Brown Bag Mystery Quilt

I enjoyed piecing the Brown Bag Mystery Quilt so much that I pulled another version from my collection. I picked up these winter prints a few months ago without a plan. This was a great way to use them. I played with fabric placements a little and I think I used one less print than the original. Once I find some borders it will be perfect. 

If it wasn't a basic square, I cut the pieces using my Accuquilt Go cutter. If it was a square, I used my Creative Grids Stripology XL Ruler to cut.

My favorite tools and supplies (affiliate links):

Creative Grids 6.5" x 24.5" Rectangle Fiskars Rotary Cutter

Creative Grids 4.5" x 12.5" Rectangle Quilting Ruler

Fiskars Rotary Cutter replacement blades
Fiskars Self Healing Rotary Cutting Mat
BLACK+DECKER Classic Steam Iron
Fiskars 8-inch scissors

Juki TL-2010Q

Grabbit Magnetic Pin Cushion

Dritz Craft Pins, 1-3/4-Inch (250-Count)

Electric Quilt

Project box: IRIS 12" x 12" Portable Plastic Storage Cases with Built-in Handle, Clear (storage)

Letter Openers

Fiskars Rotating Cutting Mat 14 inch x 14 inch

Creative Grids Stripology XL Ruler

Brown Bag Mystery Quilt

This year I picked my Brown Bag Mystery Quilt based on a single purple print. I had no idea what other fabrics were inside that brown bag or what the quilt design was going to be. I enjoyed this one so much I pulled a set of coordinating fabrics from my collection and got cutting. I still need to sew this one together and find some borders. I cut most of these units using my Accuquilt Go cutter.

I picked up my BBMQ from my local shop The Crabby Quilter in Annapolis, Maryland. If you want to check out the mystery quilt, you can go to any of the many participating quilt shops and ask to see their Brown Bag kits. 

My favorite tools and supplies (affiliate links):

Creative Grids 6.5" x 24.5" Rectangle Fiskars Rotary Cutter

Creative Grids 4.5" x 12.5" Rectangle Quilting Ruler

Fiskars Rotary Cutter replacement blades
Fiskars Self Healing Rotary Cutting Mat
BLACK+DECKER Classic Steam Iron
Fiskars 8-inch scissors

Juki TL-2010Q

Grabbit Magnetic Pin Cushion

Dritz Craft Pins, 1-3/4-Inch (250-Count)

Electric Quilt

Project box: IRIS 12" x 12" Portable Plastic Storage Cases with Built-in Handle, Clear (storage)

Letter Openers

Fiskars Rotating Cutting Mat 14 inch x 14 inch

Creative Grids Stripology XL Ruler

Brown Bag Mystery Quilt

I finally loaded this great quilt onto the frame. 

While it was quilting, I made the binding. 

I used Overlapping Crop Circles for the quilting design. Look at that lounging kitty!

It's trimmed and ready for the binding.

Check out my previous BBMQ's.

    Piece of Cake (2024)

    Timeshare (2023)

My favorite tools and supplies (affiliate links):

Creative Grids 6.5" x 24.5" Rectangle Fiskars Rotary Cutter

Creative Grids 4.5" x 12.5" Rectangle Quilting Ruler

Fiskars Rotary Cutter replacement blades
Fiskars Self Healing Rotary Cutting Mat
BLACK+DECKER Classic Steam Iron
Fiskars 8-inch scissors

Juki TL-2010Q

Grabbit Magnetic Pin Cushion

Dritz Craft Pins, 1-3/4-Inch (250-Count)

Electric Quilt

Project box: IRIS 12" x 12" Portable Plastic Storage Cases with Built-in Handle, Clear (storage)

Letter Openers

Fiskars Rotating Cutting Mat 14 inch x 14 inch

Creative Grids Stripology XL Ruler

Charity Quilting

Pretty pink, pieced by me.

Rosy, pieced by Kathryn. Both trimmed and ready for the next Annapolis Quilts for Kids.

If you want to contribute but don't have the time or skills, you can support the national Quilts for Kids by going directly to their website and clicking DONATE. I don't earn anything from this link. 

If you want to support me indirectly, I do include Amazon affiliate links to products I use on my other blog posts. If you purchase the items I recommend, or anything else, after using my links to reach Amazon I receive a small payment from Amazon. I added my yearly income from these affiliate links to the sidebar if you want to see how that commission adds up. 

My personal goal is to quilt at least one quilt per week throughout the year. To that end, check out the Epoch Converter for 2025 to see how I'm stacking up.

