Burst of Spring

I have a finish, and it's on my Q1FAL list which is here, and it's perfect timing to have on my table for Spring!

I considered pulling the table out so I wouldn't have the sun through the stained glass glint on the table topper but na, it just adds to the bright spring feel IMHO. This is Tish (The Madd Quilter) Fireburst Mystery QAL.

It's Easy Being Green!

Forest or sage green is the RSC colour of the month for Angela's soscrappy challenge. I do love forest green, such an intense colour with depths of mystery and beauty both. I have quite a bit of scraps of it too; didn't have to cut any 2.5" squares to get 32 for my two blocks. I did have to cut 3" squares for the HSTs.

Both forest and sage feature in these. It's looking like that around me now, the grass is an incredible emerald green, the English oak and another mystery tree, maybe a beech, a rich forest green, the original mystery tree I asked about turning a yellow-green and yellow, and the black walnuts a medium green. Lots of green shades for sure! I laid all 20 blocks out on the design wall and played around a little to see if I need to add more or how to set them...

Update on Projects and OMG

As you know by now, I really enjoy sharing with you 'the process', and reading about that very thing on others' blogs. Here are some of my ongoing projects, as well as my OMG for September, which is this quilt in progress:

Please note: these are all reds: shades, tints, hues, so they go from bright red, to burgundies to pinks, corals

...which I hope to have the centre section complete (that's 156 6" blocks with sashing and cornerstones) by the end of the month. I'm putting them together in the order in which they were released, with my six blocks interspersed. I'll highlight those once the quilt centre is complete. Yes, there are borders! It may very well end up being my biggest quilt to date. I may have to do a final piece count...

This is my 150 Canadian Women quilt, a quilt along I did with Kat of Next Step Quilt Designs from December 2016 through October 2017. My first post is here, December 6, 2016, and my last is here, January 3, 2018. Canada celebrated her sesquicentennial July 1, 2017, and this was the project, three blocks per week for a total of 150. For this layout you needed to make six more, which I did, for a total of 156 (12 X 13 blocks layout). I have the first six rows sewn together, and row 7 is done as well, and pinned on the design wall. I found sewing the rows into groups of three worked well, and then I sewed the group of three rows to make the group of six. This is what I plan to do for the bottom half. Whether row 7 will get sewn to rows 1-6 or start the bottom section of rows 7-13, I haven't decided! The bulk of the quilt has been sewn on my Featherweights, 1951 Tillie, and 1947 Billie. I am in LOVE, mad crazy effervescing love with this quilt. It's huge. Can you see the tiny cornerstones that finish at 1"?! It's a plaid-type print from the 'With Glowing Hearts' line by Moda. Perfection!

Ketchup

Or Catch-up! However,  ketchup, which I really like, is red, and red is the RSC2018 colour for July...see the crazy way my mind works?!  I got my red blocks done over a week ago, super-early for me!

Once again, I love them. Memories abound, both old and new, probably the main reason I love scrap quilts so very much.

Midnight Mystery Finish

This is Cheryl of Meadow Mist Designs 2016 mystery quilt.  It was the last quilt quilted on my Avanté before MacGyver disassembled her for storage. 😢 I named the quilt Nine Lives as a nod to the cat fabric and the miles this quilt has travelled, as well as to the reincarnation of every fabric in the quilt to form the one you see before you today!

near the Sarasota Harbor

It is one of my goals on my Q4FAL List.  Yay for a second finish off the list.  It began its life in Kingsville, leftover fabrics from five previous projects: a runner I made for a colleague who was retiring from teaching, fabric left over from my Indianapolis Quilt, cat fabric from a runner for my aunt in England, now passed away, fabric left over from Shamrock, John's quilt, and the green tree bark fabric used as part of the backing left over from a good friend's group effort quilt that I quilted.  I think I also used that green tree bark-type fabric on another quilt.  I finished the flimsy in January here in North Port.

