La Grande Révélation - En Provence, 2016 Bonnie Hunter Mystery Quilt Link UP

En Provence, 2016 Bonnie Hunter Mystery Quilt

Here it is!  My En Provence 2016 Bonnie Hunter Mystery Quilt top is complete.  As you will see I went for a smaller size quilt this year, just three by three, but this was just about the right amount of work for me at this time of year.  I think the darker stars give it a good structure and I love the way they float out to the border. I love it!

En Provence, 2016 Bonnie Hunter Mystery Quilt - Fabric Selection

These are the fabrics I started with, a selection of soft purples from a Moda French General collection called 'Ville Fleurie'.  I added another neutral after the first clue and am glad that I did, especially for the chequerboard border.  I am hoping I have enough of the little grey flower fabric to do the binding.

En Provence, 2016 Bonnie Hunter Mystery Quilt

I have really taken time to get my piecing accurate and my points pointing and am glad I took the extra effort.

Ville Fleurie by French General, Moda

The Ville Fleurie fabric is on its way out and it is not often French General put out a purple line, so I have picked up this fabric from the collection for the backing.  The quilt is not quilted yet and it will have to wait its turn in the queue, so don't hold your breath.

This was my fourth Bonnie Hunter Mystery Quilt.  Always fun and always a chance to improve your machine piecing skills.  Looking back at my first, my Easy Street quilt, I can really see great improvement in my piecing skills and I can honestly say that I have learnt it all from Bonnie and these mystery quilts.  Looking at her blog, there are lots of people who have completed their quilts and some in lovely colour variations. Please go and visit. Thanks Bonnie!

Below you can find links to all the parts of my Mystery journey, thanks for joining me!

Part 1 - En Provence 2016 Bonnie Hunter Mystery Quilt

Part 2 - En Provence 2016 Bonnie Hunter Mystery Quilt

Part 3 - En Provence 2016 Bonnie Hunter Mystery Quilt

Part 4 - En Provence 2016 Bonnie Hunter Mystery Quilt

Part 5 - En Provence 2016 Bonnie Hunter Mystery Quilt

Part 6 - En Provence 2016 Bonnie Hunter Mystery Quilt

Part 7 - En Provence 2016 Bonnie Hunter Mystery Quilt

Part 6 - En Provence, 2016 Bonnie Hunter Mystery Quilt

Part 6 - En Provence, 2016 Bonnie Hunter Mystery Quilt

You lose track of time at this time of year, but yesterday was a Friday, which means another part of the 2016 En Provence Mystery Quilt was released. 

Part 6 - En Provence, 2016 Bonnie Hunter Mystery Quilt

This block was triangles and at last we got to use a new colour from the En Provence stash, which is the Dark Grey / Mink you can see. 

Usually Bonnie does the BIG REVEAL on New Years Day which I believe is already in full swing in Australia as I write.  But hang on - there is still one colour left to use.  Do you think there will be another part revealed in the next 24 hours?

Part 5 - En Provence, Bonnie Hunter Mystery Quilt

Part 5 - En Provence, Bonnie Hunter Mystery Quilt

Ok.  All the Christmas celebrations are over, so I am now ready for the final push on Bonnie Hunter's 2016 En Provence Mystery quilt.  I have made a good start on Part 5, still managing to use the Accuquilt cutter for cutting the triangles.  My sums on a back of an envelope reckon there are still 1908 sq" left to complete before the big reveal next Sunday.  Are you managing to keep up?

Today, we are off to watch Rogue One at the cinema and then I expect we will return for plenty of sewing.

Joining up with the Monday Link Up!

Part 4 - En Provence, Bonnie Hunter Mystery Quilt 2016

Part 4 - En Provence, Bonnie Hunter Mystery Quilt 2016

As Bonnie promised, quite an easy week this week for the En Provence 2016 Mystery Quilt.  Something we have done before, just a slightly different colour way.  I have made about 42 sets of these, which is just ove half, so I expect to be making a few more maybe.  I used my Accuquilt cutter and this made light work of the cutting.

So this is what we have after four weeks of the En Provence Mystery Quilt - four sets of 3.5" blocks.  I can't believe we have done a month already and to think that in four weeks time there will be some completed ones! There are still two more colours to use and  hopefully a bit more variety in the blocks this week.

