2014 Mystery Quilt: Grand Illusion

This is the second time that I have participated in Bonnie Hunter's year end mystery quilt.  I will be putting the binding on 2013's Celtic Solstice after I finish this post.
This year's quilt was inspired when Bonnie was at a retreat at Mackinac Island's Grand Hotel.  Bonnie loves scrappy quilts.  I am learning to appreciate scrappy.  I am more of a controlled scrappy kinda quilter!
Bonnie gave us the colors to use so we could gather our "scraps" before the first clue was given on Black Friday. Yellows, pinks, greens, turquoise, blacks, and neutrals.
So we all worked diligently, keeping up with the weekly clues, until the final review. 

Can I say, I wasn't in love.  Way too busy.  So I changed the central block a wee bit, which required redoing 100 of the smaller units.

This was the original block.  I thought it was too busy. 

So I changed the pink, neutral, and block zigzag blocks into chevrons.  I like the look of the star!  And it looked good in EQ7.

Then I put it together.  It just looked like a huge mess to me.  Yeah, I probably should have left Bonnie's main block as she had it designed.  I loved the outer border.  I didn't like the green, neutral, and black checkerboard sashing.  So I took out my trusty seam ripper and took it apart!

I took my pieces to a guild sew-in and asked for opinions.  After playing with all sorts of arrangements, changing the center block, and auditioning various sashing and cornerstone colors, this was the final result.

And this is the final product!  It will finish 96" square.  I already have some ideas on how to quilt it.  But, it is going into the queue for the present time, as there is another project that needs attention!



Lesson learned: next year I will just wait until all the clues are given before I start the mystery quilt!