Grand Illusion top - DONE!

Today I finished adding 

the borders to my GI top

which means: a happy dance

and a finished quilt top!

Just hours before 

the next Quiltville mystery starts.

Wow, that was just in time

and I surprised myself 

that got it done in time.

(not a great pic, but it has to do)

Linking up to

  Jo's pre-mystery challenge post.

Happy Thanksgiving,

Barb

Pre-mystery UFO challenge

Jo from Jo's Country Junction 

has this pre-mystery UFO challenge going:

to finish a Bonnie Hunter mystery UFO (or other) 

before the next Bonnie mystery starts

during the Thanksgiving Holiday.

What a great idea - 

and I have been plugging along 

on my Grand Illusion top:

  

I had opted for a smaller version of Grand Illusion

with a 4 x 5 block setting - 

and am stuck at the point 

when I should be sewing my borders on.

The short end of the pieced border 

is approx. 1 inch too short:

My usual dilemma - and I am ready to give up.

I tried pressing and pulling, but to no avail.

What now? 

Marking and sewing the pieced border

to the inner yellow border 

at a smaller distance?

Meaning the inner border ends up

being maybe just 3/4 inch finished size?

Help!

Thanks Jo for hosting:

you certainly made me buckle down

and get a Bonnie top closer to being finished!

Barb

Design Wall Monday

Somehow through a link

on Judy's stash report

I came across the

  350 Blocks Project.

What a neat idea:

join and sew blocks,

for a total of 350 a year,

Goal for January is 20.

Sounds more doable for me

than committing to full tops

or completed quilts.

So I signed up with Shelly

at Prairie Moon Quilts - 

and selected my blocks.

First off:

Swoon block # 3,

a long ago UFO

that lingered due to a

major cutting operator error...

Had to add some additional seams,

but I finished 1 new block!

Next up I had seen Pat Sloan's

Hip to be Square challenge,

Before: 

It used up some scraps

and no longer loved white fabric.

After: I got one 8 x 8 block done -

The single square size is 2 1/2 inch.

And lastly my real project Grand Illusion,

now working on the border.

Before:

After: 6 blocks completed.

Yeah - a total of 8 blocks

for the 20 blocks in January challenge.

Not quite there yet,

but am committed to sew 

more GI border blocks

to hit the goal.

Linking up to 

Judy's Design Wall Monday,

what's on your wall?

Barb

Design Wall Monday

Tadaaa: 

check out my Grand Illusion top -

4x5 block setting without borders.

Yes, it is wild - and I love it! 

Thanks to Bonnie 

for this fabulous mystery!!!

And now all the bits and pieces of fabric

are gone from my living room floor - nice!

Not sure if I will add the border or not.

Haven't sewn a single border unit yet

and my time may be limited here

with lots of traveling coming up.

Will be linking up to

  Judy's Design Wall 

on Monday morning.

Barb

Design Wall Monday and Grand Illusion link-up 5

Well, time flies when you are having fun...

Checking back in with the last status 

of my Grand Illusion blocks - 

Bonnie Hunter's Mystery Quilt- 

I sure can't wait for the big reveal!

Okay, here it goes:

Unit 1: 84 of 100 

Unit 2: 53 of 100

Unit 3: 120 of 120 wohooo- done!

Unit 4: Zero of 40 + 40

Unit 5: 4 of 4B and 0 of 25A

As always -

it's not a race and 

I am pretty amazed at my stats :-)

and still love the process of it all!

I better get back to sewing 

the missing units

so I can get a top together

for the New Year.

Hoping to get some of my 

"idling & almost completed tops"

done before 2015 as well.

Wish me luck!

Linking up to Bonnie's Link-up 5

and Judy's Design Wall Monday.

Barb

Design Wall Monday and Grand Illusion Part 2

So how did your sewing go this week?

All caught up with Bonnie's mystery units

or working on the last holiday gifts?

Well, I mainly cut and sewed 

mystery units 1 and 2.

Current count:

83 unit 1

6 double diamonds

and a ton of prepared single diamonds (with pink only).

And sure enough: Bonnie gave us 3 methods  

to sew the Double Diamond blocks - thanks so much!

I used method #3 and 

cut my fabric with Accuquilt dies

which I already owned - nice!

Then I had another look at my 

Hapi Mystery quilt - gone wild ;-)

And added the fabric 

I am considering for calming 

(ha ha, who am I kidding)

setting and corner triangles.

Not too bad -

I think I like it!

Need to go and check for Bonnie's

cutting list of setting triangles, 

calculated by block size.

Linking up to Bonnie's Link up 2

and Judy's Design Wall Monday.

Keep on going

and get sewing,

Barb

Design Wall Monday & Grand Illusion Part 1 Link

I am back to blogging 

with some sewing result

after quite a busy traveling time.

First up are the part 1 units

for Bonnie Hunter's 

"Grand Illusion" mystery quilt:

I managed to sew 10 blocks together

and prepared lots of pre-cut parts.

Total needed: 100 broken dish blocks...

And I also sewed a kit

into blocks - 

Hapi Mystery (from Craftsy):

Still making up my mind

and may be adding setting triangles

to end up with a bigger quilt

and calm it down a bit.

Well, that's the challenge 

with mystery quilts kits:

they may not always be your style...

This one is growing on me though

and certainly is so different

from anything else I have made.

I am linking up to Judy's DWM

and Bonnie's 1st Grand Illusion Link-up.

Barb