toverly

I'm with you Teen, this is where I get into trouble with these mysteries. The beginning seems so simple and easy to do (I'm making 1/2 the clues for a smaller quilt.) I almost want to begin a second one. It's when all these little components come together that gets complicated in my mind. Happy sewing everyone.

Iceblossom

Auntjo, welcome aboard! Lovely calm palette.

Teen -- look at you go!

Me -- well, I did get almost all of Clue 1 done, I have just a few left to press and trim but all sewn. I was able to use all different grey fabrics, a little worried that I used up all my single use fabrics in this step but I still have plenty of assorted yardages. I did have to double up on the Gold, no problems with that.

I didn't get the Frolic UFO I'm working on done by Thanksgiving as planned and I need to work with the neutrals to make the inner border and then I can put it all together. The owner of the UFO is giving me the left over neutrals from her project to put in this year's mystery -- we like the connection of the projects and each other so the timing is wonderful to keep them out and keep going with Clue 2.

Sounds like it's going to be my catch phrase for this project, but despite being behind and distracted and with even new physical issues I can catch up!

Edit/ps: I did bump up my stitch selection to 2, I think that will work for my tiny stitches but be a bit easier to use when it comes time.

tallchick

I’m loving seeing everyones color choices and watching everyones progress; it will be interesting to see how it plays out, fantastic job eveyone!

Iceblossom

I wanted to reach out to the newer quilters as well as the newer mystery participants to see how they are doing. It can be a bit overwhelming at first when we are given so many options. I cut my squares slightly large and then trim down, the rule for cutting a right triangle with a 1/4" seam allowance is "finished measurement plus 7/8ths". Most people just round this up to a full inch and have enough to trim -- (2) 1/8ths (one from each piece of fabric) makes 1/4" extra. Me, if I'm going to trim it I want to make it worth my while and add an additional 1/4" to the to rounded total.

In general when making HST, I prefer to take one square, draw a cutting line down the middle and then use my "quilters foot" that is 1/4" left and right and has markings for front and back. I have friends who never pin and whose work turns out lovely -- me, I need pins. You can see though that the pins are well out of needle range, just out of foot range even. Since I'm already pinning, it's no big deal to add that pencil line.

I feel keeping it square makes dealing with those bias edges better and besides, my expensive fancy Bernina does suck fabric down into the bobbin compartment sometimes. My trusty old vintage machine can "sew into space" and deals with triangles better.

Usually when we sew, the bulk of the fabric is to the left and the seam allowance is to the right. By using the quilter foot you can easily sew on either side of the line, and so you can jog the fabric over and it helps to keep those points stable and not sucked down. I'm having problems with the bright light of the Bernina to show this, but here's an attempt.

Last year we had to make what felt like thousands of 2" finished HST and I took a clear finger bandage, cut it in half down the middle and put the pads on either side of the diagonal line of my ruler to make it more stable for trimming those lumpy little bits. I've left the pads on and am still finding them helpful. There are all sorts of things you can use, from little cork dots to corn pads.. the bandage was what I had handy.

edit: Last year when both my expensive Bernina and my trusty vintage machine were both down, I was using a bottom of the line Brother, the type that sells for around $100 to make masks and do what sewing I was doing. I was able to get the quilter foot at my local Joann or Walmart for a reasonable price (don't remember which but I was able to pick it up locally) and I was very pleased with the accuracy and ease of it, even on a low end machine.

SuzSLO

Iceblossum: I have used your method for a very long time on the theory that it was better to sew on the diagonal before cutting to protect those bias edges. I recently got Harriet Hargrave’s Quilter’s Academy Vol 3 which has 8 different ways to sew HSTs and I think I have tried all of them at some point.

I mostly used Bonnie’s essential ruler — which I just bought — for this project and liked it a lot.

Wonky star

I am just quickly popping in to say hi. I love what everyone has done so far. I have the first clue cut out and hope to sew at least some of those today, then do a few of clue 2 tomorrow. We may get the Christmas tree this weekend and I started making a sewing storage station with ironing board top that I need to finish so who knows how far I will get. I had hoped to do more after work but I did not have the energy. I work in a hospital procedural area and the short weeks for Thanksgiving and Christmas mean patients get crammed into fewer days.

I will post when I have some completed squares. I really appreciate having a group work with.

Teen

Looks great, leheath8! I don’t have Bonnie’s ruler but I do have the Strip tube ruler and it works the same way. I made mine a little larger cuz I like to trim to size more then just slivers...

Stitches23

I agree - I like to trim more than just slivers. In fact, I probably come up short more often than not when I try to cut on the lean size. I have finished the first clue and am working on the second. It's all cut out and half of them sewn. Will post pictures when I get a little further along.

origamigoldfish

I finally finished pressing and trimming my HSTs from step one today, and have cut and sewn the first seam on for step two. I broke out Bonnie's ruler for step 2, i love that one of the dog ears is eliminated, saving me a step and fabric!

Teen

Looks great!! Well done!

I finished part 2 today...since I’m making a smaller version, I stuck with making “odd” number of units. We’ll see how much more I will need to do at the reveal.