Mysteries and Mayhem

the handprint belongs to the recipient of my project

I have had sew much fun just looking at everyone's Nancy Drew Projects! I have been sew amazed at the talent and creativity shown by everyone! Detective Samm and Detective Carol have done a fantastic job keeping us amateur sleuths in line! I think they deserve a promotion!

As I was puzzling over what to make for this hop, I started thinking of mystery stories in general. Nancy Drew, Trixie Belden, The Three Investigators, The Hardy Boys, Cherry Ames, The Dana Girls were all a part of my childhood, and I have a niece that loves to read as much as her Aunt Bobbie. Her favorite books seem to be the same ones I loved.  I knew I was making her a pillow, but I had no CLUE what pattern I would use. Footprints, clues, hidden treasure, creepy passages, old clocks, lilacs – nothing was clicking and then I had a hunch of my own!

“Read read read Thats all I can say”
― Carolyn Keene, The Secret of the Old Clock

A Question Mark!  Every mystery starts with a question- Who Done it? The Three Investigators use the Question Mark as their symbol because “they stand for questions unanswered, riddles unsolved, mysteries unexplained." I couldn’t find any patterns on line or even a picture of a quilt with a question mark so I made up my own. 

 I picked up a few clues from my fellow sleuthy bloggers.  Every mystery has clues- footprints and .......

FINGERPRINTS

so I tried my hand  at FMQing some fingerprints into my quilt



I had to play with the color so the  fingerprints would show up in the picture.



Another thing a good mystery has is a secret, whether it is a secret passageway or a secret compartment-

"After Nancy had discovered Fay on deck, and Captain Easterly  had been sure he would not return, the thief had made two visits to the clipper and hidden in the secret compartment of the wardrobe"

the Secret in the Pillowcase

So of course my project had to have a secret compartment too (mine is not as cool as the books behind the painting that we saw earlier this hop, but it is hard to see.) Since this pillow is meant for a reader and that reader has glasses, I added a secret glasses compartment on the back of the pillow- if she is anything like her Aunt Bobbie, she needs her glasses right at hand.

Abby’s Birthday was the 3rd of March, but I didn’t have her present quite finished- we took pictures anyway!

Here is the finished project (without the pillow form)

"There is more treasure in books than in all the pirate's loot on Treasure Island."

— Walt Disney

 



Abby forgot to put Samantha's coat on her.
And then I sat her in the snow! :)



I was taking a blog reading break during my Nancy Drew project and Amy, over at Naptime Crafters was hosting Dressing Up Dolly. Mom 4 Reals shared a tutorial for a book bag for an AG Doll- I had a few “too small” HST’s  and squares leftover from the pillow top so I put them together and made Abby’s doll, Samantha a book bag.  What is a book bag with out books? I didn't have access to a printer so I wrote up some handwritten books. I used quotes from Abby's favorite books: The Bible, Little Women and Nancy Drew. I have plans for an Anne of Green Gables books too.  I stitched the bindings on the books with my sewing machine.



My Camera has blink detection and after every picture of Samantha,
it said Blink Detected!
 Reminded me of a Trixie Belden Mystery-
 the case of the Blinking Eye



Abby said that Samntha LOVES her new books!
"They're just the right size!"

Like Madam Samm, I Love my coffee and I love tea too so when I came across a cup cozy in the midst of my sleuthing frenzy... I had to make one- Can't read a good  any book with out a cuppa -

“I declare after all there is no enjoyment like reading! How much sooner one tires of any thing than of a book! -- When I have a house of my own, I shall be miserable if I have not an excellent library.”
― Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice



it fits my regular sized cup and...



I added a tab so it would fit through the handle
and be adjustable, however, it barely fits my big cup!  
I still need to sew the velcro on- the glue melts when the cup is hot!

Thank you for stopping by to see all my sleuthy projects- I hope you are having as much fun on this hop as I am! Be sure to hop over to my fellow detectives and see what they have come up with! I have a hunch you will love it!

Thursday, March 14, 2013 

Rose Prairie Quilts and Farm

Quilt ‘n Queen

Our Busy Little Bunch

Just Quilt It

Hilachas

Loves to Quilt

Sew. Darn. Quilt.

