Mystery Quilt Time

It is so close to Bonnie Hunter Mystery quilt time. 

The first clue is Friday Morning. 

This year the name is Good Fortune.

 I have started many of these mystery quilt but have not got many totally done. 

Today I started to pull fabric out of my stash for Good Fortune. 

I am not done but maybe before Friday I can fine tune my fabrics. 

This is my Grand Illusion quilt. So far it is just a quilt top. I could not find a photo of the top so I got it out this week to get a photo. I forget what year we did this one. Must be at least 3 years ago. 

Maybe this week I should post about a few of the other mystery quilts I have worked on. Get them out and see what I have to do to get them done. 

Quilt Goals for 2017

Fancy Forest, I have about half the blocks done but I would love to finish it this year. 

 I have a large list of UFO's, about 56 projects. I have been keeping track of them for a few years now and review them every couple of months. Sometimes I am adding in new project and sometimes I get to mark a project as done. The finished projects get moved to a list of completed projects for the year. Then I know when I finished it too. 

Grand Illusion Mystery quilt, top is now done and waiting to be quilted. Not sure I have a photo of the finished top. 

Needs Quilting

1. Bad to the Bone – quilting and binding
2. Grand Illusions – Bonnie Hunter mystery from 2014 – Need to piece a backing and machine quilt ( started Nov 2014, top complete April 2015)
3. Christmas Tree Shirt – mom did the piecing and I need to Quilt
4. I am sure I have a charity quilt in a bin that needs quilting

Christmas Postage Stamp Quilt, I hope to have this quilt completed in time for a Quilt show this year. 

My Goal to finish this year, in light of there being 2 local quilt shows. I need to enter some finished work. One quilt show is in June, Edmonton Guild then in October is the Leduc Quilt show. 

What goals I have to finish for 2017

1.      Truffet for me but I should start it
2.      Christmas tree skirt needs quilting
3.      Christmas Postal Stamp quilt 76” sq, finish top, make backing, quilt it
4.      Bad to the Bone quilt it
5.       Fancy Forest  more blocks to complete 
6.      Grand Illusions make a backing then quilt it
7.      Hawaii quilt finish quilt top and quilt it
8.      Misty Day (small) quilt it 
9.      Get a rainbow quilt top done and quilt it too
10.      Eye project - baby quilt, start it
11.      Slab blocks with Canadian fabric in it. 

Alletaire Mystery quilt is in this state now. I would like to get the top complete soon but I may not finish the quilting too quickly as other are on the list first.

Piecing UFO - not planning to finish in time for quilt shows but needs work

1. KFC log cabin started in a swap, all blocks done, needs design wall work.
2. Red brown log cabin more then 1/2 blocks done, many more still to do
3. Pineapple log cabin with white, more blocks need piecing 
4. Adam's plaid quilt, lots of piecing needed
5. Celtic Solstice mystery blocks done needs work
6. Garden Party
7. Dear Jane in KFC many more blocks needs work, some applique
8. Pizza box exchange still going around
9. Scrappy Trips Around the world in KFC Reds blocks done needs to be put together.
10. Nov 2016 Bonnie Hunter mystery En Provence 
11. Gemma improve piecing in purple

KFC Hexagons 1" with bubble gum Kona

Hand stitching to work on

1. Baltimore applique
2. KFC Hexagons with bubble gum pink Kona
3. The New Hexagons or Glorious Hexagons
4. 3/4" hexagons started in the RSC what to do next?
5. Leaves and daises stitched in latter stitch  

My list of UFOs still has another 35 quilts listed but not listed here today.  Some will get worked on and a few I may not go back to. I am not ready to give up on them yet. Someday I might give away or sell some of the partly done quilts.

Mystery History

This is my Allietare Mystery (2015) so far. I have a small handful of blocks done. I thought as Bonnie Hunter has released the fabric requirements for her next Mystery quilt En Provence (2016) that maybe I better work on the last one. I get eager to start a new quilt but I have quilt guilt that I did not finish the last one and I want to sew! So I am digging it out and hope to get more done. You can see I made a lot of changes to the colours. Now this years mystery has so many of the colours I used here (no Yellow). 

Quilt guilt has kept me from pulling fabric out for En Provence. I love the colours she has picked out so far, so I am sure I will do it with the rest of the Bonnie Hunter Fans. I have a big enough stash and love the colours so I do not think I need to shop for more. Maybe next week I will pull fabric.  

I have started 5 of her mysteries and many are UFO but one. I have one fully complete - Easy Street (2013). I did change the colour just a bit. I used pink instead of the grey. My grey was too light and I really do not like Grey. I am so much happier with this quilt. 

