Mystery Quilt Complete + Mug Rug

I’ve been working on the mystery quilt for nine months and on month ten we all got the “reveal”. I bought the extra border kit so I have a very nice sized quilt. I’ve love the fabric from the beginning and I still think it’s beautiful.

I’ve been wanting to do a quilt with curves but so far I haven’t had any luck settling into a quilt that pleases me. So I decided to try improv curves. Here’s my lame attempt; I can’t imagine doing a whole quilt but Bridges (our cat) needs a new mug rug. I think I’ll give up again on curves (but I suspect the desire will return again. . . )

Complete: Crazier Eights + WIP: Mystery Quilt + Chandelier Quilt

The last time I posted I showed you a picture of my Crazier Eight quilt top. Well, Amy Reilly of Appletree Quilts did her usual great job of selecting the quilt stitch and finishing the quilt. Mike & I are seriously pleased with the results.

We are in month 9 of 10 in the 2024-2025 mystery quilt from CottonCuts.com. Here’s the block I created for this month; aren’t the colors just wonderful? If you want to see all the block go here. Month 10 will be the reveal and how to put the blocks together—I’m lookin’ forward to that.

I bought a collated group of teal fat quarters and I’ve decided to put together a chandelier quilt (also called a tear drop quilt). I’m in the midst of creating the blocks so these blocks are just higgledy-piggledy up on my design wall.

WIP: Crazier Eight + Mystery Quilt + Playful Patchwork

I have three WIPs (Work in Progress) which used to be unusual. However now I have two “block a month” type projects so I work on newly dropped blocks and fill in with a shorter term project.

Crazier Eight is named for a set of templates used to cut the fabric into pieces. Here’s the WIP on my design wall. I stopped working on this because Playful Patchwork dropped the next instructions.

And finally a long running project is Mystic Cactus from Cotton Cuts. This is a mystery quilt so I have no idea what the quilt will look like, but I love the fabric. You can see the other blocks here

Four WIPs: Black & White + Wonky Blocks + Which Witch + Mystery

I’ll be working on four WIPs for a while now. I’ve been working on a black and white quilt for about a week now and it’s ready to go get quilted by Amy my long-suffering longarm quilter. These are a few of the fabrics I used. Quilt picture to come next update.

The “Wonky Blocks” formally known as “Playful Patchwork” is an online course I’m taking created by designer Sheila Christensen. Somehow I stumbled across a picture of this quilt and Mike and I were both delighted with the colors and the look of the quilt. I didn’t realize that the blocks would be dropped on a monthly basis. So for the first month I’ll be working on the middle row - wonky stars; later lessons will be houses and trees, butterflies, churn dash blocks and more. I’ll be sticking close-ish to the colors in the quilt.

The second WIP is the mystery quilt — you seen pictures for the sections as I create them. See here if you need a reminder.

And the third WIP is “Which Witch” — a appliqué block. This will be my first foray into appliqué but I fell in love with the pattern. Each block is rough 8 1/2 x 11 and depending on how well I pick up the technique, I might create a small tote bag or a small quilt. We’ll see.

Completed: Allie Owl in Pink + WIP: Black & White + Mystery Quilt

I’m very pleased (and my arms are very tired) with the quilting on Allie Owl. I quilted this on my domestic machine and it took three days to finish! This is closely quilted on the diagonal which creates the diamond pattern. I have to hold up the hanging edge of the quilt so the fabric runs smoothly under the needle. I have a whole new way of creating arm muscles 😁

My next quilt will be a black & white quilt with bright red rows. I’m going to use the pattern that created this quilt and this quilt. The pattern is a favorite because it’s very forgiving and it showcases fabric beautifully. Below are a couple of pictures of the black and white fabric I’ll be using in the quilt. You’ll see the red fabric next time . . .

We’re in month 3 of the mystery quilt — correctly known as Cotton Cuts 2024 Fall Puzzle Mystery Quilt. They’ve called this project “Wild West” and my colorway is “Mystic Cactus”. I am in love with the colors in this fabric—this quilt might my “forever quilt”.

Completed: Allie Owl in Blue + WIP: Allie Owl in Pink

I finished the WIP Allie Owl in Blue and we’re delighted with the way it turned out !! I spent a couple of days doing the quilting; zoom in to see the echo quilting in the owl and serpentine quilting in the borders.

I’ve finished the top for Allie Owl in pink. I’ll be off to our local quilt shop to get the quilt batting, binding and backing fabrics on Monday. I’m planning on straight line quilting for this one.

WIP as of 09/15/2024

WIP: Allie Owl + Mystery Quilt

Well, I have three nice looking Allie Owls !! Yeah, yeah. In person, these are quite large and almost seem intimidating so I’ve decided to use two of the owls as baby quilts and one (the dark blue) as a wall hanging. Mike fell in love with the dark blue and wants it as a wall hanging. We’ve ordered some fabric that mimics a border pattern and I’m off to the local quilt shop today to get some “background” fabric to finish the other two owls.

