More Fun with Bonnie Hunter Patterns

When I don't know what to do, or need a distraction, I sew. The last few weeks have been a reality check. A you think you have control, but any day something can happen to turn you world upside down week.  A Serenity Prayer kind of week.  I've been sewing a lot, and working in the garden. I think the cure for worry is wear yourself out, then you are too tired to think about problems.

Long story short. Two weeks ago today our son was working in Lima, Ohio. He went out that evening, just a few blocks from his hotel. He was assaulted and robbed. The assault caused a TBI.
It's hard to make sense of things that are senseless.

So  the Lozenges quilt I was getting together has taken on a new meaning. It was always meant for my son. But it was to be blacks and greys. A sophisticated blend of organic looking fabrics. So plans change. I substituted black for a nice grey fabric with silver.  I am calling it "Searching for the Silver Lining". These pictures do not do this quilt justice. It's looks dull in the picture, not so in person. I'm sure when my long-arm quilter, Sandy Erwin, finishes quilting it, that it will be outstanding!  No pressure Sandy!.

Quilt top on the grass, not a good picture.

My initial plan was to make the entire quilt with lozenges, no borders. I didn't have enough of my silver lining fabric to do that, so plans changed. I had the thin grey border fabric left over from an oriental quilt I made him a few years ago. More of the lozenges, without the corners, made a second border. Finally a nice big border to frame everything. Tom is getting better each day. I plan to give him the quilt for his next birthday.

I thoroughly checked it out and it passed inspection

Here are the details

Ready for the long arm quilter

One project done and on to two Scrappy Mountain Majesties.

 On her recent trip home, my daughter was looking through my stash and fell in love with some  fabrics that looked the autumn. She pulled out fabrics one by one, "ooh, this is neat, here's another", Nicole said.  My elder son had already requested a green quilt and I had picked out Scrappy Mountain Majesties as his quilt. She liked it too. Now they are both getting Scrappy Mountain Majesties.

Early samples

She wants the quilt to look like leaves on the forest floor.

My daughter wants a throw size quilt, so her Scrappy Mountains should come together quickly. We are thinking about calling it "Autumn Glory".


My son, on the other hand, wants something large enough to wrap up in. He about 6'2". I have a nice container full of green fabrics, every pattern and shade. So picking fabric should be lots of fun. You may have noticed that each block has a light/dark contrast. So he has requested a light blue sky fabric to contrast with the green mountains. If you have every seen the Appalachian Mountains you have an idea what he wants.  So his quilt will be  represent the mountain in spring and early summer.

This is such a easy and fun quilt to make. The blocks go together fast. Check out Bonnie Hunter's Quiltville blog for the free pattern.

So for today, saying the Serenity Prayer, and sewing on.

Fun with Bonnie Hunter's patterns

First things first! My Hidden Spools quilt top is finished and ready to go to Sandy, my long-arm quilter. This quilt began in the class Bonnie taught in Carrollton, KY. As you can imagine the class was lots of fun and I got a great start on the quilt.

During class Bonnie suggested I add a blue inner border. No surprise that her idea was right on and the blue really framed the quilt. This was such a simple pattern to make. I like it so much I plan to do a smaller baby quilt for a friend.

Hidden Spools.

While this was/is a scrappy quilt I used a very limited color palette, just orange and white. I'm not sure why, but I'm going through this monochromatic color thing. I'm calling it single color playtime.
I love going through my stash to see how many oranges and white, or greens and beige, or grays I can find. Then I like to play around with the fabrics to discover a pleasing arrangement of the various tones. I like seeing how the various shades play with each other, or not.

The quilt I am working on now is the newest Bonnie Hunter Leader/Ender challenge, Lozenges. Bonnie used various 3.5 x 6.5 fabrics, and two inch squares to make this beautiful quilt.

an upside down picture-but you get the idea.

I loved the colorful quilt, but I decided to go in a totally different direction.As Bonnie says, "It's your challenge".  I'm going gray. Hey to match my hair........