Meadow Mystery Update

I pulled up the November instructions, and went, "Wait, what?" when I saw that October instructions had not been clicked upon...ya, two months behind I was.  However, that is all fixed now.

So here are October's half hourglass and full hourglass blocks:

Here you have 4 hourglass blocks in the centre, arranged in a pinwheel, flanked on three sides by half hourglass blocks in various fabric combinations.

I know probably everyone but me has been long ago finished the October step.  However, I thought it worth showing this tip for squaring up hourglass blocks.  I like to use either my 8" square from That Patchwork Place or my 9.5" square from Omnigrid as it has the 45-degree line marked through the centre of the ruler. Lay that line on the 45-degree seam.

Place the 2.25" dot at the centre of the block, making sure you have the point of the ruler on the 45-degree seam line at the top, and the 4.5" dot on the bottom of that 45-degree seam. Trim.  Rotate the block and repeat.  Presto! Perfectly centred "v" point in the 4.5" block!

And November's geese and square in a square blocks:

Interesting how you can see where the light source was coming from, no?  From the centre to the right of the photo  is the truest colour.

I am also sure everyone is finished their November blocks, but in case you aren't, or in case you make more geese using this no-waste method (Eleanor Burns devised it btw, and my own tutorial is here) then here are a few tips for squaring the geese up to 2.5 X 4.5" rectangles.

To make the first cut, set the 2.25" mark at the point of the goose and also at the left side seam.  Trim these two sides.  Try to get the 4.25" mark as close to the right side seam line as you can.

To trim the remaining two sides, align the 4.25" mark at that just cut side and the point of your ruler at the to-be-cut seam, ensuring you still have 1/4" above the goose peak. Trim the remaining two sides.
Here are the three stages:

Foof!  All caught up now, and tomorrow is the next step!! I pulled some of these out of the garbage to add to the pile I had created, and now I've put them in a ziploc bag...maybe I can use them for stuffing something, right?!

Quilt porn, as I've heard said around Instagram! Makes me quiver, so it does!

 I sewed a few more slabs between these two months' worth of steps:

For some reason, I like these better than the weekend's slabs.  Maybe because there is more unity in the bright yellows, green/blue/purple striped fabric and pinks?

One of the suggestions in the comments on my last post, from Rebecca Grace, was to consider offsetting the rows for my rainbow stars RSC 2016 project #1.  At first I thought, meh, don't think so; I'll lose the squares that are formed when the low volume areas meet.  Then I thought, well, let's just see how it would look...since I thought it might provide a little more interest:

I removed the grey stars, folded them in half to get an idea of what they'd look like as fillers, and stepped back....and quite liked what I saw!
Here was the first layout, just so you can compare:

It definitely has grown on me, sitting on the design wall as it has for the past few days.  It still hasn't become a flimsy yet; I was busy doing Meadow Mystery stuff!  Oh, and reading.

Books
Finished The Camel Bookmobile, by Masha Hamilton, and it is a very worthwhile read.  Not fluff at all.  Rather more true to life than one would expect/like.  Sniff.  But such a great read.  Thank you Mum, for getting it for me; not sure if it's one you heard/read about reviewed, or one that 'came' to you on the shelves of Goodwill book department. Do books do that to you too?  They sure do to me, as well as to my mum and I think my sisters as well, that is, make sure we find them.  It's quite magical how it happens time and time again when I'm in a library or bookstore, new or secondhand.  Anyhow, I will be reading more of Masha Hamilton's work, 31 Hours, next on my list: I've already put it on hold at our library.  She served in the US Embassy in Kabul, as Director of Communications, and, according to her website, is currently working as Communications Director for Concern Worldwide.

I spent some time on Concern Worldwide's site.  Here is a sobering article.  I intend to find a way to help the many Syrians that Canada has taken in, many in the Windsor area, once we return in the spring.  I cannot imagine being displaced for 4-5 years from Canada, and, like the refugees in Turkey are having to do, work in agriculture.  Here in Canada they are finding work in the greenhouses in and around Leamington, when once, in their home country they were teachers or office workers, etc.

