Quiltville Mystery Time!

I have been a mystery quilt fan for about 20 years, so it only makes sense that Bonnie Hunter is my quilting guru because she has been writing mystery patterns for almost that long. Every year she has posted a free mystery quilt pattern for her fans to enjoy and it has brought me so much joy over the years, not to mention all the wonderful quilts I have made!

Here is my review of participation over the years...

2008 Orange Crush: finished

2008 Caroline Crossroads: finished

2009 Carolina Christmas: finished

Double Delight

2010 Double Delight: finished

2010 Roll, Roll Cotton Boll: quilt top

2011 Orca Bay: finished

2012 Easy Street: finished 

2013 Celtic Solstice: finished

Easy Street

2014 Grand Illusion: finished

2015 Allietare: quilt top

2016 En Provence: finished

2017 On Ringo Lake: finished

2018 Good Fortune: blocks

2019 Frolic: quilt top

2020 Grassy Creek: finished

2021 Rhododendron Trail: quilt top

En Provence

2022 Chilhowie: finished

2023 Indigo Way: mini blocks

2024 Old Town: partial blocks

2025 Lupine and Laughter: partial blocks

So what are my Quiltville Mystery participation stats?

There have been 20 total quilts:

*12 are finished quilts (60%)

*4 are quilt tops (20%)

*4 are in pieces (20%)

That is an impressive history of quilting inspired by Bonnie Hunter don't you think?!?

Celtic Solstice

People often ask me "what is your favourite mystery quilt" and my answer is - the quilts that are finished that I kept for myself and did not donate to my guild comfort quilt collection. Those quilts are:

Double Delight, Easy Street, Celtic Solstice, and En Provence.

I also made a variation of Bonnie's Unity Quilt which was an extra bonus mystery in 2022 and it is a finished quilt.

There are so many memories of my life stitched into these beautiful quilts and I have enjoyed reviewing them again for this blogpost. And I'm once again reminded of  how wonderful a blog is as a review of events and accomplishments.

The new Quiltville mystery this year is called Star of Maghrib, and I will of course be starting it (I love to start new projects!). The plan is to use the fabrics I collected for last year's quilt using the Shoreline fabric collection by Camille Roskelley. I will remove the recommended red, and add some old stash fabrics to supplement the Shoreline fabrics. Are you sewing along this year? Click here for the link if you would like to learn more.

Slow Sunday Stitching

Welcome to the weekly hand stitching party!  It's the day after Halloween and also the time change (we fall back 1 hour). So today we will be a little discombobulated, and maybe in a sugar coma!

I did get a Halloween quilt finished on Halloween so I'm very proud of that! This is the project from the Spooky Box from Fat Quarter Shop. It is called "Sweet Brew". The 4 pieced blocks were a little tricky to make - the bats, the bubbles (9 patches), the candy, and the stars. But it was a fun project and I enjoyed it from start to finish. I don't have a photo of the finished quilt yet, since it was dark when the last stitches were taken last night.

I added one of the cute little tags that came in the Spooky box to my label as I was hand stitching the binding down (which was a black fabric with silvery grey stars). 

I also finished a couple of little wallhangings but I didn't take photos of them yet. You can see them on my latest Flosstube video here.

Today I will work on this cute little project. It is called Broom Sisters by Lindy Stitches. I have finished almost half of the project Stitched and was tickled that this design included a black featherweight sewing machine - how could I resist?!?

That is the recap of what has been going on here this week. What have you been up to? Have you finished all the Halloween projects and candy? What are you hand stitching today?

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Slow Sunday Stitching

Welcome to Slow Stitching Sunday where we make time to slow down our lives, to breathe deeply, to pick up a needle and thread, and take some slow stitches. 

Here are some reminders of how to enjoy the lovely autumn season... in addition to stitching of course!

I have been focusing on Halloween projects this month because after next weekend, I will put them away for another year.  And I was pleased to finish stitching  "Knock, Knock" by Prairie Schooler. I can't pick my favourite thing about this design, because there are so many fun motifs - the witches, the owls, the ghosties, the pumpkins, the bats.... it's a very fun Halloween project. I will magically turn this into a finished wallhanging before trick 'or treating night next weekend.

For some unknown reason, I have been loving all the Halloween projects this year and I started a couple more this week. I also have 2 quilts I am hoping to put the binding on this week. So fun!

Have you been stitching fall or Halloween projects this year? Link up your blog post below and share your slow progress with us!

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Slow Sunday Stitching

Welcome to the weekly hand stitching party! Make yourself a cup of tea or coffee, or pumpkin spice latte to enjoy while visiting the blogs of stitchers around the world. It's so inspiring to see what other people are creating with their own two hands.

I tried something new this week! 

