Deana: Val's Tuesday Archives - Mystery Quilts

I have a few things to show today for Val's Tuesday Archives.  Today's archive theme is MYSTERY QUILTS!  Well I've got a few to talk about.

1.  First off is an oldie that I call my minis wall quilt.  I designed this mystery many years ago and my sister, sisters-in-law, Mom, and Mom's cousin all participated.  I gave them cutting instructions that all came from fat quarters.  I had them cut tiny little pieces and bag them with labels that made it hard to tell what blocks they would be making.  I think they thought I was CRAZY or they were for bagging up all those tiny little pieces.

Here is my finished quilt.  Those blocks are only about 10" square.  Check out that c r a z y double wedding ring.  That flying geese border took me FOREVER and held up this finish for many years.  I made them way too small.  I think they would have looked better larger and taken much less time.

2.  My second mystery to post about today is the famous Grand Illusion created by Bonnie Hunter.  I have my top done and ready to quilt.  I made some changes to the sashing to accommodate my fabric choices and I love how it turned out.

3.  I also created the Quilter's Garden Mystery that is very nearing completion.  I told the members the theme and that it would be a row quilt.  Other than that, they don't know what will become of the quilt until each month when a new row pattern is released.  We also swap a block each month.  There are about 30 wonderful ladies who are making it.  Check out their blocks at this link.

4. Next up is the 2011 DOD Mystery.  I hosted this mystery as well.  Each participant came up with their own theme for their quilt and submitted a "rule".  Each month I would draw a "rule" from the list and suggest a new technique to try such as hand applique', thread painting, paper piecing, etc...  I also gave each person a finished size for their piece.  

The quilt below is what I ended up with.  You can see some of the other quilts at this link:  2011 DOD Mystery

5. My wonderful sisters, sisters-in-law, and mother do a mystery quilt about twice a year.  We draw names and come up with a quilt for the person whose name we drew.  We pass the quilts around each month and add another row.  The mystery is "Whose quilt am I working on?" and "Which one is mine".  We sew the top together as we go so it is nearly finished when received.  Here are some quilts finished in July.  Mine is quilted now.

6. Finally is a mystery I began at Utah's Annual Quilt Meeting several years ago.  I plan to finish it this year and still don't know what I am making.  It must be pretty small though because there is not much fabric here.  Yeah, it is on my list of things to finish for 2015.

I am linking up with Let's Bee Social and WIP Wednesday.

Deana: Swap Questions?

I have had some questions about how the Mystery Row Swap (see more details at this link)  part will work, so I thought I would address it in this post.  I will update the same information to the original swap post.

Here is how the swap will work:

As quilters post their completed blocks I will number each block in the order they are blogged.  So when it is time to  decide which blocks go to Jane Doe, and if Jane made 3 blocks, I will draw out three numbers to determine which ones she gets.  If Deana made 6 blocks I will draw the next 6 numbers for her.  Basically, it will be random.  I will doctor up the randomness if needed such as:

• If you choose to make three identical swap blocks in the same fabrics, I will have you send them to three different people so one person will not have identical blocks in a row.  It is faster and easier to strip sew identical blocks so I anticipate most swappers will do this.
• If you choose to make three blocks that are not identical in fabric then I may have you send them to only one/maybe 2 people ,as needed, to save on postage.

Basically, you could get some blocks from the same person but most likely you will receive blocks from different people.  On the first of each month I will determine as randomly as possible where each block is sent and email everyone a list with addresses.


On the first of the month I will blog about a "maximum" number of blocks you can make.  It will probably be the number of blocks in the row (likely not more then 8).   

Participants will be required to use high quality fabric (no Walmart)  and to match the color scheme.  You can tell the quality by how good it feels and by the price.  Most good quality fabric is around $10 a yard.  I hope participants will purchase enough fabric so they can put bits of the same fabric in each row to blend it all together. 

I hope this post has provided you with some clarification.

Deana: Barn update

Here is the latest progress on my Daughter's of Dorinda Mystery quilt.  I am very excited with how it is turning out.  My favorite part is always the newest part.

Here are some close-ups of the thread painted branches.  I'm not perfectly satisfied with them and may still work on them some.

This tree maybe needs a few more branches.  I also added one more badly needed black line on the barn roof.  It looks better now.

CHECK OUT OUR MYSTERY BLOG

I have the new blog for our Mystery quilt set up. Check it out at dodmystery.blogspot.com or better still, just click on the Mystery picture on the side bar.  If you have already linked from the Dorinda blog you may want to change to the link on the Mystery blog so you can go directly there.