En Provence Mystery by Bonnie Hunter Clue #4

This is not the link to Bonnie Hunter's Mystery Quilt. To find all the clues and the instructions, go to Quiltville's Quips & Snips. You will see the Monday Link-up today, but click on the En Provence Mystery Quilt tab at the top of her blog and there will be all the info so far.

Friday the 16th, Bonnie released clue #4.  Purple Tri Recs!!  I had some leftover neutral equilateral triangles from clue #2, so I was good to start. Purples were still on my cutting table because I was still building purple 4-patches.  Only need 40 of clue #4 because I am doing 1/2 the amount, therefore getting a smaller quilt. Bonnie usually designs queen size quilts. They are awesome and they are big.

Some of the Tri Recs in progress.....I don't sit for hours at my machine. My back won't let me. So I sew a bit, stand and press, then maybe cut.....when I can't do it anymore, I sit in my recliner for 20 minutes or so and then get up and go again. Slow and steady...I 'll get it done.

All my Clue #1s and Clue #2s are complete.

Clue #3 is more that half done and my binder with all the instructions and clues is complete. Cut a little, sew a little, press a little......done!  If you want to check to see how everyone else is doing, just click on this link to go to the Mystery Monday Link-up Part 4.

I also have been gathering my local quilt group's challenge projects. We do 6- 60 day challenges to get UFO's done. So I have been sorting and studying!   The best part!

So back down to the sewing room I go. Needing some alone time and some me time. Mr Busy just returned from the vet. We had to make the decision to "put down", our little dog, Emma. She was nearly 14, but came to us 2 1/2 years ago after his mom passed away. Emma was her lifesaver, after Mr. Busy's dad passed and his mom was alone. She was a big part of our lives. She will be missed by us, our kids, and grandkids.


Stay Busy and Stay Happy

En Provence Mystery by Bonnie Hunter Clue #3

Clue #3 was revealed on Friday, the 9th. Yah!  Purples!!  Again we are doing four patches but only 168 for the whole quilt, and that means only 84 for me. These are to be dark purple and light purples in the configuration. I wanted a good variety so I cut some in strips and matched up pairs, but I also cut 2" squares of some real scraps from my stash. I have a pretty good variety now I think.

You can see I still have some neutral fabrics on my cutting table and the magenta is still laying out. I am pretty conservative when I cut, so I cut a bit and then sew, then cut more if needed. I am still sewing on the neutral 4 patches as leaders and enders on a Quilt of Valor that my local quilt group is working on. Most of us are making a top and backing and 3 of our members have long arm machines, so they will do the quilting. We hope to have them all finished for presentation in the summer at our state guild convention. Anyway, lots going on in my sewing space this season.

If you are interested in checking out the progress of others who are doing the mystery this year, just click HERE.  There are lots of us participating and there are some fabulous fabrics.

Stay Busy and Stay Happy

En Provence Mystery Quilt by Bonnie Hunter Clue #2

Bonnie Hunter posted clue #2 for this years Mystery Quilt on Friday, the 2nd of December. This Triangle in a square block is one I have never made before. So I am using the Tri Rec rulers for the first time. I was a bit intimidated with the angles, but the rulers made it "sew" easy. I always have a bit of a problem with ruler slippage, I think due to the fact that I don't have good strength in my hands anymore. Usually I can solve it with small sandpaper disks, but this time I tried a hint from Pat Spaeth. I used a scrap of shelf liner.  In this picture you can see the little dots I usually use and then the green heart shaped scrap of shelf liner that I am using this time. There is not significance to the shape of the green liner...just liked it.

Here are some pictures of more four patches from Clue #1 and the triangle in a square blocks. I have 10 complete and 15 ready to sew.

All the inside triangle are neutrals in the center and a constant of magenta making the square.

You can't see it very well here, but the fabric on the yellow cutting mat is a neutral with french words and images on it. Score!!!,,, it was in my stash! 

I'll spend the rest of the week, completing these two clues. I am only making 1/2 the amount, so I will get a smaller ( maybe lap size) quilt. 

Hopefully I will be able to keep up and to complete this fun mystery.  Link up HERE to check out what the others are doing. 

Until next time

Stay Busy and Stay Happy

PS: Book related:  I finished " A Man Called Ove"  by Fredik Backman and narrated by George Newbern and so enjoyed it. Now I am listening to "The Opposite of Everyone" by Joshilyn Jackson. I am liking it. 

