Design Wall Monday - September 18, 2017

My sister is out of the hospital, and I am so glad. Your prayers are appreciated and were heard. She is feeling much better.

This week I've been working on finishing some quilts that were unfinished for quite a while.  I blogged before (Here) about a mystery quilt that I had quite a few parts for, and then decided to change directions and not finish the mystery quilt.   It turned out that I will have four quilts from the parts of one mystery quilt unfinished.  All's well that ends well.

First quilt, just bound this week: 

I used the plaid on bias for the binding as I like it to look a little different than the plaid it is next to, and this quilt will be donated to the Lighthouse Pregnancy Care Center, Manistee, MI,  for a raffle they have coming soon.  I hope it will have a good home and be loved by someone.


A picture of the quilt top right after I pieced it together, shown on a king sized bed:

Closeup of one of the blocks:

Quilt two and three are twin quilts, that I use at the cabin for picnics cloths.  I removed the black part of the four patch and replaced it with another yellow square, and added red and white checked fabric all around.  They are quilted with a leaf pattern that I like a lot.  The picture is of just one, but there are two, just alike.

Here are two clues to the mystery quilt; and you can tell which parts went into each of my quilts.

This third clue below will be the subject of my next blog post, as the quilt is at the quilters right now, getting quilted.  I took out the black square and made the green and white parts into an Irish Chain quilt, and my quilter, Joyce Brenner, is quilting the MSU "Sparty" logo on the blank white parts.  I can't wait to show it to you next week.

What's on your design wall?  I hope you are making progress on your quilts too.

An InLinkz Link-up

I'm Just A Simple Girl

Since I am just a simple girl, with simple tastes, I have decided to break down the parts of the latest Bonnie Hunter mystery into three quilts.  The colors I chose for this quilt wouldn't play together nicely, so they got divided into three parts:

Red and black and white into one quilt:

The green and white parts are going to be a triple Irish chain quilt:

And the remaining parts are being changed to take the black out, and are going to become something by themselves.  I'm not sure yet, but this is a possibility:

I love Bonnie Hunter and all she does for the quilting community.  She is so generous of her time and talent.    It has been fun seeing what the quilting community has made with Bonnie's Grand Illusion.  Please know that my division of the mystery parts is no reflection on Bonnie's design of the mystery. I always love to play with the parts, and this year it turned out to be three quilts as the end result.  I like this design as I have seen others make it, but with my blocks, the colors just seemed to be fighting each other.

The original plan was to make this quilt for our son and bride for their bed,  but I hope they will like the green and white triple Irish chain, as it could possibly be quilted with a MSU logo in the quilting of the large white empty area, as they are Michigan State fans.  It could be used in their recreation room.   If they don't like it, we are MSU fans too, and it would be used in our recreation room.

Possible quilting motif for large white squares:

We had a great vacation in Texas with our daughter, and have just arrived back home to the frozen tundra in Michigan.   Brrrr!  We took in the fabulous Cotton Bowl, where MSU snatched victory from the jaws of defeat.  Such an exciting game!

We had fun with our daughter and her family, and we took our time coming back to Michigan.  We stopped in Paducah, Kentucky to visit the quilt museum there, and it was so inspiring!  If you are in the area, do stop in and visit the museum.  It is well worth the trip.

It' Monday so here's the link to Design Wall Mondays at Judy Laquidara's blog to see what other quilters are working on today.  (Here)

Christmas in January!

Today we are celebrating Christmas at our daughter's home in Corpus Christi, Texas.  We have been shopping this week, and wrapping packages.  I can't wait to watch the grandchildren open their presents this afternoon.

While on the road, Bonnie Hunter's Grand Illumination mystery quilt was revealed.  I was making this quilt for our son and daughter-in-law, as they were married at the Grand Hotel on Mackinac Island.  I am revising the way I put the quilt together, and the blocks will be as this one is:

The green and white sashing is gone - to be used in another quilt.  The new sashing is made of three red pieces that finish at 3 in. by 4 in. and the cornerstones will finish at 3 inches square.  The blocks will be set on point, and I am excited about the way it will look.  No more work will be done on it until I get back home next week.  I am going to meet with our son and daughter-in-law to offer to make them another quilt, or see if they like the one I am now making.  I do love the fun of working on blocks with others at the same time, but I have so many design ideas in my head that I usually change the finished quilt to something entirely different than what other's do.  I truly love Bonnie Hunter and hope she enjoys all of us and our many changes to her designs.  It's like herding cats to get us all on the same page, and it has proven to be impossible.

