Mosaic Mystery Quilt--Finished

It's taken a few months, but I finally have another finish!  I started quilting on the pieced Mosaic Mystery quilt designed by Cheryl at Meadow Mist Designs back in February.

If you'd like to make one of your own, make sure you check out the landing page for Cheryl's mystery quilt alongs here.

OMG-January

It's been forever since I've set a monthly goal for myself but I'm back and ready to crack that whip.  I am joining in with Patty at Elm Street Quilts for her monthly link up to encourage us to tackle just one thing for the month (and there is prizes...shhhh).  This month I will be tackling piecing the Mosaic Mystery Quilt designed and hosted by Cheryl at Meadow Mist Designs.

I had set a goal last week to get all of the block pieces pieced and I'm almost there.  

My goal for the month will be to take all the pieces and turn them into a finished quilt top.  This will hopefully allow me to get the quilt finished before the parade of quilts in March.  This also means that this quilt will have never hit my UFO list and that is something to celebrate!!!

Fireburst Mystery Quilt--Block 3

We are in the home stretch!  We are down to our last block and guess what?  You only have one block to make!  Since there is only one block this month I will release the block layout instructions on October 9th, which is a day of celebration at my house...Jen's birthday.  So without further delay, let's get stitching.

You will need the following pieces to construct block 3.  You will also need four Fabric 1 flying geese, four Background flying geese and the square in a square unit.

Fireburst Mystery-My Block 2 Blocks

In case you missed it this past weekend, instructions for the second block in the Fireburst Mystery Quilt was released.  I didn't get to share the pictures of my finished blocks in that post, well because they were not finished.  But I am happy to report that all 3 sets are complete!

First up, in absolutely no layout what so ever, are the blocks for my full sized scrappy version of the quilt.  I can't wait to get this one finished to see how it looks.

Baby quilt 1.

Baby Quilt 2.

Are you sewing along with us?  We'd love to see what you are making.  You can join in our Facebook Group here and also feel free to tag me @tishnwonderland or #fireburstmysteryquilt on Instagram.  It's not too late to join in the fun.  We have one more block to go next month and a whole lot of time to get this put together.

Fireburst Mystery QAL--Block 1

Happy 1st of August!  Are you as ready as I am to start piecing an actual block for the Fireburst Mystery Quilt??  Good, lets get to it.

Fire Burst Mystery Quilt--My Fabrics

David has been spending quite a bit of time away from home, due to work.  It's the pits, but we are trying to make the time that he is home count.  I was able to sneak off (I got permission) from work early last week on his one day home and we ventured out to a quilt shop about 30 minutes away.  A new quilt along is surely deserving of new fabrics....right?

While I floated around the store petting bolts of fabrics and trying to narrow my choices down, David made himself at home in the batik isle.  Knowing that I wouldn't be much help in his decision (I don't always see his vision), he enlisted the help of the shop owner in picking just the right fabrics.  After much debate, he came up with the fabrics below.

I'm excited to see this come together.  I would have never in a million years came up with this fabric pull.  But you know what?  I think it works.  He says he knows it works.

Now for my fabric pull.  My normal go to for a background fabric is a crisp white on white.  I just LOVE it.  So to shake things up a bit I went for...drumroll....a black on black.

I'm thinking night sky and exploding fireworks with this fabric pull.  I wanted bright and fun and POP!  This bright sky blue, electric pink and silvery gray should do just that.

I know that I may have bombarded you with all the information in yesterday's post on picking fabrics, but what is the most important rule that we followed when picking our fabrics?  We chose fabrics that we love.  There is just something about my color combination that speaks to me and David's pull that speaks to him.

I set up a Facebook Group for those interested in sharing their progress along the way.  I thought it would be a great place to get to know each other better or ask questions.  This is my first time setting up a group...I think I did it correctly...think being the key word.

I'm also setting up a linky party that will remain open until the end of June, if you'd like to share your fabric selections.  You can link up blog posts, Instagram or Flickr photos.

I can't wait to see the fabrics that you choose.

