Mystery Quilt – Third post

The last clue added the last row on the outside of the quilt.  The soloist continued a pattern to the centers and the corners.

She also suggested piecing the backing from stash and I continued in my neutral pile.  And you know …. there are still more fabrics in the bin!  Her instructions included a bit of “sashing” on the back and corner posts.  I did all of this in neutrals but many in the group did another design of colors with this piecing.

I wrote the label on one of the backing cornerstones before quilting.

Planning the quilting….  I took a photo of the complete top, printed it in black & white, and then used tracing paper over that master to draw some ideas on paper.  In this photo, some is marked and I’m looking at thread ideas.

Next up… quilting!

Read Full Post »

Mystery Weekend

Last weekend was set aside for a quilting weekend.  I had completed my 15 blocks for the Sonlight swap (which I’m not allowed to post yet) and cut out over 600 of the 2 1/2″ squares for the t-shirt quilt.  It was also my only open weekend until December gets rolling!

So what better way to enjoy than to ditch any housework & laundry and piece a quilt top!

The idea also was spurred on by The Stitchin’ Heaven quilt shop out of Texas.  They supply my Dear Jane kits and I’ve shopped with them for a few other things, too.  (Being an hour or more away from quilt shops does make online shopping more appealing.  However, I do go to the IRL shops too as I want them to stay around!)

Friday night I printed out the cutting directions for a Mystery Quilt they were hosting on Saturday.  I had already chosen NOT to purchase a kit from them even tho one was really calling my name.  (By Saturday I regretted that decision in part.)

As I dug in my stash, I just couldn’t come up with 3 1/2 yds of background that blended together even using pieces of this & that.  AND I also couldn’t come up with 1 accent piece that was big enough and went with my other fabrics.

So I kept out my FQ roll and the coordinating floral and added M’Liss Rae Hawley’s pattern, Mystery Sampler.  It is from this book:

I began cutting and pieced a bit on Friday night.

Those of us in the mystery group were encouraged to post our progress to a flicker group.   They also asked for pictures of any pets that were helping us.

Nina loves finding me in the sewing room and napping while I work.  Just so she stays away from the wheels on my chair!

Saturday morning (after a run to town for our hog ready at the locker and morning chores), I continued piecing and finished most of the blocks by quitting time at 2:50 p.m.

Just the 9-patches needed the 3rd row sewn on by this point.

I quit in time to do my Jillian Michaels’ workout >pant, pant<, checked online for a picture challenge within minutes of its due time (!!!), and got ready for early church.

Phil came in within the nick of time and we made it for the 5:15 service.

Sunday I returned to my project.  Here is the b&w image of the quilt top:

After a lot of interruptions breaks, I had all the blocks pieced and did a layout on the living room floor.   The blocks are 4 1/2′ finished.

• The day was sunny (!!!) so Phil & I pulled up nearly 100 onions from the garden (!!!) and cleaned up the tomato cages & the black things I put around the tomatoes.   Now my garage has Ode to Onions fragrance! LOL!!

I tweaked this a bit and sewed them together Sunday evening.

I’d like to find an accent border to go next and then will use the floral print (in some of the plain blocks) for the outer border.

All the fabrics were from Mill House Quilts near Madison WI from my last trip there about 1 1/2 yrs ago.     Ialso  used some stash fabrics for some of the backgrounds.   In the FQ roll were some shirtings.  UGH!  I don’t think I’ll purposely buy them again.  They are thin and ravel VERY easily!!

And a fun weekend was had by all! 🙂

I think next time I’ll be a weak shopper for a mystery weekend.  😉

Read Full Post »