I am so very proud of Canada, and my prime minister, Justin Trudeau, for taking in so many Syrian refugees!  Lifeline Syria in the GTA, Greater Toronto Area, was just chosen as a co-recipient of a humanitarian award for their work.  When we have recently celebrated Thanksgiving in early October in Canada, and in the United States, at the end of November, and are grateful for all we have, I hope we investigate some way that we can give to those displaced by wars, and help ease their suffering.  :-)

Linking up with
Sew Fresh Quilts

Sunday Stash - More Missouri & Meadow Mystery Update

Another charm pack on Missouri Star Quilt Company's daily deal had to come to my house.

Besides Corey Yoder's Sundrops, we have Handmaids by J. Wecker Frisch for Quilting Treasures, Seven Wonders by Parson Gray for Westminster Fibres, and finally Lulu by Chez Moi for Moda. Funny how all three look pretty good together, even though I did not buy them for that reason! Might have to explore that...

I know I know, that's more than A charm pack; there are 3 yards of accompanying fabric!  Well, as Tish would say, it looked lonely all by itself.  I had a peek in their plentiful sale section...my own stash of turquoise, aqua and blue/greens, as well as the greys, is not that healthy, so I had to help both colours along.  No affiliation. ;-)

Now you all know I am an affiliate for Craftsy, and I have one of two items to show you that I finally caved, and bought, and I can't stop smiling and petting it and smiling some more:

This is Blueberry Park: this pic does not do its vibrancy justice, even though I took it under my Ott-Lite.  It is still on sale, at 25% off.  I happened to get it at their most recent, most excellent sale, where it was an even better deal.  However, there still always are fabrics at 35-55% off if you look, and sort by price, lowest to highest...not enabling or anything nope.

Meadow Mystery is up to date for September!

24 C/E units formed into a pinwheel  :-)

And here is Block 6:

There are 4; I just put them all together to form a huge block

I am absolutely in love with how these colours are working together.  The mottled green and blue is one of the ones I bought from Sew Sisters specifically for this mystery, on sale (do I ever pay full price for fabric? Well, occasionally...usually when it's going to someone else, no lie).  I bought three, plus a fourth that I just loved (see the post here) all from the Artisan Spirit A Painter's Passion line by Amy Sia for Northcott.  After I wrote that post, I realized, wait a minute, this second background, the mottled one, is not the same line! I emailed, and Judy got right back to me, apologized, said keep the yard I'd got and they'd send out the correct one. She also said sometimes companies put the same SKU on a fabric that is a basic or a blender or a background (as this is) and have it as part of a similar collection. So they would be the same.  Well they aren't! This correct one is more green; the other, from Tranquil Tides by Deborah Edwards for Northcott is a fair bit lighter.  And the SKUs are indeed different.  Anyhow, the point is that they replaced the fabric promptly and pleasantly and I know I will buy from them again and tell anyone else that they have great service (...and a pretty decent sale section: $8/metre CA works out to around $6/yard US.)

I haven't written anything forever about my ongoing leaders and enders Scrap Vortex project, but it is slowly building in volume and I am now starting to make fours and eights slabs.

The picture doesn't do justice to how much is there.  I'm hoping there's enough for a lap quilt.

Driving along in Essex county just today, I finally got to see what MacGyver often sees on his bike rides:

Wild turkeys!  Adults and some adolescents, wattles a-swinging as they gob-gobbled across the road. This, like seeing a moose or two in the road, or in your yard in Alberta (been there done that on both more than once), is a novelty to this Alberta girl!  We have grouse in Alberta, aka prairie chickens, and I love the "thump, thump, thump, th-th-th-th-th-thump-thump-drrrrrrr" sound the males make in the Fall, but no wild turkey, at least not in the central Alberta environs of Edmonton vicinity.

I AM a summer-loving girl, but I have come to love Fall here in southwestern Ontario where it is slower and gentler, with a wider variety of vibrant, lasting colours due to the vast variety of trees.

