More Grand Illusion and Lazy Sunday

I've been doing a bit of frogging since I last blogged.  You can look at my last post about Grand Illusion and see that the borders are attached wrong.  2 have the pink facing out and 2 have the pink facing in.  An eagle eye at my church sewing group noticed it as soon as I held it up to share.  Everyone said leave it as a design element.  I just couldn't.  All fixed.  No new photo to share.

A few days before that as I was working on the pieced border for Lazy Sunday I had a realization.  Four of the pink, orange and turquoise blocks have one corner that is made with green.  I hoped that I had placed them correctly before I lay out the rows.  It would have to be total luck.  Argh!  Two were in the right position but rotated.  Two were not.  I ripped out the 6 offending blocks from the top and corrected everything.  Onward progress.

I chose my colors for my border and completed the first two.  I attached them and lay it on the ground.  I was shocked at the sharp contrast and wasn't really thrilled with it.  All the fabrics in the border are also in the body of the quilt.  I guess the coolness of the blues make my background appear whiter while the warm colors more beige.

I made plans to take them off then put slab borders on with the warm colors.  I posted on Facebook and had enough feedback suggesting I move forward.  Even to add one of the warm colors as a final border.

Here is a close up of my chosen fabric for that suggestion.

Another shot a little farther away.  I am going ahead with this plan.  I coincidently saw an Orca Bay quilt on Bonnie Hunters blog that had a very similar effect.  It just serves as an interesting, eye catching frame.  I have all the pieces for the remaining sides of the pieced border sewn and just need to chain them together.  Also, serendipitously, I had miscut my inner border too wide the first time.  Turns out I am using those strips for my outer border.

Hugs!!!

Mystery No More

Well it hasn't been a mystery since January 1st but now I know what MY quilt looks like.  One more good pressing then it will be added to my flimsy pile.

Design Wall Monday - April 13, 2015

Back on the 2nd I had the four patches made and some of the other components made except the star points.  I have worked a little on this every day and have gotten to this point.  All the borders are made even though they are not shown here.  I will continue to sew on this every day until its topped.  This is Bonnie Hunters Grand Illusion mystery that she offered last year.  Once this is done I'm going back to finish Lazy Sunday.

I'm linking to Patchworktimes.  Go visit to see what others have on their design walls.

More Grand Illusion Progress

I have all my blocks done.  I went with a 3x4 setting.  I was auditioning everything together so just took a closer (blurry) picture of a smaller section.  I am glad that I chose the bright white for the stars.  The Grand Illusion quilts I've seen so far with the bright white have been my favorites.

I have all the sashing pieces complete and I have my borders all pieced with the exception of the cornerstone 4- patch being sewn on.  They are made though.  Because I made a smaller version I had to figure out how many of  each unit I needed.  There are extras!  Boy are there extras.

Here they are.  A few border pieces.  The one corner piece of the main block.  A few star points and I think 14 extra sashing units.  Well, components of those units.  If you would like any ir all of these extras just leave me a comment.  If there is a lot of interest I will do a random draw.  My goal is to get this top together by Friday the 17th.  When I get back from my sewing group I will notify the recipient then.  Good luck!

Grand Illusion Mystery Progress

This is the first Bonnie Hunter mystery that I sewed along with.  I have participated in three of her NYE mysteries that are held in Plano, TX.  I did make two Orca Bay quilts but the majority of that work was done by others and I assembled the tops.  I did do piecing on each of them though.

While I am thinking over the borders of Lazy Sunday I decided to keep sewing on something and this was it.  I am only making 12 of the blocks.  I guesstimated that I would make a third of the quilt size.  As a result I guesstimated that I would need about a third of the required yardage as well.  The only one that I guesstimated correctly was the yellow.  I bought this fabric back when the fabric requirements were released.  

I was working at a rather leisurely pace and it started to dawn on me that I was going to run out of fabric.  Oh NO!!  I calculated the number of units I was able to make out of each strip or strip set, then I started cutting the number of strips I would need to determine what I was short on.  I ran to the store and found four of the five fabrics.  I knew what was needed for three of them.  I guessed on one of them.  I'll have to track the last one down and figure out what is required.

Here is what its looking like.

Lazy Sunday Borders

Here is my Lazy Sunday quilt by Bonnie Hunter up to the first border.  It calls for a green and neutral HST border then a blue and neutral diamond border.  Here I am showing the aqua and green.  I don't think that green is doing it for me.

I am leaning toward a double diamond border with the aqua, blue and neutral.  

Thoughts?