En Provence Mystery Quilt by Bonnie Hunter

Clue #1 is making 4 patches from neutrals cut at 2"  I dug into my 2" strip basket, but not too many neutrals were there. I had used many in a Leader and Ender project, Rick Rack Nines, also a Bonnie Hunter pattern.  But, never fear, I have oodles of neutral fat quarters. A quilting group, not really a guild because we have no bylaws, officers or many rules, exchanged birthday fat quarters for several years. I asked for neutrals 2 years in a row and now have lots and lots. I have used up the already cut strips, so now on the slice into the fat quarters. Twenty four patches are done. A couple of strip sets are in the wings and several twosies are awaiting being matched up. 

Are you joining the Mystery?  If you are interested, check out the Intro and the #1 clue  HERE. This is the first one I have actually started, although I followed along on Grand Illusion and Allietare.

We drove home from Colorado, yesterday in very strong winds. There was only 1 very short snow squall so the trip was OK.  Last night lots of wind and snow. Luckily not much accumulation, but it is still windy. My weather app on my phone says it 27 degrees, feels like 11 degrees. BRRRRR!!

So when I took a break from making four patches, I put up a little Christmas.

 This is a stitchery I did a couple of years ago. It hangs on the wall beside my chair in the living room.

And this is a 3 wick candle made by my sister sitting in an iron stand made by her husband. The small table topper I made lots of years ago, it is a quilt as you go, and reverses to orange, green and some jack-o-lantern fabric. Very versatile.

Here is the link to the link party:  http://quiltville.blogspot.com/2016/11/en-provence-mystery-monday-link-up-part.html


Till the next clue on Friday,
Stay Busy and Stay Happy

A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith

A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty  Smith
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I read this book in 1969 when I was a young mother. Reading it now changed how I viewed the book. I fell in love with Francie Nolan and I understood her mother in a whole new way. What a wonderful story of growing up in poor America in the early 1900's. Betty Smith touches our hearts with poignant examples of how boys were treated differently than girls, how wives struggled and went hungry so their children could have a better future. Some of this still is happening, but thankfully not as prevalent as in the past.

This has become one of my favorite books.

Review: The Life We Bury by Allen Eskens

The Life We Bury by Allen Eskens
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I chose this book after a passionate review from Sheila at The Book Journey. I was not disappointed.

Joe Talbert is a college student at the University of Minnesota with a writing assignment. He is to interview a stranger and write a short biography of the persons life. Joe decides to go to a nearby nursing home and find a old person who will tell his/her story. At the nursing home, Joe is referred to Carl Iverson. He is a Vietnam war veteran with a Purple Heart. Carl is also a convicted murderer spending his last days dying of cancer at the nursing home, because the prison could not provide final days care.

As Joe begins to hear Carl's story and researches the backgound on his own, he begins to believe that there is something missing. A neighbor, Lila Nash, is pulled into his life when he brings his autistic brother Jeremy home for a visit. He has been interested in Lila for some time, but she does not return his words in the hallway. She does however, respond to Jeremy and thus they find a way to spend time together.

As Joe and Lila start to piece Carl's story together they discover a huge mistake made by the defense 30 years ago. Their passion for "doing the right thing" leads them on a path of interesting discovery and danger.

This book is part criminal mystery, part feel good story. I recommend it to anyone who likes a really great story, told by a really great writer, and in my case, read by a really great narrator.


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The Girl on The Train by Paula Hawkins - A Review

The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This book is one of the summer reads for my face to face book club. It is well written, captivating and yet was hard for me to read.

Rachael rides the train into London each day. She is a people watcher, well maybe just a watcher of certain people. She goes by the house she and Tom once lived in. Now he is there with Anna and a baby daughter. She is obsessed with watching and looking and wondering what is going on in the house that was once her dream home. Five houses down at number 23, lives another young couple, Jason and Jess she has named them. She doesn't know them, but somehow feels connected. They are the couple she had hoped she and Tom would be. She watches, she looks, she imagines their life behind the sliding glass door to the house just like the one she lived in, number 15.


View all my reviews

I will link this review to Women's Fiction Reading Challenge

hosted by Kathryn at Book Date.