New Years Day Mystery Quilt

Yes, I am extremely tardy in posting this but some things can't wait and some things can. 

I love doing Mystery Quilts, which is when you are give quantities and instructions periodically in steps but you have no idea how the quilt will actually look when its done. Mostly, you just pray for guidance and hope for the best.  Sometimes you win, and sometimes you just aren't sure.

When given the quantities for the New Years Day project, which was intended to be finished in one day, I looked through my fabrics and picked a fabric that I really just wanted to use up.  I looked around for bits and pieces that I thought would coordinate well but was well aware that some of the quantities were only marginally enough based on the information provided by the quilt designer.

The main fabric that I wanted to go was a bit of My Little Pony fabric that was leftover from what, I have NO idea...  it had been that long.   I had my pile of fabrics and considered them long and hard before beginning.  I decided that I chose it and I was going to go with my gut.

Near the end of assembling the blocks, I knew I was running dangerously low on some of the fabrics... especially the bold turquoise but I forged forward and made sure I cut carefully and made no mistakes.

Not knowing how a quilt will look in the end really hampers me in trying to predict the final outcome of the fabric choices.  Its all about balance but there is a learning curve in predicting balance.

The blocks were finished and the turquoise was used up and I was pretty happy with the quilt but the size was a bit small.  So I tried to make it larger....

That's where I think I made my mistake:   I added a border of My Little Pony on each end and then threw in a row of flying geese and another row of the Pony fabric. 

I think it really needed a bit of turquoise between the geese and the Pony fabric but there was no more and I really wanted to use up the Pony stuff.



I used the striped fabric for the binding and while its not really ugly, it could be a lot better if I had used some yellow to warm it up and more turquoise because the overall color palette is cool.



It still needs to be quilted and it will get done...  hopefully this summer...  when its hot and I spend all day in the studio (which is no different than any other day I can sneak away for a studio day).

They say there is no ugly quilt so I suppose the beauty is in the eye of the beholder.  I am sure that someday, I will meet some little girl who will think this is just the cat's meow!!

If you meet this little girl, send her my way !!!

Make someone's day !!

As the Turtle Rolls - Grand Illusion Mystery Quilt #3

Its time for another installment of As the Turtle Rolls on my Grand Illusion Mystery Quilt.  The turtle is still in the "race".  Today's status is as follows:

Clue 1:   100 blocks completed

Clue 2:   100 blocks completed

Clue 3:   120 blocks completed

Clue 4 is almost completed.
Clue 5 is not yet started but should be quick as its only 29 blocks total, so I can get them done before Friday, when the next clue is published.

lol - that's how I roll...  or turtle along, I guess is the more appropriate term.  

Bonnie Hunter is known for her scrappy quilts.  I am not.  I always struggled with scrappiness as I was too matchy matchy for a real scrappy quilt.  But about 2 years ago, I attended my first Bonnie Hunter lecture and, because I am tall, helped hold the quilts for her lecture.  As I am holding these quilts, I am, of course, getting an up close and personal view of the quilts.

As I am looking at the fabrics, I literally announce loudly, "there are Christmas fabrics in this quilt!".  Graciously, Bonnie laughed and explained that fabric is fabric.... it is NOT Christmas fabric, it is GREEN fabric...  or RED fabric. 

Since that lecture, I have tried to relax my matchy nature to achieve a Zen-like freedom to create a truly scrappy quilt.   Here are some of the blocks completed so far.

For your viewing pleasure, below are close-ups of some of the NON-matchy, scrap busting, fabrics I am using.  Yes, I have come a LONG way, baby!

Can you find these fabrics in the sample blocks above?   

There are also fabrics representing motorcycles, fighting robots, musical notes, quilting terms, cherries, and lots of other fun stuff...   Almost "I Spy" like.

 



pincushions and thread

Christmas themed fabric

tea pots and cups

constitutional  print

 



ships



cars

bugs



bicycles

Stretch your boundaries...  there is a big world out there.



My Grand (Illusions) secrets to lazy quilting

I am Libra!  We are not lazy, but we ARE efficient (at least that's what I like to call it).  We think about a problem and spend much time trying to find an easier way....  because there is ALWAYS a better mousetrap. 

I found some work-arounds that seem to allow me to avoid some of the processes that I particularly dislike.  PLEASE NOTE that these methods work for me but may not give you the result you desire...  Thus, they are provided as informational ONLY.

