This was Bonnie Hunter’s mystery quilt in 2020. This is one of the projects I work on while at retreats. The inner part of the quilt is finished and now I have to do the borders. I’m thrilled with how it came out.
Every stitch counts towards a finish my friends
Melanie
Here are the important links: Bonnie’s Blog, Bonnie’s Website, Grassy Creek Tab
I am doing a little bit at a time on clue 5. I cannot remember when I started this clue. It must have been before last week but then we were in Fresno so maybe the week before that? I don’t know. I haven’t done much.
I made a couple for kicks. Then I settled in on cutting. I know it would be really easy to cut strips and then sew them up until I get these 9-patches but I’m using up scraps. So I have a bunch of purple scraps (all colors really) but I pulled out the purple ones and cut out the bit of square I needed. I tossed a bunch of bits which make me happy. It takes longer to do it this way but I’m all about the process and using up my little scraps so this is how I do it. I’ve finished cutting all my smaller pieces and have pulled out the bigger pieces to use. Soon I’ll be done and will cut neutrals. the pinks have already been cut and set aside.
Clue 4 finished –
Clue 3 – 12/26/2020
Clue 2 – 12/12/2021
Clue 1 – 12/5/2020
Happy quilting friends!
Melanie
Here are the important links: Bonnie’s Blog, Bonnie’s Website, Grassy Creek Tab
Finally! This clue has taken me forever to finish.
I had a guild workshop to take – maybe 2 workshops? I had Jan Krentz in January and Alex Anderson in February so those two classes threw in a couple of projects in the middle of this clue and I was only able to do a little bit each weekend. It was slow progress. Now it’s done and I’ll be out of the house this weekend and will not be able to touch my sewing machine until the first weekend in March. I will be doing a bunch of handwork so my hands will still be busy.
Clue 3 – 12/26/2020
Clue 2 – 12/12/2021
Clue 1 – 12/5/2020
Happy quilting friends!
Melanie
Here are the important links: Bonnie’s Blog, Bonnie’s Website, Grassy Creek Tab
It’s been awhile since I’ve posted about this project. And less you think I have put this to the side since the reveal, I have not. I’m just not getting a lot done when I work on it. I saw the reveal and I love how it looks. I switched out my fabric so I’m curious to see how it will look with my fabric choices. I’m slowly working on Clue 4.
Clue 3 – 12/26/2020
Clue 2 – 12/12/2021
Clue 1 – 12/5/2020
Happy quilting friends!
Melanie
In a previous post, I listed all the quilts that I plan to quilt this year. There are 7 of them. In this post, I will list the quilts I’m working on and my plans to get them to the to be quilted stage….
Jan Krentz – Diamond Star quilt. I’m not sure what this one is called but I started this in December (yup, just this past December 2020) in a workshop and I’ve got the inner top finished. I still need to do the border and I’m planning on putting some appliqued pieces in the center to make it pop.
Bonnie Hunter’s 2020 Mystery Quilt, Grassy Creek – I’m currently working on Clue 4.
I need to figure out where I left on this project. I’m pretty sure I have a bunch of rows pieced together but I’m not sure if this top is done or not. I don’t think so but who knows… It’s been several months since I’ve pulled this project to look at.
Dancing with the Stars by Linda Ballard – I’m also not sure where I’m at here. I know I ran out of fabrics and I can’t make it a queen size quilt so I need to make a decision on what to do to move forward on this quilt.
Radiant Jewel Quilt by Kimberly Einmo – all the blocks are done and my plan was to get this up oh a design wall at a quilt retreat to figure out where the blocks will go and move forward on it. It looks like that quilt retreat will probably not be happening anytime soon so… we’ll see where we are at when this comes up in queue.
Gardenvale – started in 2020. I need to make a decision as to how I want to move forward on this. It’s been percolating and one of the ideas I’ve been playing with is doing traditional blocks around the new round in these fabrics. I need to do the math to figure out how big I want them to be and how many I will need to fill the round. I love these fabrics. 🙂
Allietare – Bonnie Hunter’s mystery quilt from 2015 – I pulled this out in 2020 to start working on this but I had such difficulty figuring out where I was in clue 1 that I set it aside. I need to put my big girl panties on and just move forward on this one. I did not do too many of these so if I have to start all over, I’m okay with that.
