Frolic Mystery Quilt Finish!

It's been more than year since I quilted my version of Bonnie Hunter's Mystery Quilt Frolic. I decided it was time to get it bound.

Applying binding to large quilts is a wrestling match. I attach the binding to the back of the quilt so I can machine finish it from the top. 

If you want to learn more about how I mark my binding for joining the ends, or other quilt binding tips, I have a page (linked on the sidebar) where you can find my machine finished binding tips. 

My way is not the only way, and it necessarily the best way. It is just the way I get consistent results. If you're on the fence about using FriXion pens in your crafting, don't worry, I only mark on the back of the fabric, or where the binding will be hidden once finished. 

Then, once I press the binding away from the quilt, I roll it to the front and finish it by machine. It makes for a sturdy binding. 

Now it is ready for its first wash. 

My version was made using larger pieces than the pattern called for and a completely different color palette from the mystery. I think it came out great! Do you like to change up the colors when making mystery quilts? 

You can buy a copy of the digital pattern for Frolic directly from Quiltville. 

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

Creative Grids Multi Size Triangle 45 and 90 Degrees Quilt Ruler

Omnigrid Quilting Ruler, 1" x 6", Yellow

PILOT FriXion Colors Erasable Marker, Assorted Ink 12 Colors

100 Sewing Clips with Tin Box

Frolic Mystery Quilt

Part 4: Quilting

It has been ages since I finished my version of Bonnie Hunter's mystery quilt Frolic. This was the Quiltville Winter Mystery for the 2019/2020 season. I played with colors so I could use some fabrics I had on hand. I went with constant fabrics throughout and most of them read as solids. There are solids, but not as many as it seems upon first glance. 

I added my embroidered label directly onto the backing fabric prior to quilting. I really like this as it makes sure that label stays with the quilt.  

I chose the quilting design Quagmire from Urban Elementz to keep with the on-point design. 

I quilted it rather large (approximately 1" between lines of stitching) and I love the finish. I wonder if I cut binding for this one when I finished the top. Now it's trimmed and ready for that binding. 

You can buy a copy of the digital pattern for Frolic directly from Quiltville. 

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
6.5" Easy Angle Ruler
4.5" Easy Angle Ruler
Companion Angle Ruler
Wing Clipper
Creative Grids 6.5" Square Ruler
Cheryl Ann's Quilting Design Wall - 72" White

Frolic Mystery Quilt

Part 3

I'm still working on my Frolic Mystery Quilt by Bonnie Hunter of Quiltville. I shared previous progress in Part 1 and Part 2 blog posts. 

I was concerned I wouldn't have enough of the green for sashing, but after I cut a few strips of the black I discovered I had just enough.

I'm always challenged by blocks set on point. Not only is there the problem with keeping things from shifting because everything is on the bias, particularly along the edges, but it just takes longer to piece than blocks in rows and columns. In this case the effect is totally worth the extra time. Sashing is also something I rarely do because it is like doubling the number of blocks you need for your quilt. Again, the design wouldn't be as good without sashing. 

I had a handful of half-square triangle units leftover, so I used them as border cornerstones. The border is pieced only to get length (I would not have survived all those half-square-triangle units). The one thing you don't get from this photo, or most of those that have gone before is the scale of this quilt is very different from the original design. I have fewer units and they are considerably larger. This finished top measures approximately 80" by 80". A very respectable size. I'm really glad I decided to wait on this mystery quilt. I modified scale and colors quite a bit. I am so happy with the finished top.

I've set the top aside to work on other things until I get to my local quilt shop to buy some backing fabric.   

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
6.5" Easy Angle Ruler
4.5" Easy Angle Ruler
Companion Angle Ruler
Wing Clipper
Creative Grids 6.5" Square Ruler
Cheryl Ann's Quilting Design Wall - 72" White

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

Frolic Mystery Quilt

Part 2

A couple weeks ago I shared Part 1 of my Frolic Mystery Quilt by Bonnie Hunter of Quiltville.

I've been making good progress on the many units that make up this quilt. First, I worked through the corner blocks.

Then, the side blocks.

I was finally filling in units and it was starting to look like a quilt.

This past weekend I managed to finish all the blocks. Now, I move on to the sashing. I don't make many quilts with sashing because it always seems like so much work. Great results, though.

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
6.5" Easy Angle Ruler
4.5" Easy Angle Ruler
Companion Angle Ruler
Wing Clipper
Creative Grids 6.5" Square Ruler
Cheryl Ann's Quilting Design Wall - 72" White

Frolic Mystery Quilt

Part 1
Bonnie Hunter of Quiltville hosts a mystery quilt that begins the day after Thanksgiving in the United States.

Frolic began on Black Friday in 2019. I wasn't excited about the mystery quilt this time. I did buy some fabric, but I didn't have the interest to actually play along with the mystery. This isn't the fault of the designer, just a general feeling of not wanting to make a quilt without knowing where I was going. I waited until after the reveal to settle on my colors.

I picked up the black and the gray during the Black Friday sale at Spring Water Designs in Columbia, Maryland. 

I used more than a couple specialty rulers to cut the pieces for this quilt. I'm not done cutting, yet. I expect this project to take a while. The 4.5" Easy Angle Ruler would be fine for this quilt, but I like the added stability of the 6.5" Easy Angle Ruler to cut the half-square triangles. Paired with the Companion Angle Ruler made quick work of cutting the flying geese units. 

To square up those geese units, I love this Wing Clipper.

