Preparation - Bonnie Hunter's Grassy Creek 2020 Mystery Quilt - 1 day to go

 

New Rotary Cutting Blade

Happy Thanksgiving! What does this mean - it means that there is only one sleep until Bonnie Hunter's Grassy Creek 2020 Mystery Quilt kicks off tomorrow.  You will have seen my previous post with all my lovely fabrics set to go and today I making some further preparations for the next few weeks.  Firstly, I have put a new rotary blade into my cutter.  There is going to be a lot of cutting in the next few weeks, so lets make it a pleasure.

New Machine Needle

Secondly, I have put a new needle into my sewing machine.  Again, there is going to be a lot of sewing in the next few weeks, so let's start off on a good foot.

Sewing Machine Bobbins

Thirdly, clean out the bobbin case of your sewing machine. It will be interesting to see what it is like after the Grassy Creek Mystery Quilt, but at least I will know it was clean to start with.  Fourthly, wind some bobbins.  We are going to get through a load of these and according to Sod's Law it is usually at the most inconvenient time.  Because this is a scrap quilt, I will probably take the opportunity to empty some half filled bobbins too.

Leaders and Enders Projects

And finally, I am making an assumption that there will be a lot of chain piecing, so if you have a 'Leaders and Enders' project to hand, it might be worth pulling that out in readiness to see what can be achieved with an additional project.
 

Taking the Lead with Easy Street

Leaders and Enders from Easy Street

As a result of all my efforts on Easy Street I have created this little pair of scraps - my leaders and enders.  They are just a drop in the ocean of curtain lining scraps which I have acquired  making all the curtains for the windows of our new house. You can see that I have even tried to add a bit of creative embroidery by adding the purple dog ears from the Easy Street Quilt ...

As I have only just entered the world of machine pieced quilts, the leader and ender notion was a new one to me, so these are two of the few that have entered my life so far. Anyway, I soon discovered that there was a creative solution to this.



Book - Adventures with Leaders and Enders
by Bonnie K Hunter

Enter stage right -
"Adventures with Leaders and Enders - Make More Quilts in Less TIme!" by Bonnie K Hunter. 
Yes, another Christmas gift from Santa.  I can really see the value of this exercise - I just have to decide which Leader / Ender quilt I am going to work on.

I have spent the weekend putting all of my Easy Street Mystery Quilt blocks together. No border decisions yet, and probably not until next weekend, when I am at home during the daylight.  I am thinking it will need to be pieced, but with no lead from Bonnie, I am adrift, and will have to work out a plan when I have a little quiet time to myself.

 

It was a beautiful bright, sunny, fresh day here in the UK today. They are promising some snow tonight .. the first of the winter. 



Easy Street Quilt