I am linking up to Bonnie's blog with all the other people who are working on the mystery quilt, and you can see their beautiful quilts (Here)

Since it is the new year, I am seeing many new year's resolutions online.  Here are my resolutions.

Things I'm Giving Up in 2015

1. Trying to please everyone.
2. Putting quilting projects off when they are 1/2 done.
3. Doubting my quilting decisions.
4. Criticizing myself and others.

Happy New Year to you all.  I hope you finish lots of quilts in 2015!  I'm linking up with Design Wall Monday's over at Judy Laquidara's blog (Here)

I'm Like A Little Kid At Christmas Time!

Christmas puts me in such a happy mood.  At church yesterday, the sweet little preschool children acted out the Christmas story, and as one little angel skipped back to her parents after they were through, her little tinsel halo fell off and stayed behind.   Ah yes, we can all be angels for a little while, but sometimes the halos fall off.

Yesterday we decorated the tree, and the ornaments here at the cabin are all of the old ones that we had when the children were little - all unbreakable ones.  It was such fun to pull them out and put them on the tree.  The old twinkle lights in all their color too!

I'm working on Bonnie Hunter's Grand Illumination mystery quilt this week.  I'm almost caught up and am half-way through Clue 3.  I will have the rest of the "2 by 4's" finished when the next clue comes out on Friday.

Here is my progress so far:   Clue #1, Broken Dishes

Clue #2, Glad they are finished:

Clue #3, 2 by 4's:

I have been blessed this Christmas with lots of peace and quiet here at the cabin, and am keeping up with the mystery so far.  This next week will be Christmas, and apart from a little more shopping, I am ready for it.

How about you?  Are you ready for this jolly old fellow?

Merry Christmas!!  Monday's are link-up days, so I'm linking with Judy Laquidara's blog for Design Wall Mondays (Here) and also Bonnie Hunter's blog for mystery quilt progress (Here).

Starting New Quilts This Week

Thanksgiving weekend is not a good time to start new quilts, but that's what I am doing. In fact, I'm starting two!

(1). Grand Illusion  Bonnie Hunter's new mystery quilt is inspired by Michigan's lovely Grand Hotel on Mackinac Island.  Our son and wife were married in the beautiful gardens of the hotel just two years ago, June 30, 2012.

I am feeling confident enough in my quilt making to make quilts for others now, and I want to make them this quilt, as the Grand Hotel is such a special place for them.

While we were at their house for Thanksgiving dinner, they looked at Bonnie Hunters color selections, and made slight changes to reflect their memories of the hotel.  I am using red to represent the color of the geraniums, instead of Bonnie's pink, because the geraniums that summer were red when they were married.

Since I was away from my sewing machine for most of the Thanksgiving weekend, I have just started yesterday on Clue One.  But I do have all my fabrics ready, and I do love making half-square triangles.  Clue One instructs us to make 280 of them!  Good thing I like making them, right?  

Here's a picture of my progress so far:

Here are my fabrics:

If you'd like to join in the fun, it's not too late.  Go to Bonnie Hunter's blog and she has a special tab at the top for the mystery intructions:  (Here)  Her instructions are up while we are making the quilt, and then taken down when she puts them into a new book.

(2) Cascadia  Lori of Humble Quilts blog has a new tutorial for a doll quilt, and I didn't start this one yet, but I want to make it.  Her instructions started with getting out your bag of 1.5 inch squares to sew some of them together.  I didn't have any bag of squares cut that size, so decided to take a big bag of all sorts of scraps with me in the car on our Thanksgiving travels, so I could sort through them, and cut some 1.5 inch squares.  It was a fun diversion while traveling, and I really enjoyed looking at some of the older scraps.  These pictured are from my Mom's fabrics.  I don't know what time period they are from, but they are old:

After 3 hours on the road Thursday, 1 hour Saturday, and 3 hours Sunday, I'm happy to say I now have lots of squares and am ready to start this little quilt.  Here's a picture of my new bag of little squares and strips, ready for the doll quilt instructions.

