~ Full Steam Ahead! ~

 Good Day Sweet Quilting Friends!  Yes it is a good day indeed.  Bonnie finally gave us the big reveal for the Good Fortune Mystery.  I'll be the first to admit I was really getting tired of the trickle clues.  As far as Mysteries go this one is a quick one and its why I like participating.  But this is why I don't participate in very many.  I'm a get it done kind of quilter.   If it drags on for too long I lose interest.  And I'm a quilt designer also, so there's things I need to do.  There's a lot of fun things going on behind the scenes of Podunk and I can't wait to start sharing them.   But for now I'm full steam ahead on this quilt and the On Podunk Pond quilt.   As much as I hate to admit it the On Podunk Pond quilt may get pushed aside for awhile.  Maybe I could resolve to work on it a few minutes every day or two.  Lord knows I don't want another UFO laying around for too long.  After awhile they become stale projects.  The Good Fortune quilt will not be laid aside.  I'm putting all I have to give into finishing it ASAP.  The goal is to have it on the frame by sometime Monday.  It is turning out to be a great little quilt.  The chain block below is my favorite design element of the entire quilt.

  

They were a breeze to put together.  At first I was kinda leery about how it was going to look with (4) 4 patches in the center, but it turned out better than expected.

The other star block...Eh...not my favorite.  Bulky seams added with my darker color choices makes for a not so fun block.  I'm sure my attitude would be different if the colors were red and yellow.  All of Bonnie's quilt patterns have bulky seams due to her style of design.  It's just one of those things we learn to deal with as quilters.  They are a challenge to put together and a challenge to quilt.  Even though I've never broke a needle on a bulky seam I still cringe every time I hear the kerchunk as the needle hits the bulk.

About another hour or so and I should have them completed.

The borders for this quilt might a be a little tricky due to the very small HST's.  Slow and steady wins the race when it comes to tiny pieces.  I'm also considering adding another border if I have the time.  A bigger quilt would be nice but time is the biggest factor in whether or not another border will be added.  I really like the pieced border from the last Bonnie quilt I made called En Provence.  It is my inspiration for an extra border on the GF quilt.  You can see more of my En Provence quilt here.

Well, it's back to the sewing machine...Full Steam Ahead!  WOOWOO!

#goodfortunequilt #quiltvillemystery #enprovencequilt 

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~ Starting a new quilt ~

Sure there's UFO's that could be finished and quilt tops that could be quilted but there's also fabric calling out to be used.  How could I deny these adorable little prints the opportunity to become a quilt?  The truth be told UFO's and quilting a quilt just isn't what this ole gal needs.  Right now all that's needed is mindlessly sewing.  Since I've finished with clue 1 of the Good Fortune Mystery quilt by Bonnie Hunter, why not make another Bonnie quilt in between the clues for this years mystery.  I didn't make last years mystery quilt, On Ringo Lake, but I did save the pattern.    The fact that it only requires 3 colors and a background also appealed to my quicky nature.

Many of you may see a Christmas quilt with my fabric pull of Red, Green and Yellow.  But I see bright summer quilt to hang over the back of a porch swing.  Using the Electric Quilt Program I quickly recreated the quilt for auditioning different color pallets.  A patriotic pallet was cute and so was a traditional yellow and blue.  But as soon as the coloring was complete using the red, green and yellow I knew it was the one.  Instead of calling her On Ringo Lake, she'll be named On Podunk Pond.  

 Pulling the reds was a breeze, they are plentiful in my stash due to my absolute love of red.  It shows up in almost all of my quilts.   I'm often asked why I love red so much.  Really I've no idea.  Red goes with everything.  Think about that for a minute...red and green...red and blue...red and orange...red and yellow...red and gray...red and black....red and pink....red and aqua...Need I say more.  It's a neutral!  LOL!

The yellows were a little harder to pull.  Not all yellows are created equal.  More often than not yellows can be to lemony or brown.  Sometimes they look perfect until you put them with other yellows.  That's when the brown and lemon really pop.  Putting a yellow with lots of brown with a lemon yellow can make the brown yellow look well....brown.

The green...who doesn't just love green?  Its around us everyday in nature.  Even in the winter time I can look out my window and see evergreens and cedars.  Greens are a little more forgiving when it comes to pulling for a quilt.  The different shades all play well together.  Maybe that's because we see them everyday in nature in so many different shades.  There's not a huge range in my greens but I think its a bit wider than the reds and yellows.

