Quilting and Stuff by Knitnoid

Category Archives: Mystery Quilts

Progress, a Finish and a Start

There was plenty of machine time Saturday.

Progress: Catching up on the Brandon Quilters 2022 Mystery Quilt – Starflower.  Monday we’ll get the finishing instructions.

A Finish:  The Mississippi Quilt Association 2020 Block of the Month. I waited until Saturday to stitch the binding down as I had to order a walking foot for my Singer Genie. Formal portrait to come soon. At the moment it’s in the dryer.

A Start:  I found more of string blocks from the auction in 2018.  These were separated because they were slightly smaller.  I’m trimming to them to 6-1/2″.  I have just enough that with a 1″ sashing I can set them on point and get a twin size quilt.

Up next, is the binding on the Crazy Quilt.

 

3280 Units

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It’s taken 7 weeks, but all of the parts for En Provence, the Bonnie Hunter Mystery, (instructions are still available until the end of the month HERE) are completed and trimmed, including the extra neutral 4-patches to enlarge the quilt.

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I’ve even have completed 2 blocks with sashing!

I’m not a big fan of ‘webbing’ quilt tops — it get’s too unwieldy for me. But I tried it for this 6 x 6 block. Other than one piece being turned wrong it worked out pretty well.

beforeweb

I see now why I had one piece turned wrong in my first block — it was wrong on the flannel board. The first time I pressed after the entire block was sewn together.  For the second block I pressed the seams for each row before sewing the rows together and I think the block went together better.

Now that the units are made, this is going together quickly. Who knows, I might end up with a quilt top before the month is out — but I really need to stop and quilt the Disappearing 9-patch this weekend. There is the thread of ice, which may mean we will lose power. So, maybe I’ll keep working on En Provence until that happens, then work on the DP9 — the plan is to quilt it on the treadle.

What’s On My Design Wall – En Provence – Final Link Up

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Today is the final link up for the Bonnie Hunter’s Free En Provence Mystery Quilt. The pattern is still available HERE until the end of the month.

I had great hopes of finishing the top, or at least getting all of the units completed, but this cold/crud that showed up after Christmas has kept me sitting at the sewing machine for very long.  The picture above is all of the units I’ve completed — except for the ones up on the design wall.

Once the reveal was made, I finished cutting the fabric for the remaining units.  I stitch some on each unit, then press, and trim. Up next are the parts for 10 hourglass units, 10 hour glasses and 10 4-patches.

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I still have the hourglass units from the last batch left to trim.

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In theory this keeps me from sitting for hours, getting tired of just trimming and keeps the quilt moving forward. I have a few more rounds to go.

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In the meantime, I’ve put up some of the pieces on the design wall, along with my border fabric.  I’d like the quilt to fit my king size mattress, so I need to have the quilt finish around 95″ x 106″ without a pillow tuck. Needless to say the final layout is up in the air. enprovenceonthewall

Making the quilt 5 x 5 blocks then adding the nutcracker fabric  brings the quilt size up to 117″ square, which is really larger than I’d like. On the other hand this might work:

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This design will require another 124 neutral 4-patches and the quilt will finish at 106″ square, which will allow for a pillow tuck. As much as I’d like to push through and finish the top, I need to quilt the Blue Disappearing 9-Patch before the end of the month. Once I stitch up what I currently have cut, I’ll box it up, along with nutcracker, blue and neutral fabrics for a decision later in the year.

Check out the Mystery Link Up and Design Wall Monday.

 

What’s On My Design Wall – En Provence Edition Part 5

clue5Part five of Bonnie Hunter’s annual mystery quilt came out late Thursday night. It’s still not too late to join. The instructions can be found HERE.

Even with the hustle and bustle surrounding Christmas, I finished the clue – admittedly early Monday morning – but it’s the first clue I’ve finished between the release of the instructions and the link-up.

More progress was made on clue # 1. If I’ve counted correctly, I have enough pairs of 2-patches to complete the clue. I’ve been sewing a single pair of 2-patches into a 4-patch as my leader/ender.

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I sewed 8 of the half square triangle units followed by 20 dark/light green (remember my colors have been swapped out) 2-patches for Clue # 3 then got up to press and trim.

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So now, I have Clues # 2, #4, and #5 complete.

