Bonnie Hunter's Grand Illusion Mystery Quilt

My friend, Heather, has talked me into doing Bonnie Hunter's Grand Illusion mystery quilt project. I have never done a mystery quilt before so this is all new to me.

This project starts off with a set of Valspar paint chips from Lowe's that Bonnie has specified along with a list of yardage needed. Then you start gathering your fabrics. You also need a variety of black and neutral fabrics.

Paint Chips

From what I understand of Bonnie's work (and it is extensive!), she likes scrappy quilts. The Grand Illusion quilt can be done with a single piece of fabric in each color (yellow, pink, green and aqua) or scrappy in those colors. I am going with more of a scrappy style for my mystery quilt.

It has been fun going through my stash looking for fabrics. I found a few but my stash is fairly small so I have had to go shopping. Oh, how terrible! Shop for fabrics! The agony. LOL.

The yellow is the one constant fabric used through the quilt and I have a fabric selected from my local quilt shop. I will pick it up later this week. I'm fortunate in that my travels for work gives me access to many more shops to look for fabric. Last week, I was able to visit five different stores and I was able to find a few pieces in each one. Plus Heather and I went to a quilt show in Spokane last Sunday and I found a few fat quarters there.

My fabrics for the the Mystery Quilt

Heather and I decided we would give each other a piece of fabric that we would share in our quilts. This is the fabric I am sharing with her.

Moda fabric

The first clue is released on Friday, November 28th. I can't wait to get started!

Comments

A New Dust Cover For My Handi Quilter Machine

I have been using a sheet as a dust cover on my Handi Quilter HQ16 longarm machine. Not pretty, but it did the job. The other day I was shopping at my local quilt store and she had a bolt of fabric that called to me and said, "Hey! I would make a great cover for your longarm machine." The fabric pattern is called Laugh Love Quilt by Amy Hamberlin for Henry Glass Fabrics. I knew there was a free download pattern on the Handi Quilt website so I checked to see how much yardage I would need before leaving the store. The pattern is for their Avante 18 (they also include info for the Fusion 24). They also include a pattern size if your machine has the Prostitcher--mine does not. The HQ instructions are really brief and not very informative. There are not many pictures of completed covers to give an idea on what the finished product is like. I found a couple of blog posts for the sit down version covers that were somewhat helpful. Otherwise I would be on my own. I would nee

Pincushion with Thread Catcher Bag

I have been wanting to make my own pincushion and thread catcher bag for a while now. My mom gave me one awhile back but I have seem to have lost it in moving. The patterns I saw online just weren't what I wanted so it was time to come up with my own. I used the pattern posted at Sew Mama Sew! as my starting point. It wasn't exactly what I wanted but it was close. I didn't need the organizer part nor that large of a pincushion. I did like how the bag was removable however. On the other hand, I wanted the "cuff" of the bag to be on the outside so it would make it easier to empty the bag. I didn't want threads getting caught under the "lip" of the fabric. With some modifications, here is what I came up with. The only piece that I ended up purchasing was the button. Everything else was scraps I had on hand or found around the house. I probably could have found an old button but I saw this one at my local quilt shop and thought it would be perfec

Turning Twenty - Not What You Think!

I am not turning twenty. That happened many years ago! But I am Turning Twenty with my latest project and it IS making my hair turn gray. Say what?! I've started on my Christmas projects and the first one is a quilt for the youngest granddaughter who is sixteen. Her favorite colors are purple and lime green. Quite the bold combo if you ask me. But those are the colors she likes. The pattern I chose is Turning Twenty by Tricia Cribbs. Its an easy pattern to cut and make. You just pick twenty different fat quarters and go to town on your quilt. I chose to do the twelve block layout rather than twenty. I wanted to make a lap quilt rather than a big one. I picked out twelve fat quarters in different shades of purple, lime green and hot pink, all with a polka dot / circular pattern to the fabric and a coordinating flower print for the binding at my local quilt shop. Cutting out the blocks took me less than an hour. There is very little waste and the instructions are well written an

Sally Said Sew

Search This Blog