Area Three Mystery Quilt from 2012 SoCal Quilters Run – I actually pulled this out in 2020 to start working on as well but something about it wasn’t sitting well with me. I had a kit of beautiful batiks and about 10-12 instructions and every time I tried to get started, I just couldn’t. So I scrapped it. I pulled the fabric out and it’s now in my basket to pre-wash my fabrics. When that basket gets full it will all go in the wash.
Civil War Diary Quilt – started in 2017 – I’m putting this on the list.
~Happy Quilting!
~Melanie
Here are the important links: Bonnie’s Blog, Bonnie’s Website, Grassy Creek Tab
Clue 3 is finally finished. It took me 3 weekends and that’s pretty much the norm when working on Bonnie’s mystery quilts.
Clue 2 – 12/12/2020
Clue 1 – 12/5/2020
Happy quilting friends!
Melanie
Here are the important links: Bonnie’s Blog, Bonnie’s Website, Grassy Creek Tab
Last week, I was only able to do 1 set of clue 3 and I cut all the neutrals, half of my blue (red) and that was it. This weekend, I was able to cut all the necessary pieces for clue 3. But I was only able to complete another 3 sets and then I was done for the weekend. I did print clue 4 so I will have that ready to do when I finish clue 3.
Clue 2 – 12/12/2020
Clue 1 – 12/5/2020
Happy quilting friends!
Melanie
Here are the important links: Bonnie’s Blog, Bonnie’s Website, Grassy Creek Tab
I finished all of clue 1 –
And all of Clue 2
I got a start on Clue 3 –
I cut all my neutrals, half of the blues, and none of the purples.
This is the first year I selected different colors. I’ve never been confident about my color selection and in previous years, just took the easy way out and picked standard colors. For the few weeks between the intro and the first clue, I was talking to a bunch of guild mates and I kept saying how I’m not good at picking colors, etc. etc. and I just heard myself say all these negative things. Finally I picked myself up and said, I sound so pathetic, I’m going to challenge myself and pick different colors. I love purples, pinks and blues so those are my colors, in addition to Bonnie’s neutral and gray. I hope it all turns out and if it doesn’t, it’s okay. I’m sure someone will love it.
So for Clue 3, I spent much of my Saturday going through and pulling fabric. I don’t usually pull fabric before the clues are released. I use these mystery quilts as scrap busters and I like to go through my scrap system first before touching yardage. I went through all my neutrals and cut what I needed. Then I went through my blues and cut as long as I could. I really wanted to finish cutting the blues before calling it a night but I didn’t want to mess up and that’s what happens when I try to go on to long.
Sunday, my guild had our first zoom workshop and it was with Jan Krentz. Here’s a pic of my WIP…
Don’t mind the messy floor. I need to get a design wall set up but that’s going to be sometime from now so design floor it is.
Happy quilting friends!
Melanie
Here are the important links: Bonnie’s Blog, Bonnie’s Website, Grassy Creek Tab
I finished all of clue 1 –
It looks almost the same as last week but with the additional sets I needed to call it complete.
I also got a good start on Clue 2 –
And here is where I finished the weekend at:
I was able to get 1 set fully complete. 2 sets pressed but I still need to trim the dog ears off. a ton of the sets sewn but not pressed, and 3 left that still needed to be sewn.
I feel like the clues are a bit easier this year. A friend told me it might be that we have better tools and better skills which I think is part of it. But I also think the numbers that are being asked are not nearly the quantity that we used to have to do. I’m okay with that. I’m able to keep on track with everyone and that makes me happy.
Happy quilting friends!
Melanie
I got a good start on the first clue.
I miscounted somewhere and I’m short a few sets!
In this clue Bonnie introduced me to a new way to make HSTs with the simple folded corner ruler. I really liked this method. But I only know how to make the number and size she gave instructions for and I’m not sure how to adjust if I want to make different sizes. So, while I like it, I wouldn’t go buy the ruler just for this. I happened to buy it when I bought Bonnie’s essential triangle ruler so I had it handy. I may have enabled a few friends to buy it when I was showing them the technique. I’m sure there are other things we can do with the ruler going forward. 😬
There are a few hours left this evening but I’ve decided to spend the rest cross stitching. I’ve been on a bit of a break for Thanksgiving and I go back to work tomorrow.
Happy quilting friends!
Melanie