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.

Another Leader and Ender Donation Quilt

I tried a different layout with this one (#9 of the project). It is also only two colors which is something I rarely do. For me, the more different fabrics, the better!

Two-Rail Fence Donation Quilt (62" x 74")

Two-Rail Fence (detail)

Two-Rail Fence (backing and binding detail)

I do like the simple effect of only two colors. Sometimes it is good to push your own boundaries a bit!

Previous leader and ender donation quilts can be found HERE.

I am linking to Fiber Tuesday 152 at The Quilting Room with Mel and Jo's Country Junction: Whatever Wednesday.

Batik Leader and Ender Rail Fence Donation Quilts

My personal leader/ender project has been fruitful this year. These are donation quilts #7 and #8!

Numbers 5 and  6 can be found HERE.

Numbers 3 and 4 are HERE.

Numbers 1 and 2 are HERE.


This time, I went with an uneven Rail Fence block to better show off the colors in the batiks I used. I did one in a stairstep layout and the other in a windmill layout.

#7 Batik and Black Rail Fence (stairstep layout)--66" x 74"

#7 Batik and Black Rail Fence (detail)

#7 Batik and Black Rail Fence (backing and binding detail)

#8 Batik and Black Rail Fence (windmill layout)--64" x 64"

#8 Batik and Black Rail Fence (detail)

#8 Batik and Black Rail Fence (backing and binding detail)

I'm not a big batik fan, and some of these fabrics are truly ugly! However, when you put them together, the overall effect is good.

I'm still putting together Rail Fence blocks as leaders and enders--more quilts to come!

I'm linking with Fiber Tuesday 148 at the Quilting Room with Mel.

Boxes Of Strings: An Original Design

Update: I have added the basic instructions for this quilt to my sidebar. Click on "Boxes of Strings Instructions."
 

When I was designing and making Stringing Beads, I thought "what if?"--always a dangerous thought for a quiltmaker!

The centerpiece of the Stringing Beads block is a trapezoid shape.

Stringing Beads trapezoid

What if I made it a triangle?

Boxes of Strings triangle

I used the same size paper foundation (4.5" x 8.5"), and I arranged the strings with medium/dark tone on one side and light on the other.

All blocks have the same color orientation.

It created a wonderful optical effect, I think--boxes and boxes and boxes!

Boxes of Strings 74" x 84"

A huge variety of fabrics add interest.

Boxes of Strings (detail)

Boxes of Strings (detail)

Boxes of Strings (detail)--Scooby Doo!

I used a solid backing and quilted around the diamonds and through the string blocks.

Boxes of Strings (backing and binding detail)

This was a lot of fun to create. The instructions are very like the Stringing Beads instructions found on the right sidebar of the blog. Just make a triangle template and arrange your colors, light and medium/dark, on either side of the triangle--all the blocks are the same. (In my case, the light strings are on the right side and medium/dark on the left of an upward-pointing triangle.)

Sometimes wonderful things come from those "What if?" moments!

I'm linking with Fiber Tuesday 147 at The Quilting Room with Mel and the UFO Challenge at Jo's Country Junction.

Rainbow Scrap Challenge 2017

The Rainbow Scrap Challenge 2017 was hosted by soscrappy. Each month, we worked with a color--at the end of the year, I put my blocks together. Here is the result.

66" x 92"

Backing and binding (detail)

One of the months, we were to use multi-colored scraps. Because I wanted to stick with single colors in my Rainbow quilt, I used that month to create this quilt which I called Stringing Beads.

Instructions

 
During the month when we were to use neutrals, I worked on a couple of other projects. (I had used neutral strings each month in my rainbow-colored blocks.) One was my leader/ender project, and the other was a string quilt (as yet unfinished) which I call Boxes of Strings. I'll post instructions for it when I finish!

Leader/Ender Project--Two-Rail Fence

Boxes of Strings

Thanks so much to soscrappy for hosting this challenge.

I'm linking to ScrapHappy Saturday and Fiber Tuesday at The Quilting Room with Mel.

Sapphire (Ruby) Stars is Finished

Last year, Kevin the Quilter hosted a mystery quilt project. He called it Sapphire Stars, and it was fun to participate with others in creating a quilt.

His quilt featured blue, but I went with my favorite color--RED! I don't think I ever really understood the concept of light red, so my quilt doesn't sparkle like Kevin's, but I like it. Please pardon the bad pictures--I was battling both the flu and the wind!

 Many thanks to Kevin for the great project.

I'm linking with Fiber Tuesday 143 at The Quilting Room with Mel.

Two More for the Ongoing Leader/Ender Project

I'm continuing my new habit of leaders and enders. I have made six quilts so far (since about June 2017) by doing this. All will be for donation.


The latest two use black instead of the light neutrals of those before. Previous quilts can be found HERE (#1 and #2) and HERE (#3 and #4).

62" x 74"

68" x 74"

I'm working on a batik and black version now. I'm looking forward to seeing how much I can accomplish next year.

I'm linking with Jo's Country Junction UFO Challenge.