My Mystery Quilt

Karen's Quilt Shop does a mystery project every year. Every year I sign up because who doesn't need another UFO??? This year, however, I actually finished mine!

This was a fun quilt to work on. The blocks were big...16x16 and there's always the "how will it turn out with the fabrics I've chosen" bit to worry about. Fabrics were easy for me as I already owned the black Grunge and the red. The pinks and mottled gray seemed to be logical choices to go with them. It is a bit on the bright side, but its so geometric that I think it works.

The other fun bit about this mystery is the assembly. There were several different variations.

When it came to quilting, it got interesting. The book showed several options for the blocks and I did take their ideas in some of the areas. I'll point those out with the close-up pics.

Nope, you're not seeing double. Same block, just in opposite corners. The pink/red rows that are quilted as one have a design from the book. I wasn't sure about it, but I couldn't come up with anything else. The rest of the block is just common designs that I've done many times before that you'll recognize.

This is another shot of the corner, just more towards the middle. Its hard to see the quilting in the black, but I did the same linework on the outside black bit as the book. The inside black has feathers. I think you'll be able to see them if you blow the pic up. (Just click on it)

We had options when putting the quilt together, but I loved this center block which dictated the assembly. It was also the most difficult to decide on a quilting design. I wanted the shapes to show up, but I didn't want them to be prominent--that was for the red. I opted for some "framing" of the different shapes with a matching thread and then a tiny stipple to hold it down so the red could pop.

Initially, the red just had the lines; the feathers were the last bit I added before taking this one off the frame. Those diamonds just needed a little boost.

And now the back...I always love the back! (Some may be a bit redundant, but did I mention that I love the back???)

Thanks for looking!!!

Dory

Anna's Summertime Quilt

Do you ever have a quilt that just makes you smile? This one did it for me. It was so much fun to work on that I got a bit carried away. Good thing Anna loved it!!

These are some of my favorite quilts. I love all the different blocks and coming up with ideas of what to put in them. This post is going to be picture heavy, so bear with me. Some of the blocks will have both the front and back shown. Like the VW bus! Isn't it adorable???

And this one...is it called Drunkard's Path??? I'm not up on all my block names.

This one has the ice cream cones:

And then there's the Mariner's Compass block:

These are some more pics...hope you've enjoyed them so far!

And in case you made it this far...here's a few more:

Thanks for hanging in...

Dory

Hilde's Beautiful Friendship Stars

Hilde made this beautiful Friendship Star quilt for, well, her friend! If I'm remembering correctly, her friend's car was broken into while they were on vacation and a quilt similar to this was stolen. She was heartbroken, so Hilde made her a new one.

I loved the setting of this quilt and wanted to try to make the stars pop a bit. I opted to quilt the background tightly, a geometric design in the star centers and to leave the points unquilted. A simple wishbone design in the border completed the look.

 Here are a few pics of the back...I always love how the backs turn out!

You can see the wishbone border in this one.

From what I heard, Hilde's friend was touched to receive her quilt.

Thanks for looking.

Dory