I stitched a Halloween design on a 3D printed base. Have you tried this before? I have stitched on a wooden base, but this was easier than stitching on wood. I used a free design on the Tiny Modernist website and made a few modifications to the pattern to make it fit... and also counting is hard! I had more room at the top than I needed and squished the cat and the pumpkin more than was necessary. But it all worked out okay and I have a Halloween ornament to put up this year.

Slow progress has also been made on "Knock, Knock" by Prairie Schooler. I finished the inside of the design - the trick or treating witch and the moon. And now I'm working on the top ghostie. This is a fun project and I am really jazzed about Halloween this year for some unknown reason.

For the next 2 weeks I am only going to stitch on Halloween projects - I think I have 4 of them on the go, and 2 more to start!

Are you a Halloween stitcher? I haven't been in the past, so I don't know why I am now, but you never can tell where your creativity will lead you!

Link up your stitchy update below and share your hand stitching progress with us!

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Slow Sunday Stitching

Welcome to the weekly hand stitching party!

It is Thanksgiving weekend here in Canada, so there are many family and friend get togethers happening. That likely means there will not be much stitching going on, but there will be lots of visiting and eating!

I do have a little finish to share from this week.

This is the Fast Frisian stitchalong by Modern Folk Embroidery that happened in August. My version uses 5 colours of Roxy floss and is stitched on 18 count Beiged and Confused by Stitch Man Darcy. 

The finished size turned out to be 7.5" x 8" and it is hanging on the wall in a little section devoted to samplers. There are only 3 of them so far, but I hope to add more to my collection over time.

I also added some stitches to my full coverage project called Mini Treasure Hunt Bookshelf (artwork by Aimee Stewart, charted by Heaven and Earth designs). I have reached the 20% mark for the number of stitches completed.

It is a very slow going stitching project. Chunks of time pass when I'm working on this, and it is quite meditative. Stitch by stitch, not much is accomplished, but I enjoy it so much that I don't care! 

What are you stitching this weekend? Are you celebrating Thanksgiving? Or focused on Halloween projects? Link up your blog post below and share your progress with us.

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Slow Sunday Stitching

 Welcome to Slow Sunday Stitching at Kathy's Quilts! 

Make yourself a cup of tea or coffee (or maybe a pumpkin spice latte) and join us to celebrate the experience of slowly stitching your way through life!

The weather has turned cooler here and I am in the mood for Fall/Halloween projects. I drove to visit my sister and really enjoyed the leaves and the sights, like this interesting horse.

It was a beautiful day yesterday so we drove to the Mennonite fabric store and enjoyed browsing their fabrics. I also needed to pick up some DMC 310 black floss for my Halloween Prairie Schooler project, but they didn't have DMC or Anchor black threads. 

I had to buy a thread called Sullivan's and it is great! I don't think you can see where one black floss starts and the other ends. If you do see it, don't tell me because I think it looks okay.

I got in the mood for taking creative photos of my half finished project, and put it up to the window of my sister's house and asked her to take a photo and include the pretty tree in the background. This was what she got - a very spooky photo that doesn't show the tree or the stitching well!  😁

We tried again, this time putting the project up in the tree. Again, it's not a great photo, but we had lots of laughs at the photo shoot.

Oh well... you get the idea of where this project is this week. I think I'm about half way finished.

I posted a couple of videos this week, and one video shows the products in the Fat Quarter Shop Spooky Box. It was so fun to open and I am working on sewing that project in hopes of a Halloween finish.

Are you working on seasonal stitching projects?!

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Slow Sunday Stitching

Welcome to the weekly celebration of all hand stitched crafts! We hope you will join us in setting aside a few moments each Sunday for some relaxing stitching on your favourite project. Pick up a needle and thread, breathe deeply, and enjoy a little vacation from the responsibilities of your life.

I'm getting into the fall season vibes now and wanting to stitch all the fall and Halloween projects!

Photo from Pinker ' Punkin

If you too are looking for some wonderful inspiration and free patterns to try, check out Melisa's post at Pinker 'n Punkin for ideas.  I want to make ALL the things and I feel energized just by seeing all these treasures - click here to enjoy! I'm going to start with Pumpkin Stew. First step is collecting the supplies. I enjoy this part of the creative process and thinking about what is recommended, what do I have in the stash, and what would I need to substitute or buy.

This weekend I have been attending a Lindy Stitches online event called "Harvest Moon Hangout". I have put in a lot of stitches into Knock, Knock which is a Prairie Schooler design. It is made with only 2 colours - orange and black. I like the witch in the window, the owl, and the little bats. Today I'll stitch some pumpkins and work on the roof of that house. I would love to finish this in time for Halloween!

For some inspiration, here is a little collection of projects that I have hanging on the wall in my stairwell. 

When October is over, I will get out some of my  Christmas projects and hang those up instead.

Are you stitching Fall designs (or other seasonal designs if you're in the southern hemisphere)?  I am loving the change in the weather and feel inspired to start all the fall and Thanksgiving projects. 

Please link up your blog post below and share your hand stitching with us!

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