 Picture of the original quilt that Lori used as her inspiration:

I love it!  If you'd like to make this little quilt, Lori gives excellent instructions and you can find her instructions here:  Search her blog for the word "Cascadia" to see all the instructions

Here's a few pieces I laid out on a mat while I was away for Thanksgiving:

I will close this post with a picture of the turkey at our son's Thanksgiving dinner.  Prepped for the oven:

And the results:  Yummy, and who's counting fats on one day of the year?  Hope you had a good time with your family at Thanksgiving too.

It's Monday, so I'm linking with a couple of blogs.  Design Wall Mondays at Patchworktimes.com  (Here) and Bonnie Hunter's blog (Here)

A Bonnie Day at our Guild! Part II

My last post about Bonnie Hunter's visit to our local guild is continued below, with more pictures of Bonnie's bodacious quilts!

Bodacious

This one is appropriately named Bodacious!  Her bow ties are made from four patches that were leaders and enders.

Easy Street

Easy Street Back

East street front and back.  Bonnie sure has me opening up to use more on the backs of my quilts than just plain muslin.  And to use colors I don't think I like!

Winston Ways

Midnight Flight

Narragansett Blues

Love, love, love this one.  Of course, because it's blue!  It's in Bonnie's new book, which is just released, More Adventures with Leaders and Enders.

Lazy Sunday Morning

This quilt is so bright and cheerful!

Roll Roll Cotton Boll

Remember on the first part of this quilt show, when Bonnie Hunter said she saved the small half-square triangles cut off from Starstruck rectangles?  Well, they are here in Roll Roll Cotton Boll!  Lots of them!

This was a mystery quilt, and I remember making a gazillion half-square triangles, and if I use Bonnie's scrap user system in the future, I will already have them as bonus triangles from another quilt.  What a concept!  Bonnie talks about it on her blog (Here)

Blue Skies

Blue Skies, which has yellow and blue - two of my favorite colors.  Lots of strings here.

Cotton Candy

Bonnie has no daughters, and said she just had the urge to make something totally "pink".  It is sure beautiful! Love the backside also!

Cotton Candy Back

Pineapple Crazy was just amazing in person.  Bonnie took leftover pieces from everywhere, and created a paper-pieced lovely quilt, using fabric that many quilters would have (or did!) throw away.  

Pineapple Crazy

Next up was Jamestown Landing, and it is on my bucket list.  I love it!

Jamestown Landing

She used creams, tans up to "brown paper bag" color for the neutrals, and lovely blues.  

She closed the show with this wowzer!!!  It's her hexie quilt, and she's nearing the finish on it.

Some of the pictures are a little fuzzy, and I apologize, but most of the time my mouth was open in awe, and my hand wasn't too steady on the camera.   Thanks to Bonnie Hunter for the amazing show of her quilts.  She is one of my heroes.

Here's what I worked on recently:

I'm directing you over to Judy Laquidara's blog for Design Wall Mondays - my favorite Monday morning activity is looking at all the quilts there.  (Here)

A Bonnie Day at our Guild! Part I

Bonnie Hunter came to our guild and talked about her scrap user system.  You can read more about it (here)

She also brought many of her beautiful quilts to show to us.  Enjoy the show!

Starstruck

Bonnie said to notice the red plaid that was sewn into the corners of the rectangles on Starstruck.  She sewed another seam on the piece that she was cutting off, creating a small half-square triangle that she saved and used later in another quilt.

Virginia Bound

Bonnie used one orange man's shirt for all of the orange squares in the outer borders.  

Smith Mountain Morning

This quilt uses brown and blue - the two most common colors in my stash.  I really like the color combination.  I will have to make a brown and blue quilt!

Tumalo Trail

This quilt is so beautiful, I wanted to keep snapping pictures of it over and over again.  I think it will go on my bucket list.  

Bricks in the Barnyard

I love the red border and all the spots of red in this one.  Bonnie said there were several different reds in it, and she showed all the matchy-matchy people that it didn't matter.  If you put enough of different ones in, it will work.  

Hawks Nest Cheddar

She pointed out that on-point blocks have on-point borders, and straight set blocks have straight-set borders.  I love the triangles in the border on this one.

Rectangle Wrangle

Interesting point made by Bonnie on this one:  The center has a darker "feel" and the lighter border lightens up the whole quilt.  Even though the border is a lot of work, it really is worth it, and makes this quilt wonderful.

Boxy Stars

Another Boxy Stars

This quilt show will be continued on the next blog post.