Monday, January 9, 2017

En Provence Mystery Quilt Clue 7 and Finale

Units ready and waiting for their big part in a block

January 1st Bonnie revealed her final clue and the big reveal. More hourglass units! Have you seen her quilt? Go look! * En Provence Mystery Quilt * The clues will be live and free until summer 2017 when Bonnie removes them because the quilt pattern will be published in one of her books. Go save, print or memorize them now! You will regret it if you pass up this opportunity.

I tuned into Netflix while I trimmed

I hustled and finished all of Clue 6. Then hustled some more to stitch up Clue 7. I worried about stitching those little bias sides of the Quarter Square Triangle - Hourglass units. I'm a reckless stitcher. I literally ran my hand over my strips before I cut them - stroking them smooth - they clung together and stitched up beautifully! I learn something new and improve my skills every time I do a Bonnie pattern. It makes me feel proud, like getting a gold star in school as a child.



Now to make blocks.

I have not stitched even one block together yet. I have watched all of you lovely quilters boldly create blocks, rows, columns, whole tops and even finished - on the bed amazing! And I'm hanging back trying to decide how MY colors play together to create my best version of Bonnie's design. She will get the credit on the quilt label even if I do alter something; I'm honest and want it recorded properly. No worries there. But how do my fabric choices look best?


  Contestant #1
The quilt block as Bonnie designed it. You can see my yellow is quite bold. The lavender in the hourglass units almost disappears.



Contestant #2
Putting yellow in the center of the green star. It provides more of a surround for the lavender hourglasses. But that much bold yellow really competes with the purples.


Contestant #3
This changes out the yellow corner blocks in the center/main block for purple/neutral half square triangle units. I like how it looks but it would necessitate making more HST's. I do like the yellow centers to the stars. It gives them a touch of a flower look.



Contestant #4
Takes all the big bold yellow out of the block. Leaves the possible additions of the purple/neutral HST's. This is a very peaceful look to me. Nothing jarring to the eye.


And I may still audition another tweak. This is play time baby :)

What are you stitching?



Monday, January 2, 2017

En Provence Mystery Quilt Clue 6

Can you believe Bonnie revealed everything in one fell swoop for her En Provence Mystery Quilt? Acckkk! I was so happy that I was caught UP TO Clue 6 which is hourglass units. I don't expect to get the whole clue done by the link up which comes a few days after the clue but I like to have some accomplished. I did stitch a few hourglass units on Sunday Jan 1st in an effort to have something done for Monday Link Up, then I got online that evening to find Bonnie had shared the whole tamale earlier that day! Totally forgot that she likes to gift us the big reveal on New Years Day. I'm happy but now I feel like I am behind which is really silly - she only gave us the final clues hours ago. Hours!

Clues 1-5 and a few of 6
This is a lesson to us all - do NOT be your own worst critic. I see many quilters being very harsh about their work. I do it too, just like the 'I'm behind' whine. We need to relax and remember we sew because we love it. I LOVE creating beautiful and useful items. So yeah, be nice to yourself :)

Have you seen Bonnie's new tool? The Essential Triangle Tool. She wrote this pattern to include her ruler and I bet its amazing. At the beginning of the Mystery the rulers were back ordered (manufacturer issue, NOT Bonnie's fault at all) so I figuredI would have to do without it. Blissful ignorance. Fast forward to Clue 6 and hourglass units with green, neutral and lavender. Oh no.



Back at Clue 3, the lavender and purple 4 patches, I lost my mind. Totally. Gone. I cut my strips. But instead of doing the math and cutting half lavender and half purple - I cut enough lavender for ALL the strips. This meant I cut all but a tiny bit of ALL of my lavender stash. My remaining lavender was now in 2 inch strips. Thankfully Clue 6 could use 2 inch strips IF you had one of Bonnie's Essential Triangle Tools. I had a pity party. I figured I was doomed to wait until I could get the tool shipped. Then I studied the hourglass unit and several tutorials on making hourglass units. I looked at Bonnie's Triangle. Hhhhmmm .... its a 90o angle corner .... Tada!




I fashioned my solution. It's imperfect but it will work for now. I stitched an hourglass unit up - amazing! It measured out a tiny bit bigger than 3 1/2 inches. Amen! Did you hear the angels singing?



Quilters are nothing if not creative and inventive. So here's to making do with what I have right now. I'm working on my hourglass units for Clue 6 and will push forward to accomplish 7 then make a real, actual, amazing block. I'm excited!


Have a great week! Stitch something!