Afternoon Edition–Free Kindle Book!

Heading out to the Carolina Hurricanes vs the Pittsburgh Penguins game in just a bit! Dressing in RED to support the home team!

Someone just please remind me to use the sticky roller to remove all threads and other quilting detritus before allowing myself to be seen in public!

Just found this goodie and wanted to pass it on to you!

Sweet Masterpiece by Connie Shelton is free today from the Amazon Kindle store, and has received an average user rating of 4.5 out of 5 stars based on 9 customer reviews.

Category: Mystery

Book Description:

Connie Shelton has wowed readers with her down-to-earth female sleuth in her Charlie Parker mystery series. Now she introduces a new set of characters in a mystery series that contains a little romance, a little magic and a lot of chocolate!

Samantha Sweet is a lady who breaks into houses for a living, and the things she discovers often lead to trouble. When she finds an unmarked grave on a property in a remote spot in Taos County, New Mexico, Sam calls in the authorities. A small mural painted inside a closet in the abandoned house provides clues and Sam is caught up in an investigation. A fortune in artwork, a bogus will, and a wooden box that seems to give Sam powers she never dreamed she possessed–all lead to a genuine mystery for Sam to solve.

Then there is all that chocolate! Sam’s real goal in life is to use her elegant baking skills to open her own pastry shop, Sweet’s Sweets. She’s gaining quite the reputation as a baker with a magical touch, but a few obstacles stand in her way. Her grown daughter shows up on her doorstep–jobless and homeless; her bank account is at an all-time low; and trying to work from the tiny cramped kitchen in her home is becoming impossible.

Somehow, Sam copes and she finds that her dreams might just have a chance of coming true.

Praise for Connie Shelton’s previous mysteries:

“Shelton, a major success for Intrigue, can only expand her fan base with this solid effort.” — Publisher’s Weekly

“Shelton continues to combine suspenseful storytelling with sensitive portrayals of complex family relationships.” –Booklist

“Shelton again has done a superb job in bringing New Mexico to life.” — Albuquerque Journal

“Connie Shelton has another winner!” — The Book Report

Sounds like a good’un to me! Remember to check before clicking that it is STILL free..I pass these along as quickly as I can, but prices can change without notice….

GO HURRICANES!!

Gone Viral!

The Cleaning Epidemic has pushed its way down into the basement studio!

I honestly don’t know:

1. How it got so out of control in the first place?!

2. Just what it was that tipped me over the edge?!

3. How long this virus is going to STICK AROUND?!

I always thought I was semi-organized. I mean, ask me where something is and I can tell you….but pretty much lived by the philosophy that if it was IN the drawer and the drawer could shut, that was fine with me.

I honestly think it was working on this baby quilt that tipped the scales. I had THREE big drawers of 2.5” strips. And they all looked like the picture at the top of this page ---- two drawers with colored strips, one with neutrals. And they are OUT of control.

As long as there was one drawer for each, it didn’t bother me so much, but when you get to the point where both colored drawers are a mix of everything under the sun and you can’t find anything and you have to dig….it only seems logical ((Wait, did I just say LOGICAL!? Where does that word belong in fabric hoarding stashing?!?)) to want to sort things a bit better.

But what to do? I had no clue! But something had to be done. So I put on a Netfix movie and just started ironing. And sorting by color. And draping these strips by color family over the rail of my longarm…because it was the closest workable surface to do so.

Did it occur to me that I wouldn’t be able to load a quilt on the machine until I finished ironing EVERY DANG STRIP IN THE STRIP STASH!? It started pretty simply. Looking good…but those drawers are deceiving --- they have more in them than you think!

Strips began to pile on top of strips and some things became VERY evident!

HOLY. MOLY. How did I get so much PINK!?? I thought I’d have more red than anything..but you know what? My reds are nearly non-existent because I’ve been sewing with them quite a bit! I thought I’d have more blue too…but I’ve attacked the blue strips quite a bit this year with the Jamestown Landing quilt, and some others. Blues were not much of a space taker upper…but THOSE PINKS?!? LOL!

Do I see a pink challenge in my future? Hmmmm…MAYBE!

For those asking, YES -- Jamestown Landing will be featured in the next book...stay tuned and look for it in July, 2012!

