Mystery Quilt resurfaces

As I write this, it's 64 minutes until 2014 rolls around. So of course, it's time for a blog update.

I hadn't visited this quilt since back in April, when I kinda got stuck on the clues for that month. It was all about making endless Economy Patch blocks. That wasn't the problem though, because once you've got the cutting out of the way, they're really simple to put together.

Back to Square One - April

The part that got me stuck was having to have them an exact size afterwards. Which means trimming to size. And trimming up blocks is my absolute most unliked part of the whole quilting process.

And so, a couple of weeks ago, I looked at the pile of quilt centre/sewn blocks/cut pieces and thought, life's too short to stress about whether to finish a quilt that you're stuck on, so just add it all to the orphan block/scrap heap, and reuse it somewhere else. So I got it out, and then thought, hey, I actually still like this, why don't I give it one more go.

The pic above is with the medallion centre and one border, which I decided to mitre (the fabric is striped, so it made sense!), and half of the Economy Patch blocks.

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Then I worked on the May clue (remember, it's a mystery quilt! It's now December, but I didn't peek ahead). This was where I had to join all those squares, and have the points match up. Matching up points is my second most unliked part of the whole quilting process. But I told myself not to be too nitpicky (I'm not trying to win any prizes with this quilt, after all), and just do my best. With the pressure off, I only had to redo two or three seams.

Back to Square One - May

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 The June clue was fairly simple - add two borders; the aforementioned pieced border, and another dark brown plain border. I thought I'd have to mitre this one too, which had me mad at myself for doing the first one like that; but then I remembered I had more than one dark brown fabric to choose from (yay for scrappy quilts!).

Back to Square One - June

I'm really liking it now. Who would've thought pink and brown could work together?

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And finally, the last three days has had me cutting and piecing endless (okay, just 24) Log Cabins. Truth be told, I've never made more that one Log Cabin at a time, as I've only ever made them as sampler patches.

When I laid them out for the photo, I finally realised why some quilters are so hooked on making them. I still prefer variety over repetition, but I have a new appreciation of the good ol' Log Cabin.

Back to Square One - July - 24 x 6.5" blocks

Square One on April One

Today's pic is of the March installment of the Back to Square One medallion mystery quilt.

It measures about 33" square. This will be my first ever medallion quilt, so I don't know what to expect, but I'm fairly certain that this is the centre of the quilt.

There's going to be a whole lot more brown, because the dark and medium browns are my main colours, blues next, with the pink being a highlight.

April's clue will be out in the next few hours. I can hardly wait to see what happens next!

random cat picture day

Yes, another one, already.

I was going to title this "Mystery Picture" or some hopefully witty version of that, but then I spotted Tabitha keeping cool from the January sun in the shade of the dwarf bamboo.

For the curious gardening and tree-loving people out there in cyberland, the bamboo is beside a hazelnut tree (male, sadly, so no fruit), which just sprouted there of its own accord (which explains their too-close proximity). On the far right of the picture are the leaves of a flowering cherry tree.

Anyway, the mystery of the picture is that I don't know what exactly this wooden item is. I found it at a garage sale last summer. There's a homemade-looking stand thing, with notches at the top, as if waiting for a skinny dowel to sit in it. It came with the quilting hoop. It's a good quality hoop, so I was pleased to get them both for just $5. I'm unsure whether the hoop goes with the stand, but the lady selling it thought her mum used them together. There's a part missing, obviously, but she couldn't find it, so the mystery remains with me.

Spot the difference

You may or may not remember this block from a few days ago:

It's not actually a block, it's pieces from Clue 1 in the Back to Square One mystery quiltalong.

I completed February's Clue 2, and let my daughter play with the layout:

Her initial layout.

I encouraged her to flip some pieces.

 

I liked it before, but I'm loving it now, with the addition of the deep pink.

I played too...

... rotating ...

... and flipping.

The blue of our carpet matches one of the blues in the quilt, which makes some of the negative space look like it's supposed to be there, especially in these last three.

I liked viewing these as thumbnails, it really highlighted the differences just a small change can make to the whole look.

Another Mystery

My third 2013 BOM is by Cindy of Quilt Doodle Designs: the Quilt Doodle Mystery BOM. There's a new block on the first of the month, 12 blocks total, with some fancy sashing to bring it all together.

Here's my fabric selection:

 

Can you guess which one's the focus fabric?!

It's an interesting print which I bought only because it was discounted, and was the best out of what was left. I've always wondered what I'd use it for. I really like it with these other prints and plains.

This is the first 12" block, Monkey Wrench:

 

I've always loved this design.

Back to Square One

Back to Square One Medallion Mystery is a fun BOM that Judy from Patchwork Times has created, along with Vicki from Field Trips in Fiber. The end result will be a medallion-type quilt, 92” x 92”. Clues will be given each month, keeping the final design mysteriously secret. I was intrigued enough to give it a go.

These are my fabric choices:

Not having enough of any one fabric (except for the background, which is an op shop sheet!), I’ve gone deliberately scrappy. It’s a gamble, but I reckon 2013 is a year to take chances. If my end result turns out horrendous, I’ll just use it as a backing. But I’m pretty sure that won’t happen.

Here are my bits from the January clues:

Do you like my artful arrangement? No, I don’t have any inside knowledge of the final block arrangement... I was just playing. Trying for a more interesting composition. Next time I won't photograph the pieces on the carpet, as it's the same colour as some of the blue triangles.