Grand Illusion (2014) is a quilt top that needs to be quilted. I made another change and used a magenta print in the center of the blocks and not the yellow and blue four patch units. I think I like they way the block is a more striking. I had to do some ripping to fix that as I had half the blocks done when I changed my mind. 

Celtic Solstice (2011) has all the blocks done but needs to be a top. I really changed the colours around. I used the black as my neutral. I started to work on the rows and got lost so I have some ripping to do to fix it. So it is back in the box and needs help. 

Orca Bay (2010) is a top but needs the boarders pieced and put on. It is also in a box waiting. This quilt is a ton of little bits and pieces. 

Blocks remade

I got to work on my Grand Illusion Mystery quilt at the end of Christmas break. I got 12 blocks done then started put them up on the wall. TOO Much Yellow. My yellow was bright and I was not sure I liked it. I will not finish it if I do not like it. So I looked around. 

On the left our 3 blocks with different bright pinks I had used. OK but I was still not sure. So the 6 in the middle have a Painted Daisy print. I liked them, I had just bought the fabric a little bit ago. Yes I wanted to change it. 

I think the light is a bit different these two days.

I now have the fabric in the middle changed and all 25 blocks made. I am much happier with this for a quilt. I have some of the sashing and comers just up on the wall so I can see if I like it. I am good to keep going. 

Now to get the sashing on and blocks into rows. I am not sure about the boarder but we will see later. Do the parts I know for now. 

Added to Design Wall Monday at Patchwork Times

Grand Illusions Progress Made

I am loving the Bonnie Hunter mystery quilt, Grand Illusions. There was lots of fuss about step 2. I did a little test with scraps first. I kind of used Bonnie's 1st way to make the units for step 2. Hard to believe she gave us 3 different ways to make them. I just love how she goes into so much detail as to how to do each step. It is so much better then most patterns. There are units I would normally not do because they are a pain in the butt. It pushes me to do some stuff I might not do otherwise. 

Wow was there lots of cutting to do for step 2. But I love cutting so I kept going. I have not bought any fabric to do this quilt so far. I may need to buy backing. I have picked out 10 or more fabrics for each colour from my stash. Many of the black and neutrals are the same fabrics as Orca Bay mystery quilt. So I am cutting from some yardage but it is still very scrappy. Lots of dots. 

I did much of the sewing in the sunshine on an older singer. Our winter days are so short now. 

So Thursday night I got all 100 double diamond units done. I love how you can play with the layouts. 

Then, on Friday, the 3rd clue came out. I love that this one was a little easier to do. I have about 45 units done so far. I am sure I will be ready for step 4. I am very happy with the bright greens I have picked out. I will have to sew something else later this week. I have added this post to Bonnie's Linky Page, you can go see how every ones Mystery quilts are looking. 

Miss Gemma doing her training, two on two off. I just could not get a photo with her nose down on the target plate. I was not wanting her to wait to long to get her treat. This is just one of the little agility games we can play inside that will help us with agility. 

Step 1 Grand Illusion

The mystery quilt Grand Illusion by Bonnie Hunter got underway on Friday. I had to work this weekend so I did not get all of step one done but I still did well. I am sure I will finish this step before next Friday. That is when the step 2 comes out. 

Today Bonnie is hosting a link up party, so I have linked up too. 

I picked out my fabric about a week ago. I did not buy a single fabric, it will be  quilt from my stash only. I want the pink to be very bright and darker coloured. My Aquas or Turquoise are light like the ceiling of the old building. 

I make a cute little yellow booklet to record the number of triangles and units I have. I also have a black binder to print off Bonnie's instructions. 

Part of the time I quilted on my old singer machine. It sits in the family/ living room next to a window so there is great light to sew by during the day. We have so little sun now that sitting in the sun for an hour a day is a treat. 

Here is my box with some parts and pieces. I have done my triangles a little different then Bonnie said. I was cutting from yardage for my Triangle units, so I cut 3" squares and drew a line on the diagonal. I then sewed  1/4" from that line and cut the two triangles apart. I then have to iron and trim the triangles to 2 1/2" square. I love how the triangles are so perfect. 

Here is the design wall with the first little batch of units. There are measuring perfect 4 1/2" square. 

Here is last years mystery quilt. I still need to sew the blocks together. I was hopping to do that last week but it did not happen. The pattern is asleep now but should come out in Bonnie's next book. I had made some big changes to the colours last year. his year I am keeping much closer to Bonnie's colours. 

I have also linked up to Design wall Monday at Judy's