And this is where I reached a crossroad. What to do now? I had 2 empty drawers with all the strings now ironed and lined up on the quilting machine rail --- HOW am I going to store these so they don’t get all messed up again? I thought of bundling them with a rubber band, but that won’t stop the thready fraying happening at the edges.

I remembered traveling with a ziplock bag of red ironed strips when I kitted stuff up to travel before. In fact, some of those red strips were still perfectly contained in that bag IN the mess of un-ironed strips. Dare I? Bag them?

I know plastic is not good for fabric, but I don’t have to zip them all closed air tight. It would just be a way to contain them by color family and keep them from needing to be re-ironed as much.

If it works for Bali-Pops to come all shrink-wrapped to minimize fraying – it will work for these!

This just might work for now. I’ll try it and see. It has to be at least a bit better than it was!

I took a bundle of strips, folded one end over, and rolled it into a long rectangle to fit the bag.

The gallon sized bags will hold 3 of these bundles….and I don’t have to zip it more than 1/2 way to allow air to circulate. Frankly? At this point, I really don’t care about the plastic..I just want the mess to not be so messy!

Jeeze-Louise! I can’t believe the difference! I never thought in a million years I would find it necessary to do this, or have the patience to start --- but you know what? Now that I’ve started? I know it’s going to take some time to get the other strip sizes under control too, but it’s worth it!

How do YOU store your strips? Do you have any ideas for me that might work better than this? I thought of putting each color in a plastic shoe box, but some of these colors would require several shoe boxes, and I wanted to keep using my drawers.

This afternoon we’ve got a fun excursion planned! DH has some visiting co-workers here from other areas, and we are all heading over to Raleigh for the Hurricane’s Hockey Game! It’s the Pittsburgh Penguins vs the Carolina Hurricanes!

I actually like Hockey – it’s easier to understand than football.. ;c)

And if I ride shot-gun in the van, I might be able to get some binding done on the 2 hour drive to Raleigh before it gets too dark.

Whatever you get up to on your Saturday, ENJOY EVERY LITTLE THING!

Inklingo-Link-Up & Mystery Fun!

Oh you guys!

I had no idea this Mystery was going to take the Inklingo World by STORM….but it sure has!

The truth is that Inklingo works so well with these small shapes that I love so much, and people are raving about the accuracy and versatility --- I’m going to have to try it myself just to see how it works.

Linda Franz has put the software for half-square triangles Inklingo Style on sale…Click HERE to find out more.

This is a caption from the inklingo website to entice you further:

ADVANTAGES

Either with scraps or with yardage, Inklingo has all of the advantages of chain piecing (continuous sewing) or paper piecing (sewing on a line), but you don’t ever have to fiddle with little pieces or sew a bias seam before it is cut—or pick off paper!

Print – Layer – Stitch – Cut

A very special sale!

Three choices! And yes, you can even have the special price on all three!

HST00B is $15 instead of $20 – Click

Storm At Sea 4.5 inch $20 instead of $25 - Click

Storm At Sea 9 inch $20 instead of $25 – Click

TO GET THE SPECIAL
You must mention Bonnie’s Mystery in the comment of your order to get the special price, okay? When you order, the higher amount will be approved, but I will manually process it for the special lower price.

As usual, if you buy a Storm At Sea shape collection for the 1.5 inch triangles, you will also get the Storm At Sea Design Book ($20 value) for no charge!

IMPORTANT TIME LIMIT
This sale only applies until Bonnie’s next clue is issued on Friday December 9 and if you note Orca Bay in a comment with your order. Don’t be late!

What I am intrigued by is the fact that she says I can use them with my 2” strips. I really want to give this a try. Unlike the go cutter and the accuquilt studio, which give you quite a bit of waste when cutting 1/2 square triangle pairs….this looks like no waste at all for those who like to sew first/cut after. The lines will be clearly visible on your fabric ---those shapes from the die cutters don’t have lines to sew on.

NO PAPER TO REMOVE.

I believe in having more than one choice when choosing what technique to use when working on a quilt. The more tools in our tool box, the better we can choose that right tool to get the job done.

If you are an inklingo user, would you leave a comment below to persuade us a bit more?

Even Better --- if you have written a blog post showing inklingo working for you, would you link to it below with a post as to why you love it so much? I’m SERIOUSLY thinking I need to do this. I’m a bit scared….I’m a bit shy at forcing myself out of my comfort zone --- but I’m willing to try!