Linking up with Molli Sparkles for...

Books, Baskets and Back to Business

Baskets

You know how I love figures of speech, alliteration one of my favourites, well to add to the B's we are going out on the boat today, but I am getting a quick post up beforehand!  I mentioned that I will be doing a celebration to mark blowing by 250 followers on Bloglovin'... As well as that milestone, I've been asked to be part of a bloghop this Fall sponsored by Paintbrush Studio, and I plan to have a giveaway or two during that!  Do you spy the rich red fabric box in the middle?  That red is from Windfall, the collection I'll be working with, and it is BEE-you-tee-fullll. Want a closer look?

These adorable Button Baskets (the b's abound, don't they?!) are a tutorial from Seaside Stitches.  I won one made my Jennifer at The Inquiring Quilter, when I took part in her Stepping Stones quilt along.  They hold a fair amount of little bits and bats...

as you see!  I did my corners with French seams, trying them with seams in and seams out.  I think I prefer the seams out look.  These were fun and quick to make. Stay tuned for when they are being given away.

Books

I haven't mentioned much about books lately, mainly because I've not been reading as much as I usually do!  Our librarians have been on strike for 3 months I believe now. :-(  But that has made me go to my shelves and pull out some I've bought but still not read (kind of like fabric buying y'know) A few good recent ones worth mentioning though are:
Harry Potter and the Cursed Child by J.K. Rowling
This is written in play format as it is the script for the play that was presented on stage in London's Palace Theatre earlier this summer.  It was really good, not quite as good as the original seven books, but still, what amazes me about J. K. Rowling is her genius.  Without giving anything away, she sets things up early in the book, or in this case, play, that you don't see until much later, providing a means out of a sticky situation.
A Trail of Fire by Diana Gabaldon
I got this on Amazon, but it ships from the UK. I believe it has only been released in the UK at this point.  It has four novellas that fill in blanks in "the Big Enormous Books (BEBs)," Diana's term for her Outlander novels.  Worth a read as you find out what really happened to Roger's parents, a little more about Lord John, (fascinating true stuff about electric eel parties of that time period, as well as his part in the Battle of the Plains of Abraham--yep, you read that right, and I knew how crazy cool it is/was what the British army did, but to read it 'firsthand', with a feeling that the author had actually been there, a style at which she is so adept), and a little more about another Murray, as well as the Comte St. Germain. Diana amazes me with her intelligence, her vast knowledge of history and science, plants and social niceties (and some not so niceties lol), and on and on.
The Weed That Strings the Hangman's Bag by Alan Bradley
More very intelligent fiction. This series features Flavia de Luce (isn't that a terrific name?), precocious 11-year-old obsessed with all things chemical and poison, who often finds herself having to solve crimes of the murderous nature. Set in 1950 in southern England, they are excellent mysteries, with humour and that unique way Bradley has of not taking away from Flavia's youth, yet you, as the adult reader sometimes see things that go over her head.  However, having said that, a LOT of what Flavia talks about wrt chemistry, and a lot of what she observes go right over our heads! Well mine for sure. I read the third one out of order so I'm back reading this second book.  The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie is the first.

Back to Business

I caught up on the August cutting instructions, and plan to start the September sewing later today for Cheryl's Meadow Mystery.

I thought I'd share a tip, which I've mentioned before, as to how I cut when I have several strips the same width, as this does, for example, four 3" wide ones and multiples of other widths.  Below you see me cutting these 3" ones.  I've already squared off the left side of the fabric.  Then, using my 8 1/2" X 24" ruler, along with my 6X12" one, I line the 1/2" mark of the 12" on the cut edge, butting up the 8 1/2" one against it. This gives me 9", so will give me 3 strips. I also align the markings along the fold to ensure straight strips.

Why not just cut 4 strips separately?
Well, the longer you have of a 90-degree angle with two straight sides, the cut edge and the fold being the two straight sides, the more accurate you will be, and the less often you have to keep truing up the cut edge to avoid the 'V' shape that occurs at the fold if you don't keep checking that squared-off edge.

