spring.  I am one of her Open Studio moderators on facebook and am still inspired by her everyday!  Four years ago, in 2012, five of us got together at one of our houses on Black Friday and started sewing Celtic Solstice.  The idea of a mystery Kickoff  Party was born.  The following year we had an official party with 12 people, last year with 24 and this year 14 (though about 30 wanted to come, it didn't work out for many).  Our favorite part of the get together is sharing our completed quilts from the year before.  For the procrastinators in our group this is a real motivator!

I love seeing how very different each quilt is!

This past summer my family met up in Rocky Point for a week of sun and sand.  It was my first time on a private beach.  My brother made Kathy and I Moscow Mules and we enjoyed them while the sun set.  This memory has stayed with me as one of those perfect moments in life that we don't get enough of.  When I was trying to decide how to change up the colors I realized I wanted to use copper and turquoise and sand along with my neutrals and I figured brown (or sunset yellow) would round it out.  So here are my fabric choices though my scraps aren't pulled yet.  I pull them as I find out what size strips Bonnie is having us use so it will be scrappier than this in the end.  All my fabrics came from stash, but I do need to order more or a different sand fabric as the biggest chunk I have is too dark--I should get on that in case that comes up in clue two!

Here I am sewing away at the Kickoff Party!

This year I managed to socialize and finish clue one all the day of the party!   Feels good to be caught up and ready for clue two!

Linking up with Bonnie at Quiltville and hoping to get to visit and comment on each of your linky's each week too!

Sunday Funday!

 I got up early and went hiking to South Mountain and did Beverly Canyon and the Ridgeline trail with my music in my ears. Went almost four miles.  Felt so good to get in the exercise so I could get home to sew!

 Last night I cut the first clue of the Nimble Thimbles mystery which came out in October while I was on my cruise with Becky and Bonnie.  I really wanted to make this mystery because when I first joined NT they had just made one and all had displayed them in the quilt show.  I thought that was so cool and wanted to get in on that!  So I have begged and begged for another mystery--the timing was not good for me but I really felt obligated to get to it anyway.  Luckily it is much easier than a Bonnie mystery so here is step one...

 And clue two is done.  I am all caught up til December 8th when we have our Christmas Party and get the next clue!  I love being caught up!

 Randy's daughter Rachel is in town since he had a heart attack a few weeks ago.  I took him to the ER and was there when he went into cardiac arrest.  I have never seen real CPR or a defibrillator used in person and it was one of the scariest times of my life.  This was a few days after Kathy's complete knee replacement surgery and she could barely walk so she wasn't even with me.  Anyway, luckily for all of us Randy recovered (100 percent blockage they said he would not have lived had he not been right there when it happened...three stents later...) and quit smoking!  He and I go WAY back and I helped raise his daughter Rachel who is a year younger than my daughter.  She flew in to be with him (she is the one that lives in Norway) with her three year old son Leon.  So good to see her again and meet Leon!  Here she is with Coleman tonight.

 And we had to Skype Hannah so they could hang out too.  These two are sisters at heart.  So good to hear them talk about way back when they met and how they became fast friends at 9 and 10 years old!

 I managed to cut and sew up the last two Talkin' Turkey blocks tonight too!  One blue, one peach.  Here they all are...just waiting for sashing and then borders.  I still have til July to get this one completely done as it is my guild's PUP challenge for this year!

Linking up with Angela of SoScrappy for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge.  This one has been in the works for awhile!

Third Annual Quiltville Mystery Kickoff in Chandler!

 Today was the Third Annual Quiltville Mystery Kickoff!  We started working on Allietare and took a break to take pictures of all of our Grand Illusions that we managed to complete from last year!  Almost everyone in attendance had one done to share!

 Here are all of us who hope to have a quilt cape to share next year!

 This year Ros and BJ brought the cake.  I had a few bites, it was good!

 BJ gifted each person who came with the cutest tiny mushroom pin!  Seriously does it get any cuter than that?

 Ros made the labels and took on most of the cost of that this year--so appreciated it!  They turned out fabulous and I meant to get a picture of everyone's label from last year's quilt but I forgot.  I was hoping to see them all on there but no idea if they made it on all of them or not.  BJ mentioned she could not find hers--in case she forgets she zipped this year's into her sewing case on wheels in a pocket she never goes in.

 Kelli was unable to make it this year, but we did our duck lips pose in honor of her anyway!

 Kathy's hubby was sweet enough to do our group photos so everyone could get in them this year.

Laura and Marguerite are mother and daughter and were in Italy with Bonnie when this year's quilt was hatched--here they are with their completed Grand Illusions!
The day flew by and we had a nice potluck.  Lots of fun and laughter and friendships strengthened.  I am so thankful for each of these gals and for our shared love of all things Quiltville!
Here is my clue one completed!