Now my neutrals is where I like to have fun and push the boundaries a little bit.  I really don't care about the print color as much as I do the scale.  There's a rainbow of color on white to light cream.  

Now that I've pulled all I can from the fat quarters and yardage for my the neutrals I remembered hiding little baggie of white scraps when finishing my En Provence Mystery I made 2 years ago.  Click here for pattern. These are the perfect size and ready to be strip pieced.  Don't you just love those little treasures hidden in your sewing stash?  Anything that doesn't need much prep work is AWESOME! 

After digging a little deeper in the scraps I found a few green and red strips cut just the right size.  So why not go ahead and make a few little units before calling it a day.  To hurry this along even faster I used the June Taylor Shape Cut Ruler.  TIP: Mark the cuts with a dry erase marker for quick cutting and less cutting errors.  When your done the marks wipe off.   

 I can't tell you how happy I am about these little nine patches!  It's been so long since I last played with bright and happy colors.  It's my kind of heaven, full of happy colors.  

My six little scrappy nine patches all finished.  I feel like a new woman, recharged and ready to tackle this entire quilt.  But it's late and I need to get supper going and do a few chores.

For supper...a scrappy soup!  We always have both ham and turkey for Thanksgiving.  It's a long story but all I need to say is picky eaters.  Many of the family members took home leftovers but we were still left with quite a bit.  So it's time to put the scraps to use. Yesterday I boiled down the turkey bones with some carrots, celery and onion to make about 8 quarts of broth.  Half of the broth was used to make Turkey Dumplings for yesterday's supper.  Today I used the other half to make a scrappy ham chowder.  I'd give you a recipe if there was one.  But I'm a dumper when it come to soup making.  So if you're a good dump cooker here's what I added but no measurements.  

Turkey Broth

1 small onion

2 stalks of celery

marjoram

a couple of fresh carrots sliced

a few potatoes

broccoli

leftover corn

left over ham

a little velveta

milk

corn starch to thicken

salt and pepper to taste

MMMM...comfort food....or as Mr. Podunk calls it....a big ole sleeping pill!

#onringolakemysteryquilt #bonniehuntermysteryquilt #podunkpretties #bonniehunterquilt

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~ A Finish! ~ En Provence

Happy Monday quilting friends!  Kick off your snow boots and come on in.  You might want to grab a cup of something warm and shimmy up close to my space heater cause it's a little chilly in the  Podunk studio.  

I've got something to share with you today that is sure add a little sunshine to this cold day and warm things up.  It's taken just a little over a year to finish but it was worth the wait.  Every November Bonnie Hunter shares a free Mystery quilt.  This was the  Mystery for 2016/17 called En Provence. It's no longer free but the pattern can be purchased here.  Being a Bonnie follower for around 10 yrs you would think I had made one of her quilt patterns by now.   Bonnie's style is super scrappy and more often than not I'm in awe of her creativity.  So finally I took on the challenge and swore to the fabric fairies above to keep up with this mystery.  Bonnie crams it all into about a month so it should be easy.  You see, I've tried other mysteries and block of the months over the years and usually I poop out around month three or four and they become UFO's.   I tried my best, I swear I did, but something happened when it came time to add the borders to this quilt.  It was shoved in a box and....a year later it was brought out to be finished.

One of my ideas to help keep me motivated to finish was to use only fabric I LOVED.

As you can see there's tons of my treasured stash of Lakehouse Drygoods along with other bright happy fabrics.  Sadly it still wasn't enough to keep the quilting mojo motivated.   While quilting this I would stop from time to time.... looking at the pretty fabrics...petting them and wishing there were bolts of them in my studio.  Those PKM florals....sigh....LOVE....

The backing is from the Riley Blake line Bloom and Bliss by Nadra Ridgeway.   It was a great thrifty find at Ben Franklin Crafts in New Albany Indiana for $2.99 a yard.  The colors were perfect!

Because this quilt ended with pieced borders, a very small quarter inch binding was used to finish the quilt with out adding any more color or movement.   I love how the red star stops the quilt but the quilt continues out past them with little pops of low volume prints.  

Now that its complete I can honestly say I love it.  Will I do another Bonnie mystery?  Never say never....maybe after all the clues have be revealed.

 Thanks for stopping by my little spot in Podunk.

