Mystery Quilt Completed

After nearly a four year journey, Crazy Quilters member, Liz Devlin, has completed her Bonnie Hunter 2018 Mystery Quilt, well almost. She said it still needs the corner blocks and then will be sent off to the machine quilter but it’s quite an accomplishment nonetheless. Liz said the colors were inspired by Asian pieces Bonnie had observed while visiting Japan. I asked Liz if she had a name for the quilt but indicated she doesn’t generally name her quilts. I did a little research and discovered that Bonnie named this mystery quilt pattern Good Fortune.

Liz explained she had always wanted to make one of Bonnie’s quilts. Bonnie’s style is very scrappy and it’s certainly reflected in these blocks. When I asked Liz if she had actually counted the number of pieces she said she didn’t dare. She did tell me she started off by making 250 – 3″ – nine-patch blocks in two variations. I attempted to count from the photograph just the pieces that make up the 49 main blocks and came up with 800 pieces in the half-square triangle blocks and roughly 768 pieces in the four-patch blocks; that’s not counting the the pieces in the sashing and borders! The overall size of the quilt is 60″ x 60″.

The quilt was worked on at retreats and local sewing groups in between other projects so hence the length of time in completing it. She said there were a few folks who completed the quilt in about 6 weeks. I think Liz’s method might be best since you can rest your mind while sewing something less complicated in between sewing all these little pieces together.

Liz said “Overall, the process was quite enjoyable.”

If you’d like to hear how Bonnie selected the colors for this quilt and her suggested use of the color wheel when deciding to change colors in a pattern, go to this YouTube video https://youtu.be/9RLxUJp34Hk. If you’d like to challenge yourself and make this quilt, you can pick up the pattern as a digital download from her website HERE. Read more about how Bonnie got started in sewing, designing patterns, and keep up with her adventures HERE.

September Full of Inspiration!

September has been a month full of inspiration. First, our own Cathy Williamson is the featured quilter this month at Tumbleweed Quilts on Route 6A in Barnstable. This is a great time of year to take a leisurely drive and visit the shop and view Cathy’s lovely works in person.

At our September meeting, several members shared more inspiration. Click photos to enlarge.

Penny B’s Comfort Quilt

The start of another beautiful pieced work by Joan C.

A sweet completed quilt by Joan C.

A lovely reminder of home quilt made of Irish fabrics sent to Betty K. from her sister in Ireland.

After our Show & Tell, we sat down to an amazing trunk show of quilts by Gladi Porsche along with the stories and methods behind each one. Gladi is a national award winning quilt artist and has been featured on the cover of several magazines and even on the cover of the book Borders & Finishing Touches. The majority of her quilts feature one of her originally designed borders.

If these quilts aren’t amazing enough just to look at, a large number of her quilts have been hand appliquéd, even those pieces that appear to be machine pieced. Not only that, all but a very few quilts have been hand quilted by Gladi on the same 14″ square hoop she used on her very first quilt.

A beautiful array of her works. A feast for the eyes!

You can keep up with Gladi by following her blog https://gladiquilts.net/ or follow her on Instagram at gladiquilts and read about her quilt journey, the places and people she meets in the quilting world and, of course, view photos of her beautiful quilts. Below are a few of the photos from our meeting. The photos don’t do the quilts justice but we were fortunate to see them up close and personal!

Her first quilt.

Storm at Sea w/custom border.

Traditional Baltimore Album

Japanese Fabrics

Pineapple Block

How layout and color changes the Pineapple Block

Fall Quilt 1

Fall Quilt 2

Everyone thought this was the best presentation they have seen in quite a while. One of the loveliest things about Gladi is how humble she is and how she encourages you to try new ideas and experiment with colors and shapes. It’s all a learning process and an adventure!