My First Mystery Quilt  - Week One


So, I've made the commitment to make a quilt called "EASY STREET" with Bonnie Hunter (www.quiltville.com). I've shopped (in my stash, mostly) for the fabrics that she recommended:

Yes, I found all the fabrics except the grey in the foreground in my stash.

When I signed on to Facebook early Friday (11-23-2012) morning, I found that Bonnie had posted the first set of instructions - I need to make 192 fourpatches (finished size 3") from 2" strips of the grey and the black-on-white prints.

It's now Sunday morning - and I've made a lot of progress:

I've got about 100 done - I'll finish the rest while watching the Packer game this evening.

I've been promising myself that I would write a blog since May of this year - maybe this is finally the right time.

I'vew recently become a fan of Bonnie Hunter and the quilts that she designs.  Her website is www.quiltville.com - loads of patterns (free!) and a real commitment to the scrappy quilt concept. 

Bonnie has recently launched a Mystery Quilt - fabric requirements were published about 10 days ago, and instructions will be posted in steps on Fridays starting on the day after Thanksgiving.  We 'll build the quilt in components, and won't know the final "design" until the end....that's the mystery!

I shopped (in my fabric stash) and found 90% of what I needed.  Colors are turquoise/aqua , limey-apple greens, purples and assorted black-on-white prints.  I did have to go shopping for the neutral gray that the project requires.  I'll make one more trip to JoAnn Fabrics today and use my coupon to get new rotaray cutter blades.  Then, I'll wait for the Friday morning release of the first set of instructions.  

I've never done a mystery quilt before....although I will admit that I have often started quilts with no clear vision of what the end result would be. A perfect example is in the works in my sewing studio right now.

I saw this pattern made with shirting plaids at my guilds recent show....the simplicity of the blocks and the perky little stars really appealed to me. I've been wanting to make a blue and yellow quilt (size undetermined at that point), so this seemed like a perfect choice. I believe the pattern is called "Thousand Points of Light" from Fons & Porter.

Well, here we are  about two weeks later, and I've pieced a queen-sized quilt.  I've added a solid blue border and will bind it in a yellow print when the quilting is complete.  I think I may hand quilt this is a simple grid pattern.....I'll make that decision later.  For now, I'm happy to have the top pieced.   

I think I'll go sweep the sewing room floor..............