An InLinkz Link-up

Fire Burst Mystery Quilt-- Picking Fabrics

Today is the day we are kicking off the Fire Burst Mystery Quilt QAL!  If you are quilting along with us over the next few months...thank you.  It means the world that you trust both myself and David as designers to participate in what I like to think of as the ultimate quilting trust fall.  I decided today we will talk about picking out fabrics and fabric requirements.  At the end of the week I will post the cutting instructions

For this quilt I wanted to keep things simple, so you will only need a total of four fabrics; a background fabric and three focal fabrics.  I will refer to the fabrics as; Background, Fabric 1, Fabric 2, and Fabric 3.  If you are using prints, you will probably want to rule out directional fabrics and larger scale prints.

Now let's talk about how the fabrics will play together in the quilt.  Contrast between your fabrics will be very important.  Fabrics 1, 2 and 3 will all touch the Background fabric.  Fabric 2 and 3 will also touch within the quilt.  When you are auditioning fabrics, consider laying them out like this.

This will allow you to see how all the fabrics play together within the quilt.  If you choose a lighter value background fabric, you may want to go with medium and darker values for the focal fabrics.  If you go with a darker value for the background look at medium and light values for the focal fabrics.  The main thing, make sure when you stand back from your fabrics, they read the way you want them too.

Below are examples of the fabrics I used in my pattern testing quilts.

For my first quilt (fabrics on the left), I chose to go with more of a monochromatic color scheme.  This is when you use only one color in different tints, shades or tones.  I wanted to add a small pop and chose to use my Fabric 3 for that.  You will notice in the fabric chart at the end of the post, Fabric 3 has the smallest amount of yardage.

Other than monochromatic other color theories would work as well.  Such as analogous, three colors next to each other on the color wheel.

Here I have used a yellow green, green and blue green.  I'd like to add, they would all look great no matter where I decided to put them (Fabric 1, 2 or 3).  Actually this rule applies for all the color schemes.

You might even consider a triadic color scheme; when three colors are evenly spaced on the color wheel.

There is also the complimentary color palette; colors opposite each other on the color wheel.  This is similar to the fabrics I used in one of the test quilts.  Though red is technically the complement to green, I chose a reddish orange color, a nice pop against the green.

You could also work with complementary colors as a background fabric.  In this example, I used monochromatic shades of yellow with it's complement color, purple, for the background.

The last color scheme I want to mention is split complementary; you use a base color and then the two colors adjacent to its complement color.  Not as tricky as it sounds.

Does all this talk about color theory leave your head spinning?  It does mine.  I know just enough to be dangerous.  Don't be afraid to turn to mother nature or pictures for your inspiration.  I have a very old post (like 2015) on how I pick fabrics using a color palette generator.  You can check it out here.  It talks about using Sherwin-Williams online and phone app called Color Snap.  I actually prefer the phone app to the web based version.  Both allow you to upload photos and generates a suggested color scheme based on the picture.  The phone app, however, gives you more freedom when it comes to picking the colors you like best.

These are pictures from the phone app showing me swapping out the rust/orange for a more brighter orange and a tan for white.

Really when picking your fabrics there is just one rule.  Work with fabrics you LOVE.  No really, look at those fabrics and ask yourself, do they make me happy when I look at them?  Do they make my heart sing?  If you go into a project only feeling ho hum and uncertain about your fabric choices (especially a project you have no idea what you are making) more than likely, you will end up with a quilt you feel...well...ho hum about.  Have faith in your ability to select fabrics.  You got dressed this morning, didn't you?  (maybe you didn't)  Picking fabrics is not much different than picking out what you are wearing or what color car you like.  I have faith that you can do this.

If picking out fabrics for mystery quilts isn't quite your thing, I have another option for you.  Over the past few weeks, I have been collaborating with Bernie at Needle and Foot to create two quilt kit options you can order from her shop, Needle and Foot Fine Fabrics.  Both kits are available in the 32" baby quilt and 64" lap quilt sizes.

The first kit contains beautiful prints, including Alison Glass.

You can order this kit here.

And a second kit with a wonderful print background and vibrant coordinating solids.

You an order this kit here.

Make sure you hop over to her shop and check them out.

If you have any questions about the fabrics you selected feel free to shoot me an email at tishnwonderland (at) gmail (dot)com (there is also a link on my side bar).  I would be more than happy to take a look with you.  I want you to be happy with your quilts and still be talking typing to me when this is over.