Easy Street Mystery Quilt , modelled by Suzi the cat

Suzi doesn't seem quite as enthused by the current Mystery quilt as she has been in previous years.  We switched the quilt on the bed for my Easy Street 2012 Mystery quilt and this is where you will find Suzi the cat.

Linking up with the Monday group.

Part 3 - En Provence, Bonnie Hunter Mystery Quilt 2016

Part 3 - En Provence, Bonnie Hunter Mystery Quilt 2016

How about this as a guess?  For Part 3 of the En Provence Mystery Quilt I used my Accuquilt cutter again, but refrained form cutting the strips into squares and the 4-patches came together much quicker.  However, I have been struggling with a cough and a cold this weekend and I have only just finished pressing all those spinning seams which seemed to take for ages.

Part 3 - En Provence, Bonnie Hunter Mystery Quilt 2016

In total I have done 105 4-patches and I can see that when Bonnie does her BIG REVEAL I am going to have to do a bit of last minute 'fixing' to get a convenient amount.  I have always done the full size until this year, so my 'different size' decision has added another level of jeopardy into the Mystery process.  Will the quilt be square?  Will it be oblong?  I don't know, but the start of 2017 is going to be interesting for sure.  I am loving all these parts just building up ready for the final construction.

Part 3 - En Provence, Bonnie Hunter Mystery Quilt 2016

Here is another idea. 
I will be linking up on Monday!

Part 2 - En Provence, Bonnie Hunter Mystery Quilt 2016

Part 2 - En Provence, Bonnie Hunter Mystery Quilt 2016

Part 1 of the Bonnie Hunter 2016 En Provence Mystery Quilt didn't give much away, but with Part 2 there is the fun of second guessing what she has in store for us.  It is early days, so this layout guess is pretty much all I have come up with.  With a different colour scheme I also had to decide which fabric would be my constant.  The dark fabric I have chosen is actually a rich purple / plum colour, the darkest in my fabric selection - not sure what your 'device' is showing you.  My favourite line of her instructions was  'there is an Accuquilt die for this size.'  It certainly made light work of her cutting instructions and reminded me of how far I have come with my quilt making skills since I started participating in Bonnie's Mystery quilts.

Part 2 - En Provence, Bonnie Hunter Mystery Quilt 2016

This triangle block is familiar from the Celtic Solstice Mystery quilt in 2013 which makes me think that they will be placed in sets of four and that the quilt will be made up of 25 + 24 blocks.  Again, based on the layout of Celtic Solstice, I have done 72 for my smaller quilt.

I have been joined by a few friends and family for this Mystery Quilt and we are all doing different colours, sizes and layouts.  With all our different approaches it has highlighted a little clue from Part 1.  If you are keeping to one colour you only needed to cut 45 plain squares? So what about the other 176?  At this stage I think the 45 are for the blocks of the quilt and the rest are for the border - what do you think?

Looking back at my guesses from previous years I have been hopelessly wrong - LOL! 

I will be linking up on Monday and with my 'homework' done also with Kathy at Slow Stitching Sunday! I'm off to do some more work on my Dear Jane.

Dear Jane Quilt - Block K2 - Grandpa's Chickens

Dear Jane Quilt - Block K2 - Grandpa's Chickens

Dear Jane block K2, Grandpa's Chickens. Someone, somewhere is probably making a king size bed out of squares this big.  I would certainly get a lot of pleasure making the most of scraps that small, but maybe not a King size quilt.

En Provence Mystery Quilt - Part 1

I have also finished stitching, pressing and twisting those seams for my En Provence Mystery quilt.  I have done a random number of 126 4-patches, which is more than half, in fact 57% of the total required for this stage.
 
Techniques: English Paper Piecing and Applique
Pieces: 40  pieces

Part 1 - En Provence, Bonnie Hunter Mystery Quilt 2016

Suzi the Cat enjoying the 2015 Allietare Mystery Quilt 

So we are off!  The 2016 Bonnie Hunter Mystery quilt, En Provence, has started.  Suzi the cat loves this time of year.  As you can see, this morning she is making the most of last years 'Allietare' Mystery quilt which is currently on my bed.

