You will remember last October I embarked on Bonnie Hunter's Celtic Solstice. My goal was to finish it before she started Allietare. Ah, best laid plans of mice and men right? Let's just say, life got in the way. Somehow Christmas came too fast and then I came down with a terrible cold so here we are marching on to Valentines day with the hope that I will get the top finished in time to give to my sweet husband who has been patiently waiting. Yesterday I finished the blocks!
What is it like to make a Bonnie Hunter Mystery Quilt you may wonder. It's not for the faint of heart...lol. This particular quilt is King Size. Chain piecing helps. Bonnie is known for her scrappy quilts and you need to pull lots of fabrics and lots of scraps if you want that scrappy look. For this quilt, I wanted a little bit of scrappy goodness but I also wanted to simplify the process a bit.
This was my inspiration for my color palette:
And this is how it translated into fabric for me:
There are lots of steps along the way and this is definitely a quilt that would be fun to stitch with company. Get a group of gals together that want to make the same quilt and tackle each step together. The chatter will make the time go by faster and you can spur each other on to the finish! Here is a little brief photo synopsis of the process.
Yes, it's a long and winding road making a Bonnie Hunter Mystery Quilt. But worth the effort! Here is a larger picture of my quilt inspector making sure that all the greens and lavenders are going in the right directions! The quilt blocks are laid out but not stitched together, that will be today's work. There comes a moment when I am working on one of her design that I reach that wall of boredom, the repetition starts to get to me, but you must persevere! It IS worth the effort.
More pictures will be forth coming once the quilt is finished and quilted. Yes, there are thousands of pieces to this quilt, yes it takes a bit of effort to make it, yes you will love it when you start to see it come together.
Okay, I am off to my sewing machine to get these blocks stitched together. Then the borders will be attached and I will have that overwhelming sense of satisfaction at a job well done!
If you want to make your own...it's not too late to get the pattern. Bonnie places her Mystery quilt patterns online while the mystery is unfolding, they are free to download, then she takes them down for inclusion in a future book. She is now making them available as stand alone patterns for purchase on her blog site. Here is the link for her digital download: http://quiltville.com/shop.html#!/Celtic-Solstice-Digital-Pattern/p/51121504/category=13038426
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