Grand Illusion Part 3

Grand Illusion Part 3

 

More adventures in mysteryville this week! Step 3 of the Quiltville Mystery Quilt Grand Illusion is a fairly quick and easy sew. Cut the 2" strips, sew the strips together in the correct order to make the strip sets, stack/nest the strip sets paired up (again in the correct order/direction), sub-cut the strip sets and sew the neatly nested little sub-cut sets together for a cute little block. Easy as long as you cut accurately, arrange in the correct order and sew nice straight 1/4" seams. :-)

 

The opening photo above shows the first block prototype cut and stitched from the first strip set. Came out great the first time. Whew!

 

To make the process MUCH easier, as I cut the stacked/nested strip sets, I stacked them into little rows ALL going the same direction. This way each unit was picked up in the correct position for stitching and I didn't have to make sure I was sewing the correct side of the unit. Yes, it does make a difference. The first block came out perfect, but to make sure it wasn't a fluke, I only cut one of the strip sets to begin with. Chained sewed them and checked each one to make sure the seams were nesting well and the points were good.

 



 

Once I was satisfied that all was well, I cut the rest of the sets. Again stacking them up in the same order so when picked up to sew, they were in the correct position.  the above is of all the blocks for Step 3...the first prototype, the original group chained together and the rest waiting to be sewn.

ALL sewn, pressed and stacked ...not so neatly...for their photo op!

So far, I am loving the units in this Mystery Quilt.

The above photo is of Step 1, Step 2 and Step 3.

Can't wait to see what the next step has in store. It's going to be a beautiful quilt!

Until next time...craft and create! It's good for your health.



Grand Illusion Part 2

Grand Illusion Part 2

 

 

Slowly progressing on the newest mystery quilt, Grand Illusion. After posting last weeks link up, I did finish part 1 and have them all safely tucked away in a big zip lock bag waiting their destiny.

 

It seems there were weeks I literally hunted for a project of some sort to keep me busy on a daily basis. Now that the new mystery has begun, everybody and everything is demanding a piece of my time...time I really want to be devoting to this quilt! But you have to deal with daily life. Even if it is a "mumble grumble, this is no fun" situation. "You don't have to like it, but it's gotta' be done". :-)
 Like having to hold the ladder for my husband to clean the acorns and oak leaves out of the gutters that he had taken the covers off and didn't replace. And cleaning the house, and cooking meals. And finishing up the crocheted Poncho and matching Head Band that I want to wear to the Quilt Guild Christmas party meeting this week...oh wait! I WANTED to do that one......Ok, ok,  so we had fun yesterday going to Silver Dollar City to see A Dickens' Christmas Carol musical stage production and all of the wonderful Christmas lights. And going out to dinner with friends afterwards is definitely part of the Holiday Season Festivities that make it all worthwhile. AND then today was laundry and grocery shopping....you get the picture. LOL

 

Anyway during all the hustle and bustle since Part 2 came out on Friday I have managed to get ALL the pieces cut out and a test unit made using Bonnies' method #2 with the template taped to the back of the easy angle ruler.

 

This method worked like a charm once I got the printer to produce the correct size (almost) template and got it trimmed to size and taped to the ruler. I did consider using the method#3 to get the extra HST units for later use, but decided to go ahead with the ruler method and get her done! Since I will most likely add an extra border to enlarge the quilt slightly, and would probably used the extra HST units in the extra border it might have made since to proceed that route. BUT I really don't know what kind of extra border I will add, and didn't want to chance using up fabric that might be needed later.

 

After getting chores done today and getting in a 3 mile walk, I got a few more of the units sewn and a whopping SEVEN more blocks made. Yeah!  Well, it is progress. The blocks are still fitting together perfectly and measuring out right on target. So, all is well. This is what I have done so far.

 

By the time Part 3 comes out, the rest of Part 2 will be complete.  I really do love this block. Can't wait to see how it plays in the overall scheme of things.

 

Thanks Bonnie Hunter! I LOVE these Mystery Quilts!





And the Grand Illusion Begins....!

Grand Illusion Mystery Quilt

Step 1 Block

 

 

It's that time of year again! When that wonderful mystery begins. The one where you get a new clue on Friday of each week beginning the day after Thanksgiving and continuing on for several weeks until the final reveal. When you get to pick fabulous fabrics and play along. Anticipating what is coming next. Wondering how it will all turn out. But KNOWING it will be FABULOUS!

 

YES! I'm talking about the infamous Bonnie Hunter, Quiltville annual winter Mystery Quilt!


I chose to stay with the recommended colors this time round since Aqua, Pink and Green are right down my color alley.  However I'm not doing scrappy. Just chose one fabric in each color. Here is what I chose to go with:


 

Not real pleased with the way the color is showing up in the photo, but you should get a general idea. The yellow is not that vivid and has slight color variation streaks throughout and the pink is really a very pretty shade of pink.

The Aqua/Teal/Blue is a beautiful batik that really does cover all those color ranges. It should play very well in the quilt giving it a little color variety.  The pink has a slight color variation throughout and silver flowers drawn all over, although they are not showing up in the photo. The color variation in the pink shows up more from a distance and I am hoping that holds up in the quilt. Although, in Part/Step 1 the units were cut fairly small. That green is a fabulous print of little swirls made up of dots.  The black is just a solid black; simple, nothing fancy. But the neutral totally rocks my world. Hope you all like it, too. It is a grayish batik with hints of all the other colors in the group faintly visible.  And most fabulous of all, it's pattern design is dragonflies! I am totally in love with this piece of fabric. Must admit that I picked this piece first, then pulled the rest to work with it.

I just know I am going to LOVE this quilt!

 

Although Part/Step 1 has lots of little units, it is relatively simple consisting of half square triangles made with the Easy Angle Ruler and squares cut from 2.5" strips. Here is a peek at part of the cutting process and the "prototype" first block.

 

After chaining all 200 of those little HST's together, they make an impressive pile!



Ok, so I was just being silly here, but this is what came off the machine. Much easier to leave them all sewn together like this and string out on the ironing board in a big long banner to press too!

 

Still have quite a bit of sewing to do, but can probably finish it up today. 

 



The above picture is the blocks being constructed. You can see some of the HST's in the top left of the photo. Those are the 80 extra's for a later step. It won't take long to zip through this stack.
Here is what's completed so far:

Had some fun stacking these up and laying them out just playing around with them. No idea how these will end up in the quilt, but so far it is a lovely little block.

Hope you enjoyed my little show and tell here. Come back next week for Part 2! And while you are here, brows some of my other older pieces of work. I haven't been good about keeping this blog going and did take off a lot of time this summer when I fell and broke myself. Dumb thing to do, let me tell you! But thankfully, I am able to get back at the machine and getting better every day!  I do have several other projects that should be added to the photos, so I will be adding some other items from time to time.
Enjoyed having you visit here! See you next week for more of the Grand Illusion Mystery.