INKLINGO's COTSG MYSTERY, Plus A Nifty Little Notion

A very fun Mystery is going on right now. .. the COTSG: The Case Of The Secret Garden. We are up to Clue#4 in the Mystery. Clue#5 will post this coming Monday. Already the blocks are coming together. Some of the design elements that Linda Franz of Inklingo put into this Mystery are beginning to reveal themselves. Fun! Below are pics of some of my progress so far:

'dark' spokes of wheel

'light' spokes of wheel

Sewing on the end piece - can you see the stitching lines and matching cross hairs printed on the back of the little piece being sewn? Makes for a perfect fit every single time!

Recently I tried a new version of an Ott Light I found on sale at Joann's Fabrics. It is a tiny portable light. It gives off a remarkable amount of light for its small size. When I am sewing at night, I place the light on its side inside the harp of my machine and it floods light directly on the needle area. These ol' eyes can use a lot of light. I have no affiliation, I just like this product.

Tiny OTT Light [u/left side of this pic]... gives off a lot of light! And fits in one's sewing case. Tiny and powerful; nice combo. No affiliation, just like the product.

Pocket-sized OTT Light

Until next time. . . I will be helping out with the Quilter's Run at ARETOY Quilt Shop in Oceanside, California. If you are in the area, please stop in and say hello! Sew, that's it for me... what are YOU up to this weekend???

Quilty Hugs,

COTSG: Choosing Fabrics & Fresh Lemons

For the new Inklingo mystery - Case Of The Secret Garden - we need a light, medium, dark, and an accent. This is what I have so far:

While mulling over my fabric choices I decided to go out and pick some lemons off my tree. It is so heavy with fruit that a couple of branches are threatening to break. I brought a basket full inside. Hmmm, the lemons smell so gooooooood! Next thing I knew I was making an apple/cranberry pie with lemon and almonds. Yummy. It just came out of the oven and the whole house smells delightful with cinnamon, nutmeg and fresh lemons. I wish you were here to smell it... we could enjoy some with a cuppa tea.

BTW, do you know the trick of getting the most juice from your lemons n limes? Put the lemon into the microwave for about 10 seconds! That's it. The peel is easier to zest and the juice just pours from it. Since I only needed a little juice for my pie, I used this little citrus juicer I made... way back in 1980! lol. But it's handy and easy to use. Do you have something a little ancient in your kitchen that you really enjoy using?

Until next time. . . I'm off to check out that cooling pie and dig through my stash a little more. What are YOU up to?

Quilty Hugs,

NEW MYSTERY: Case of the Secret Garden

Linda Franz of Inklingo and Quilted Diamonds fame is launching a brand new mystery! This is the Case of the Secret Garden, or COTSG. It's going to be a lot of fun. It's just getting started. Clue #01 was posted yesterday and each new clue will be posted every Monday.  Hope you will join in. Clicking the button on the upper left side of this blog will take you to Linda's page where all the details are.

I'm off to go dig through my stash and decide on some fabrics! WOWZER... I only need FOUR fabrics: A light background, 1 medium, 1 dark, 1 accent. I can do this.

Until next time... I hope where ever you are you have loads of time to stitch something that makes your heart sing!

Quilty Hugs,

HEXIE PROJECT - All finished

The hexie I shared with you on Tuesday has been finished, mailed, and received so it is safe to post the whole picture. A little Mug Rug for the Inklingo Mug Rug 2012 Swap, hosted by Jillian. Thank you, Jillian for all your time and hard work. This was a fun swap and another opportunity to use Inklingo.

What I used to make it:  Inklingo 1/2 inch hexie collection; Sulky Fabric Solvy [to transfer the words to the background without marks - love this stuff!]; scraps of store-bought bias piping w/cord removed [works well for a small quick amount of bias stems, etc.]. Hexie flower is hand pieced and hand appliqued to b/g. Verse is hand embroidered with floss. No binding, just layer, stitch and turn. Quilting: FMQ [not perfect, but I tried it and just need to commit to practicing more.]

From the scraps I made the little matching coaster shown in pic above. The bright green stripe fabric in the coaster is the backing fabric for the mug rug.

That's all for today... until next time I hope you have loads of time to stitch!