~ Lea Anne ~

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~ Finishing last years En Provence Mystery quilt ~

   Hello sweet quilting friends!   The temperature outside is a very chilly -2 but indoors I'm trying to keep things sunny and warm by working on one of my most colorful UFO's.  This is Bonnie Hunters  Mystery quilt, En Provence.  This was my first attempt at joining in with a Mystery quilt along.  I did okay until it came to the borders.  The units were pieced and the body of the quilt was put together but I just couldn't find the time to put the borders on.  So that's my goal for this week....get this top completed and maybe on the quilt frame.

The mystery is over but the pattern can be purchased here.   Below is Bonnie's finished quilt.  

 I always follow along with the clues for Bonnie's mystery, but had never tried to make one.   This years mystery quilt is called On Ringo Lake, you can find all the clues up to this point here.  If you join Bonnie's Facebook you can get some great color inspiration,piecing help, as well as other quilts her followers are making.  My decision to make it or not will come after the big reveal.  The fabric has been pulled and purchased, but I'll not be using the suggested colors.  Last year I chose to go completely scrappy as suggested by Bonnie, but if I do it this year I'll be making mine with 4 different fabrics. 

I really love the super scrappiness of this one but cutting for it took FOREVER.  Mr. Podunk thinks it's very busy...eh...what does he know about quilting?!

This one depleted my PKM and low volume stash so I've spent most of the year replenishing them both.  Not an easy task when it comes to PKM since she and Holly no longer make fabrics.

I hope to see you in a couple of days with a completed top.  Send me some scrappy mojo vibes....I'm gonna need all the help I can get!

Thanks for stopping by my little spot in Podunk!

~ Lea Anne ~

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Scrappy Makes me Happy

Happy Monday quilting buds!  There's been a lot of design wall action going on in Podunk this past weekend. 

The Bonnie Hunter Mystery quilt "En Provence" has taken over the studio.  If your interested in making one you can find all the FREE quilt clues by clicking here.  Bonnie also has a Facebook page that anyone can join and post pictures of their quilts.  Not just the mystery quilt but any quilt.  Its a fun group with a lot of amazing quilting inspiration.  You can find the Facebook Quiltville Open Studio by clicking here.  Of course you need a Facebook account to join this group.  I highly recommend joining.

En Provence has been quite the new adventure for me.  It's my first and probably my last mystery.  Oh I'll still save the clues to new quilt mysteries I find on the internet, but I'll wait for the reveal before making the first fabric cut.  I found this to fun but stressful.  Bonnie is a wonderful designer so the issue isn't with her pattern but more with me and how I like to quilt.  I need to see the quilt in order to choose fabrics.  That's pretty obvious by the looks of my quilt.

 I'm not saying I don't love this quilt because I do.  Scrappy makes me happy! Below is the first block I've stitched together.  Only 15 more to go!  Should you make this quilt I suggest you press all seams open, I did not.  There's a lot of bulky seams if you follow the pressing instructions in the pattern.  Quilting it is going to be the next big challenge.  But that's what this quilt was all about for me, getting out of my comfort zone.  The best way to handle bulky seams is to avoid quilting over them.  So I'm already playing around with a few quilting designs.  

The quilt is huge 87 x 87 but I'm considering adding to the border.  Below shows the border as written in the pattern.  I may add a thin strip of border followed by more more round of 4 patches....we'll see.

My design wall is completely full and I've still not laid out the top and left border.  Can you see the one lonely pieced block near the middle?  As the block and rows go together it'll make more room for the last two borders to be added to the design wall.   Standing back and looking at a quilt helps you to see the real quilt.  Taking a picture does an even better job.  The yellow in the white circle may need to be replace.  What do you think?  I can also see I've clustered light yellows and dark yellows together.  The picture also shows that even though my blues didn't work out as well as would have liked they still show a flow in the pattern.  Well I wanted a challenge, and I got it....geesh!

While I seem to be complaining a lot about this quilt.  The journey has been interesting.  Getting out of my comfort zone is always a learning experience.  That's what I want to do, GROW as a quilter.  Maybe I will do the next Bonnie mystery quilt at the end of this year just to see what I've learned from this one.  The year is still young and there's plenty of time for more learning before the next one is started.  

~ Lea Anne ~

For those of you that have been following me for a long time the next section of this post is for you.  It's an update on my Mom.  As you know I've spent the last several years helping and taking care of both my parents during their health issues.  Mainly Mom.  Mom's fight with cancer ended last Saturday January 7th.  She died at home, with me and dad.  There were several family members who also helped us along the way. I can't thank them enough for their help and support. I also want to thank each and everyone of you for your support and prayers.  Mom often told the doctors the reason she was able to fight the hard fight was due to all of my bloggers from around the world praying for her.