I took close looks at lots of owls and decided I like the layout of this one the best. Somehow the offset is very attractive to my eye. And I might try to do the same quilting technique as well.

The second clue to my new mystery quilt is complete. I’m in love with the fabric ❤️

WIP: Allie Owl + Mystery Quilt

Allie Owl is not moving especially well. The pattern relies on exact cutting and exact sewing — two major faults in my quilt vocabulary. At first glance this looks pretty good — but a close inspection will show that the right side of the “wings” has puckers and I think I stretched the bias angle. I’m hoping that this can be “quilted out”. I shall soldier on - I’ve paid particular attention to exact cutting and exact sewing and will continue to do so . . . .

The Fall 2024 Puzzle Mystery Quilt from Cotton Cuts has begun and I am loving the green color and the fabric itself.

Complete: Shining Star + WIP: Allie Owl + Mystery Quilt

The Shining Star quilt is complete and back from the long armer ! Here’s the front of the quilt and (a not very good) picture of the back. Zoom in closer to see pattern.

I’ve begun working on a sample Allie Owl. The beak gave me problems on the pink and now the green. Neither of us liked the pink — too much pink and too many dots. The green will use solids only. I’m not exactly sure what is going on — improper cutting? 1/4” seam(s) too big or small??

My mystery quilt fabric seems to be caught in the maw of the USPS. Cotton Cuts shows the fabric was sent to the Post Office on 7/25 but lots of quilters haven’t received their fabric. Others are reporting they received the fabric, but no reporting about the journey is available. Ahhh well. Hopefully, next update. . .

WIP: Shining Star + Up Next

I’ve been working along on the Shining Star quilt by Suzy Quilts. this was fun for me because I haven’t done a lot of improv work. The improv blocks are a take-off on the Log cabin quilt block. The first picture is an example of a traditional Log Cabin quilt block and the second picture is my quilt top with four different improv quilt blocks (each of which are 20” square).

I’ll be taking my quilt to Amy my go-to longarm quilter. We’ve already picked out the quilting pattern and the thread.

Up Next 1:

My new mystery quilt block of the month will begin late this month (July) and run for 10 months. Here’s what the fabric will look like. I’ve fallen in love with green and I’ll bet this will look great.

Up Next (2)

My next project is Allie Owl by Elizabeth Hartman. I’ve had several of her quilts in my lineup for quite a while and I think I’m ready to tackle it. Here’s her conception of Allie Owl. If you’d like to see how others interpret her design take a look at Instagram #AllieOwl

Complete: Can Animals Count? + WIP: Shining Star

The “Can Animals Count?” quilt is complete. I really enjoyed working on this quilt — no new techniques, just cut, sew and go 😁

My new quilt is called Shining Star by Suzy at SuzyQuilts.com. I’ve been admiring the two-color quilt now for quite a long time and I finally dove into the pattern. I love this Grunge fabric — it’s been a go-to fabric for me for a while. You can see in the next picture that I started building two practice blocks (the blue) and then moving on the the green and gold Grunge. The full blue block isn’t yet sewn together but I think the block is lovely and very large !! I’m not quite sure what I’ll do with it. I’ll begin sewing cutting and sewing the Grunge blocks and might have something to show you next update.

WIP: Can Animals Count? + New Mystery Quilt + Shining Star

I began work on a simple Jelly Roll quilt using the fabric collection Can Animals Count? I plan on giving this one away, possibly to Linus Project. I’ve finished the quilt top and will be quilting this myself.

I was so pleased with the two mystery quilts I’ve done that I decided to do another. I chose “Mystic Cactus” which will run for 10 months. We get our first clues toward the end of June, so stay tuned. I’m pretty sure it will be awesome.

And my next quilt will be “Shining Star” in two colors by Suzy Quilts. I’ll be doing the baby quilt. Here’s a sample of the quilt; mine will have four blocks rather than six as this one shows. This quilt illustrates a “wonky” log cabin block surrounded by flying geese. I’ll have a picture of my colors in my next update.

Complete: Mystery Quilt + Giraffes in a Row + WIP: Count

Cotton Cuts released the “reveal” of the mystery quilt and I finally fell in love. The blues in this quilt were sometimes so close that I wasn’t sure I was putting it together correctly. But BOY did this turn out well.

Here’s a picture showing the quilting pattern on the backing. You might need to zoom in to see the pattern, but it’s a loopy one :-)

My other finish in May was the Giraffes in a Row — which I think is adorable. The pattern is by Lorna McMahon of Sew Fresh Quilts. She has some nifty patterns . . . I quilted this one myself in a simple checkerboard pattern.

WIP: Mystery Quilt + Giraffes in a Row

I got the reveal of the Mystery Quilt and have been working on putting the pieces together. I have two more borders to attach and then the quilt will go off to Amy, the longarm quilter. As each piece came in the mail, I wondered about my choice of color but I’m very pleased with the way the quilt turned out.

The giraffe quilt is moving, but not very rapidly. I wanted the get the mystery quilt off my hands, so I worked on it. Here’s the design wall with the giraffes. You can see that I need to finish the last giraffe; I’m going to quilt this one myself.

