2016 Finish Quilt - Mystery Quilt Grand Illusion - #23

The weather is still overcast and lots of rain or snow here in the Pacific Northwest, so no picture taking available yet for the blog.  I have about 10 quilts that I would like to get pictures, but the weather is being very uncooperative.   

This quilt is from 2014 when I did Bonnie Hunter's Mystery Quilt.  You can read about all the details and the progression of making it here.

This was the last quilt to have the binding done in the last batch of five quilts I got back from the Long Arm Quilter back in November.  I like to do my binding while traveling in the car on road trips.  

Here is a picture of me working on the binding on a road trip a couple of weeks ago.  It was especially nice because it was very warm on my lap while I stitched away.

I was able to get it the binding completed once we got to the venue where we were having a trade show.  The venue building has lots of open space, so I was able to take some decent pictures of the final quilt.  Here it is all flat and laid out.  Remember, this was done from scraps of all my Thimbleberries projects.  It is a big one, measuring 90" X 90". 

This is a close up of a corner, giving you a better look at the border and the block pattern.  I used a green binding to tie it all together.  I think it looks really nice.

I had a good sized brown wide width backing fabric, but I was a little short, so I added some green around the top and bottom to get the backing big enough to cover the top.

The batting was an experiment this time, I found a queen sized flannel sheet at a garage sale.  I washed it up, and contacted my long arm quilter to ask if I could use it as a batting.  She agreed and I really like the result.  The sheet cost me $.50 making it very reasonable compared to the cost of batting. The best part is the flannel sheet makes the quilt heavy and not stiff like some of the batting I have been using from JoAnn's.  

Right now, this one is on my side of the bed, folded in half, keeping me very warm this winter.

PS:  This quilt pattern is available on Bonnie Hunter's site here if you are interested.  

Size: 88" X 92"

Fabric Lines Used:  Thimbleberries Scraps 

Pattern: Quiltville 2014 Mystery "Grand Illusion"

Designer:  Bonnie Hunter

Long Arm Quilter:  Carol Logan Nelson

Year Began: 11/2014

Year Completed: 02/2017 

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Grand Illusion Mystery Quilt Progress

I bet you have been wondering about that Grand Illusion Mystery Quilt, you know the one that I spent so much time working on and posting about in December?  Well as you know my sewing business kinda got in the way of working on the things I personally have in the queue.

Today, I was finally able to take a few minutes to get the top blocks sewn together for the main part of the quilt.

The picture above is before putting on the two borders.  The solid gold one and the scrappy one that came from clue #5.  This is a queen size bed in my spare room, just to give you an idea of how big it is so far.  

This next picture is a closer view of all the pieced units from clues 1 - 4.

I be back with more posts, as I get this one to the finish line!  If you are interested in making this now or in the future, you can visit Bonnie Hunter's site at Quiltville, and down load all the clues.  She only leaves them up on her site for a short time, then she takes them down and incorporates the pattern into a future book.  

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Final Reveal of the Grand Illusion Mystery Quilt

New Year's eve at midnight, Bonnie Hunter revealed what the final quilt will look like and how to assemble all the clues.  Here is the layout of the block in my Thimbleberries color way.

This is a picture of the block with the sashings between each block.

There is the fervor all over Facebook is about how the participants are not happy with the way my colors are working when the do their first block.  A lot of disappointment is circulating with the participants.  But, you need to look at the quilt as a whole with all the blocks sewn together.  Not just focus on one block.  Visit Bonnie's site here to see the whole quilt done in her colors and you can see the blocks taking on a spinning motion and the quilt looks like it is moving.  It really is a fun kind of quilt!  Some participants are even changing up the block by switching out the center four-patch with a solid color matching the star points (so if I would be doing this, my center block would be red).  But, I really like the movement in Bonnie's quilt, so I am going to stick with the original pattern, and I already have the center four-patches made anyway.

I will be linking up with Quiltville's post this coming Monday, and hopefully have more to show in finished blocks and maybe a finished quilt top.

Thanks for following along this amazing mystery journey with me!

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Grand Illusion Mystery Quilt Clue 5 Done!

The fifth clue came out this last Friday.  I scurried around the house, cleaning and getting ready for guests this weekend, just so that I could spend a few hours in the sewing room to cut out and sew this next clue.

The reason I was able to get it done in a couple of hours, is because there were only 28 units to make, as opposed to hundreds of units in the previous clues.

As this mystery quilt keeps moving along, I am liking my choice of fabric (Thimbleberries) and I am hoping it will be as well liked when it all gets sewn up.

I will be linking up on Bonnie's blog on Monday.  Take some time to look at the others in the link up party when she puts it up on Monday morning.

Now, I'm on to  waiting a whole week for the next clue to be posted.  Sigh!


