Sunday, January 5, 2014

Celtic Solstice, part 6 - Bonnie's reveal!

Instead of waiting until Friday, Bonnie Hunter revealed the pattern for the Celtic Solstice Mystery Quilt at midnight on New Year's. Happy 2014!! I threw my blocks on the wall to see how my quilt will look:

Nice!

This shows only three blocks across and down, and the finished quilt will be 7 x 7 blocks, so much bigger than what is seen here. I decided to see how it would look with those chevron units reversed too:

Oooohh!!

Since the quilt is for her, I asked PikaGirl which layout she likes better, and she said number 2, so that's what I'll sew. Although... I wonder what it would look like if I alternate one row reversed, the next row not reversed, etc.? I only had enough of the chevrons done to lay out this much, so I think I need to get to work making more ASAP!

Bonnie's been posting Celtic Solstice photos to her Facebook page as people have been sending them in. She also has the link up on her Quiltville blog for bloggers to share their work. The variations have been so fun to see. Go take a look! And, of course, I'll keep posting on my progress as I continue working on my quilt here.

I've been keeping busy on other fronts too. I picked up the patterns for a smaller and larger sewing machine spool pin doily from Bonnie's blog, and thought I'd try my hand at making a few. They crochet up very quickly since they're so small, but, because they're so small, I'm finding that I can't do more than a few at a time before my eyes start going all buggy. Here's a pic:


About a year ago I dyed some white crochet cotton a mottled, yellowish color using onion skins. The string became an ungodly, tangled mess in the process and has been sitting in a bag waiting for me to untangle it. These doilies each use so little string that I just need to untangle a couple of yards to make each one. I crochet the doily, cut the string, and then it becomes much easier to untangle the next few feet. What a winning combination: untangling an old mess and getting something so pretty to use from it at the same time! Some of my friends have seen them and wanted some, so most of what I've made has been given away already. I think the next batch I make I'll take to my next guild meeting to use as door prizes. And send some to my mom and my sister, sewing/quilting enthusiasts too. And... ??

I also delved into a little sewing poetry. On Facebook, someone posted an ode to Celtic Solstice using an old children's poem as a base. Well, I started channeling author Lewis Carroll instead and came up with this:

One, two! One, two! and through and through
The seam ripper went snicker-snack!
She left those threads all torn to shreds,
Then went to sew it back!

It's from the Jabberwocky poem in Carroll's book, "Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There."  Only the one stanza so far, but maybe more will come to me as a sew some more.

Up next for me is packing up the Christmas decorations, surviving the bitter, Arctic cold that is swiftly descending upon us (-40 to -60° F wind chills expected for tomorrow morning? Seriously?!?!?), and making a list of all my WIPs, UFOs, and PIGS to get myself organized for 2014. That last one, I'm sure will become an 'upcoming soon' post, so stay tuned!

What has your crafting life inspired you to do?

Happy sewing!
Meredith

2 comments:

  1. Your version of Celtic Solstice is looking good! I chose to reverse the chevron so they make stars, too.

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  2. Either way you decide to sew your blocks together, your finished quilt is going to be Amazing! I really love your color choices!

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