Part 6 - Bonnie Hunter's Celtic Solstice Mystery Quilt 2013, the BIG REVEAL

Celtic Solstice Mystery Quilt 2013 (Bonnie Hunter)

Firstly, a BIG THANK YOU to Bonnie at Quiltville for the 2013 Celtic Solstice Mystery quilt.  Another lovely quilt pattern, an exciting journey shared with quilters all around the world and an excuse to sew over the holidays. What a beautiful result!


Celtic Solstice Mystery Quilt 2013 Quiltville

Here is my version.  I wanted a 'summer' quilt, and I think I have achieved that.  I am also really pleased that Bonnie gave us two sizes to choose from.  I went for the smaller size, which is plenty big enough for my needs.

Celtic Solstice Quilt - Electric Quilt software

As I usually buy fat quarters, I didn't have enough matching fabric to do a wide border, and in the end decided to experiment with a few ideas using my EQ5 software to work out what was feasible. There was a long auditioning process...

Celtic Solstice Mystery Quilt - Borders

In the end I have got a 1.5" neutral inner border, the pieced border laid out in a dog tooth border pattern, then another 1.5" neutral border, and finally a green patterned binding.  The binding is a Kaffe Fassett "Lime Paperweight" print which I have included in the quilt.  At the moment I don't have enough for the whole binding, so I need to source some before I can go any further.

Marbleous Jacquard - Robert Kaufman fabrics #6595

The neutral I am using for the borders is a Marbleous Jacquard fabric by Robert Kaufman.  There is a different weave within the fabric which adds a slight texture to the print.  You don't see them very often, so when I do I snap them up.  Because of the different weave, they do tend to fray a bit, so until I am ready to quilt the Celtic Solstice quilt, I am going to pin the fabric to the quilt top and add it when that moment arrives.  No promises when that will be ...


Bad Example - Missing points!

As you know I am usually hand piecing my Nearly Insane quilt.  With the English paper piecing method it is really easy to make sure all your points match, and to man handle pieces to fit it together.   

Good Example - matching points

With the machine, making the points match ALL the time seemed to be impossible.  I think the split square triangles were the cause of most of the problems.  Some of them seemed to have had lost their seam allowance, so it made it impossible to match up. Bonnie says this is OK.  I had to lie down for a bit.  I enjoy joining in the Mystery quilt to use my machine, but it does remind me how much more control I have when I hand stitch.


Celtic Solstice Mystery Quilt 2013

For now, this is it on the Celtic Solstice Mystery quilt.  I was going to piece the back, but am going to wait until I decide how I am going to quilt it first.