Cut.  Then move your ruler backwards, or to the left, to the 6" line. Cut again. Repeat at the 3" line.

You can cut the 3" blocks in this same manner.  Below I've used my 12" ruler at the 12" mark, so I'll get 4 squares.

And again moving the ruler backward in 3" increments.  Doing the math this method requires is good, especially so for me.  ;-)

The longer you can get a line along the bottom edge, the truer your cuts will be!
Now I'm off to buzz around on Lake Erie for a bit.

While I'm out there, remember you've still got a few hours left to pick up a class at Craftsy for $19.99!  Here is my review of some from my all-time favourite quilt teacher, Angela Walters.

RSC and MM

I've not been in QBL much this past week, but I have got two other ongoing projects up to speed, well one is a bit behind still.  That would be Cheryl's Meadow Mystery.  I was going to shop my stash but then Sew Sisters Quilt Shop sent me an email with "New in Clearance" in the subject line and of course THAT grabbed my attention.  Northcott.  Mmmm, lovely soft hand to their fabrics.  Wow!  My colours!  I spent a little (too much) time deciding, got Tish's opinion, went back the next day (Saturday) to order and two of the fabrics I'd saved in my cart were no longer available! Waaaahhh.  Early bird and all that, yes...so, a little (too much) time farting around, re-figuring, and this is what I have:

From left to right, in ABCDE order as per Cheryl's Fabric Selection guide, they are Artisan Spirit Painter's Passion by Amy Sia Blue Planet Abstract Circles in green and the second one is the same line Abstract Floral Dark Blue, third is Leafy Sprigs by R.E.D. Fabrics from my stash, fourth is Tranquil Tides by Deborah Edwards in aqua, and Kona Snow from my stash.  Let it be known that of the handful of mystery quilts I have done, this is the first time I have purchased fabric specifically for one.  Also the turquoise you see across the bottom? An extra metre threw itself into my cart...I am building my turquoise and aqua stash, and I might use this as the flange for the binding.  Sale fabric is sold in 1 metre increments, so what's a gal to do... better buy a metre or two of fabric than pay the shipping is my motto.  The cutting instructions are out, and so I will now have to catch up on that step.  One other point to note: I ordered on Saturday afternoon and the fabrics were in my hands on Tuesday late morning!!  Love fast shipping.

I finished quilting the quilt flag I made for the Henry Glass Desire to Inspire Challenge from June.  You thought it was done, right? Nope. I just was running out of time, so it looked done...could've been done....

That's better!  Note, if one should decide to go back in on an already-bound quilt, and add more quilting that takes one to the binding attachment edge, one should probably undo the stitched down binding.  Parts of my swirls, even though they only go to that ditch of the binding seam, actually cross over and onto the black binding on the back.  Kind of detracts from the back of the quilt.  A bit.  Did I rip once I discovered this was happening?  Nope.  The front of this quilt is more important than the lake sayings on the back, and I very rarely will rip out FMQ.  Way too much of a PITA.

Now it is done and hangs daily in the garden  in the afternoon, when that part is in shade

RSC at soscrappy progress is totally up to date for both of my projects!  Here is my Pop Rocks planning (where I spend the vast majority of my time, digging and scrounging around in my stash, most therapeutic really and most alarming how much TIME this part takes!) and then the row for June, aqua with lime accents:

I do the square ring in each block in the accent colour of the month

The row:

From dark rich aqua to light

For July the colours are hot pink with lime green accents:

Finding light hot pinks was a bit of a challenge

Interesting two photos in that both are taken in the exact same part of the front entryway, but obviously different times of day for the natural light that comes through the glass in the front door.  The pink row is more intense than you see here; the aqua row slightly less intense.  I love both of these rows.  Who am I kidding I love each row!