So without further ado...here are the fabric requirements for the Fire Burst Mystery Quilt.  

Through out the QAL, the fabrics will be represented in the pattern by the colors on the chart.  If you are afraid you might make a mistake on cutting, I always encourage purchasing a bit more, especially if your width of fabric is less than 45" or your quilt shop rips instead of cutting the fabric.  On Wednesday, I will give you a peak at the fabrics David and I will be using to create our quilts during the QAL.

Fire Burst Mystery Quilt--Details

I have been working hard behind the scenes over here to get things ready for the Fire Burst Mystery QAL, the newest pattern by myself and my husband David (Dave the Quilt Engineer).  The pattern has been tested and is being reviewed.  All is looking great.  To make things official I wanted to discuss the tentative schedule for the quilt along.

May-fabric requirements and cutting instructions
June-piecing instructions
July-piecing instructions
August-Block 1
September-Block 2
October-Block 3
October-Layout reveal
November & December-finish quilt tops

January 1st fireworks display of quilts!

Why January 1st?  January 1st is a special day for me and this year especially.  It will mark my 40th birthday and what a better way to celebrate than with friends!  Also, we will be about half way through my daughter's senior year of high school so I'll probably need a pick me up.  Nothing makes me feel better than beautiful quilts.  Plus, who doesn't love fireworks to ring in the new year?  This will be a more quite way to enjoy them without terrorizing the neighborhood dogs.

I'm also happy to announce, that the QAL will have sponsors!!!  So far I have had six very generous quilters step forward with prizes to celebrate our finished quilts.  I will be contacting a few more possible sponsors in the next few weeks and announcing all of them very soon.

If you are new to quilting or quilt alongs maybe I should define what a mystery quilt is and how it works.  You are given clues one at a time.  The first clues are picking fabrics and cutting instructions.  Then the piecing instructions are given in small chunks.  Part of the fun is arranging your pieces seeing if you can crack the code of what the top will look like.  The very last set of instructions will be the quilt layout.

Fire Burst will be beginner friendly and offered in baby size (32" square) and lap (64" square).  No crazy Y seams or half rectangle shapes.  Worried about being able to keep up?  I promise that the schedule will be very forgiving.  A month will be more than enough time to finish each step of the quilt, or play catch up if you get behind.  The last piecing instructions will be given the first of October with the layout a week later.  You will have from then till December to finish piecing your quilt top or quilt your quilt top.

I also understand that not everyone is comfortable with mystery quilts.  It's a big commitment not knowing what you are making.  With the layout reveal at the beginning of October, there is still plenty of time to make a quilt top/finished quilt before the end of December deadline and join in the fun.  The baby quilt is easily pieced in an afternoon.

Another great QAL getting ready to start is Sandra at mmm!quilts Playtime Plus Quilt.  Playtime Plus was a featured quilt in Benartex's ezine, Modern By The Yard.

Photo curtsey of Modern By The Yard 

The magazine is a free download full of goodies.  Hop over to mmm!quilts and read more about the quilt along, find out how to get your copy of the ezine and read all about the awesome sponsors and prizes.

Back to Fire Burst...will you be sewing with David and I and partying on January 1st?  I hope you will.  We will kick things off starting next week with picking out fabrics and cutting instructions.  I hope that I can provide you with guidance in your decisions.  You can always email me with questions.  If you are sewing along, please grab my button on the side bar (clicking on it will direct you to my QAL landing page) and let everyone know, you will be brining in 2019 (that's so weird to type) with a bang!

UFO Busting #16

I feel like I'm showing up to my own party empty handed, but I promise I can explain.  First off, there has not been extreme amounts of sewing going on this week.  Then, the few things I have worked on I can't show you.  But I can kind of tell you about them.

I have been working on pattern testing the lap version of the upcoming Fire Burst Mystery Quilt (I have posted a tentative schedule on the landing page).  Right now it is setting on the table as a pile of finished blocks to be pieced together this weekend.  In my pattern testing venture I have gained a buddy to join me.  Anja (Anja Quilts) agreed, pretty enthusiastically, to pattern test this quilt as a mystery for me.  This has been so much help!  She is catching all the little things I've missed and hopefully, fingers crossed, having fun.