If you would like to read her obituary click the link below.

My beautiful mom Letia Mason

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It's all Bonnie's fault!

Here it is Monday morning again.  This last week flew by so fast.  I've made little progress on my Bonnie Hunter En Provence mystery quilt.  Finally last night while doing laundry I managed to get some cutting done for clue #4.  I might have over cut the background fabrics and under cut for the the main color.   

It seems either me or Bonnie miscalculated the fabric needed to complete this quilt.  So a purchase was necessary before continuing this mystery quilt.  It was a hard decision to make, buy fabric or not buy fabric?  Oh what's a girl to do?  Really Mr. Podunk I didn't want pretty new fabric in my stash.  I'm sorry Bonnie but I had to throw you under the bus in order to justify my fabric purchase with Mr. Podunk, I hope you understand and will forgive me.   Yes, Bonnie made me do it, it was her fault.  It's all a big conspiracy to boost fabric sales....that's my story and I'm sticking to it...LOL!

And to make matters worse I could only get one yard of this adorable floral by Pam Kitty.  Oh now isn't that just awful?  I guess I'll just have to do some more shopping to find something else that will work in this quilt.  It's a shame, really Mr. Podunk.

We wouldn't want all this hard work and pretty fabric to become another UFO now would we?  Well I guess for now I can try to make to due and finish clue #4 and 5.  But who knows what could happen with then next clue or two.  Bonnie might make me do more shopping.  

         

If your curious about this Bonnie gal who is promoting fabric buying, you can find out all you need to know about this devious(wink wink) gal and her mystery quilt over at her blog Quiltville.  Once you get to her blog click on the En Provence Mystery tab at the top.  You'll find all the subliminal messages you need for fabric shopping.

~ Lea Anne ~

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It's still a Mystery

Hi Quilting Friends!  So nice of you to stop by my little spot in Podunk.  I miss our time together and hope that things will get back to normal soon.  But in the meantime lets catch up on whats been going on since last week.  Let me tell you there's been a lot of stitching....and stitching....and of course a couple of rounds of ripping out stitching too!  That's okay, I can deal with the ripping out of stitches when I've a cute pile of chain stitching to remind me of the quilty goodness ahead.   Don't you just love it when the fabric piles up so pretty behind the machine?...picture perfect.

Those little triangle blocks below gave me a little trouble at first, but after the first two bad ones and a little quality time with my seam ripper it didn't take long to figure out what the problem was and that I didn't want anymore quality time with the seam ripper.  Quite the handy tool to have around when a gal needs it, but really...wouldn't we rather not need it!?

Well all the bad stuff is behind me(for now, anyway) and I'm loving how this coming along.  Now that the (221) white four patches, (168) blue four patches, and the (100) red triangle units are complete I can play with them.   Part of the fun of a mystery is trying to figure out where it will end before it ends.  Oh yes my Nancy Drew fans, it's just like that.  I'm more of a Steven King gal myself and you never know what kind of wild ride you're in for with him.  I'm hoping Bonnie Hunters Mystery quilts are more like Nancy Drew...a bit predictable.

Do you really think Bonnie's quilt could be so predictable as a simple star?  Oh surely not, I'm sure this weeks clue will put a real twist on the quilt design.  

Bonnie has named this quilt En Provence.  Lovely name, and I'm sure its going to be an amazing quilt design.  But I feel I need to rename mine.  My colors have given this quilt a whole new life.  Doesn't feel very French...no lavender fields...I'm seeing something a little more.....lets say...Hillbilly...Podunk.  I've scribbled down a few name ideas, hopefully by the time the quilt is finished I'll have settled on a name.  

Well my quilty friends that's all I have to share, but if you're in the mood for more En Provence inspiration just hop on over to Bonnie's Blog.   And don't forget this is a FREE mystery quilt and there's still plenty of time to join in the fun.  If nothing else save the patterns for a rainy day.  Bonnie sometimes will remove patterns from her blog so she can put them in a book.  Get'em while you can!  Just click on the En Provence tab at the top of her blog.  

For even more quilty inspiration you can hop over to PatchworkTimes for Design Wall Monday.  and FreeMotionbytheRiver for Linky Tueesday.

~ Lea Anne ~

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