2025 Charity Quilt Count: 93

Brown Bag Mystery Quilt

I finished the center of my BBMQ.

And even managed to add a border. Now I need to go shopping for some backing fabric. 

Check out my previous BBMQ's.

    Piece of Cake (2024)

    Timeshare (2023)

My favorite tools and supplies (affiliate links):

Creative Grids 6.5" x 24.5" Rectangle Fiskars Rotary Cutter

Creative Grids 4.5" x 12.5" Rectangle Quilting Ruler

Fiskars Rotary Cutter replacement blades
Fiskars Self Healing Rotary Cutting Mat
BLACK+DECKER Classic Steam Iron
Fiskars 8-inch scissors

Juki TL-2010Q

Grabbit Magnetic Pin Cushion

Dritz Craft Pins, 1-3/4-Inch (250-Count)

Electric Quilt

Project box: IRIS 12" x 12" Portable Plastic Storage Cases with Built-in Handle, Clear (storage)

Letter Openers

Fiskars Rotating Cutting Mat 14 inch x 14 inch

Creative Grids Stripology XL Ruler

Charity Quilting

This great scrappy quilt was pieced by another member of Annapolis Quilts for Kids. 

Delightful puppies, pieced by another member of Annapolis Quilts for Kids. Both trimmed and ready for the next Annapolis Quilts for Kids.

If you want to contribute but don't have the time or skills, you can support the national Quilts for Kids by going directly to their website and clicking DONATE. I don't earn anything from this link. 

If you want to support me indirectly, I do include Amazon affiliate links to products I use on my other blog posts. If you purchase the items I recommend, or anything else, after using my links to reach Amazon I receive a small payment from Amazon. I added my yearly income from these affiliate links to the sidebar if you want to see how that commission adds up. 

My personal goal is to quilt at least one quilt per week throughout the year. To that end, check out the Epoch Converter for 2025 to see how I'm stacking up.

2025 Charity Quilt Count: 91

Charity Quilting

I pieced this fun scrappy quilt using various different 6.5" squares, 2.5" by 4.5" bricks, and 4.5" by 4.5" four-patches. 

Kathryn pieced this bright and fun quilt. Both trimmed and ready for the next Annapolis Quilts for Kids.

If you want to contribute but don't have the time or skills, you can support the national Quilts for Kids by going directly to their website and clicking DONATE. I don't earn anything from this link. 

If you want to support me indirectly, I do include Amazon affiliate links to products I use on my other blog posts. If you purchase the items I recommend, or anything else, after using my links to reach Amazon I receive a small payment from Amazon. I added my yearly income from these affiliate links to the sidebar if you want to see how that commission adds up. 

My personal goal is to quilt at least one quilt per week throughout the year. To that end, check out the Epoch Converter for 2025 to see how I'm stacking up.

2025 Charity Quilt Count: 89

Brown Bag Mystery Quilt

I stacked up my block units.

And I sewed a bunch of blocks.

Then, I put the blocks and the sashing strips on the design wall. I'm sure I'll get them sewn together soon. I'm still working out the borders for this one. This one was really fun. 

Check out my previous BBMQ's.

    Piece of Cake (2024)

    Timeshare (2023)

My favorite tools and supplies (affiliate links):

Creative Grids 6.5" x 24.5" Rectangle Fiskars Rotary Cutter

Creative Grids 4.5" x 12.5" Rectangle Quilting Ruler

Fiskars Rotary Cutter replacement blades
Fiskars Self Healing Rotary Cutting Mat
BLACK+DECKER Classic Steam Iron
Fiskars 8-inch scissors

Juki TL-2010Q

Grabbit Magnetic Pin Cushion

Dritz Craft Pins, 1-3/4-Inch (250-Count)

Electric Quilt

Project box: IRIS 12" x 12" Portable Plastic Storage Cases with Built-in Handle, Clear (storage)

Letter Openers

Fiskars Rotating Cutting Mat 14 inch x 14 inch

Creative Grids Stripology XL Ruler

Brown Bag Mystery Quilt

I realized I hadn't been sharing my BBMQ clues. Let's just work through them since the big reveal is coming up on Saturday. I made some 4-patches

I made some great square-in-square units.  

And these units with contrast corners. I'm excited to see what comes next and how all these units will fit together. 

Check out my previous BBMQ's.