Color play with grey

Each of the lozenge, has a two inch square on each corner. I am using the center silver fabric for the two inch squares. The name for the quilt is  "Searching for the Silver Lining". The squares come together like a diamond in each corner.

"my silver lining"

I may regret using this fabric for the corner squares, rather than going scrappy. I feel like I have cut thousands of two inch squares. I am a little worried that I may not have enough "silver lining" fabric to do the quilt. I have a back up plan...For now I'll just keep making the blocks until I run out of two inch squares. I'll reassess at that point. I do have a border planned, but may need to get creative. Only time will tell.

Along with these two Bonnie Hunter patterns, I am planning two different Scrappy Mountain Majesties quilts. My eldest son wants a quilt that is mostly green. So I will be doing  a green Scrappy Mountain for him, and finally a Scrappy Mountain quilt with fall colors for my daughter.

Bonnie sure is keeping me busy. No complaints here. Just having fun.

Nothing like a plan coming together, or not.

I have taken the last week or so to finish some projects, and try to organize my stash  and the projects in progress.

First thing was to finish the binding on my nephew Chris's quilt. There is something about getting the quilt back from the long arm that is almost Christmas like. I have  never had a top that was not enhanced by the quilting. I like this quilt and it fit the bill for Chris who likes green and purple and old fashion things. I choose a darker purple border and I think it really enhanced the quilt.

Finished quilt for Chris

This quilt was lots of fun. It was so easy and family helped keep it a surprise. They gave me suggestions for the style and colors and kept quiet as mice while I worked on it. He seemed genuinely surprise and seemed to like  it too.

quilt glamor shot.

The second project that came together is a Round Robin quilt project with the Ohio Star Quilter in Port Clinton. This is my finished top. The middle star is named meeting point, to represent Port Clinton as a meeting point for quilters.

Meeting Point Round Robin Quilt.

I left the quilt in Port Clinton and Sandy, my long-arm quilter, will put it together and quilt it. I will just need to bind it and put on a hanging sleeve. I never have done one before, but should be easy. I can't wait to see it quilted. The Port Clinton Ohio Star Quilters will have a quilt show in July. All of the Round Robin quilts will be in the show. I can't wait to participate and see how everyone  block look finished.


Sometimes things don't go well. My last fun project resulted in disappointment and uncertainty.  Maybe you can relate. You may have worked for weeks or months to make your project perfect and then something goes wrong?

That is my sad story. I received my Celtic Solstice back from Sandy. I bound it and decided to give it a quick wash before I sent it off as a gift. I had tested small pieces of the fabric, so I had no worries when I put it in the washer, with cold water and several color catchers.

What a shock and disappointment. My blue backing faded terribly all over the quilt. I did not realize this until I had damp dried it. My white fabric looks light gray, and even worst some of the colors looked like they are dirty because of the blue fading.If there is anything good it is that I washed it before I gave it away. It would have been horrid to give it as a gift and have it fade all over the first time they washed it.

fades to blue grey

I am pretty sure it's the quilt backing fabric that faded. I ended up washing it three times before the water came clear. I am still uncertain what to do. I have considered Rit color remover, but that sounds a little risky. I will probably try to wash it at least another time to see if I can remove any more from the color that faded on the fabric. My husband and son say that if you didn't know it was white you would never know. I am struggling with the fact I do know what it did look like and how it looks now. This was probably my favorite quilt. For now it hangs on the steps railing waiting for me decide what to do.

So this week I will take some time out for gardening, but my goals are to put together the quilt for Chris's brother Matt. June is my turn to bring a project for the block of the month at the Ohio Star Quilters here in Cincinnati. I am thinking about scrappy mountain majesty.

Two smaller projects to quilt (one pillow and a wall hanging) still need to be completed.

 Finally between now and the end of June I need to decide what quilts to put in the Port Clinton quilt show, then make the hanging sleeve for each one. It's both exciting and nerve racking!


Just want to share that even a late spring sunset over Lake Erie can be beautiful. G'night, and happy quilting.