Quilty Hugs,

TINY HEXIES make A Tiny Flower

These little 1/2 inch hexies were fun to play with. I used Inklingo to print the shapes on the pink fabric, cut them apart and hand stitched them together. This first pic shows the beginning of one edge pressed under to get ready to applique.

As I was hand-piecing, it looked like the pic below.  Look closely and you can see the faint blue stitching lines and the "x" for the crosshairs... that's how the block comes together so perfectly every single time. Love it:

But my favorite is how it looks on the backside of the block after pressing. I just get a real kick out of how the seam allowances at the interesections twirl around... too cute. Ok, I don't get out much! lol

This is a super shortie post tonight. Time to get packed up for Friendship Group tomorrow and then hit the hay -- I've been up since 4:15 this morning! I think I have holes in my head! lol

Linking to Connie's Linky Party at:  Quilting By The River

Until next time. . .

Quilty Hugs,

HAPPY MAIL. . . A sweet MugRug from Sherrie

Friday's post brought some Happy Mail: A pretty little MugRug from Sherrie R. in Massachusettes. Both of us are in the Inklingo 2012 Mug Rug Swap. Thank you, Sherrie. My new little mat is already doing duty in my sewing room. The colors are so fun... love the circle fabric! Sherrie even included two packages of Twinings Tea in her gift. Nice!  I will post a picture of the one I made and sent to Sherrie, but not until she sees it first. *g*

MugRug, InklingoSwap2012, made by: Sherrie R.

The swap was a small challenge to design and use one or more Inklingo shapes to make a mini quilt in a MugRug size. Our fearless-leader was Jillian of DakotaEssense. Thank you, Jillian, for all your time and hard work. 

This is a super quickie post today - some OB blocks are calling my name.  Time to get back to these poor little OB pieces that have been languishing in a box for too long. They need to come out and play and get sewn into a top! So, until next time. . .

Quilty Hugs,

PORTABLE SEWING KIT -- A Very Clever Idea!

What does an Elizabeth Arden eyeglass case and sewing/quilting have in common?

How about a nifty, tidy, handy-dandy, portable sewing kit?! I like it. Works better than my old "breathmint case" because it holds larger scissors. Love it. Thank you, Linda Franz of Inklingo fame, for your wonderful and original idea!

Until next time. . . let's go stitch something!

Quilty hugs,


Linked to: Linda Franz / Inklingo

Missy goes to hospital

Little Miss Diva -- Missy for short -- has been in the hospital for three days now. Sure do miss her around the house. She is such pleasant company.

Missy has a bad UTI [urinary tract infection] which is putting a heavy strain on her kidneys.

She has an IV to help rehydrate, and two antibiotics for the bacterial infection. Vet is cautiously optimistic about her chances.

Our Vet has been generous with visitation privileges. I don't want Missy to feel she has been abandoned or forgotten, so I visit her 2 to 3 times each day. Today I hope they will let me hold her instead of just sitting beside her.

Prayers are appreciated. . . thank you!

I have several photos of some one-inch Hexie blocks I made using Inklingo and will post them soon. The setting is being worked out in EQ7 -- or at least I'm trying to design it there...
more later. . .
Hugs,

MORE SURGERY. . . Off putter x 3 weeks

Good morning. We all got a big surprise yesterday when we went to my post op appointment -- they will begin the reconstruction phase on my face today! Wow, wasn't expecting that, so I feel at little bit at lose ends. I have good doctors so I'm sure it will be ok, it just caught me off guard... so I'll deal with it. Because of how they will do the repairs to my face, my eyes and forehead will also be involved and that means NO glasses for at least 3 weeks. So that also means no sewing, knitting, stitching, or computer play time... that's gonna be the hard part. Please wish me well and I'll be back with you in 3 weeks, I hope.

Meanwhile to keep this post within the scope of my blog, here is a pic of the latest purse I've made. This one is crocheted and is lined with pockets for cell phone, pen, emery board and small kleenex keeper. It's a present for my DDIL Donna who watched me put finishing touches on it this morning. She likes it!

