Well, here we are.....2 days from 2018 and I can't wait.  2017 was a challenging year.  And on the Bonnie K. Hunter mystery front....geese that fly!

Lots of diagonal lines to draw on these babies.  And I started Part 6 yesterday while sewing with new quilting friends Suzy and Kathy.  Thanks again ladies, it was really fun!  I will post those pics soon...almost done.  And..... a little birdie told me Part 7 was posted today.  A week early?  What could this mean?  Perhaps the final clue is coming next week.  And while that is way exciting, even more exciting is the fact that I'm not weeks, months, or years behind on this mystery!  Have a safe New Year's!

#quiltvillemystery  #onringolakequilt

I've always been a fan of the Christmas holiday.  I like the decorations and the family/friend time and especially the presents.  :)  This year was a bit rough being alone in MN.  I went to a friends house for Christmas Eve which was really nice.  However, being alone Christmas day bothered me more than I thought it would.  Nonetheless, on to a new year!  I don't do resolutions but I do like to think about what the new year will focus on for me.  2017 was the year of the move and adjustment (which in reality took a year).  2018 is the year of ........  ???  What will it be for you?  One thing I'd like to learn is how to make clothes.  I'd also like to get into more advanced quilting.  Some epp and more wall hangings...and more cat mats and kids quilts to donate.  And I'd like to continue my finish quilting adventures.  Perhaps go on a shop hop with my new quilting friends....2018 is wide open!

I completed part 4 of the Bonnie Hunter mystery, On Ringo Lake.  I can't believe how fast I've been moving on the clues.  Part 5 is next and that means more flying geese!  Good thing they don't bother me much. And the reason for that is Bonnie's technique.  The sewing next to the line instead of on the line is the best tip yet!  What are you working on?

Cat Mats for Humane Society

Bonnie Hunter Lazy Sunday (2 borders left)

Part 4 of On Ringo Lake Mystery

2 towels made with embroidery module

Part of my move to MN a year ago was finding a quilt guild (or two) to join.  Meeting new friends in MN would happen quicker by being around lots of quilters. :)  I joined the Minneapolis Modern Quilt Guild a few months ago and it's a great group of people.  It's smaller so I've had a chance to meet more people and they are all around my age or younger which is really cool.  We had a speaker attend the meeting Thursday night from the Shriner's Children's Hospital.  She spoke about the hospital and how the quilts the guild has donated have been so wonderful; each child receives a quilt or blanket when they leave the hospital.  I have been looking for a new opportunity to donate quilts and I definitely want to start making some for this wonderful hospital.  I had made this quilt top a few months ago but didn't have a home for it until now.  I quilted it on my Bernina in the hoop and it came out super cute.

I received the AccuQuilt GO! cutter several years ago for Christmas and confess I haven't used it much.  But then during an open sew night a few weeks ago one of the ladies mentioned traveling in a snow storm to get a 2" strip cutter blade for the Bonnie K. Hunter 2017 Mystery (On Ringo Lake).  I am also participating in this mystery, my first Bonnie K. Hunter mystery, and had a light bulb moment.  Why was I not using my AccuQuilt cutter to cut the 600 pieces for Part 2???  So, I proceeded to the AccuQuilt website and put in my order.  And then proceeded to have it mailed to NH....where I used to live.  Miraculously, Fedex realized that address did not exist in NH (I had failed to change the zip code) and sent it to MN where it should have gone in the first place.  2 weeks post-shipment (not bad for sending to the wrong state) I have cut the 600 pieces and am working on Part 2;  flying geese.  Oh, and Bonnie is not only great for patterns but the woman is full of great tips to improve your sewing.  For instance, when making flying geese where you use a rectangle and 2 squares you've drawn a line down the center on, I always sewed on the drawn line.  Bonnie suggests sewing right next to the line so the drawn line is the fold and omg it is a perfect little flying goose!

In 2009 I was part of a quilt guild in NH and we had a Round Robin activity each month where we could bring the pieces to make a block you wanted help putting together.  Whoever wanted to help would grab a baggie with instructions, take it home to make, then bring the finished block the following month.  I had a quilt I wasn't "feeling" very much and wanted to get some help putting it together so I brought in my baggies and many quilters took one to complete.  I put the quilt together around that time and it's sat in my finished tops pile since.  Well yesterday I finished it in my Bernina 750QE with embroidery module in a snowflake design with a navy blue thread.  I am really happy with how the quilting came out especially since the piecing wasn't very good.  It's a biased quilt so it's very stretchy and I think I pieced the borders back when I wasn't measuring the middle of the quilt to find the border measurements.  And that would be why there is a bit of a ruffling effect on most of the borders.  I'm glad I stopped doing that and I've included a link here for anyone interested in this border measuring technique.  This quilt is beautiful but the wavy borders and it’s inability to lay flat are embarrassing.  I added the binding yesterday and here it hangs.

10+ years ago I had a blog where I posted about cross stitch and other crafts like quilting.  Today I am not cross stitching very much but quilt all the time and do some knitting as well.  Cats, movies, and books are still passions and I have a bunch of tattoos now too.  I also do a lot of my own finish quilting which is a new hobby.  I have been thinking of restarting the blog to "meet" other quilters, crafters, etc.  so here I am again with the same blog name, Needles In My Sleeve; a bad habit I had while cross stitching that I've 90% stopped :).  I am looking forward to sharing my work and learning new techniques and tips from others.  Enjoy!

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