Quilting Linda: A Quilting Blog by Linda West

Nov

25

Bonnie Hunter’s Good Fortune Mystery Quilt – Clue 1

Posted Sunday, November 25th, 2018 in Bonnie Hunter mystery quilt, mystery quilt | Read More

Here we go again! I look forward to Bonnie’s mystery quilt every year. This will be the sixth year that I have joined the fun and the eighth Bonnie Hunter quilt I have made. In addition to the mysteries, I made Tropical Twist after taking a class with Bonnie and I made Pumpkin Patch from her pattern in a magazine. Both of those quilts were made in 2017.

The name of the quilt this year is Good Fortune. Bonnie chose colors she saw during a trip to China. (Click here to read more about her trip and to get the clues.) In the past I followed her color choices but this year I decided to switch some of the colors.  This is my plan:

Bonnie’s  colors                                          Linda’s colors

green                                                                   purple

blue                                                                     orange

red                                                                      green

orange                                                               aqua

We will see how this works!

The first clue went live on the Friday following Thanksgiving. Since I swapped colors, I am using green and neutral for clue 1. I cut them out and started sewing on Friday. On Saturday I finished the first clue.

The seams on the back are swirled to prevent bulk in the center of the four patch.

The finished four patches are counted and clipped together. I’m ready for the next clue!

Click here to see other Good Fortune quilts.

Sep

21

A Halloween Mystery Quilt 2018

Posted Friday, September 21st, 2018 in mystery quilt, Quilting | Read More

I have made quilts and table runners with holiday themes but I never made a Halloween quilt. When I saw the free Halloween quilt-along at Fort Worth Fabric Studio I decided it was time to make one.  I had to go shopping because I did not have any Halloween fabric in my fabric stash. I found some nice Halloween prints of spider webs, glow in the dark eyes, bats, candy corn, pumpkins, and some nice black and orange pin dots. The background fabric has white ghosts printed on the white fabric. This was all purchased before I won the Halloween basket as shown in my previous post. I am sure there will be another Halloween quilt in the future!

The first clue gave the cutting instructions for the entire quilt. I cut it out and labeled the pieces. I made the blocks as the clues were presented.  The last clue gave the instructions for assembling the blocks into a quilt top. This is a wall hanging size quilt, about 38 inches square.

I am trying to decide how I want to quilt it. My thoughts are to quilt pumpkin vines and leaves but am still pondering the design. Do you have a suggestion? Tell me how you would quilt it in the comments section below.

The instructions for the quilt are available here – 2018 Boo to You Halloween Mystery Quilt.

Feb

3

On Ringo Lake Mystery Quilt

Posted Saturday, February 3rd, 2018 in mystery quilt, Quilting | Read More

I put the last stitch into the quilt top today! Yippee!!! I am so glad to be finished with this one. I hit a rough spot when it came to adding the sashing around the blocks. I was ready to move onto something new but I would’t let myself start a new quilt until this top was finished. This past week I started working on it and it was enjoyable again. Sometimes I just need a break from a large project. I read that there are 3339 pieces in the quilt. I haven’t counted so I will go with that number. It just so happens to be my old house number.

Although I haven’t started a new quilt since I began working on this one, I have made some blocks in two sew alongs this year. I am doing the Women of the Bible (see my first 4 blocks here) and also the 1930s Farmer’s Wife Sampler. Two new blocks for the WOB were posted this week and I cut out and sewed them today after finishing the mystery quilt.

I started blocks for the Farmer’s Wife quilt in 2015 but only made 3 blocks. I broke down and ordered Marti Michell templates to help speed the cutting process for Farmer’s Wife. I am using my 1930s reproduction fabrics for this quilt. I will posted more about this quilt along later.

This is a closer view of the mystery quilt.

Bonnie is having a link up party on her blog. To see the mystery quilts others have made click here.

Dec

28

And now Clue 5…

Posted Thursday, December 28th, 2017 in Bonnie Hunter mystery quilt, mystery quilt | Read More

I have finished Clue 5 just in time for the next clue to arrive tomorrow! I don’t mind making flying geese but have had my fill of them for now. Clue 2  was also flying geese. It is the cutting that I don’t really enjoy. I have been using Bonnie’s Essential Triangle Tool to cut the flying geese. I like that they are cut from strips and fit together so well. My old method was No Waste Fast Flying Geese where you cut a large square and 4 small squares. It also involves drawing lines, sewing, and cutting and then repeating to make four FG at once.

All the fabric for Clue 5 came from my scrap bin. I had to buy coral and aqua fabrics for this mystery but the rest of the fabric is from my scrap collection.

Today I am linking up with Bonnie’s Link Up Party on her blog.

Dec

12

Christmas Quilts and “On Ringo Lake” – Clue 3

Posted Tuesday, December 12th, 2017 in Bonnie Hunter mystery quilt, mystery quilt, Quilting | Read More

I am getting a late start on the third clue of Bonnie Hunter’s mystery quilt. I have been working on quilts for my two oldest grandsons, making quilts for the bunk beds in their new home. I knew I wanted to use the alphabet pattern from the book, Alphabet Soup, by Jaybird Quilts.  Jaybird has created special rulers to use in their patterns. I have had the rulers for a few years and really wanted to use them.

I told Jennifer my idea and she ran with it, designing a quilt pattern for me. I then had a picture to work with and created all the blocks to fit together. The letters were all the same height but I had to add fabric to the sides to make them all a uniform size. The rest of the blocks are half square triangles, quarter square triangles, flying geese, and triangle in a square made to fit in 12 inch blocks.

Jennifer also helped me pick out the fabrics. She has a better eye than I do for choosing the right shade of each color. We found the multi-colored fabric (the borders) and chose fabrics to go with it. After having to do the frog stitch a few times, I finally finished  both of the quilt tops today. My plan is to get them loaded on the quilt frame and quilt them next weekend.

Click on the pictures to get a closer view.

After finishing the borders on the boys quilts, I started working on the third clue of Bonnie’s mystery quilt. I cut all the strips I need. I  am using a shortcut way to piece them. At this time I only have a few of them finished but my goal is to be finished and ready for the next clue by Friday.

Click here to see the blocks made by other mystery quilters.

Apr

15

Brown Bag Mystery Quilt – Clue 3

Posted Saturday, April 15th, 2017 in mystery quilt, Quilting tools | Read More

I made a quick trip to Quilt Trends this morning to pick up the next clue for the mystery quilt. This time we are making half square triangle units with the squares that we cut at the start of the mystery. I was able to use my new ruler again to cut the squares in half with a quarter inch seam allowance. We made 48 squares with 48 bonus squares left over. I am loving this new ruler!

This is not quilting related, but I wanted to share with you. Last evening Bob found a nest in our back yard next to but not under the pine tree. When we pulled the dried grass back we found a nest full of baby bunnies. Aren’t they cute?

We covered them up again and hope their momma comes back to take care of them.

Apr

2

Brown Bag Mystery Quilt – Clue 2

Posted Sunday, April 2nd, 2017 in mystery quilt | Read More

April 1 was the date for the second clue in the mystery to be revealed. I arrived at Quilt Trends bright and early to get the new clue. This week we added a triangle to the same pieces that we made in the first clue. Using the ruler that I purchased for the first clue, I added the new fabric and again had leftover triangles. Not wanting to waste the beautiful fabric, I pieced them into half square triangle squares. I now have a total of 96 squares to be used for another project.

Here is one of the mystery quilt pieces and two of the half square triangle units that have been made from the leftovers.