Remember that we need the url of the specific POST, not the address for your whole blog. To get the correct address in the linky –right click on the title/subject line of your post you wrote about using inklingo. Chose “copy link address” and paste this url in the form when you link.

For instance, my blog address is http://quiltville.blogspot.com but that isn't enough. I can't link to the WHOLE blog, I need the address of the post. The address of THIS post is http://quiltville.blogspot.com/2011/12/ink-lingo-mystery-fun.html See the difference?

If you link to your whole blog, I’ll have to remove your link and have you try again because I can’t fix it FOR you.

We'll leave this open for a week to give you time to write your posts!

I can’t wait to see what you link up!

Quilt-Jacking ---Get the Word Out!

This morning I received a note from Sue who told me about Sharon’s devastating news that her quilt disappeared after being shown in Houston. It is not a misplaced shipment --- the quilt went missing before shipping.

She writes:

I’m hoping you can post this information and picture on the on-line quilt group you’re with. I just found out that my “Really ‘Wild’ Flowers! Second Season” quilt went missing the day after the Houston show and I’m devastated and heart-broken beyond words. I’m offering a cash reward for its safe return, no questions asked. I would just like to have my quilt back home. The size is 62” x 64.5”.

Please urge each of the gals to send the information out to their own personal contacts as well if you would.

Thank you so much,

~ Sharon

If you have seen this quilt, please contact Sharon Schlotzhauer.

Sharon, being one who has to ship quilts often, and travel with them often, I feel your horror and devastation over your missing quilt. I hope we can find it and return it to you in short order!!

Everyone, please get the word out! I hate the thought of Quilts being stolen or missing for any reason.

Go Climb a Tree!

We have a lot of trees. More trees than anywhere we’ve ever lived in our lives ---and I love them.

I love being tucked in under the green shade of leaves in the summer to the point where I can’t see any neighbors at all unless I try really hard…

I love the smell of woods in all seasons….

I love to hear the wind blowing through the branches…

I even love the sound of the acorns bouncing off the roof and on to the back deck….but those acorns are NOT so fun when you can’t see where you are walking in the dark on the way to the hottub for a midnight soak…and mistakenly step on one!

I don’t like the branches that break off and take out the power or block the driveway in a wind storm or ice storm—so today I had some guys come by to take out some of the big dead limbs and a few other dead trees that could prove to be a hazard in the upcoming winter months.

You shoulda seen this guy! He had these spike things on his shoes, a belt around this waist..and a rope…and up he went. Just that fast --- like nothing at all!

It didn’t take them long at all, and the dead wood was set aside for chopping for firewood later, or disposing of ---Now I don’t have to worry about DH trying to do something like this to save money and break his neck!

Now THAT’s what I call a tree hugger!!

I was a good girl today. I stuck to it, I did! We are ready for part 3 of Orca Bay to go live tomorrow morning!

I also finished up one pattern section of the next book, and sent it off to my editor ahead of schedule! Woot! On a roll now. Now that December is here I really need to buckle down and get those patterns written out.

When I was done, and had hit SEND --- I rewarded myself with a bit of this:

It’s all laid out and ready to sew together! Might get the center done tonight. Now I’m thinking of the next thing it needs --- BORDERS! Another conundrum CHALLENGE!

What do you think? Does she keep it simple, or does she just keep on marching on, Bonnie style?!

Stay tuned and find out!

Cleaning Frenzy!

I have no more progress to show.

No great words of wisdom to impart.

No interesting details or pictures of places I’ve traveled to to share.

I’ve settled into the blissfully normal routine of 6 weeks at home!

The massage yesterday afternoon was the best I’ve had in a long time --- I’ve been having issues with my hamstrings being way too tight, and it feels like there is a band of tissue in them that just won’t release—like tying a knot in a piece of elastic. It just doesn’t work as well.

My therapist, Judit ((Yes, that is no typo, there is NO H)) is from Hungary, and I just LOVE HER. When she talks to me I close my eyes and she sounds just like Eva Gabor! LOL! Didn't you just love her on Green Acres?!

Come to think of it, Judit is blonde too! But never mind, I love her accent, and I love her massages --- even if that hamstring work took me to tears.