I just have one more FF block to make -- so far I have 8. These have been a lot of fun and I appreciate having the 1/2 Hex Collection from Inklingo to make the hexie flowers with -- if you haven't looked into it yet, you might give it a look-see. I have no affliation with Linda Franz, I am just very appreciative when a fabulous new quiting/sewing tool comes on the market... Inklingo is right up there with the rotary cutter in my humble opinion. Here's a pic of the 'back side' of one little hexie... I just love the way the seams swirl at the intersections... pressing options are limitless. Love that!

That's it for now. Be well and I'll be back in three weeks.
Hugs,
Cyn; -)

WOWZER ... Blog Has A New Face...

When I signed in today a little message popped up. Looked like it might have some new design opportunities for my blog... and it did! After just a few clicks, I now have a totally NEW LOOK! Now that was fun and totally frustration free! lol

I had tried this before a few times but got 'lost' in the HTML or whatever language it was using. LOL. This makeover just took a few mouse clicks! I love it when something is changed to be easy and simple!

Today I'm printing up more Inklingo diamond shapes for some buddettes I'm trading with. I'll post another picture of these cute little diamond stars after I make more progress.

Hope you like the "face lift" my blog received today. I really like the blue sky and soft white clouds that are in the new border--reminds me of driving down the road which is something I really like to do.

Thank you for stopping by & have a nice day everyone...

Hugs,

Cyn; -)

Hello World... I've been away sooooo long

Some friends and I are hand piecing little stars made from six one-inch diamonds. We are using Inklingo to minimize the prep work -- NO templates... prints right on the fabric! ;-) ! We have been printing and mailing strips of diamonds to each other to increase the fabric variety in our projects.

So far I have 14 little stars sewn up:

This is the pile

of mostly 'brown'

fabrics that I printed

and mailed first:


And below is a pic of the back of a sewn star... I just love the way the s.a. swirls and flattens out so nicely. See the 'printed' lines & cross-hairs on the back of each piece? That's Inklingo. It's not necessary to print this dark, but with these ol' eyes, I'm making it as easy as possible & it shows up better in a photo! lol

OK... I've been real bad and haven't kept up with my blog. Health issues got in the way, but I'm starting to get back on track.

That's it for now. . . thank you for visiting . . . have a great day.

Life is good!

Hugs to all,

Cyn; -)

A quote from inside my fortune cookie of last week:

"Education will never be as expensive as ignorance." Makes sense to me. ;-)

Happy Mail: Giftie from FRUMMIE!

When I arrived home Saturday from class, late and tired, waiting for me was a "Happy Mail" package from Frummie! She sent QuiltMania - what a super magazine! Page after page of glorious color photos and tons of great ideas! Especially Basket Blocks! These peaked my interest because I am a member of "Basket Case Quilters". LOL. No explanation necessary...eh?! Frummie enclosed a set of Perfect Circle templates, too. I've never used these before, but am looking forward to trying out the technique. Then, more goodies: stacks and stacks of little strips of very pretty fabric AND Frummie printed them in 1/2" hexagon shapes using Inklingo*. Thank you, Frummie!

I couldn't wait to try out these cute little hexes, so below are a few pics of my stitching process -- 6 hex petals, to one hex center, to make a little flower:

First, cut out shapes and arrange for sewing; begin sewing 2 'petals' together, then add hexes one at a time; close the final seam [1st & 6th hex edges to complete circle]. You can click on an image to enlarge it. The 2nd pic is a macro shot and that's a size 11 needle! It looks so big in the photo.

Press, twirling the s.a. to distribute bulk. See how the intersections form little "flowers" on the backside after pressing? Cute! Here is the completed miniature GFG block. I placed my thimble next to it to show its size.

Thank you very much, Frummie, for the opportunity to sew some of these darling little Hexes. . . it was a lot of fun. Thank you, too, for the great magazine & Perfect Circle template set. Your generosity overwhelms me!
That's 'show n tell' for tonight, friends . . . *vbg* . . . thank you for stopping by,

Hugs,

Cyn;-)

NOTE:

*Inklingo is a fabulous program that prints the shape of choice with both cutting and sewing lines on the wrongside of fabric using an ordinary inkjet printer! Amazing. For supreme accuracy, "cross hairs" at all seam intersections are also printed. Look for them in the photos in this post. If you haven't tried Inklingo yet, go to Linda's website and try the LeMoyne Star collection for FREE!