Bonnie Hunter Mystery Retrospective

Like so many other quilters, I am looking forward to Bonnie Hunter's Mystery quilt this year. I decided to look back at the ones I have done in the past. The dates refer to the year of the beginning of the mystery.

Allietare (2015)

 My first mystery quilt, Allietare (2015), was serendipitously in my favorite red! I was apprehensive about this one--it was my first BH mystery, and I knew there would be so many small pieces. With the wonderful instructions for each step, I wound up having no trouble at all! I changed the border a bit from Bonnie's directions. This quilt is on my bed each winter.

 

 

En Provence (2016)

The next year's mystery was En Provence (2016)--I wasn't sure about the magenta star points, but I was happy with it in the end. This was a gift to my daughter.

 

 

On Ringo Lake (2017)

 On Ringo Lake (2017) was next. I called mine the "Chocolate Lovers" edition, because my browns were printed with chocolate candies and chips. I made a change in the instructions from aqua to green. It was a Christmas gift to Mom.

 

 

Good Fortune (2018)

Good Fortune began in 2018. I subbed a yellow/gold for the original orange of the mystery fabrics. This quilt lives with my sister.

Frolic (2019)

I'm STILL using leftover units from Frolic (2019)! I seriously overestimated the number of pieces I needed. The quilt now lives with my mom.

Grassy Creek (2020)

Last year's mystery was Grassy Creek (2020). I used a blue constant instead of the suggested green--it looks like a clear October sky.

 

 

Unity (2020)

 

Not exactly a mystery, but rather a quilt-a-long from Quiltville, Unity (2020) was a bonus quilt to help quilters cope with the 2020 lockdown. It is a medallion-style quilt to which rounds were added weekly.

😷😷😷😷😷😷😷

 

 

I've done a few after-the-fact mysteries as well.

 

Old Tobacco Road (2009)

I loved choosing the colors for Old Tobacco Road (2009) from an inspiration photo. The quilt was a gift to my son and his family.

Celtic Solstice (2013)

I changed the colors a bit with my version of Celtic Solstice (2013). It is made with constant fabrics in solid colors.

Orca Bay (2011)

 Orca Bay (2011) was a pattern that intimidated me, but I took it one step at a time, and I succeeded! It is made with Christmas fabrics, and it is mine. 🎄🎅🎄🎅🎄

The colors for this year's mystery will be released around Hallowe'en, and the mystery will begin the day after Thanksgiving (USA), 26 November 2021. Information will be posted on the Quiltville blog.

Happy Quilting! 😺

 

On Ringo Lake--Chocolate Lovers Edition

I finished my version of Bonnie Hunter's mystery quilt called On Ringo Lake. I call mine the Chocolate Lovers Edition, since my cornerstones and other pieces are made of fabric printed with chocolates and chocolate chips.

I changed Bonnie's aqua to green, but I stuck with her other suggested colors.

On Ringo Lake--Chocolate Lovers Edition (76" x 92")

On Ringo Lake (detail)

On Ringo Lake (chocolate detail)

On Ringo Lake (backing and binding detail)

Nearly everything came from my scraps/stash--even the backing fabric. I thought backing was a good use for the fabric since the print is so large. I ended up with about 8" of the piece left over (whew! that was close!).


The hardest part of this project for me was the assembly--on-point with sashing. The sashing had to be turned a particular way, and thinking on the diagonal is never something that comes easily for me. I was very careful--checking and re-checking directions--but I'm sure that something in there is turned the wrong way. Just call it a design variation. 😃


This quilt is HEAVY! I'm talking about weight, not necessarily thickness or warmth--all those seams add up to more weight than you would expect.


I simply meandered the quilting--some of the fabrics caused a bit of thread shredding, so I was very glad to finally finish quilting it.


I enjoyed this project. It is the third Bonnie Hunter quilt I have done during her annual mystery (I did Old Tobacco Road long after the actual mystery time). I look forward to see what she cooks up for next year!

Previous blog posts about the mystery can be found here: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, and Part 5. After Part 5, there were several rapid-fire clues and the reveal, but I didn't blog about those--I had to catch up!

I'm linking with Fiber Tuesday 153 at The Quilting Room with Mel and Whatever Wednesday at Jo's Country Junction.

On Ringo Lake--Part 5

The geese are once again flying over Ringo Lake!

In honor of Christmas, I give you Roast Geese.

Browned and delicious!

Note the nice dark color--our earlier geese were not yet roasted.

Unroasted Geese!

I'm loving the browns--I think there are more brown quilts in my future.



As a special treat, I'm providing a link to a tutorial on Roast Goose--our traditional Christmas dinner--in this case, presented by a guest chef. Just click on the chef's picture to see the video.

Enjoy!

Christmas Roast Goose

From my home to yours, a very Happy Christmas!

I'll be linking with Mystery Tuesday at Quiltville after the Christmas Holiday.

On Ringo Lake--Part 4

We made wing units this week for the mystery--in my case, brown and green.

A few of this week's units.

The cutting took a bit of time, but the units went together really well. Bonnie writes great instructions--very clear.


I used some more "chocolate" browns:

and note, that at the top of this photo, you can see my "Ringo Stars"! :)  [Sorry, but I couldn't resist.]


Thanks for the fun, Bonnie! I am looking forward to next week.


I'm linking with Mystery Monday at Quiltville.

On Ringo Lake--Part 3

The mystery clue this week called for several karats of Diamond in a Rectangle units.

These are not sewn to one another--just lined up to show the mirror image units.

They weren't hard to make, at least until I needed to make the second half of the units mirror images of the first--Yikes! My mind rebelled for a bit, but I got one made and used it for a visual example. Spatial imagination is not my strong point. However, I did get them done--Yay me!

I'm loving this mystery and looking forward to next week's clue. I should be on Winter Break by then (if I get all my grading done!).

I'm linking with Mystery Monday at Quiltville and Fiber Tuesday 138 at The Quilting Room with Mel.

On Ringo Lake--Part 2

This week the clue was to make a gaggle of geese! 

Here are a few of mine:

Like real geese, they assumed the wedge formation.

My neutrals are a bit plain, but I found a bag of leftover bits and pieces leftover from other projects, and I wanted to use them up.

Clue 3 will be revealed on Friday, 08 December 2017. I'm looking forward to it!

I'm linking with Mystery Monday Sunday at Quiltville and Fiber Tuesday 137 at The Quilting Room with Mel.

On Ringo Lake--Part 1

I am participating in Bonnie Hunter's annual Quiltville mystery again this year. The quilt is called On Ringo Lake in honor of a trip Bonnie took to Minnesota this year.

The suggested colors are chocolate brown, aqua, coral, and neutral. I'm switching the aqua for green since I'm not a big fan of blue.


Here are some of the fabrics I will be using. (I didn't photograph the neutrals.) I'm likely to find more fabrics to throw in as I go along.

The first clue had us making 9-patches.

Just a sampling--there are many more!

I took "chocolate brown" quite literally in some of the blocks.

These chocolate chips won't melt on the quilt!

I enjoy mystery quilts and am looking forward to the next clue of this one. The clues are given once a week on Friday until the mystery is completed. Happy Quilting!

I'm linking with Mystery Monday at Quiltville and Fiber Tuesday 136 at The Quilting Room with Mel.