After my massage, and a phone call from DH reminding me that HE wouldn’t be home for dinner – he was playing tennis in Greensboro with a co-worker--- I decided that an evening out to dinner by myself was just what I needed. I knew that if I went to that massage and came right home, I’d wind up back in the basement doing what I always do. SEW!

I already KNOW that we eat out far too much. I’ve been vowing to cut down, but this week was 3 evenings in a row! I am NOT eating out tonight, I swear. Monday was a quilt bee thing, Tuesday was because we were out running errands and by the time we got home to fix something it would be too late to eat dinner, and last night…well – sheer laziness on my part, and a longing need for hot n sour soup and mongolian grill, which DH doesn’t like at all. See! I can justify it all!

When I got home, one thing lead to another and before I knew it I had completely cleaned the kitchen top to bottom, and both bathrooms. What is up with that? At night? I could have been relaxing, sewing on a binding or something, but no ---something flips a switch and I just have to clean. Family knows to keep a wide berth when I’m cleaning too --- why is it that we don’t see things all the time? smudges, smears, little bits of this and that, until all it once it ALL becomes visible and we have to tackle it NOW?! At 9pm at night? Maybe it was a surge of hormones or something?

And this morning it hit me that not only did I have nothing really interesting to write about – but that tomorrow is FRIDAY and the next clue of the mystery is due! So guess what I’ll be spending the day doing today? I may get back to the baby quilt tonight ----

I’ve been asked by several of you if I will upload the directions for this when I’m done with it. I’m thrilled that you asked me, and yes I will! I’ve got plenty of irons in the fire right now, but I will write the pattern out at some time in the near future. I’ve already named it Story Time Stars ---because of the novelty fabrics, I think it will be perfect for story time. :c)

We’ve hit 118 people linking up to share their progress on Mystery Monday Link-Up, part 2! Check them out! Your chance to link up ends at midnight tonight! We’ll do the next round of Link-Ups starting NEXT Monday! ((Hasn’t this been fun?!))

Enjoy your Thursday, whatever you get up to! You know I’ll be here ---got stuff to be ready for you tomorrow!

Whoooopie!!

I think I’ve got it!

I tried black --- too dark--- I tried white --- too light! Besides, who makes a white baby quilt? STAIN is the first thing a new mother learns ---

I know babies see black and white first --- and then into color, so this is what I decided to do!

I spent the morning cutting 1.5” strips from my solid black, and several different black on white prints. Again, it’s hard to go for things that are not too florally!

Reminder to self….think BABY BOY!!

I stuck with mostly geometrics, and just for fun, I threw in the black ants fabric…hahah!

I pieced checkerboard sashings for hours…only to find I’ve barely made it half way. Sheeesh! There is more piecing in the sashing than in the blocks! ((What was it I was trying to keep myself from doing with this baby quilt? Restrain from over-board piecing??!))

I dug into the box of pre-cut squares to pull out bright ones for my corner stones..there are still some that aren’t decided yet, more digging is required ---

This one’s just for Siobhan! I saw the Scotty dog and thought of you!

I think it’s pretty dang fun!

I’ll do more on this later – right now --- I’m headed out the door. I’ve gotta get OUT of the basment. I’m headed for a massage ----one treat I save for myself on a some-what regular basis. It is ALWAYS good for what ails me, body, mind and soul!

More Novelty Stars..

I still need 3 more…and they are cut out to sew this morning.

As I lay in bed last night, before my brain shut down so I could sleep ---I played with setting ideas in my head. Do you do that?

I am an “on-point” girl, but I quickly ruled THAT out…these blocks are all directional. There is a definite right-side-up to them….

Sashing? Maybe. A pieced sashing? Well, maybe ---and then there are the borders…The novelty fabrics I have are all scraps like this. I don’t have any “yardage” pieces really because these little bits all came from other sources.

Does this mean I get to go shopping?

Well, Maybe!

I keep reminding myself this is a BABY Quilt – A drag around, love it to death, snugglie –DO NOT GO OVERBOARD ON THE PIECING! It’s not easy for me to do – because those voices in my head are going “It needs this!” “What about THIS?!” “Oh, you know you could really…..” >_<

It was a lot of fun yesterday picking up each print square, and then digging into the strips, choosing 3 that would compliment whatever was going on in the center. As laid them out this morning…things aren’t quite balanced…I see a lot of green, and a lot of yellow/orange. And purple.