Perfect HSTs
I suppose I could perfect my cutting/sewing combo to NEVER have to trim but that has yet to happen.  Know that I try... and try hard...  and most are so very close...  but I want them closer.    So I check each with my acrylic ruler and trim each one when needed. 

But I still hate this step...  I end up with thousands of teeny tiny slivers of fabric everywhere.  The upside of this process is that the birds LOVE these for their nests.  I put them into a suet feeder and then watch the local nests for proof of upcycling.

We all know that HSTs are a necessary evil of quilting and a big part of Clue #1 of Bonnie Hunter's Grand Illusions mystery quilt (GI)...  so I needed a method that I disliked less than some of the other options.



unsewn and untrimmed with HST
excess peeking out

I will start with the fact that I am comfortable with my 2 1/2" squares... that they are cut "fairly" true.  After cutting, sewing, and pressing the HSTs, I am just slightly LESS comfortable with their true measurement.  So I trim...  and trim...  and trim....

But there has to be another way.....   so.....

I place my HST under my square, lining up the seam line of the HST with the corner of the square at opposite ends (where the seams meet the corners). 

sewn and trimmed

As you can see, there is a bit of the HST peeking out past the edges of my squares.

Keeping the HST seam joints lined up with the corners of the square, I stitch my seam.  I ignore the fabric edge of the HST and determine my sewing line based on the edge of the square of fabric ONLY.  




I do not pin.  The pin in the photos simply
shows how the HST seam lines up with
the corner of the square.



Excess of the HST sticking out.  Make sure
it extends approximately equal amounts
on both sides and that the HST seam is lined
up with the corner of the square.

After sewing, the pieces are stabilized and I scissor trim the part of the HST that peeks out.  I DO have to be careful to not cut the square as I still consider it an accurate 2 1/2".   I DO NOT PRESS until after trimming.

It is right ON the money!!!

I randomly check the trimmed squares to make sure they are a true 2 1/2" square, do my pressing, and consider it done! 

I love it when a plan comes together.













Sewing squares into HSTs:
First off, I think drawing lines down the middle of squares to get half square triangles (HSTs) is tedious.  Besides, I don't NEED the line down the middle.  So my better mousetrap tor this part of Bonnie Hunter's Grand Illusions (GI) mystery quilt is as follows.

Since I want to draw ONLY one line, I place my 1/4" ruler on the wrong side of the square with the center line crossing the corners of the square.

I use my Frixion pen to draw a line on ONE side of the ruler (the line will NOT be in the center of the square!!).

After placing the square on the base rectangle (clue #2 of GI) I sew a scant 1/4" on each side of the line.  This results in a sewn seam down the center of the square, which gives me the result needed for GI, and another sewn seam for a bonus HST from the remnants of the HST process.

I scissor cut on the drawn line, separately the piece needed for GI from the bonus HST.

And VIOLA! Progress on Clue #2 and a bonus HST for another project...  or the back of GI.

Grand Illusion mystery installment #2

In between the things that life is throwing at me, I am working on Bonnie Hunter's Grand Illusion Mystery with several of my friends.  I am grabbing moments here and there between finishing gifts the grandkids specifically requested (how can I say no?) and coping with some personal issues to work on my Grand Illusion. 

Fortunately for me, the crazy grandkids have asked for something somewhat easy (or should be...  I seemed to be making it a lot harder than need be)... stay tuned for that project.

My "late start" on this quilt had been renamed the "never ending cold".  I am still infection free but because its been so long, the doc gave me a z-pack so hopefully, the "death of a cold" is in my future.

I finally got everything cut for clue 1 and 2 - just before clue 3 came out. I even managed to get a couple of the #1 blocks sewn before #3 came out (30 to be exact).

Its hard to sew on this mystery during short periods of available time - pull everything out, sew for 20 minutes, than put everything away.

But its not a race, right?

Anyway, I continued to plug along and managed to get a little of clue #3 sewn. 

Since I shopped my stash and Scrap User System fabrics, I didn't measure how much I had.  While doing this little bit of #3, I realized that I was definitely going to need more green.

But not today. Maybe this weekend.  Or maybe after clue 5 is released :) or sometime.

At 2am this morning, I still couldn't sleep so I got up and did what my attention span and turtled* away on  a little of step 1, a little of step 2, and some bonus HSTs.

What will happen next on this quilt...  its like quilt roulette!  You just don't know what you will see next!

*I am learning that Mackinac Island the inspiration for Bonnie's quilt) is named for the "big turtle" it resembles.  Thus, I 'turtle away' on the quilt. (And wondering if I coined a new phrase?!?!?!)