    Piece of Cake (2024)

    Timeshare (2023)

My favorite tools and supplies (affiliate links):

Creative Grids 6.5" x 24.5" Rectangle Fiskars Rotary Cutter

Creative Grids 4.5" x 12.5" Rectangle Quilting Ruler

Fiskars Rotary Cutter replacement blades
Fiskars Self Healing Rotary Cutting Mat
BLACK+DECKER Classic Steam Iron
Fiskars 8-inch scissors

Juki TL-2010Q

Grabbit Magnetic Pin Cushion

Dritz Craft Pins, 1-3/4-Inch (250-Count)

Electric Quilt

Project box: IRIS 12" x 12" Portable Plastic Storage Cases with Built-in Handle, Clear (storage)

Letter Openers

Fiskars Rotating Cutting Mat 14 inch x 14 inch

Creative Grids Stripology XL Ruler

Charity Quilting

After a slow start to my week (I was doing things not fun, nor crafty) I finally picked up some speed. 

First, I pieced a little charity quilt using some 5" squares I had leftover from other projects. 

Laying them out was likely the longest part of making this quilt. I didn't have that many sets of five to make the pluses. In the end I think it worked out fine. I may need to see how many more charm squares I have and make another. 

This little cutie was mad using even more leftovers. This time, the 2.5" squares and the 4.5" squares. I love taking these little bits of leftover fabric and making a quilt. So satisfying. 

If you want to contribute but don't have the time or skills, you can support the national Quilts for Kids by shopping through Amazon Smile. I don't earn anything from this link. This link lets your purchases support Quilts for Kids through Amazon. I don't add affiliate links to my charity quit posts on purpose. I donate my time, my machine, my thread, and my skill to the cause. 

My personal goal is to quilt at least one quilt per week throughout the year. To that end, check out the EpochConverter for 2022 to see how I'm stacking up.

2022 Charity Quilt Count: 22

Vintage Four-Patch

This is what my cutting table looks like most of the time. I move on to the next project and leave a pile of leftovers to put away later. This slows down some of my creativity, but not enough to keep me from doing it again. I had a bunch of strips and squares leftover from my Star Storm Quilt. I decided to trim down some of those leftovers to make some simple four-patch in four-patch blocks.

First, I made a bunch of smaller (4.5" by 4.5") 4-patch units.

Then I joined some to make bigger blocks (8.5" by 8.5"). 

So many happy little 4-patches!

I'll keep working like this until I have enough for a quilt or I run out of fabric. I am unlikely to run out of fabric, so I'm sure to get a quilt. Scrappy will win the day.

Tools and supplies (affiliate links):
Creative Grids 6.5" x 24.5" Rectangle
Fiskars Rotary Cutter
Fiskars Self Healing Rotary Cutting Mat
BLACK+DECKER Classic Steam Iron
Grabbit Magnetic Pin Cushion
Fiskars 8-inch scissors
Juki TL-2010Q
Creative Grids 6.5" Square Ruler
Cheryl Ann's Quilting Design Wall - 72" White

Churning Fourteen Finish

I started this quilt over a year ago. Check out this post about my Churning Fourteen quilt.

Sometimes people think I get a bunch of stuff done and that I get that stuff done quickly. I'm not a fast quilter or crafter, even if it seems like it. I do work a full-time job, complete with a 1-hour commute each way (that DC traffic is terrible and I do not recommend it). I don't have kids at home. I don't cook. I don't clean. I don't mow the lawn. Those things are done by other people. What I do have is about an hour or two each evening to do with what I wish. I also often have a full weekend to be creative. This means projects take weeks, months, and sometimes years to complete. Did I mention this quilt has been hanging around for over a year?

I decided I didn't want the quilting to compete with the piecing and went with the swirl flower in varying sizes as an all-over quilting design. This design was presented by Angela Walters in one of her early free motion quilting books: Free-Motion Quilting with Angela Walters: Choose & Use Quilting Designs on Modern Quilts (affiliate link). I love this design because it travels so well around the surface of the quilt and it is easy to fill in large spaces quickly.

If you've been following my blog for any amount of time, you know I use scrappy binding every chance I get. I fold my binding once it is pressed so it doesn't become tangled when applying. Maybe that should be my next binding tip. My Darling Husband has been trying to convince me to make a video of something crafty, maybe that's the project to share.

Labeled, quilted, and bound! Finishing projects is so satisfying!

Interested in the pattern? You should check out Sam Hunter's great website Hunter's Design Studio. There you will find the Churning Fourteen pattern and other patterns that are great for using up that collection of fat quarters you couldn't resist. She is also the author of Quilt Talk: Paper-Pieced Alphabet with Symbols & Numbers (Amazon affiliate link), a book about paper piecing letters to make your quilts really talk. If you order it directly from Sam you will get a signed copy and Sam will make a little more money than if you use the Amazon affiliate link. I used the book to make my quilt you can't take the sky from me. It was also the best instruction I had received about paper piecing. Make your quilts say something!