Several of these strips have NOTHING LEFT ---if the end of the strip was 10” or shorter, I cut them into 2.5” squares, or tossed them into the crumb basket. It never stops to amaze me that we can make SO LITTLE do so MUCH when working with the pre-cut scraps. They are always there, already cut to size, just waiting for the right project.

My favorite is the sea turtles block! Boy I’ve had that orangey-peach corner fabric for ages and ages…this is the end of it – after this, it’s gone bye bye!

Time-Out for a Free Kindle Book!

I’ve been sewing like a mad woman….even madder than normal! These stars have taken over the plans I had for my day, but they are so fun, easy and cute that I just can’t stop! Right now there are 11 of them all laying on top of the long arm machine rollers….shining like little star-pointed soldiers. Five more to go – I think I’ll stop at 16!

I just took a break and found a little goodie that sounded intriguing so I’m passing it on.

The Last Call, by George Wier is free today in the Kindle store.

Bill Travis, an unmarried, unattached investment counselor rapidly approaching his fortieth birthday, conceives that he may not live the most exciting of lives, yet Julie Simmons, his first appointment that Monday, is deeply in trouble.

She has taken a North Texas quarter horse racer and liquor baron named Archie Carpin--the last of a dynasty of criminals from the 1920's--for a ride and cleaned him out of a neat two million bucks. And thus begins the adventure of Bill’s life.

Ensues a chase north across Texas to recover the money and shake the pursuit of a couple of rednecks with a penchant for rifles and rigged explosives. Yet, through all this action the compelling tale of yet another mystery—an 80-year old missing person’s case—begins to unravel.

Sounds like a good action/mystery/whodunnit/intrigue, yeah?

Check to make sure it’s still free when ordering because they can change without any notice ---I just post them when I find something that I want to read myself!

I think my sewing afternoon is about to come to a halt. I went up to the kitchen to get a bowl of cereal for a snack a bit after 3pm, and lo and behold --- the MILK was gone! Don’t you hate that when you’ve already poured the cereal into the bowl? :c/

***Note to Self: Please file this under “Things to expect when a 21 yr old moves back home!” ***

We’ve got some packages to drop off at Fed-Ex. We’ll have to go get groceries – AGAIN! And since we are out and about, I think DH has in mind that we’ll just stop some where instead of waiting to come home to fix something.

But more blocks will be waiting tomorrow --- CUTE!! CUTE!! CUTE!!

What a Novelty!

For years as I’ve been working on keeping up with my Scrap User’s System, I’d divide fabrics to be cut into strips by size –and that was fairly straignt forward.

But occasionally I’d be gifted things like leftover novelty prints. Just HOW do you slice those down? Because EVERYTHING loses its head or arms or legs or becomes undetectable if you start cutting it into narrow strips!

Sometimes this is a good thing! HA!

But other times---the fabrics would be better shown off if I left them in bigger chunks.

When I was in Columbia SC, working as the Charity Quilt Chairperson—The CQC if you will—We did some kid’s quilts with 4.5” squares, and I found that size to be pretty user friendly as far as novelty prints go. I never have done much with charm squares or 5” Nickles ---they always had to be cut down to something else, or at least most of the time. But 4.5”? Sounds like a nice good round number to me.

So I have a STACK of these squares! And I’ve been hemming and hawwing over what to do for this baby quilt for my new nephew who is supposed to arrive mid to late January, right around my birthday.

I need to scale back a bit. Not EVERYTHING needs extreme piecing and eensy-teensy blocks, right? Even though that is what I LOVE to do --- I gotta be realistic and realize that if I WANT this baby quilt to be used…it needs to be fairly simple. I don’t want to give something “too good to use”. I want it bright, I want it eye catching to hold the baby’s attention --- and I want it fun for ME to sew. Sound like a good plan?

I also have a big ziplock baggie of 2.5” tone on tone textures and prints. I was going to do SOMETHING with them at some point, but you know I can’t remember what? But I think they will play just perfect with these blocks!