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Grand Illusion Mystery Quilt Clue 4

Well, I have been working on the latest clue for the Grand Illusion Mystery Quilt.  As always, the clue came out on Friday, and this is what it looks like.  Look close, because the two half square triangle blocks are flipped between the two blocks.  We had to make equal amounts of each setting.

I sewed each setting completely, before working on the other setting.  This way I avoided confusion.

I clipped together the different settings, so they don't get mixed up when it comes time to put the whole top together.

And, there is the box of goodies so far, all waiting to be put together to make the quilt top.

I am also, once again, linking up on Bonnie's blog.  You can go here, and look at all the others who are participating and linking up their pictures.

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Weekend of Grand Illusion Mystery Quilt

Clue 3 came early Friday morning for the Grand Illusion Mystery Quilt, and by Friday afternoon, I was able to get started on this next part.  I gathered all the required materials.  Remember my blue is the green in Bonnie's color way.  This part calls for neutrals, black, and green (mine is blue).

Here you can see I have a strip already sewn together for the next step of cutting it in pieces the make the completed unit below.   

By the end of the weekend, I have finished all the units for this clue as seen below:

Facebook is still in a flurry of posts about this Mystery Quilt, and one person asked how we were all keeping our clues organized.  It was an eye opener that the majority of people working on this were not organized in any way.  I couldn't even begin to imagine not being organized!!!  I collect cardboard box bottoms that hold canned goods from grocery stores.  They are sturdy, and I use them like trays.  I have various sized that I can use for different sized projects.  They keep my project organized and all in one spot.  They are stackable,  can hold a complete project, and when and if it becomes broken down, it can be easily replace for free!

This shows how all parts of the Mystery Quilt so far and how it fits in this box.  From left to right clue 1, clue 2 and clue 3, with the remainder loose half square triangles that will be used later, and the bonus "mini" half square triangles that will be used in the end as a border all around the quilt.   Its all organized ready to go when the final assembly is ready to start.  Kinda looks like I will have to break out another box bottom for the rest of the clues coming up this month.

I have linked my post on this clue on Bonnie's blog, and if you are interested in seeing what others are doing in regards to this mystery quilt, click here to check out all the flurry of excitement!!

Just a note, if you have read all the way through my post, I have a brand new, never used book of an author that Bonnie sells on her web site.  It is called Nickel Quilts by Pat Speth, and has 20 scrappy patterns in this book.  I have since purchased Pat Speth's late book which combined this book and her other book "More Nickel Quilts" together in one book.  If interested in purchasing it, I have it as a listing on my ETSY site here.  

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Grand Illusion Mystery Quilt Part 2

Friday part 2 was posted for the Grand Illusion Mystery Quilt, and once again Facebook was full of fervor and flooded with so many participants posting about it.  So many of the participants were in total despair and complaining about struggling with the construction of the unit  and or not understanding the directions.

When I was reading the directions, Bonnie Hunter, started out by telling us that she was going to give us three ways to accomplish this unit.  Reading through the first two I knew I would not be following those directions (paper piecing and speciality ruler). By the time I got through Bonnie's third way of making this unit I knew that I could and would be doing these units doing it this way.  So all was good in the neighborhood.

The directions called for the neutrals to be used, and I felt a little uneasy about the amount of actual"Thimbleberries" neutrals that I had, and really wanted to try to stick with just the line of Thimbleberries fabric.  Somewhere in the back of my mind I knew I had more scraps or fat quarters of this fabric.  Then the light bulb went on!!!!!

Quite a few years ago, (while I was working) I participated in a monthly program through Keepsake Quilting called Thimbleberries Medley of the Month.  Every month they would send you 6 fat quarters of the different lines of fabric that came out throughout the year.  I think I participated for about three years.  But I had them up high in the back of a closet, so they were kinda out of sight, out of mind.   I squealed with delight (I think the dog thought I was crazy) when I came across 12 fat quarters of neutrals!!!!  Finding these, I now know I have enough for the parts of this mystery quilt.

This picture shows the first two units that take six individual pieces.   I need to make 100 of these units.  By the end of the day Friday, after cutting out all the pieces, I managed to get about one fifth of the units done, (update:  by end of the weekend I constructed 35 units, more than a third of the required 100, considering we had a trade show this weekend and I could only get some sewing in Sunday night!) including the constructions of these:

As a bonus, it was suggested that the cut of portions of the top and bottom of these units could be made into these half square blocks.  When all the part 2 units are done, there will be 400 of these blocks available to be used for a bonus outer border of the quilt.  I will be doing this, by alternating a black and a red all the way around the quilt, framing the finished quilt.

This just gets better every time a new part gets posted!!

I will be linking up on Bonnie's site here.

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Colors and Fabrics for Grand Illusion Mystery Quilt

I received a nice commet asking me what other colors was I going to be using in this Mystery Quilt, so I thiught I woule give you a gander.