Churning Fourteen

I have been collecting batik fabrics for far too long. Particularly if I'm not going to use them.

I recently picked up a few patterns from Hunter Design Studio. Churning Fourteen was one that I thought would work well with some of those batiks. My work space isn't always neat, but I do accomplish many things there. I cut, and cut, and cut. Some of my fabrics were a little smaller than the required fat quarter, so I ended up pulling from my scrap bin for some of the smaller pieces. I think it adds interest.

I missed something the first time I put together one of those tiny churn dash blocks (the one on the right) so it didn't end up the right size (like the one on the left). I reread the directions, found where I'd gone wrong, and managed to get the rest of them to the right size. I was going to sneak that mistake into the quilt somewhere but when I went to find it it was nowhere to be found. I still haven't found it.

The pattern said to start with the biggest blocks but I started with the littlest bits. I like to know that the work will just pick up speed from my starting point.

Then I moved on to the medium-sized blocks.

Finally the largest blocks. I worked on the blocks throughout the week so I had most of them done by the weekend.

I laid out all the pieces and started to rearrange them. That took forever. I do reach a point where I decide it doesn't matter and I just sew it all together. Random is nice, but takes more planning than people think.

The construction of sections is clearly laid out in the instructions and I love how many of the seams are designed for minimal overlap of seams. Once you construct the blocks, the section construction is pretty forgiving when it comes to matching up seams. The result is awesome! No partial seams!

I wanted to use up more of my collection of batiks so I sat down with Electric Quilt 7 and redesigned the borders to fit the center of the quilt and allow me to add a 4" border made up of 4-patch blocks. It took some math but I did it. I didn't even make a dent in that bin of 2.5" strips.

I have a collection of 1930 reproduction prints that would be great in this pattern. Maybe that's what I should make next. Maybe that's what should be my next leaders and enders project. We shall see.

I recommend the Churning Fourteen pattern if you want to use up one of those fat quarter stacks you had to have. The directions are clearly written and the result is stunning.

Have you tried any new patterns?

Quilting up Leftovers for Charity

I was going through a bin of scraps to hand over some scraps to a guild member that asked for scraps for a paper-piecing project and pulled out these leftover 4-patch blocks. They were sewn into these chunks. I think they are leftover from a quilt I made about 15 years ago.

I dug through a pile of fabric Aunt Betty (this time from my Tia in California) had sent me and thought this purple was perfect. I cut some wider strips for the middle and framed it all with a 2.5" border. It came out to a nice crib-size quilt.

I pieced some batting leftover from a different project and loaded it all onto the quilting frame. This turned out to be a really Make-Do project.

I used the flower power motif that can be found in the book Free-Motion Quilting with Angela Walters: Choose & Use Quilting Designs on Modern Quilts. This is a great all-over or filler design that is easy to quilt and creates wonderful texture.

I pulled another piece of fabric from my growing collection of fabric for the binding and finished up this little quilt over the weekend. I added a label and it will be off to Annapolis Quilts for Kids in a couple weeks.

2016 Charity Quilt Count: 47

Day 5 of the 31 Day Blog Writing Challenge.

2016 Mystery Quilt: Clue #1

This will by third foray into the Bonnie Hunter Mystery Quilt world.

In late October she shared her color choices for the 2016 Mystery Quilt called En Provence. As I have in past years, I've selected my own colors to make this mystery my own. It worked out great for my last two (Grand Illusion and Allietare) so I was pretty confident when picking different colors this year. To learn about the En Provence mystery I recommend you head over to Bonnie Hunter's website and read all about it under the En Provence tab. I won't repeat it here.

I was feeling pressed for time, so I picked a single print for each of my colors. That was going great until the first clue came out. Then I had to race to the store and buy all those black-on-white prints. They are something I don't have much of, so it wasn't that traumatic. I've since added a couple more prints to the stack but you get the general idea from this photo.

I took my time, and a couple days, to stitch up clue number one.

As I usually do, I made more than I needed, but only by a handful. If you want to know how many are required, I'll just point you right back to Quiltville.

If you haven't joined in, there is still plenty of time to get started. Don't delay, the pattern is only free for a short time.

If you want to see some of the other great mystery quilts you need to go check out the link party hosted on Bonnie's site.

Day 2 of the 31 Day Blog Writing Challenge.