I got busy sewing! And having my Cheddar Bow-Tie parts right there as leader/enders meant that THIS basket was filling up too:

Hehehe! Do you SEE that green one on the top?! It’s that lovely 1970’s style calico ----VINTAGE is IN, right?! :c) This quilt is going to come with EVERYTHING in it ---that’s for sure!

One block! What a cutie! Nope, not rocket science or a new design at all --- just a simple Evening Star --- and I like it! No idea how I’ll set them yet, but that will come ---

And before I knew it, I had TWO! I’m just picking a novelty square, and then digging into that bag to find 3 different colors of strips that will go with the center square. I like projects with as few rules as possible!

I’m thinking I need 16 to 20 of these blocks. But it depends on the setting ----

And of course everything ELSE on the “to do” list just got pushed to the back burner for a bit! I’m going to have to kick myself into gear and not let this top take over my whole life and lead me away from what I SHOULD be doing!

And with that --- I better head off to the gym!

Be sure to check back on yesterday’s post for our Mystery Monday Link-Up! We’ve hit 90! Whoot!!

Blog Gremlins?

I was sure there HAD to be a glitch going on with the Blogger Archives this morning when I tested some things out…and this was AFTER I got this message from a reader:

Hi Bonnie,

I was on your blog this morning and saw a previous blog you had on April 30, 2011 about a trip you took to the Lancaster area.

My sister, a friend and I are going to the Lancaster Quilt show in March and I am in charge of making sure we see everything we need to see. I have made notes from your April 30 blog and wanted to see the next day or so blogs to see what else you did on your trip.

However, I when I click on the May blogs, it only lets me see the last couple of days. What am I doing wrong that I can't go back and see all of Mays blog entries.

I can't wait to go to Obies, Zooks and Sauder Fabrics. Oh what fun.
Any help you can give me to get me to see your blogs would be appreciated. Thanks. Linda

Well, I have to admit that my first thought was that she wasn’t clicking “OLDER ENTRIES” at the bottom of the page that would allow her to go back further.

So I went over to the blog myself, went to the month of May just as she had --- and lo and behold…just the last few days of the month showed up, and there WAS no “OLDER ENTRIES” link at the bottom!

Is anyone else experiencing this? It’s quite perplexing!

And the only way I could figure out how to fix it and make things more accessible to everyone scanning archives was to go into my dashboard set up, into the Settings tab, and under Archiving—choose the option for “Weekly” archives instead of "Monthly".

The only thing I’m not crazy about is that it now takes up SO MUCH SPACE in my side bar --- and I went to click a bunch of down arrows to shorten my own personal view of the list…..but it’s better than not having the posts accessible at all?!

Thanks Linda for letting me know you weren’t getting access to where you wanted to go. I hope you have a wonderful trip to PA! I love that whole area!

My day is kind of getting away from me. After this morning’s post ((Did you check all the links yet? Did you?!?)) I headed out to the gym. I put in about 25 minutes on the elliptical trainer until it was time for yoga to start…..that yoga instructor can totally kick my butt into oblivion. I know I needed it, but the rest of my day has been zombie mode!

I soaked in the hottub, I took a shower..I ate --- and then I undid all the workout and yoga effort I put in ---- I ATE the last piece of pumpkin pie, and finished it off with the last of the cool whip too! :c/ *SIGH*

Of course, this was all in an effort of fridge cleaning, so I could get the empty pan and container out of there, right? :cD

Tonight my bee is meeting at Mi Pueblo for our November bee meeting. I’ll probably be bad there too---but I know I’ll be in good company!

And with that, I think I feel a nap coming on….

Enjoy your afternoon!

Mystery Monday Link-Up! Part 2!

Have you been busy bees, even with the holiday hoopla gaining force in our lives?

Someone made a comment on our Quiltvillechat email list that even though November and December ARE extremely busy months, that taking this small bit of time out for herself to keep up with the mystery steps each week added a feeling of peace to her other wise busy chaotic Holiday season.

I mean, think about it --- if you don’t take time to fill yourself up, you’ll be running on empty! And the only one who can recharge you is YOU! Even if you are only able to get half the number of units made during the week that the pattern requires – it was time you took for yourself. And doubtless while you were cutting and sewing, your mind was busy thinking through all the other things you had to do in your busy life, putting those things in order, figuring out ways to get them done in the most streamlined way possible.