I spent some time Monday cutting some of the units for this block. Stacks and stacks of pieces. I didn't cut everything as I'm sure this will keep me busy. You'll notice that I decided not to use the gray diagonal print. Once I looked at my cutting instructions I was pretty sure it wouldn't be the best for those flying geese so I grabbed a gray solid from my collection instead. I'll likely use the print for the binding because a diagonal print is perfect for binding. 

I didn't have all the pieces cut, so this is as far as I got. Just some units on the design wall. I've changed all the colors and this will look nothing like the quilt Bonnie designed, but I love that I will be using fabrics from my collection. I've made some other changes that will become clear as I update the blog with my progress. I'm glad I waited to get started.

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
6.5" Easy Angle Ruler
4.5" Easy Angle Ruler
Companion Angle Ruler
Wing Clipper
Creative Grids 6.5" Square Ruler
Cheryl Ann's Quilting Design Wall - 72" White

Quilting Up Leftovers

Way back in February I shared this little quilt made using the leftovers from last year's mystery quilt from Bonnie Hunter. I finally got around to quilting it. To keep with the modern theme, I went with a modern all-over quilting design. 

Now I just have to remember if I made binding for this little quilt back in February.

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
4.5" Easy Angle Ruler
Creative Grids 6.5" Square Ruler
Cheryl Ann's Quilting Design Wall - 72" White

The Not Blue Ridge Beauty

I shared a little about my take on Bonnie Hunter's Blue Ridge Beauty in early February. I didn't have a bunch of blues, so I decided to make it with a bunch of reds I had on hand.

The block design is Blue Ridge Beauty from Bonnie Hunter's book Adventures in Leaders and Enders.

I decided to play with the layout in Electric Quilt (I use EQ8). I liked this layout so I rearranged the blocks until I had it on the design wall.

I used a technique called webbing to get the blocks all sewn up in the layout. Such a great technique for keeping the rows organized. If anything is wrong now, it's staying forever. 

I loaded up the quilt with a pieced backing. This quilt really is a great from my stash project. Not buying new fabric to finish a project is even better. 

I quilted it with an all-over flower motif. 

This is a great filler and goes rather quickly. It's one of my favorites. 

And a scrappy binding for the finish!

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
6.5" Easy Angle Ruler
4.5" Easy Angle Ruler
Creative Grids 6.5" Square Ruler
Cheryl Ann's Quilting Design Wall - 72" White
Bonnie Hunter's Book Adventures with Leaders and Enders
Quilt design software: Electric Quilt

Leftovers

I decided not to use the small half-square triangle units in a border for my Good Fortune mystery quilt. That meant I had to find a home for them.

I did some quilt math, and discovered I had enough to get half way to a crib quilt. I pulled out some coordinating prints and got stitching.

I also used the narrow string pieces to make the inner border on the quilt. A fun print of numbers and I had a complete crib-sized quilt top. I have some snuggly flannel in a coordinating color around here somewhere, I'm sure. Not bad for leftovers. This is a great Sew My Stash 2019 project.

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
4.5" Easy Angle Ruler
Creative Grids 6.5" Square Ruler
Cheryl Ann's Quilting Design Wall - 72" White

The Not Blue Ridge Beauty

In an attempt to work through my ridiculous amount of fabric, I decided I should add one of Bonnie Hunter's projects to my list for the year. This year, I did not make a Get It Done UFO Challenge list. I finished all the quilts last year, and didn't have a stack to put on the list. I didn't even have an unfinished quilt beyond Good Fortune.

I'm not excited about putting completely nascent projects on the list. That doesn't mean I don't have plans for the year. Just that I don't have things leftover from last year. The block design is Blue Ridge Beauty from Bonnie Hunter's book Adventures in Leaders and Enders. If you haven't tried a Bonnie Hunter design, I highly recommend you check out her blog Quiltville. There you will find free patterns, tips, tricks, and even paid digital patterns. All great stuff.

It isn't made with blues, but it is still turning out to be a beauty. I made some of the units as leaders and enders and I have been working on units between other projects.

I have also decided to keep track of the fabric that comes into my studio. A local quilt shop had a sale on Sunday and I ventured out to pick up some Kona Cotton Snow. I am planning another big project and needed a cohesive background fabric. I don't often have this much (five yards) of a single fabric. I prefer to use several different background fabrics. This is intended to pair with a stack of 1930s reproduction prints I have been collecting for far too long. Keep an eye out for that one sometime this year.

Fabric purchased this year: 5 yards

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
6.5" Easy Angle Ruler
4.5" Easy Angle Ruler
Creative Grids 6.5" Square Ruler
Cheryl Ann's Quilting Design Wall - 72" White
Bonnie Hunter's Book Adventures with Leaders and Enders

Mystery Quilt: Good Fortune

Time to share my Good Fortune Mystery Quilt progress. I decided to pull the backing fabric from my collection of fabrics, too. 

I was only a little surprised I found enough pieces in the right colors. I grabbed all the coordinating colors, laid them out, measured and was fairly certain I could come up with enough backing.

While I assembled the other pieces of the backing, I stitched out the label onto one section. 

Due to a cutting error, I needed to make the pink section a little wider. I pulled out those two leftover blocks and added them in. I think this is great!

Since just about everything was closed on Sunday due to weather I loaded up the quilt with my mashed up backing and got quilting. I used a big flower design as an all-over motif. The piecing says enough without getting fancy with the quilting.

It took most of the day, but it's quilting and trimmed. All that remains is binding. Maybe I'll be able to squeeze that in sometime this week. I'm super happy with the Mystery Quilt.

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

Linking up with Bonnie Hunter's Mystery Monday Link Up. Totally go see what other people are making on the Quiltville Blog!