Ok - now to Steps 3 & 4

After a short break over Christmas and the New Year AND emergency Nanna duties I am finally back home and have completed Steps and 4 of the mystery quilt - Orca.  This is Bonnie's name for the quilt - have still to make up mind what I will call it (could be 'my mojo gone mad').

Step 3 consisted of making 350 pairs (that's right 350) of half-square traingle units sewn to make a 2" finished square.  This is the pile after being 'dog-eared' and pressed (Bonnie likes you to trim them off...)  Oh well, definitely going to need new blades for my cutters when this is finished......

Step 4 was a tad easier cutting wise, but still a sewing marathon. 

At long last we are going to use our reds, but first we had to cut (that word again!!!) 64 x 5.5" foundation paper squares.  The sewing marathon - that is sewing our red strips or crumbs, onto these papers to make the string blocks.  When this stitching was completed, then trim the blocks back to the 5.5" and then slice in half.  My finished pile of string triangles:

This quilt is certainly an interesting mystery - haven't yet seen any hint of where all these gazzilion piles are going.

But onward we go - focus on completing all instructions and I will have a beautiful quilt.

Focus. Focus. Focus.

Already I fee the need to evaluate my day and FOCUS.  I chose that word for my mantra for this year and now I want it to work for me.  Oh my, if I can't focus now what am I going to be like at the end of the year????

Early last year I decided to get my stash in some sort of order, especially my offcuts (scraps) as they were multiplying at a rapid rate.  My larger pieces are sort of OK - they are all in a cupboard relatively safe, but these other little beauties were getting out of control.  I have always followed Bonnie Hunter's blog and site - Quiltville - there is a link in the right hand side bar and also here and decided to loosely follow her way of organising these wayward bits and pieces.

I purchased a set of 3 large tubs that stack on top of one another like a mini filing cabinet.  You can access each one without having to take the top one down.  THEN I set to work and did the sorting and cutting and actually filled them - one with dark strips/strings; one with light; and the other with specifically cut 2.5" strips.  I filled 4 smaller tubs with other strips and squares.  They fit nicely in the space between the cupboard and the shelving where my TV and other stuff are located.

Now for the focus part of this epistle - When Bonnie announced  her new Mystery Quilt - a light in my brain went off - I can do it - I have now got my scrap bins sorted.  Downloaded Step 1 - sorted my colours, (I decided to use the same as Bonnie suggested) cut into the black and neutral strips - 1.5" wide; got out my rotary cutter to start cutting - woo - 'cut 448 pairs of neutral & black quarter square triangles' - that's right 448 pairs, ie 448 neutral AND 448 black!

Ok, I tell myself, this is Step 1, let's get it over with - the going will be easier after this!!  Once cut they are then sewn in pairs (Bonnie then says to TRIM THE DOG EARS - on 448 pairs......)   They are then joined to make 224 hour glass units.  This is them before the trimming...

On to Step 2 - We are now going to sew strings - easy peasy.....  BUT we need to sew 72 x 3.5" foundation squares!  The 3.5" squares, ironed and trimmed.

This quilt better be worth it in the end......

Of course before I was able to get on with Step 3 etc - along came Christmas and New Year.  This is why I need to FOCUS.  Bonnie has now posted the final step of this mystery and I need to get on with it.  So far I have resisted the temptation to look at the later postings - I'm afraid there might be more of these gazillion little pieces.  Tonight I will download Step 4 and work on it tomorrow - I sort of have a free day (if I don't go and do anything else...)  Focus, Focus - complete Step 4.

Wish me luck..