Tuesday, December 8, 2015

BINging

Welcome back!  The last time we visitied I was about half way through Allietare Clue One and I am happy to report that it is now complete!  I really love using the Easy Angle ruler for these.   In fact, I have the Accuquilt Studio and the HST die but honestly it was actually easier to pull out the strip bins and the Easy Angle. Are you a user of Bonnie's Scrap User System?  The Scrap User system has saved me a ton of time and really cuts down on the amount of fabric that ends up in the 'dog bedding' bin or, worse, the trash bin.



I hate wasting fabric and the Accuquilt requires a lot of detail time if you don't want a lot of waste... especially for things like HSTs.  If I didn't have the Scrap User system in place it might have taken less time to use the Accuquilt to cut those HSTs but since I already have a ton of neutral strips cut and ready to go, it made more sense to use the Accuquilt to cut the gray strips and then Easy Angle my way to completion.  I think they came out great and I like the amount of contrast I have between the gray and the neutrals which Bonnie has really emphasized as important for this mystery quilt.  Look at that perfect square...YES!


If you'll recall, Clue One was done on Minnie, my Minnesota Model H Treadle.  Clue Two is brought to us by Sophia, my 1950ish Necchi BU.  I recently bought her at an Antique store for $60 and after a few hours of cleaning her up and giving her plenty of fluids, she sews beautifully!  Lots of power with this vintage baby.  Just an absolute pleasure to use.  I often see and hear people asking about what new machine they should get and I always recommend a vintage machine. My little green machine here is at least 65 years old and going strong.  
I'll say it again....GO VINTAGE!




Once again, I'm using the recommended rulers, Easy Angle and Companion Angle, to make what Bonnie called the "Decapitated Geese".  (Bonnie cracks me up!)  Going back into the strip bin for the neutrals and cutting a few more gray strips was easy enough but when I looked for red strips, I had NONE!  Tons of pinks- but no true or brick reds!  You can see that I have a separate bin for colored fabrics.  






I find that the colors of the strips are dependent upon what they are placed next to so sorting becomes a problem.  Is it blue-green or green-blue?  Pink? Melon? Orange? Red?  The easiest thing to do is sort them as if they are in an 8-pack of crayons; you know the ones...  So, I have red, blue, green, yellow, brown, black, orange and purple.  You can see from my bin I am sorely lacking in greens, oranges and purples.  That's because I used green and orange in my Celtic Solstice and purples are set aside for Midnight Flight which I started in Iowa last August.  It's currently waiting for its turn to be completed.  Lots of pinks...  from baby pink to hot pink but no reds! 



Lucky for me I have a bit of a stash to pull from!


Pulled Red Stash
All the Clue Two Units.

Perfect Decapitated Geese
I can't wait to see what the next clue will bring!


In the meantime, I need to get some Christmas decorating and shopping done and I'll work on Bricks in the Barnyard.  Not the greatest picture but I'll take a good picture when its complete!



I'm down to the braid border on this one and hopefully will have another finish by the end of the week.  

Thanks everyone for stopping by and  I hope you all visit again!
If you're visiting from Quiltville and need a ride back, please click here.

Until Next Time, Piece and Joy!
Irene



4 comments:

  1. I agree about the vintage machines! A friend was telling me that her 10-yr-old machine was no good any more and she would have to replace it. I suggested getting a much older machine and she was horrified. But I know on her budget all she can afford new is something that will break down even quicker than her current machine did. I couldn't convince her that an old machine would last her much longer than anything she could afford new.

    Oh, and your mystery is looking good, too!

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  2. your progress is Lovely as is your Necchi! I Love my vintage Necchi.

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  3. Lovely Machine, wonderful post, thank you for sharing. sharyn in Kalama

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  4. Vintage machines are the best. I'm using my grandmothers' machine - Singer 15-91 from 1950. It does everything I want (as long as it's straight stitch!!) Your clues are turning out great.

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