WIP: Giraffes in a Row + Retro Blossoms (curves !!)

The Giraffes quilt is coming along nicely. I will probably have the top finished by my next update and perhaps even some quilting on it. Cathy, our long-time house cleaner, came into my sewing room and immediately smiled when she saw my design wall. Exactly !!

I’ve had curved blocks on my bucket list for some time now. Years ago, I tried making an orange peel quilt, but my skills were simply too unrefined and I abandoned the project with a promise to revisit curves again. Now is the time. I’ve signed up for an online class: “Curve College” put on by Brittany at Lo & Behold Stitchery. She has designed a lovely quilt with three different curved blocks: Drunkard’s Path, Orange Peel and Half Circle. The quilt is titled Retro Blossoms and I’ll be doing the hemlock (green) color way pictured here:

The class begins 4/29 and continues for 10 weeks. This class is self-paced; new modules drop each Monday with that week’s proposed activities. I’m very much looking for to this !!

Complete: Deco + Mystery Quilt + Next Project

WooHoo !! The Deco quilt is back from the longarm quilter & I think it looks pretty doggone good !

The next-to-last-month fabric for the Cotton Cuts Puzzle Mystery Quilt (PMQ) arrived and the last sections look like the following; near the end of April I’ll receive the “reveal” of the quilt pattern. This is a larg-ish quilt so it will spend a little time at the long armer.

My next project is titled “Giraffes in a Row” by Lorna McMahon of Sew Fresh Quilts. I’ve had this on my to-do list for quite a while and it just makes me smile :-) Here are a couple of examples of other folks’ quilts.

I made a test giraffe so I could work through difficulties - I corrected more than a few errors as I went along, but didn’t correct the error in the hip area. The second picture below is the fabric I’ll be using for the actual quilt.

WIP: Deco + Upcoming

The Deco quilt (pattern by Brittany Lloyd of Lo & Behold Stitchery) is coming along, although haltingly. I’m moving slowly as I learn new techniques and methods. This will be ready to go to the longarm quilter in the next couple of days though (3/19 or 3/20). Her usual turnaround is about two weeks, so you’ll see the finished quilt around early April.

I’ve pretty much decided that “Giraffes in a Row” by Lorna McMahon of Sew Fresh Quilts will be my next project. I’m thinking of a dark chocolate background with the giraffes in lighter shades of brown. I’m making the baby quilt (39” x 39”) but, as the quilter has done on this inspiration quilt, I might add a border to two to make the quilt larger. This quilt will be a real winner, I think. . .

This quilt pattern uses new methods to put together the blocks, so you’ll see some practice blocks before I get down to the real fabric.

WIP: Mystery Quilt + Deco

We’re in month eight of the Cotton Cuts mystery quilt. Month 9 is the last month for fabric and Month 10 is the reveal.

I’ve begun work on the Deco baby quilt. This might be the most technically challenging quilt I’ve work on. As a reminder, here’s my inspiration quilt

I’ve found that making test blocks with scrap fabric is a wise way to start most quilts. Deco has three primary blocks each of which should measure 8 1/2” square. The first test block was only 7 7/8”; the second test block measured 8 3/8” — just 1/8” short.

I figured that was “close enough for gov’ment work” as my dad used to say (somewhat sarcastically) so here are those two blocks in my chosen fabric. These blocks went together pretty quickly, without a lot of trouble.

The third block is giving me fits. This is my first encounter with strip sets and I couldn’t figure out how to do the strip sets in my scrap fabric so I started using my chosen fabric. The first test block was hopelessly too small; the second is better and I hope the third will be better yet. Because there are so many small pieces the block warps easily so I have to be extra gentle when I press (don’t iron, press) and apply starch

WIP: Mystery Quilt + Deco

Section 7 of the mystery quilt arrived and I spent a couple of morning putting together the clues. I’m still pretty unsure of the colorway so I’ll just have to hope the reveal is a pleasure for me.

I’ve begun work on my next quilt Deco by Lo & Behold Stitchery. Practically since my first day learning to quilt I’ve heard about the “scant 1/4 inch” stitch which is kinda like a black rose or the treasure at the end of the rainbow — something greatly desired but (perhaps) unattainable. Brittany, the quilt designer at Lo & Behold, has written extensively about the scant 1/4” and how important it is — and now I know how desirable it is and how to attain it. Behold two test blocks which should be 8.5”

The first test block was a dismal failure, as you can see. It’s nowhere near 8.5”. I searched and found explanations: each line of stitches uses up a couple of extra threads of the fabric — perhaps 1/16” or 1/8” depending on factors. This block has 9 lines of stitching to create the block — so somewhere between 9/16” or 9/8” are used up making the block smaller than is called for.

Fortunately for me the fix was easy - use a different 1/4” setting on my machine. I won’t bore you with what I went through to find this, but find it I did.

I will begin working with the real fabric I’ll use for the quilt and have more to report in my next post.