I know if I sit and ponder things out a while, an outline and a plan forms in my mind --- and then when I put myself in action I’m not going 100 different ways all at once, I’m better prepared mentally to tackle what needs to be done. And because I took some time for myself, I feel recharged, less stressed and happier with what else needs to be accomplished in the upcoming busy week.

See those lovely string blocks at the top of this post?! Those belong to Blog-less Becky! She is using lime greens where I used blues for my Step 2! Aren't these little string units FUN!?

Yesterday I took a trip up to Forest, VA – about a 2.5 hour drive from my house – for a fun sew day with a group of great quilters! We met at Quilt & Sew Studio – a great shop with lovely bright fabrics! Lots of batiks and Kaffe fabrics for us to drool over. Shown here is the trio of fun! Becky on the left, Kevin in the middle, and Susie on the right! '

Susie is busy working on her Glacier Star while Becky came dressed to match her project---her lime green string blocks for step 2 of the Orca Bay Mystery! Her shirt is a Kevin Womack Original – he does wonderful dying!

Kevin also teaches classes at Quilt & Sew Studio and travels a bit doing lectures and trunk shows. Here he is working on a lecture sample showing a color theory equation.

We had a bit of impromptu show and tell! This is Susie’s Scrappy Bargello, all in Kaffe Fasset fabrics. She says it’s only a Queen..but come on…doesn’t it look BIGGER than that?! I love that I am not the only one who makes giant quilts as if it is a normal every day thing. :cD Great quilt Susie!

This is Kevin’s String Spider Web in progress! This is a great quilt to save all those small Kaffe fabrics that he can’t bear to toss out either! The orange centers are gorgeous…..I think they said it was a print called “line dancing”?? But I could be wrong.

We ordered in pizza for lunch! YUMMY!! And I’ve come to the conclusion, that no matter the fact that I love pizza, and I’ll eat it from ANYWHERE at ANY TIME ---I have to say that I like Pizza Hut’s Pan Pizza crust the BEST over any other. Hands down. This was a win win! Which is why I’m dragging my overloaded carcass off to the gym this morning! HA!

What did *I* work on?! A border for a quilt! And these pics come with a disclaimer! These are NOT --- I repeat --- NOT for the mystery! Yes, they are red strings, but they are going for something else.

I was piecing a string border for a project, and needed 3.5” sections of border. Do I really want to piece small eensy teensy strips for a border? Hope! How about we cover a WHOLE phone book page…and then sub-cut THAT into 3.5” sections? It’s slick this way. I can get 3 3.5” sections across that page with nearly nothing left over…

And if you look closely, you'll see that I even joined short strings end to end to make lengths long enough to cover the page -- so even small stuff was getting used up!

So how much border got done yesterday?

Hopefully ENOUGH to get the job done! I figured I needed about 350”, and I think I’ve got just about that here..if not more! What a fun day with terrific friends that I don’t get to see often! 2.5 hours drive is just far enough to make it not easy to get together as often as I’d like to.

Did YOU work on your Unit 2 string blocks? This is the post where you can link your own blog post and share with us what you’ve gotten up to this week! Those of you still plugging on unit 1? No problem --- these Mystery Monday Link Up post are for ANY progress on ANY Mystery step!

Feel free to link your blog post below! Remember that we need the url of the specific POST, not the address for your whole blog. To get the correct address in the linky –right click on the title/subject line of your post you wrote about your first quilt. Chose “copy link address” and paste this url in the form when you link.

For instance, my blog address is http://quiltville.blogspot.com but that isn't enough. I can't link to the WHOLE blog, I need the address of the post. The address of THIS post is http://quiltville.blogspot.com/2011/11/mystery-monday-link-up-part-2.html See the difference?

If you link to your whole blog, I’ll have to remove your link and have you try again because I can’t fix it FOR you.

We'll leave this open for a week to give you time to write your posts! I LOVED seeing what links came in last week! If you missed those, you can find them linked in the Orca Bay Mystery tab at the top of the blog ---just look at the bottom of that page below the step links for the Mystery Monday Link up Links --

There are also a lot of GREAT links still coming in for your first quilts HERE! Please note that you can not link to your facebook page in these links, even if you wrote a note about your first quilt there. It doesn't work. It's got to be a blog page :c)

Have a terrific Monday, everyone!