The pinwheel quilt is still fast asleep on the Sweet Sixteen.  I've had too many other fun distractions to unwrap her and finish her.

The distractions? 

There was chauffeuring to and from a romantic teenage dinner date for my daughter and her boyfriend...sigh.

The 2018 New Quilt Bloggers Blog Hop kicked off this week with eight new quilt bloggers introducing themselves to us.  If you haven't check it out yet, hop over to here to find out more.  You can also sign up for the give aways being offered by our sponsors.

The next cool distraction is something I've been working on for a little while.  I was contacted a few months ago my Melva (Melva Loves Scraps) about David and I being part of her Quilters Through the Generation Series.

I love what she is doing with this series.  Quilting full of history, that is just a fact.  Melva is taking the time to interview and document families that quilt helping to preserve some of this history.  She first contacted me because she knew that both David and I quilt and we are a family.  What she didn't know at the time, is that we both come from families with lots of quilters in them.  So this week, I have been photographing my family quilts and answering questions about them.  If you'd like to read more about my quilty DNA, Melva will be featuring me on April 28 and David in May.  If you come from a family tree sprinkled with quilters, Melva is always looking for people to interview for the series.  Please contact her.  It was a wonderful experience and I have to admit, looking back through pictures and remembering the ladies I miss so dearly was wonderful.

What do you do when you turn your guild's challenge project into a mystery quilt?  You go back to the drawing board for the challenge project.

Luckily for me, I have just enough of these fabrics left to still create something without having to purchase more fabric.  Thank goodness for over buying, right?

The last little distraction was helping a fellow quilter not be a UFOer.  I don't want to give the details, but was contacted by a fellow blogging friend in need of help.  She recently pieced the absolute SWEETEST quilt for her granddaughter and was stuck on the quilting.  Her quilt top was much more fun than the actual work I was doing, so I took a break to provide some help.  I drew up a little plan and she loved it.  That evening I had my daughter video me drawing out the stitching path so she could see how to easily dance around the quilt.  Sometimes moving around the quilt is the stumper.  I'm happy to say she has been stitching the nights away.  I hope she shares it with us when she's done.  Here's to a quilt not living in UFO land!!

Let's talk about last week.  Last week, I talked about how UFO's are created.  This week how about UFO's in their raw form.  My dear friend Sandra (mmm!quilts) is always a lady with irons in the fire and juggling projects galore.

She shared with us her goals for the second quarter of the year and it is full of projects in fabric pull form.  If you want to take a break and drool over some hot fabric porn (it's rated G) hop over to Sandra's now and check out her list of "to makes" and those lingering to be finishes we all know about too well.

So what are you up to this week?  Are you like me and have nothing really sharable or are you competing in the Most Productive Quilter Pageant (no bikini's required)?  Link up and tell us about it below!

An InLinkz Link-up

The Beginning of a Mystery?

I unofficially dubbed myself the Queen of QAL's last year.  I don't think it is much of a secret if we have been friends in real life or in quilt blog land that I love a great QAL and at the top of that list...a mystery QAL.  I've dreamed of hosting my own, but so far have shied away from the idea.

I recently gave the members of our guild a challenge, the Birthday Challenge.  The idea is to create anything (quilt, mug rug, purse, ect) using primarily your birthstone color.  The idea being that someone could guess your birth month based on what you created.  Everyone will bring their finished projects to the June meeting so we can share them.

For my item, I decided to pull from the David's design book.  I'm his wife, I have permission.  Legally they are half mine any way...or that is our joke.  I landed on one I loved and went to work writing a pattern for it.  After the numbers where crunched and graphics where made, I started testing the pattern and making the quilt.

 Then it dawned on me...this pattern would make a great first mystery quilt.  The pattern would be great for a beginner and would look great in so many different color ways.  It only requires a background fabric and three additional fabrics.

If there is interest in a mystery QAL, I will offer the quilt in two different sizes, baby and a larger lap quilt.  When I made my test quilt (baby size)  I was easily able to prep, cut and construct the quilt in one afternoon.  So, I'm officially putting this feeler out there to see if anyone would like to play along on what should be a quick and easy mystery quilt.  So, would you be interested in joining in?  Would there be anything in planning it that could make it easier on you?  When you work on QAL's do you prefer to have an entire month to work on a set of instructions or do you prefer every two weeks? 

