Sewing four patches

   I finally have something to show for Clue 1 of the Good Fortune Mystery Quilt. I couldn’t stop at a dozen, I was enjoying my sewing time too much to stop. I used some batik scraps and a few charm squares. I found I can get 9 four patches out of 4 charm squares. And with careful cutting and slow precise piecing, they’re coming out exactly the right size.
  It can be tough to find light batiks. I’ve ordered a couple more along with more aurifil 50wt. thread which I love for piecing. I like the dove grey because it blends with almost everything.
   I’m pretty sure the next clue is out, so I’m heading to my sewing room to print it out and dive into sewing on my lovely day off. I like discovering each clue myself by going to Bonne’s blog Quiltville’s Quips and Snips. Somehow it’s not as much fun if I come across it on social media where others are already posting about it.  It’s weird but it feels like a spoiler.  So I like to go to the blog first thing in the morning and check out the surprise.

Plot Twist!

   I had so much trouble trying to decide which of my colour choices (aqua, navy, gold plan) to use for which of Bonnie’s colours that I went back to the intro and read again. I was hoping that would give me some guidance and what Bonnie said about the design revolving around colour families made me rethink my plan. Don’t worry, I’m saving this fabric pull for another quilt that I’m more sure of, not a mystery!
   I realized her colours were almost a rainbow. I considered using deep purple as my neutral, wondering what that would look like. I LOVE rainbow quilts and I quickly got excited about this idea, but this would still leave out the yellow, and I’d be stuck trying to find a way to work it in to complete a full rainbow.
  Also, I don’t like purple right next to red and the first step would have had me making neutral (purple) and red four patches, so I noped out of that idea too.
 I decided to go closer to Bonnie’s colours after all. To change it up a little though, I went to my batik scrap drawer.
I pulled navy blues, staying away from anything that read bright, light, or cobalt, since I just issued those tones in On Ringo Lake.  Then I pulled all the reds, including everything from the pinky tones to the bright China reds and even some deep burgundy. I pulled all the bright oranges, which tended to not have a lot of range. I guess when I buy orange fabric, I always grab the same tone of orange. For the greens, I threw back anything that read even slightly as aqua or teal, and kept the rich bottle greens. I wasn’t loving how the orange looked ugh the other fabrics, and Bonnie has a lot of orange in this quilt. So, I pulled the China gold tones, too.
 Then, I laid them out in different groupings, pairing the oranges with reds and pinks.
Then the golds with both reds and pinks.
I took a few steps back and gave myself a few days to really let these colours sink into my eyes and brain, and I’m going with the upper left option. I’m leaving orange out entirely, and using the rich golds instead.
   I’m still focusing on precision, that goal has not changed. I’m working slowly and letting this sewing time do its magic on my holiday addled soul. Patchwork really helps me calm down so I’m embracing the process. I was just going to make a dozen units, but I was feeling pretty good so I kept sewing. I did not make all the units that Bonnie calls for in her pattern clue, but I have a good start with 46 four patches.

Good Fortune Fabric Pull

   It's mystery time again! Bonnie Hunter at Quiltville just released the first clue in her Good Fortune Mystery which is inspired by the colours she saw on her trip to China.
   I have been thinking back on previous mysteries, and trying to figure out why I have enjoyed some more than others. I realised I was happier with the results when I went with my own colour choices, instead of the paint chips suggested in Bonnie's instructions. I think there are two reasons for this. The first being the most obvious, choosing colours I like results in a quilt that is more to my personal taste. Duh, right?
Second, I am lazy. I need motivation to keep some forward momentum. Using a different colour way preserves the feel of the mystery just a bit longer. When the quilt is revealed, there are finished and bound quilts flooding instagram within fifteen minutes. Yes, I am exaggerating, but not by much! Once I see the reveal, I tend to lose steam. But, if I am not quite sure yet what MINE will look like, I am a little more driven to keep sewing instead of putting it in a box for later.

   I still have two unfinished mysteries. 

1. Grand Illusion- not only did I stick with Bonnie's colours, because I am in love with The Grand Hotel, I also chose one fabric for each colour instead of going scrappy. I can't describe how much I regret that decision. The quilt is a mess. It falls flat without any variance of value. I have toyed with the idea of using the units for other quilts, separating them. I look at them, and then I put then back into the box and do something else. This quilt fail disapointed me so much because I was extra stoked for that project. 
2. On Ringo Lake- I am LOVING this one. I am almost ready to put the blocks together with the sashing. I used all shades of blue and grey, and was very careful with the values of blues, using only lights in place of one colour, and only very darks in place of another colour. I had to keep the contrast very clean so as not to muddy up the whole thing and create a mess of indistinguishable units. Even though I love this quilt so far, I was a little worried to see how many points I lost. I thought I was careful about cutting and sewing accurately, but with the sheer number of units, all I can say is that I guess I got sloppy. 

Goals

•    My primary goal with Good Fortune is to slow down and focus on precision. I will go as slow as I need to, in order to get them right. I am planning to make only about a dozen of each clue, until we get closer to the reveal and have a better sense of what is happening. 

•    My secondary goal is to be as scrappy as possible with this quilt. I am digging deep into the scrap bin for this one. I am trying not to repeat a print within that first dozen units of each clue. 

   I am crossing my fingers for some string piecing in this mystery quilt! She hasn't had any string piecing in a mystery since, what Orca Bay? I love string piecing and it's been too long since I've had some fun with the technique. If not, perhaps that is how I will change up Good Fortune after the reveal. *shrug* In any case, I am excited to get started!

