This week at my place.

In an effort to keep blog a little more regular, I will (hopefully) update each week what I am doing sewing wise. So, here we go....

 I am working on step 7 of the Love Peace mystery quilt by LoveShack Quilts. I enjoyed watching Midnight Quilter on Craftsy Youtube, while drawing diagonal lines on 6" blocks.

I will talk more about Midnight Quilter in a later blog.

 ON MY WALL ....

I have completed the Bonnie Hunter's En Provence top and it is hanging on my design wall waiting for me to purchase the backing and batting for the quilt, then a 'spare' 😀 day to pin, quilt and bind.

UNDER MY NEEDLE ...

After ruling the diagonal lines I proceeded to sew a 1/4" either side of the drawn line. I always like to check a few times while sewing that I am pretty close to the 1/4". Not bad, I thought.

..and here is the finished part 7 of the Love Peace Mystery quilt.

What to do this coming week.... finish En Provence quilt, make at least one table topper, and work on Farmers Wife blocks.

En Provence Mystery Quilt

Regular readers know I love mystery quilts. This time of year I am doing Bonnie Hunter's Quiltville's mystery, (as well as others - busy time for mysteries) - this year inspired by the beautiful landscapes of France. As in previous years, I am doing half size, and Bonnie's colour choice recommendations are 'my' colours - well, except for yellow. I substituted the yellow for light pinks 😊.
 Bonnie's mystery starts at the end of November every year, and I started doing them back in 2012, with the Orca Bay Mystery. Although I had made mystery quilts previously from magazines, I do believe that Bonnie's mystery quilt really got me hooked.
This time of year there are many mysteries on-line so I find it easier to have a list of fabric requirements and a quick note about each unit made. I store this with the fabric in a box so it is always together for when the next clue comes out.

The first clue was a neutral 4-patch. Now that I have finished the top, except for the border, I have many 4-patches left over, so I may incorporate in in the border.

Part 2 was magenta & neutral units, followed by part 3 -a 4-patch lilac & purples.

Part 4 was a purple and neutrals unit same as part 2.
Part 5 was purple and neutrals half square triangles.
Part 6 was green, lilac and neutrals. I almost changed the greens for teal, and although I like the way the greens look, I still think teal would have been a better way to go.

So all units complete, well half of them, it is time to start to put the units together.
I swapped the yellow for pink, and for me it looks 100% better. I really don't like yellow!

I really like the way the units have come together, still think teal would have looked better.

I thought about having a thin magenta inner border, followed by a 3" outer border, but after auditioning it I didn't like it. I think I will incorporate the left over neutral 4-patches and make a neutral border with a magenta binding. 

As I made the quilt with half the units Bonnie suggested, I decided that a single bed topper would be what I complete. That leaves me with two central blocks. I will use one on a jacket that I am making, and the other as a table topper or caravan stove topper. Sold lots of caravan toppers, helps pay for petrol as we travel Australia.

Happy 2017

I'm not one for New Year resolutions, I like to make plans and set goals to achieve all through the year. One goal is to update my blogs more regularly, well, at least two of them (not sure I will continue the third). As in previous years I have been busy working on mystery quilts. I have been doing Bonnie Hunters Mystery quilt every year since Orca in 2011 and usually complete the last clues while camping beside the Bellinger River. Not this year. Camping got too expensive at $92.50 a night, so we decided the stay home and maybe have a city break at $99 a night at Southbank - much better value!
Anyway, how many mystery quilts can one do at a time? Over Christmas /New Year I was doing 5 different mysteries. The only problem was because I like 3 colours, I always try to use those colours. Doing 5 different mysteries with the same colours, when the clues came out at different times was very difficult. I had each mystery sorted into boxes, and moved fabric from one box to another when needed. I got a little scared that I would run out of some fabrics as the clues came to an end - but so far so good.

The mysteries I was/am doing are:

1. Simply Colorful Brown Bag mystery - this one I started first in September, but had to stop in October as I needed a special panel. I couldn't source it here in Australia, so needed to think of something else to use. I think I know what I am going to use now, but this mystery has been on the back burner, although it does have a lot less purples than it did.😇 

2. Love Shack Quilts Peace Love Mystery was started 15th October. The clues come out every two weeks, and I'm pleased to say I am all up to date with this one.

3. Bonnie Hunter's Quiltville Mystery 2016 - En Provence - started 25th November, and I am determined to finish the top TODAY!!!! Bonnie has wonderful quilt patterns and her mysteries are always large quilts, so I only do half the required number of units and if I have to make more to complete the size I want (like today) I will.

4. Quiltbug's Blooming Rails New Year's Eve mystery was a two day quilt with clues coming out by the hour during NY eve and NY day. I have only done this mystery a few times over the years, usually I don't hear about it until after the event, but my friend Cleary is great keeping us quilting buddies up-to-date with happenings. I have everything cut except the panel (a bit scared) and have completed the first couple of steps. Will get around to it - watch this space!

5. Merry Mayhem Mystery Quilt is run every New Years Day - which is 2 January here in Oz. The first clue comes out about 2am our time, so by the time I get up the first 3-4 clues are already out. This years mystery is #140 Nifty Thrifty, and I started doing it scrappy. By the time it came to put all the units together, it didn't look very good scrappy, so I ended up making four table toppers that will be great for caravan stove toppers as well. This is the only mystery that I have completed so far.

So that is what I've been doing, and am doing for the rest of this month at least - well that and Farmer's Wife blocks.