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part4I don’t go back to work until Wednesday, so I have 2 more days to sew. I have 2 projects I need to work on — getting last year’s mystery off the design wall and quilting a top that I finished in January. Who knows which one I’ll work on this week.

In the meantime, I’m linking up to Design Wall Monday and the Mystery Link-up.

What’s on My Design Wall – En Provence Edition Part 4

clue2donePart three four of Bonnie Hunter’s annual mystery quilt came out on Friday.  It’s not too late to join. The instructions can be found HERE.

No, the first picture is not of part 4, but rather the completed Clue # 2! I swapped the magenta out and used royal blue for my Christmas colored quilt. That’s not to say that I didn’t make progress on Clue # 4.

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Friday evening all I got done was cutting Clue # 4.  That’s the dark green in the picture above. I’m subbing dark and light green for purple and lavender. When I took this picture I thought the pile of neutral squares was short compared to the greens, but since I had already stitched a few 2-patches as my leader and enders, I thought that explained the difference. It wasn’t until I had the 2-patches paired up that I realized I don’t  have enough neutral squares cut.

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But that’s OK — It’s not a race, I’m on PTO this week and I need a leader/ender project to finish up a couple of projects.

This morning I stitched up 10 of Clue #4.

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I see more sewing in my future this week between decorating and baking.

I’m linking up to the Mystery Link Up and Design Wall Monday.

What’s on My Design Wall – En Provence Edition Part 3

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Part three of Bonnie Hunter’s annual mystery quilt came out on Friday.  It’s not too late to join. The instructions can be found HERE.

It’s more 4-patches this time with the dark and light purple, or in my case dark and light green. I’ve only got these three patches made — and only so I’d have something to post this morning.

I’m linking up with both the Mystery Link Up and Design Wall Monday.

What’s on My Design Wall – En Provence Edition Part 2

part2

 

Part two of Bonnie Hunter’s annual mystery quilt came out on Friday.  It’s not too late to join. The instructions can be found HERE.

This clue has us making triangle in a square blocks. My plan was to use the Quilt in a Day rulers as I’ve had more luck with that method than the Tri-Recs, but I found the correct size strips in my bins, so I cut the first few with the Tri-Recs. Since they came out so much better than they have in the past, I’ve decided to stick with the Tri-Recs. I’m still cutting fabric, but that’s OK. Slow and steady will eventually get the quilt complete.

I’m linking up to both the Mystery Link Up and Design Wall Monday.

What’s on My Design Wall – En Provence Edition

Bonnie Hunter is hosting her annual mystery quilt. This year it is En Provence in purple, lavender, green, yellow, magenta and of course neutrals. Information about the mystery quilt can be found HERE.

Since I haven’t spent much time quilting this year, I’m hoping the mystery will get me going again. But as with most mystery quilts I do, I’m pulling from my stash. Although I love the mystery colors, I didn’t find enough for the quilt in my stash. Shopping is not an option, so I thought I would have to sit this one out (and I still need to finish Aletaire).  While I was contemplating alternative color schemes, someone on Facebook said they were going to use Christmas colors.

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Yes, I can do this. Dark/kelly green for Purple, light green for lavender, red instead of green, lean my yellows toward dark/gold. Neutrals should stay the same.  But what to use for magenta? Taking a que from the Nutcracker fabric my sister gave me for Christmas last year, I chose Royal Blue. It’s the only thing not from my stash — I used a gift certificate I was given in late January, and bought extra for binding and pillowcases – $0.89 with shipping.

enprovenceclue1

This weekend I started by cutting strips, then squares. I know, Bonnie said sew strips together then cut, but I need some leader/enders to finish up Alietare.  Two 4-patches are made. I have a way to go to get all my 4-patches done.  Let’s hope they aren’t need for Clue 2 on Friday.

Head over to the Mystery Link Up to see how others are doing on their quilt — and remember it’s not to late to join.

I’ve also linked to Judy’s Design Wall Monday. I’m guessing there will be lots of 4-patches.

Twin Mystery Top Finished

I really should have re-hung the quilt and waited for better light, but I’ve got a mini Ohio Stars quilt to make this weekend.

Design Wall Teaser

Just borders on 3 sides and this top will be complete. Since I haven’t counted this fabric in my Stash Report yet, it will help offset the fabric I bought last weekend, which hasn’t been reported either.  One more evening, then it will be off to tiny Ohio Stars.