My Colour Plan

   I have been thinking of doing something with navy, aqua, and mustard. This may be the perfect opportunity to experiment with these colours. My initial fabric pull is not quite hitting the mark I had in my mind. Swapping out the intense aquas for a for washed out tone helped a bit. I'm still not sure which way to go. I know this particular print won't work with small units, but the base colour is a little closer to what I had in mind. I may look for one that are just a tiny bit more green than this. Making only a dozen units for each clue means I have plenty of time to find more fabrics and keep it scrappy.
   The grey is just a placeholder for now, because I don't know what else would work with these colours. I also have not yet decided which of these colours will replace which ones in Bonnie's lineup. I am open to suggestions! Please leave a comment below.









 

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My #goodfortunequilt fabric pull. Still waffling on the intensity of the aquas. #quiltvillemystery

A post shared by Daisy Fredericks (@verylazydaisy) on Nov 23, 2018 at 1:59pm PST

Semicolon Quilt

  

   This quilt is really special to me. It has so much meaning, even beyond the obvious symbolism of the mental health awareness semi-colon. Several sweet friends made some of these blocks in a Bee swap I participated in, and that makes it so much more precious to me. I also have a great fondness for language and books. I hope to make more quilts in this vein, with more symbols and words. This is the perfect quilt for me to curl up with and spend some time reading. It is a great escape when the world is too much. Please feel free to use my block layout and measurements make one of your own, or for a friend.

   The measurements given make a 22" finished block, which I realise is on the big size, but the squares are on a 2" finished scale. If you are comfortable working with smaller pieces, you can cut your squares at 2" instead of 2.5" and they will finish at 1.5" or go even smaller if you like a challenge! I like this size because it makes a great size quilt with only 12 blocks. These work great scrappy or color coordinated.

You will need the following pieces:

Ten 2.5" squares of colour

Two 2.5" squares of solid background

Three 2.5" x 6.5" rectangles of solid background

Two 8.5" x  22.5" rectangles of solid background

Twelve 2.5" half square triangles *

(*There are countless different ways to make HST units,

use whichever method you prefer.

Just make sure they are 2.5" just like the other

squares we are working with in this block.)

Block Layout

Construct this block in chunks.

Make the top dot part, then the lower part,

then connect them into a vertical row using one of the

smaller background rectangles between them. 

Add another rectangle to the top, and one to the bottom.

Then attach the large rectangles to the sides complete the block. 

I hope you enjoy making this.

If you share on Instagram or other social media, use the hashtag #semicolonquilt

The Vampire Quilt - A Mercy Brown Quilt Along

I've always been fascinated by the story of Mercy Lena Brown, who in the late 1800's was thought to be a vampire after succumbing to what we now know was Tuberculosis. The family deaths started with her mother Mary, and ended with her brother. Caught in the middle, was Mercy. Can you imagine the horror of watching your mother and sister suffer and die from this ravaging sickness? It was said of Mercy's sister Mary Olive that she suffered much, but her faith remained strong and she was "ready for the change."
No one could understand why or how they kept dying. Naturally, or I guess we could say "supernaturally" they jumped to the conclusion that it couldn't be a simply explainable disease, but a supernatural force that was attacking these good people.
They didn't necessarily believe that Mercy was crawling out of her grave to suck the blood of the living. At this point they didn't even know it was Mercy who they feared. They were sure though, that this wasting sickness was caused by one of the Browns who was siphoning off the life force of the remaining family members, from beyond the grave. Sadly, Robert Koch's discovery of tuberculosis came a year before the Browns' suffering began, but their remote and isolated community had no knowledge of this scientific breakthrough. Even if they had though, it's unlikely their lives would have been spared. The only weapon people could hope to have at that early time was hygiene and cleanliness.
   Townspeople eventually convinced Mercy's father George that the only way to save his last remaining child, son Edwin, was to exhume his entire deceased family and check them for signs of vampirism.
The Vampire Panic had been spreading throughout New England and the small town of Exeter, Rhode Island was not immune to the madness. There are many theories on how the beliefs and rituals of cure evolved, and I could go on for pages about, but I will get to the point instead. You can read a more detailed account of the Brown family and The Vampire Panic at Smithsonian Magazine. Take a listen to one of my favourite podcasts, Lore. Episode 1, They made a Tonic is a detailed and entertaining account of the history. You can also enjoy a great version of this story on the Lore television show which is available on Amazon Prime. They use a mixture of live action reenactments and unique animation to bring the story to life.

Interestingly for us quilters, five years before Mercy Brown died, she made this quilt. I am not sure why some podcasters call it Wandering Foot. It is clearly a Bear's Paw block set on point. Right?
Knowledgeable quilt historians have documented it as a Bear's Paw.. while horror, lore, and mythos enthusiasts recounting the story of Mercy call it a Wandering Foot quilt. I believe this is because the myth behind the Wandering Foot block lends itself well to the whole vampire mystique of Mercy Brown. I know there are many blocks in the history of quilts that hold more than one name depending on the geographical area where they were made or designed. For example, a Churn Dash block is sometimes called a Double Monkey Wrench. Unless I am missing something, Mercy's quilt is a Bear's Paw set on point.

Quilt Documentation
Mercy Brown Quilt

This is a Bear's Paw block, set straight 

   You can see the Wandering Foot block at Patterns of History. I could not find a free picture of the block alone, So I will just direct you to that site. 

I will be hosting an informal Mercy Brown quilt along this summer. I'll be making a few blocks per week, and hope to have the quilt finished by October. I'll be using the hashtag #mercybrownquilt to share pics of my progress on Instagram, facebook, and twitter. If you join in, please let me know. I'd love to see what you make. My plan is to follow in the spirit of what Mercy did, and use dress scraps and leftover bits of other things to make this quilt. I will try to not buy any new fabric for it, except the backing.