Since I was on a roll with making these blocks, what's another 6 to add to the 18 I just made:

February colours, when I had not started either of my two ongoing projects for the RSC 2016, were brown with pink accents

This brings me to why I absolutely ADORE scrap quilts: memories.  Colour is a big part of my attraction for them too, but memory is #1.  The teddies?  First quilt I made for Dayna.  The cows, pig butt, and sheep (love that as Angela has a sheep for the February inspirational photo) in those same light brown two blocks?  Runners made for my dad's siblings, an aunt and an uncle, both farmers.  That fabric is Hen-Pecked Heifer Dairy by Andrea Fehr (a Canadian!) for Moda.  The square ring of pink in the medium brown blocks? Scrap from a quilt I made for my mum's 70th birthday that has been on her bed every day since...and that was 10 years ago this Fall.  The pink ring in the dark brown blocks?  Chair pads I made for solid oak chairs, of which I was so proud and then so sad when I had to sell them when we moved, that I bought with some money from my grandma.  They had a grey house appliquéd onto them and ruffles all around, ties as well.  Those are just a few of the memories of that one row.

Here are all the Pop Rocks blocks so far for the year:

Right after the edge of a storm blew on through, without any respite from the steamy heat and humidity but I am just fine with that!

In furry news, Rocco is now up to two walks around the circle, one in the morning and one in late afternoon or after supper.  We've bumped it to walking a bit through the field where future houses will go, across the street in front of the white house you see in the photo and back onto our lane.  There are driveway entrances at all three entry points so no curbs to negotiate with his healing knee.

Happy beautiful boy

In case you haven't heard/seen Craftsy is running a Christmas in July weekend sale on Kits and Supplies.  Don't do as I did, and put stuff in your cart and come back in a couple of days to buy it...other quilters are actually buying those great deals too, zut! as they say en français.  As of today you will find fabrics and kits from 20% to 60% off.  60%?? A Tula Pink pillows kit anyone?  Yup, 60% off.  If you click on the text link or the button in my sidebar, those are both affiliate links and I will get a commission on your purchase.  Thank you!  :-)

Note that I learned last night: if you put stuff in your cart and leave it there for more than a week, then go back to buy it, the "cookie" that gives the credit to the affiliate you clicked through, say, for example, me, won't get any credit, as that cookie only lasts for 7 days.  Just something to remember.  How to avoid that if you are like me and like to stick items in your cart for later?  Before going to Craftsy, just click through the affiliate blog link on who you want to credit to ensure the cookie is updated.

Linking up with
Confessions of a Fabric Addict  (such a great Christmas QAL Sarah is doing)
soscrappy

Mystery Quilt Progress

I was behind, and technically, I guess I still am, but I wanted to post my progress on Cheryl's Meadow Mist Designs mystery quilt.  I am in love with these blocks!!  I haven't peeked at anyone's posts about theirs, as I love a mystery and I especially love a surprise!
Here is November's step:

Units 1, 2 and 3

At this point I did not have a clue, just knew the massive 19" squares (not shown) were going to be cut down somehow...did not even see that the two bottom strips sets formed the two halves of the unit you see on its side until I inserted this photo into my post! Duh.

December's step:

SO purty!! And the centres are STARS!!! My favourite block.

I had figured the 19" squares would be cut on the diagonal and the quilt would be on point.  Cheryl still has me mystified to some degree as to how this thing is all going to fit together, because the other part of December's instructions had us make two half block units:

In full disclosure, I do only have two of the eight blocks sewn together.  This is because A) I have a bad head cold and the other night couldn't face, make that didn't want to risk, quilting on Dayna's quilt so I made up a couple of these, and B) almost all day today I have been quilting on Dayna's quilt, which is why I don't have the other 6 done.  I started off today in a bit of a "nose taps on full blast", snot-gobbling way, so I thought I'd ease into my day after last night where I maybe had 3 hours of solid sleep, by making the half blocks. 

Remember I did not have enough of the taupe-ish background, so I added in the ivory cats, since it matched the theme of the red cats fabric...it looks worse on these photos than in person, at least to my bleary eyes, lol.  Once it is quilted, hopefully it will all read okay.