So that's it.  I am asking you to trust me completely and sew blindly.  Well, not with your eyes closed that's just a lawsuit waiting to happen.  More like a quilting trust fall.  I think you know what I mean.  Maybe I can even drum up some sponsors?  Respond below and let me know what you think.

Today I'm linking up with Main Crust Monday.

Magnolia Mystery

It's my favorite time of year again, mystery quilt time over at Meadow Mist Designs!  This year's mystery is called Magnolia Mystery.  I was more than happy to pattern test the mystery quilt for Cheryl as a mystery again this year.  It's been so hard to keep quiet about it for the last several months, but I'm happy to share my progress on the quilt as the clues were revealed to me.

On July 6th, Cheryl released the fabric requirements for the quilt along.  On my trip to the quilt store I knew immediately one of the fabrics I would be using.  It was a wonderful black fabric with lots of bright flowers on it.  After going back and forth picking out coordinating colors and grabbing my favorite bolt of white on white, I had my color palette secured.

Next month the cutting instructions will be released.  If you haven't decided to play along yet, there is plenty of time.  With three fabrics and a background to pick out, really it's not that scary.  And I promise this quilt will not disappoint.  Are you playing along with this year's mystery quilt?  If sewing blindly scares the pants off you, put your pants back on.  Cheryl will email you a picture of what the finished top looks like, she just asks that you keep the final layout a secret for the others that are sewing it as a mystery.

And she has prizes!!!  At the end of the quilt along, she asks that you send her a picture of your finished top or quilt and she will create a parade of quilts on her blog, so that we can all see what everyone has made.  No blog required to play, just email her a picture.  Then she will randomly draw winners from the parade of quilts.  One thing is for certain, it is going to be a great time!  Join us all and come sew along!

Today I'm linking up with Main Crust Monday.

Meadow Mystery Finish-Take 1

Mark this one off the list and call it done!  I have to say there were a couple times during the quilting process I found myself questioning if this quilt even wanted to be finished.  It seemed to be challenging me every step of the way.  That's okay, though, I showed it who's boss.

Last year,  I had the honor of pattern testing the Meadow Mystery Quilt for Cheryl at Meadow Mist Designs.  I pattern tested the pattern as a mystery, getting only one clue at a time.  So when I picked the fabrics for this quilt,  I honestly had no idea what the quilt would look like.

I think this is only the second time I've really talked about this version of the quilt on the blog (I could be wrong).  So it seemed only fitting to give this quilt an all over custom quilting, since it's never really had it's time to shine.

Let's talk thread for a minute.  I reached into my trusty Aurifil stash, trying to find just the right colors that would melt into the different prints, allowing for some fun texture without over powering the fabrics.  For the yellow fabric I used #2130 Medium Butter  for some therapeutic stippling.  The black polka dot print contains #2692 Black to add wishbones, loops and radiating lines.  For the green triangles, #4026 Forest Green for some dot to dot fun and the rectangles became ghost flying geese.  And last but not least, #2024 White for the off white fabric, for more stippling, straight line quilting, pebbling and curvy flower fun.  I chose to leave the light blue sections unquilted, but matched it with #5006 Light Turquoise to attach the flange of the binding to the front of the quilt.

This will be a post with few words, I think I'm just going to let the thread and fabric do the talking for me.

This one will have a special little place in my heart.  I got to play around with the blocks and try to figure out the layout, without any influence from social media.  It was like getting a copy of your favorite mystery author before the book ever hits the shelves.  Another huge thank you to Cheryl for allowing me to read over the pattern and trusting me with it until the quilt along started. 

If you haven't head already, Cheryl will be hosting another mystery quilt along starting in July called the Magnolia Mystery.

I am so stinking excited I have no idea what I'm going to do with myself until then??  Oh, wait.  I guess I could work on my other quilt along projects and quilts a pile of quilts.  I'm good.

Today I'm linking up with Let's Bee Social, Midweek Makers, Main Crush Monday and Linky Tuesday.