From This To That<<ME!!

LynMarie At That Other Blog

Friday, March 15, 2013 

Little Mushroom Cap

Why-Knot-Kwilt

Daisy Days

Julia P. at That Other Blog

The Day Before This Day

Sew Far

 Rainbows. Bunnies. Cupcakes.

Les passions de Cliodana

That’s Sew Julie (moved from 3/8)

Sew We Quilt <<<<Our Fabulous Head Detective!

hodge podge

I was hoping to be able to show you a finish from the squares I cut out on Wednesday. However, I left them in the car and decided it was too much work to go back out and get them. So I decided to go a different direction with Aunt Sukey- I am really loving the name Sukey- such fun to say.  I looked up Sukey and it is a diminuative of Susan, means lily and was popular in the 18th century.  The Kalona Quilt Block Walking Tour pamphlet  states that Aunt Sukey's Choice was featured in the Ladies Art Company mail order catalog in the 30's and 40's. I decided to make my block red, black and white. Of course, after working both jobs, my brain was rather deadish so I couldn't remember how many extra inches to add to the block to do the easy four patch or the 4 in one half square triangle. I looked up the four patch in my book - no problem! got those all cut out. Went to look up the easy 4 HST's and totally forgot where I had found it, couldn't even remember which quilt block I had been looking up when I stumbled across it (I switched phones and had bookmarked it on the old phone- that was dead and waaay in the other room) so I searched for "HST 4 at a time" and discovered how to make 8 at a time! Way too cool! After straining my over tired brain to do the calculations (that were actually already done for me- I just could not get my poor noggin wrapped around it)  I managed to get those squares cut. After all that brain overuse, I didn't have enough oomph left to actually make the HST's. BUT if my calculations are correct- I should have those babies whipped up by the time supper is ready tonight! (MySweetMommie cooks yummy food for me on Quilt Class Nights- that's her class fee!) I will let you know how they turn out!

I found this V.I.P.  Snow White Doll panel at the thrift store the other day, while looking for the batting- it was only 99cents. She is much larger than I originally thought. She's about 18 inches tall and has movable arms and legs. I believe AbbyDoo will enjoy making her. 





SunshineBoy was unusually adventurous! He even held a frog!



As promised here are some pictures from the Memorial Day Picnic. The park that we like to go to is amazing! Great trails, a fabulous spring fed creek, fishing lake, and playgrounds. There are also poles for a volleyball net- We played quite a Crazy game of volleyball.  I love Volleyball- we used to play EVERY Tuesday night when I was a teenager, in the church parking lot, on the asphalt. NOT a good place to dive for the ball. Playing in the grass is much better for the knees! Of course, my favorite place to play would be the beach, but the beaches in Illinois are few and far between. :)




Determination

  One of the highlights of the park is the pump. The kids would play around it all day, or at least until someone is ready to take them down the trail to the creek. EmmaBean was so determined that she could make it work! "The desire accomplished is sweet to the soul!" I love the look of pure joy when she finally gets the water to pump!

and success!





I told the boys to make their scariest faces





and then their happiest faces



MySweetMommie will be putting all of her blocks together to finish the quilt top tonight- we may even get to the borders.... maybe!

More on that next week! Have a Great Weekend!

An Unexpected Tea House

I was at the Dollar store shopping for prizes to "sell" at the King's Kids Store last night. I came across a Dollhouse kit and thought- "the girls will love this." So I grabbed one, and then I noticed that there was more than one version - so I grabbed another- it happened to be a castle. I, of course, had to get another for a certain niece. Underneath the castle was another house so I got one of each for the store. As I was setting up the store I noticed the sign on one of the houses

  

That is when I got really excited! I just had to open the package. I quickly decided that this was one dollhouse that was not going to be added to store inventory! I am claiming this one for me! Look at all the cuteness just oozing out of every corner!








when put together, it is a 3story house



it comes with stickers for decoration
two dolls and a cat and a dog




the kitchen, full of tea time treats is the first floor



the second floor is the tea room
with Teddy and Dolly ready for fun









The 3 floor has trunks of scarves and other dress up delights