I have been working on this wonderful quilt for the past year. It's not a secret, I promise. It's been one of my favorites - the quilt as well as the quilting group doing it with me.
We started last January - 6 of us. Kim turned us onto Eclipse from Mainstreet Market Designs and now we call ourselves the Eclipsettes. We each chose our own colors - 24 of them for those of us following the pattern (some of us decided to use 12 colors instead). I went to Stitch On and got 24 small prints that skip oh so nicely around the color wheel. I also chose to go with the black background - I think the colors really pop.
So we decided to do 3 spokes a month, the spokes being paper pieced in 2 sections. They went together fairly easy and most of my fellow Eclipsettes are finished by now. I am almost caught up. Just some outter borders to go. The worrisome part is whether my outter circle and borders will fit nicely onto the inner circle. We'll see soon.
OK, so the quilt is great, but even better is the friendship we share. We talk, laugh, share quilting tips, eat, drink, laugh some more. I've gotten to know 6 beautiful women through this craft, just as many of our fore-mothers did. Last summer we went on a retreat at Kelly Ashton's The Creative Place so that we would have uninterrupted time to work on Eclipse and other projects. We had a blast. What happens at retreat stays at retreat.
In today's time of instant communication, media overload, and bad news all around, small, intimate groups of like-minded friends are my calm in a crazy storm. I can't over-estimate the value of these friends.
Although the year of Eclipse is drawing to a close, our group has decided to keep going. We were the Eclipsettes and now we are the Hueys (as in Getting to Know Hue).
If you find a group of friends like mine, cherish them as the treasures they are.
So what's better than an fussy cut EPP project combined with a mystery? Not much! Tonya Owens of Hillbilly Quilt Shop designed this project using Paula Nadelstern's Chromazone medallions.
We were directed to choose 3 fabrics that complement the Paula Nadelstern medallion fabric. I choose a bright lemon-lime, a teal and a fuscia. Love, Love, Love those colors.
At this point we have hexagons, diamonds, large and small triangles and no clue how they go together. I prepared all my paper pieces to take on a cruise (that never happened). Oh they were beautiful - little baggies of color.
Piece by piece the sections took shape. Tonya gave them wonderful space-type names like Stars, Meteoroids, Super Novas, Space Stations, Tie Fighters, and Space Rovers.
I now have it half completed and I am liking the look. I'm sort of toying with adding another section. Luckily I had a premonition that I might want it longer, so I bought some extra medallion focus fabric.
Another great EPP project!
OK, so we all know I am a BOM addict. And here it is a new year, with a bunch of new BOMs starting. How could I resist?
So, here is the new 2017 BOM rundown:
Overbrook Quilt Connection is hosting a BOM in which you pay for your first month's block and if you get it done and bring it back next month, you get that month's fabric free. Free is good!
I love the pattern as well as their fabric choices - and that doesn't happen very often. The unique layout of the blocks is really what drew me in. The fabrics are solid/tone on tone dark purple, magenta, gold, dark turquoise and dark grey with a white background. I haven't made the first block yet, but I'm definitely on schedule to have it finished in time to get my free second block.
Even though I haven't completely finished last two year's Hexagon Quilt Along with Katja Marek, I am getting ready to start the new one called Perpetually Hexie. Katja's projects are all done with English Paper Piecing technique. I've ordered the paper pieces for the first two months. I'm not sure, but I am probably going to do this one in batiks, although grey batiks, true grey, are difficult to find.
Next up is the 2017 Murder Mystery BOM by Whipstitch Modern Sewing. I generally don't particularly like mystery quilts because they are a challenge to chose the colors since you don't know how its going to turn out. The interesting thing about this mystery BOM is that a chapter of the murder mystery story comes with the pattern. The setting for the story is Cumberland Island, off the coast of the Georgia/Florida border. The main character is archaeobotanist Kitty Campbell. Should be interesting! The first pattern (clue) arrived a few days ago, and I still am needing to locate (buy?) the main background fabric. She recommends, and I think I agree, that a bright green might just be the right color for the background.
The forth BOM on the list is Down the Rabbit Hole by Sarah Fielke. Our first block is expected at the end of January - so I'm not behind yet! I bought a champagne-colored linen-like fabric called "Quilters Linen" by Robert Kaufman. First time I've ever tried it, so I'll let you all know how I like it. I am thinking about using wild, wonderful Kaffe fabrics for the appliques.
Now, last (maybe until another one entices me) but not least is The Quilt Show's Halo Medallion, designed by the late, great Sue Garman. My quilt is going to have a much different look - I chose a paisley on black for my focus fabric and will use blue, green, red and gold from the focus fabric for the accents.
So that's 5 (1 in a shop and 4 on-line) new BOMs on top of the ones I'm still working on and the new ones I may start later . . . Like I said, I'm a BOM addict!
I have been working on this wonderful quilt for the past year. It's not a secret, I promise. It's been one of my favorites - the quilt as well as the quilting group doing it with me. 