I apologize for being behind in responding to comments and in visiting your blogs.  As you know, I had 8 lovely days with the best grandson on the planet, bar none, and now I have a graduation quilt that needs to be finished asap.  Here's a sneak peek, (Dayna stop reading!!) of the early progress:

I haven't put anything much on lately about her quilt because she wants to be surprised, but oh, it has been causing me serious angst.  Kind of similar to the angst daughters can cause... never mind; the angst dissolves when you think of the deep boundless love you have as a mother for your daughters...

Angela Walters, my heroine, always says you have to love the person very much if you're adding in a ton of fine detail...well I think you get the idea of how very very much I love Dayna (I know she's going "meh, yeah, yeah, Mum, stop")

This quilt, which is for my darling daughter, of whom I am so very proud (I know you're still reading, Dayna ;-) who has accomplished so very much in the past 5 years especially, is my main crush of late.  Well, no Brady is. Ha.  Anyhow, I can't wait to show you more once this is done. I'm linking up with Beth at Cooking Up Quilts for the first time for her Main Crush Monday linky.

And also with Judy at Patchwork Times for Design Wall Monday!

Wheelchair Quilt #6

This one is ready to be donated.

I'm just so happy with how this mishmash of orphan blocks and additions from my own stash all came together in the end.  I absolutely love the quilting, feathers  in the chevron areas, and dot to dot in the diamonds.  On the sides I did a feather "flower" in each bottom corner and then arcs, using my trusty tool, a Bath & Bodyworks body butter container, to mark the arc.  Then I FMQ-ed the arc, echoed it, filled it in with back and forth lines, and did the feathers on the outside.  The dot to dot is ruler work and I only marked the inside point of one diamond, the turquoise one, on the first line.  Angela says just go for it, and so I decided to take that risk on this quilt, and I am really surprised and pleased with how evenly they all turned out. :-)  I had no problems with the tension with the Sulky rayon thread, but I did with the pale blue Fufus rayon, the same thread I used on wheelchair #5 quilt. I had few issues, if any on that one, so I am not sure what I am doing wrong, same bobbin thread.  I ended up changing my needle from a 20 to a 14, with a better result.

At first I worried that the back itself seemed to much of a mishmash, a dog's breakfast, but now that it is all quilted up and bound, I love it.  I machine bound this one again, as these quilts need to be durable for much wear and tear and washing.
Quilt Stats:
Pattern: original design
Size:  30X35.5"
Fabric: orphan blocks plus scraps from my stash
Batting: Pellon Legacy 100% polyester (love this batting!)
Quilted: on my Avanté -- 66 757 stitches :-)
Threads: Floriani's Fufu's rayon thread in pale blue and Sulky rayon in white

I also have my September and October steps sewn up for Cheryl's mystery quilt:

It's so intriguing to imagine and speculate what these will grow into!

Here is a tip that probably everyone knows for adding the HSTs onto the squares in the September step.

Sew with the square facing up so the bias edge is on the bottom. This will help to avoid stretching.

If you use the little triangle-like dog ears as a guide, you can get pretty good alignment.  I also finger-pressed the red square in half near the centre of the square so I could use that line as a reference for placement of the tip of the HST.

I hope it will end up okay, as I ran out of the taupe/ivory background, leftovers from my Indianapolis quilt (need to post on that one day, it's an older one), so I substituted the ivory cat fabric without knowing exactly where it would end up/how it will look.  So there is one rectangle in the courthouse steps blocks of the cat fabric.  It does jump a little, but it matches the cat fabric for the SiaS blocks, and I didn't think I should add in a third ivory-coloured fabric. Might have to ask Cheryl if she thinks this will be okay, or add in a third that is a bit closer to the taupe/ivory one.

These are humongous 19" squares! There are 9 fanned out here.

You can still get in on the mystery!  Head to Cheryl's blog, Meadow Mist Designs for the deets.

I'm linking this post up with Connie at Freemotion by the River.