I was away over the weekend at the Knitting and Stitching Show in Harrogate which meant that I didn't access the full details until Sunday.  Since then I have cut all my pieces and have sewn about 50% of the four-patches.  As I mentioned in my previous post, I am not going scrappy, which was a bit of problem with Part 1 of the En Provence Mystery quilt.  However, Bonnie must have been sending me vibes as I had decided to pick up an alternative French General neutral whilst I was at the show, so this has worked out perfectly for her 'two neutral' option.

Part 1 - En Provence, Bonnie Hunter 2016 Mystery Quilt

I will admit that all the preparation required to get going on Part 1 reminded me why I do lots of English paper Piecing by hand.  Before I could get going I had to clear some space for cutting.  The area around my sewing machine had become a dumping ground, so that had to be cleared as well.  I had bought some extra bobbins for my machine at the show, so I wound several of them ready for the next few weeks.  I cleaned my machine.  I put on my single needle plate.  I put in a new needle. After having my machine nearly 8 years I decided to use the table which came with it for the first time which required setting up.  Then I decided that I needed to get my 'Leader and Ender' project set up from the start to make the most of my machine sewing.

Part 1 - En Provence, chain piecing

In the 2015 Black Friday sales I picked up an Accuquilt fabric cutter and knew this would be the perfect project to make the most of it.  It made quick work of cutting the strips and in my enthusiasm I decided to cut the strips into squares. This was perhaps a step too far as it meant that the time I had saved with my cutting, I lost stitching squares instead of strips.  But my squares were very accurately cut .... So far the chain stitching has been very efficient and as a result I haven't made much of a dent into my 'leader and ender' project.
Finally, I want to put out a BIG THANK YOU to Bonnie Hunter for her generosity and for taking the time to put this together.  When I started to read her instructions for Part 1, I remembered why I enjoy her Mystery Quilt so much.  Her instructions are excellent and so thorough that it makes it easy for a quilter at any stage to get a quilt together.  Writing a blog every day takes time, so I really appreciate the work she puts into this.

I know a lot of my Followers are Mystery Quilt fans, so I look forward to seeing your progress too.  Linking up to the Monday Link UP!

En Provence - Bonnie Hunter's 2016 Mystery Quilt - Introduction

Suzi the cat enjoying Allietare, 2015 Bonnie Hunter Mystery Quilt

It was four years ago when I started this blog, mainly to share my progress on Bonnie Hunter's 2012 Mystery Quilt, Easy Street. I completed Celtic Solstice in 2013 (but it still needs quilting), opted out of Grand Illusion in 2014 and picked up again with Allietare in 2015, which is currently on our bed, which Suzi is modelling above.

I have been dithering whether I was going to do Bonnie Hunter's 2016 Mystery Quilt 'En Provence' this year.  It is an 'extra' for my To-do list which I could probably do without.  But there is that period between Christmas and New Year where doing the Mystery Quilt has now become a tradition.

Bonnie Hunter's 2016 Mystery Quilt colours 'En Provence'

Here is a pull from my stash of the colours which Bonnie intends to use.  Lovely colours.  I love the beautiful colours she has chosen, but I know I just wouldn't use the quilt at the end. Usually at this stage of the year I have a colour scheme in mind, perhaps one I have been meaning to use for a while, but this year there wasn't any scheme which I was itching to try.   

Bonnie Hunter's 2016 Mystery Quilt - Fabadashery 'En Provence'

So instead I have gone for this colour scheme.  It is a cross between the lavender of Provence and the heathers of Scotland. This range is made up of Moda French General fabrics and I will be keeping to one fabric and not going scrappy.  I WILL NOT BE GOING SCRAPPY!   Also, I am not going for full size.  I AM NOT GOING FOR FULL SIZE!  I feel a bit of a lightweight admitting all this, but again, I do not have a shortage of very large quilts and a smaller, lighter quilt would be more versatile.  I do intend to follow the Mystery Quilt each week, so no peeping to see the outcome before I make it.  I have yet to decide which colour substitutes which or how big it will be.

Let me know if you are joining in this year. I can't wait for Friday for the first stage and I can't wait for New Years Day for the BIG REVEAL!