Quilt Tops - Finished!

I have been on task!

It is such a great feeling to finish two big quilt tops. Both projects had lots of piecing with many points to match.

Bonnie Hunter Mystery 2016

My first Bonnie Hunter mystery, "En Provence," was a great little challenge. I used the specialty rulers Bonnie recommended for her design. Her ruler, the Essential Triangle tool was used to make all the half square triangles and the quarter square triangles. Her ruler was great and I need to remember to use it for my own designs.  Bonnie used Tri Recs rulers for making the "triangle in a square" sections, also a great set of rulers. For years I have read Bonnie's blog and she spends lots of time emphasizing the accuracy of the quarter-inch seam in piecing...I totally understand her constant harping on this necessity. When I started putting everything together it was really amazing how often I basted a row where all the points were meeting and it was good without fixing before I put in the final stitching. I'm pretty much a stickler for my points being crisp so what a relief to have it all come together so nicely. 

 

"Le Tour de Provence," 69 x 87

I did make my version, "Le Tour de Provence," smaller, twelve blocks instead of 16. Kudos to all those quilters who did her original size. I saw some really great versions of this pattern in the blogging world. The quilt below is one of my favorites and I would have done this if I had seen it earlier. This is Jane Klotz Gephart's version as seen on the facebook page of McTavish Quilting Studio.

Photo from McTavish Quilting Studio FB post.

There are ways to simplify Bonnie's designs and I would take some of those steps if I were to tackle any of her designs in the future. I get that her niche is using scraps...I just don't have the scrap stash she has to fulfill the scrappy fabric designs...maybe after another 20 years of quilting. I had to order strips to make this design...that kind of defeats the goal of busting your stash for a quilt project. I think I would have had a comparable result with straight yardage in these colors...especially working with batiks like I always do.

Breakfast Club Mystery 2016

Our Breakfast Club mystery was another major piecing project. I also made this mystery smaller, 35 blocks instead of 80...yes...80 blocks in the original design. I think 42 blocks has been the largest finish so far from our group of Breakfast Club quilters. 

I made my own border design, a variation of piano keys, to follow the layout of the blocks with the 1/2" charcoal sections. A great way to use up many of the 2 1/2 x 5-inch pieces I didn't want to make into more blocks. I used a "Splash," Bali pop and Bali cracker with the Hoffman 1895, "Blacklight," which is more like a charcoal color, as the background fabric.

"Fruit Rollups," 57 x 75

Here's a reminder of the original design Marcia used to create the mystery, "Meadow," from the book, "Moda All-Stars Scraps Made Simple." Marcia made her version in bright batiks with a dark background and encouraged everyone to swap bright batiks for a truly scrappy look. I was on the fence about participating in the mystery since winter driving is a bit challenging in December but the quilting goddess cleared the streets so I was able to make the session...though I didn't take part in the scrap swap.

I am getting a reputation for creating little designs with my leftovers from trimming the corners of the blocks where a 2 1/2-inch square is sewn on the diagonal of a block corner. I get a 1 3/4-inch half square triangle that finishes as 1 1/4-inch...tiny little devils...but they have become a bit of an obsession. Here's what I am doing so far with these scraps...making little blocks that will finish at 3-inches. 

Another little quilting project that could take months...