I saw this wrapped bolt of gorgeous batik in Fabric Depot when I was in Portland in July 2012. I've been saving it for a special project. Celtic Solstice is that project! Rather than doing my quilt scrappy, I decided to go with batiks and to coordinate my fabrics. So I purchased yardage to match:
True to form, Bonnie introduced a new tool and technique: the Tri-Recs ruler. I was very fortunate to already have this set in my tool kit. Coincidentally, I just finished this quilt top which used the same unit but I used a paper template method. This quilt is called Tennessee Waltz:
But let's try the ruler! Let's get busy!
I'm doing the large king-sized quilt. I have a whole bolt of the focus fabric and purchased enough yardage to make the big one because we have a king sized bed and it seemed like a good use of this special batik purchase.
I sewed the whole weekend with a friend visiting from Seattle. She was working on my baby Janome while I worked on Ferdinand, my featherweight:
Pictured here is one tri-recs unit, one "Bow-dacious" leader/ender unit (another Bonnie Hunter pattern from her book, "Adventures in Leaders and Enders") and my trusty pink post-it notes stack marking my 1/4 inch measurement and serving as an edge to follow. Mr. Ferdinand is a speedy guy and without that guide my blocks would be really wonky!
After a full weekend of sewing, I finished all 140 of one block and 240 of the second one. Here they are in progress:
Done in piles of 10 makes the counting easier. And many, many hours later, they are DONE!
It was a marathon and it was a blast! So far I'm keeping up to date but we'll see if I can maintain that pace. I haven't yet been able to keep pace on any of Bonnie's mysteries. I know it's not a race. I have loved every single one of Bonnie's mysteries that I've done (this is #6). And of course a special thanks to Bonnie for hosting and leading yet another free mystery. If you want to join the fun, it's not too late! You can get the information HERE. And thanks also Bonnie for the link-up party. Click here: http://quiltville.blogspot.com/2013/12/celtic-solstice-mystery-monday-link-up-1.html
It's back to work tomorrow. We have to wait until Friday for the next clue. That should give the quilting muscles time to recover LOL.
Until next time!
Mavis
Love your focus fabric. I went to the Fabric Depot for the first time this September when I visited Portland. Can you say sensory overload? You are amazing to get so much done in so little time. I was traveling for Thanksgiving and I am still cutting my scraps to make the units and I'm going to make the small version except about 25% bigger.
ReplyDeleteYour mystery is going to be gorgeous with those batiks!
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