Tool Belts and Bitty Blocks

 We have decided to not go so crazy this year for Christmas...that said I do still have gifts to make and give.  There are lots of little boys that could use a tool belt so I followed this awesome tutorial and made three last night (one for Colton, Ollie, and Leon) and Kathy helped with some turning out and ironing so they went quicker than I expected.

 For once I didn't have a morning job so I decided to do the last bitty block (December) but since they are pumpkins I did them in orange.  Here are the blocks..one from each month.

 And both sets. I will need to make more so I can make two samplers but for now, putting this away.

 I had posted my tool belts on Facebook and my co-worker friend Kelly asked if she could buy one for her grandson.  I do not sell the stuff I make because I don't want to get into that!  This is my fun.  However, Kelly is the one that brought me in motion sickness bands (which I accidentally left at home in the carry on I decided not to take!) and the week of Kathy's knee surgery she gave me the best homemade lasagna for us...so I am gifting her one to gift..so I made two more this morning.  One will be for Koi.

 Now I just need to pick up four sets of tools!  Well, time to get ready for work!

Finally Putting the Lime in the Coconut!

 I feel like I did not do much today but I was in my quilting studio all day long (with many treks to do laundry and help Coleman and Chelsea paint the downstairs bedroom burgundy so they can move into the room now that we booted our tenant out for stealing from us).  

 These are not all of the blocks but what fit on the design wall.  I have to make most of the alternate blocks yet and just don't have the energy to tackle that right now so this project is packed up for another day.  I am linking up with SoScrappy for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge.  If you have yet to visit her blog or catch this rainbow fever, she is now hatching her plans for Rainbow Scrap Challenge 2016 and it is going to be a row by row.

 I made my Betty's Choice blocks for Amy and I.  We are so close to trading blocks now, I can hardly wait!

 

Pulling the Fabric for Allietare!

 Decided on my color palette for Alietare!  I was inspired by our copper mugs with Moscow Mules in them on the beach at Rocky Point.  It was such a relaxing night watching the sunset on the water.  I found this picture and pulled fabric accordingly!

 I have more scrappy fabric pulled but not in the picture and have strips cut too in my bins.  I will pull that as each clue comes out and I know what size I need.  My copper will be my constant in for grey (originally was going to be for black but I screwed up right off! *edit*).   My browns are her blacks which has the next yardage.  The next largest color yardage wise for Bonnie is red and mine will be turquoise.  I hope this comes out as I envision!  I used a tamer yellow/gold where Bonnie used  gold. Originally it was going to be tan but it was not proving to have enough zip for me!

 I also pulled for the yardage for Kathy.  She will again follow Bonnie's colors and will pull from strips and scraps too!

No Sew Week :(

 I have not sewed in what seems like forever.  I am working today and am really hoping to pull fabric for the mystery and sew something tonight!  I did get to Wisconsin for a quick trip to see my Papa.  My mom and I stayed at my aunt Nancy's and I stayed the weekend with my best friend Monica which was great since she was unable to come visit me this past Spring like usual.  The only exercise I got was when Monica and I went for a brisk walk on the Chippewa River State Trail.  It was nice to walk in the woods and see all the water!

 My daughter Hannah was able to come to town on Sunday night and spend the evening with me then got up early to drive to work (she is a CPA and travels for work and she happened to be working about halfway between her home and Eau Claire)  We met up at Jill's (another long time friend of mine) and she did our hair.

 I love her!  We have been friends since I was 15 and she is one of the sweetest people I know!

 Here we are mom, Papa, Nancy, and me. He was doing much better than he was a month ago.  He is on hospice now but still sharp as a tack.  So glad I got to see him--it had been over two years.

 So happy to get out an hike...even if alone this past week.  I really hit it hard and did the Ridgeline backwards from usual to see if it was harder or easier that way. I think easier, but not sure!

Pre-Mystery UFO Progress!

Thanks to Jo and Kelli over at Jo's Country Junction I am feeling excited to make progress on my Talkin' Turkey!  I managed to make a whole bunch more blocks at camp this year, but now to finish the last few blocks, getting the sashing and cornerstones cut and get the center of the top assembled!

Wedding, Sewing and Quilting

 My boss Adam married one of my co-workers, Jodi and here are her two older gals and his two in their new family.  The wedding was beautiful. They had it in their back yard and it was perfect.  I was super impressed with it all!  I gave them this Scrappy Trips quilt that I made awhile back.  I hope they love it!

I made two friendship stars in lime green, for the RSC and Bitty Blocks for November. Then I realized that my bear paws were more lime than green so that is that

 Here are all the blocks together. One month to go.  Linking up with SoScrappy!

 I also pieced batting, quilted, bound, and labeled this quilt for my cousin's baby Kace Percy.

Kathy had total knee replacement surgery last Wednesday.  She is doing about as well as can be expected.  She went for a short walk outside today and is doing he exercises.  I know it will be worth it when she is healed, but life is crazier than usual at our place while she recovers.