Bonnie Hunter, the leader of all this fun, posted the colors she was going to use as part of the introduction to this years mystery quilt.  You can read all about how and why she chose her colors here at her introduction post.  For the next month, there was fevor of the likes I have never seen before of participants scrambling to obtain the exact colors that Bonnie posted in her introduction.  Bonnie posted paint chip cards from Lowes (Valspar Paint chips to be exact) and then pulled fabrics from her scrap basket of varying types of prints along the spectrum of these chip cards.  Women were posting on Facebook almost every hour about either obtaining the chips or  being upset about not having a Lowes or Valspar paint chips available to them.  It went so far that those who had the chip cards were getting extras and sending sets all over the country and even across the continents so that everyone who wanted and felt they needed them could have a set.

I read whole fervor as it unfolded on Facebook trying to decide whether or not I wanted to participate in this frenzy or not.  Since we are always at Lowes for one reason or another, (remember the greenhouse?) just for kicks, I picked up the set of paint chip cards.  Once I had pulled one of each and took a good look at them I said "yuck" to myself.  I don't mean to rain on these participants parade, but I am just not a fan of the modern bright colors for my quilts.

I picked up these cards about a week before the first clue was to be posted, and keep telling myself that I didn't want to do this Mystery Quilt, because 1.  I don't have these colors in my stash, and 2.  I certainly wasn't go to buy any new fabric, and 3.  I wasn't sure about doing another mystery quilt, only to have it go down the drain like I had so many times before doing this type of quilt.

But then, I saw a post about last years mystery quilt by Bonnie, called Celtic Soltace. Saw just how beautiful they were, and came across a participant who had done one using a different color way, specifically Thimbleberries.  So, the day before the first clue was to come out, and 30 days later after the introduction of Bonnie's colors came out, I went to my Thimbleberries stash, and came up with more than enough to do this year's Mystery Quilt.

My green is her turuqoise, my red is her pink, my gold is her yellow, my blue is her green.  And of course I am using black and neutrals along with the way Bonnie is using hers.  The darker brown in the upper left hand corner is a 108"wide backing fabric print that I will use for my backing when the quilt top is done.

I realize I should have posted about the color selection first before doing the first clue, but better late than never.  Thank you for the reader who asked the question of what other colors will I be using.

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Grand Illusion Step One Completed

It has been exceptionally chilly here in the Pacific Northwest, and I have spent the days inside rather than outside (doing the rest of the fall garden clean up).  I was busy making candy (peanut brittle, billionaire clusters, crockpot crack, reese's peanut butter cups, fudge, pay day bars, and mixed nut toppers), and working on completing step one of the Grand Illusion Mystery quilt that I wrote about in my previous post.

While making 100 of the 4 1/2 inch units, I had a close inspector and helper, Junior.  Although in this picture, he was taking a little nap, only because he got very bored tired towards the end of the process.  

Here are the completed units.  I have put them in groups of twenty as I was completing them, so I would not have to keep counting to know when I had reached the 100 unit mark.  I had a few extra yellow and black 2 1/2" squares left over from the WOF strips, so I went ahead and made a few more units.  That way if I need to change units when we start to put the whole quilt layout together I will have a few to play around with.  If nothing else, I can make them into a side table runner or a pillow.

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Grand Illusion Mystery Quilt

I have been following Bonnie Hunter's blog Quiltville for some time now, and have been fascinated with her scrappy quilts.  Then I discovered this November, that she has a Mystery Quilt every year.  I grabbed her button if you would like to follow along with this Mystery Quilt process.  The requirements were posted about a month ago and the first clue was posted last Friday.  A new clue is posted every Friday until the the first of January.  If you have lots of stash and scraps, and have some time and want to join in the fun, then head on over to her blog and check it all out.

Also, every Monday after each clue has been posted on Friday, there is a link up party of many participants who are actually getting some of the clues done to show off to each other.  This Monday link up and be found here by clicking on Quiltville Link Up.

I decided at the last minute, Thanksgiving Day actually, to pull from my stash and scrap baskets to participate in this Mystery Quilt.  I have had lousy luck in the past with Mystery quilts, but Bonnie Hunter's scrap quilts and past Mystery Quilts, are just gorgeous and I would like to use up some of my stash and scraps to something other than a simple nine-patch.

True to myself and what I like best, I went with Thimbleberries fabrics from the numerous past projects I have done.  I was able to pull enough fabric (and then some) from the baskets, and will be able to make the whole quilt which will measure 88" X 88".  The gold is the consistent fabric through out this quilt, just like the yellow is in Bonnie Hunter's color way.  The rest of the colors will be totally different prints of each color way to make it truly scrappy.

Below shows two units I put together just for the link up party today.  I have most of my half square triangles (280 sets) done, and will be putting together these units the rest of the week, so that I will be ready Friday for the next clue.

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