Celtic Solstice - Part 4 and my week..

 The mystery clue  this week was very easy so I got it done in a few hours.
The first and previous mystery that I did of Bonnie was Orca Bay and I found it to be quite a challenge to keep up but eventually the quilt was completed. So last year I was not sure if I wanted to commit to such an undertaking even though Bonnie called it "Easy Street"... I quite liked the way Easy Street turned out so I may do it one day.
These are my four-patch blocks for this week's clue.



A few weeks ago I visited Lily Patches, a quilt store near me and they had a large collection of aboriginal fabrics. At the time I held back but yesterday I went back and got myself a jelly roll and a few fat eights of these bright and original designs.

 The colours are vibrant with enough variety to make almost any project. I got 50 different pieces but they had a lot more designs in stock. I just love them..



My quilting friend Felizarda from Lisbon sent me these gorgeous gifts she made. I just love the fact that they represent some aspects of the city/country of my birth..

Portugal exports cork and they make a lot of things with this versatile product.

 

A few things blooming in my garden; the smell of the gardenias is so wonderful...

 And soon I'll be having lots of zucchini/courgettes to make delicious dishes.  I have not planted any other veggie this time.
 

 

 As it's close to Xmas, I want to wish everyone a lovely day whatever you do...

Celtic Solstice - Part 3 and New Sewing Machine - JUKI

Part 3 of Celtic Solstice came out and within an hour I was at my sewing machine making the blocks.
A couple of years ago I did another of Bonnie Hunter's mystery quilt that required half squares triangles and at the time I printed from a website  free  paper foundation patterns for a range of half square triangle unit sizes . 
I already had a stack of these sheets printed so I just picked my fabrics (pink and yellow) and just went for it.  With about 16 HST per page the whole process was very quick.

I used a small machine stitch to make it easier to tear the paper...

And in no time they were all done...

So the entire step 3 was done in less than a day !!

This step was also made faster because I used my new sewing machine... JUKI  TL-98P.

 

This machine is a dream to work with; it's fast, does beautiful stitching, thread trimming and has an extension table that I like very much. It comes with a few different feet, knee lifter lever (which I don't use at the moment) and the throat space is great for those who want to do machine quilting.  What I am most impressed is that once the thread is trimmed or a new piece of fabric is fed (for chain piecing) the machine feeds the fabric beautifully without the concern of fabric being sucked into the feed dogs. 

I just wished I knew about this machine long time ago...

 

My first project on the machine was this colourful pouch from the scraps of the quilt top I completed earlier in the week.

Celtic Solstice - Part 2 and new Quilt Top "Desigual"

I wasn't sure how many blocks I would complete for this week for Part 2 of Celtic Solstice 
but once I got going there was no stopping.
So here are my 100 blocks all done !



It's fun looking at blogs and Facebook postings for those who are participating, picking up a few tips and looking at everyone's colour choices and the best part is that I did not have to buy any fabrics.
I am looking forward to part 3 coming out tomorrow night for us in Australia.

But I have another project to share today...
For a few weeks now I have been making a quilt from an eBook I purchased recently called "Simple Circles and Quick Curves" by Nancy Mahoney.  I was watching Nancy on one of the episodes of QNNtv and as soon as I saw this quilt I had to use up my bright fabrics and make my own version.

The photo is not the best but once I quilt it, I'll take another photo.

 

Close-ups of the blocks... 

 

All the fabrics came from my stash... 

When my husband  saw this quilt top he said I had to call it  "DESIGUAL",  which is my favourite clothes designer from Spain and the label stands for "Atypical Spanish Wear".
Their designs are very creative, unconventional and bright, just like my quilt !

Celtic Solstice Part 1 - Mystery Quilt - Bonnie Hunter -

I am gradually working through a couple of quilts but until the tops are done there is not much point blogging about it.

However, as per 'tradition' I am participating in this years mystery quilt ;  Bonnie Hunter mystery quilt - Celtic Solstice.

The quilters who have blogs are sharing their progress along the way and linking each step to Bonnie's Monday Mystery Link-Up so this posting has to be ready for that.

This is what I have done so far ; I am hoping to complete this step before the next clue that comes out Friday.

All the fabrics came from my stash and this time I am using combination of colours which I have not used before... actually pink is not a colour I immediately buy fabrics but I have enough around to use in this quilt.

As the first clue came out for us in Australia late Friday night I decided to give myself a good night's sleep and wake up early the next day. So on Saturday at 4am I was already in my studio (separate dwelling from the main house) with a cup of coffee,classic music playing and very excited... Actually so excited that I cut myself with a rotary blade !!! But that did not stop me and I kept going.
I started using the Tri Recs rulers but after making several blocks I decided to use paper piecing.
I love paper piecing technique so it's a breeze to get these blocks made... I even like the mess of trimming and tearing the paper. My mom thinks I am a bit mad getting up so early and making such a mess... But I am happy...

I am so grateful that Bonnie Hunter does this for us and especially this year with so many options of how to construct these blocks and all for FREE !