Busy times

It's Friday already!

 Like I've said before, this time of year is super-busy for us longarmers. This morning I have a few people coming and going with drop-offs and pick-ups. When this happens, I hesitate to work on the longarm since I won't hear the door-bell.

So....I took a bit of time this morning while waiting to do a bit of sewing!

As many of us know, today is the start of Bonnie Hunter's mystery, Allietare. It's always good to get some of each clue's sewing done before the next clue comes out. But before I can allow myself to get at it, I really had to finish up what has been lurking on the design wall much too long. It's a Christmas present for my son and his wife and I at least want the top done....and now it is!.....

Hopefully, it will get quilted in time for Christmas, but it will have to wait til all my other longarm obligations are done. If it doesn't, then there will be plenty of time between Christmas and New Year's!

This quilt was my first time using the Quick Curve ruler. It was a slick process and I'll probably use it again, but you can really tell I'm a novice! I tried pinning the rows together, but, honestly, I had better results without them.

Of course, it did make things easier since I had my lovely stiletto that was made for me by a good friend!...

Still, how can I get perfection like this....

....and in the very same seam, get this.....

Hmm, I'm just glad this is a learning quilt....and I'll ask my son to not let people look too closely!!!

As for Allietare? I am just going to make half of the quilt, due to time constraints, and this if fine since we are a family who likes to curl up on the couch with a quilt!

Also, to save time, I am using a "constant" fabric as my background.

This morning's clue was to make a pile of 1-1/2" HST from backgrounds and the grey fabric. I just wanted to see how many I could get out of a WOF....for me it's 29, not bad!

I was going to use Thangles for this clue, but I figured I would try to commit to Bonnie's preferred method of using the Easy Angle ruler...

It worked out pretty good, but I did find I get better results if I feed the units thru' the machine "tip" end first. When I feed them thru' the other way, I tend to get a bit "off" at the pointy tip. I'm going to blame my feed dogs!

As for the pressing of the HST's, I've never followed Bonnie's suggestion of leaving the chain of
units connected. I don't know what's going on with me today, but again I figured I'd give Bonnie's way a try.....

....and, what do you know, she's right again, it was a time-saver!

I haven't checked the size of them yet, hopefully they are close to 1.5"!

Here is a peek at what's on the frame today. It's an absolutely stunning quilt called FairIsle....because it has the look of a Fair Isle sweater! This needs to get done pronto so it can make it to Quilt Junction in time for their  Christmas Open House next week as the featured quilt.

Have a great day!

P.S. (added Nov.30) I'm going to attempt to link this post to Bonnie's Linky party today, so visit her at  http://quiltville.blogspot.com/2015/11/mystery-monday-link-up-allietare-part-1.html to see how everyone else is doing on this first clue!