Friday, September 2, 2011

The Mystery is Solved

The Accuquilt Go! baby giveaway can be found here.

Last weekend I went to a mystery quilt event at The Berry Patch. We had to precut and sew quite a bit of parts of our quilt. It didn't really take too long to do, the hardest thing for me was making sure that I used a good variety of different fabrics. I usually like to preplan where each fabric will go or at least have a plan, but this was totally different. I was entering the great unknown of the quilting world and with out a map I was lost. Plus I am not a scrappy quilter so this was a great way step out of  my comfort zone. And I am very glad that I did.


During the class (it was 10 hours over 2 days) Gail gave us half sheet papers with the next step of directions. I don't remember each step, but at one point it involved cutting 72 half rectangle triangles (HRTs), something I had never heard of. I found that the most challenging. Not because of the number since cutting several strips together made this go fairly quickly. But because of the way we had to cut them. We used the nifty notions HRT which had a notch at the top that had to be cut. Evidently I am not very good at cutting those notches since many of mine were off. Many of my class mates had no trouble so I know it was an 'operator error' as my Hubs likes to say. And using this rulers was probably the easiest way to cut these.

At the end of the class we had 2 different types of blocks and that's when the light went off in my head, can you tell what kind of pattern this is now? I bet you can, but when we were fast at work on these pieces it wasn't as obvious. (Please don't look at how wonky these pieces came out, they are ones I didn't use). And guess who guessed it! That's right...ME!



Here's the quilt, rows pieced. All I have left is to sew the rows together and to decide on a border (which won't be till the end of next week), but I couldn't wait to show you! I am thinking of using the leftover balipop pieces for a border, what do you think? I have enough pieces to make this 2 more rows bigger, but I decided to make this a wall hanging for my livingroom instead of a throw quilt.


I really enjoyed the mystery quilt weekend and hope they have one again soon. This was a perfect way for me to spread my wings and experience different quilting things that I normally might not have.

Have you even done a mystery quilt? I'd love to hear from you about your experience with a mystery quilt event.

Sha :)

8 comments:

  1. LOVE! Those stars are so twinkly! I've never done one, but I think a mystery quilt would be a blast.

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  2. I did Pieceful Times by Debbie Caffrey as a mystery quilt and really enjoyed it. I used blues and white and my DS loved it and asked for it, so I gave it to him. It had close to 1100 pieces.

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  3. Oh girl, that is just so pretty! I've never seen that style of stars. Congratulations on stepping out of your comfort zone. It's not an easy thing to do, but looks like it was soo worth it. Love it! HUGS

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  4. What fun. I've never done a mystery quilt, and while the idea sounds great, I'm so cheap, I'm not sure I could justify paying for one. I'll have to keep thinking on that...

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  5. That came out great! It is sometimes difficult to decide what fabrics to use in a mystery. As long as you remember to have CONTRAST, you're usually OK. Love those batiks!

    I've done several mystery quilts & always have fun with them! I took 2 mystery quilt classes at the Road To California quilt conference - that was especially nice 'cuz we had a 'designated presser'! lol I did at least one thru' my guild & a couple that were done online in one day - they emailed out the instructions, one "clue" at a time throughout the day. Fun, fun, fun! :D

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  6. That looks great, it will make a lovely wall hanging.

    I'm hoping to join the mystery QAL over at bluepatchquilter.blogspot.com before it finishes! It looks such fun. I'm hoping to find some time to sew when preschool starts next week!

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  7. such a lovely quilt! sounds like a fun weekend. i have never heard of that ruler you mentioned...may need to check it out

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  8. That really is amazing! Great block, took me by suprise to see them together! Nice work, Sharon.
    grace:) Poppyinpink.

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What do you think? I'd love to hear from you :)