Not a Finish...But a BOM Top

In 2016 my quilt guild back home participated in a block of the month mystery quilt (or really, step of the month).  Each month we would receive a cute little message and one step in the instructions to complete the quilt.  I'm able to talk the administrator in charge (who's also a friend) into sending them to me in Japan.  We don't receive a lot mail in Japan (3 bills, occasionally a note from the apartment complex about window washing and maybe 3 pieces of junk mail each month), so it's very exciting when a letter appears.

the final selection

The first step involves choosing our fabrics.  It's easy to find fabric in Japan (read about Nippori here, Chain Stores here, West Tokyo here and East Tokyo here), but it's not always my favorite style, batiks.  I'm at Yuzawaya, and I want to pick out the fabrics while I'm there - which sounds easy because I only need four.  In my mind I have a picture I took of delphinium in a Paris garden, and I want to use those shades of purple in this quilt.  I find the lavender and dark purple, and I think the purple & pink flowered fabric is the right color, but it's more like a light cotton lawn.  I decide to try it, anyway.  Back at home, I dig through another project I haven't started yet, and find a periwinkle blue - the perfect final shade I need. 

The flower picture - at least the periwinkle is correct.

Then I dig up the photo from our trip to France, and I discover the colors are completely different.  Oh, well!  I've already searched out and found this combination, so I decide to go forward with it.  

The instructions also say that the value (lightness to darkness) of the fabrics is very important.  I take my trusty black and white photo to test my selections, and I'm happy with the results.  Time to start cutting!

My favorite quilting tool - my camera!

I'm ready to start slicing but I have a delay of about six months before it happens, because I need to finish my niece Alaina's quilt (remember this is 2016).  Once her quilt is finished I start catching up with each step, though I hold back from peeking ahead, so each month is still a mystery.

Finally, in June 2016 - everything's in nice and neat piles.

one block

We end up forming two main blocks.  I'm happy with the way it's appearing, but I'm having a bit of trouble with the flowered purple and pink material.  I use almost a quart (it seems like!) of Mary Ellen's Best Press (a quilting starch) on it, and it just absorbs it and stays as soft and supple as it was when I prewashed it.  Where did all the starch go??  It should be stiff as a board.  In hindsight, I should have used a lightweight fusible or stabilizer with it.  (At least now I know what to do if I decide to try to quilt with some of the Liberty lawns.)

two block

Naturally, the slippery floral fabric is the one used for all the sharp pointy triangles and half square triangles.  It slithers all over the place (even with lots of pins), so don't look too carefully at the piecing!  I do get to play with another toy I brought with me to Japan - the Tri Rec Triangle rulers.  They work well, though it's hard to be perfect with the thin shifting fabric.  I think the rulers make it easier to piece the skinny triangles because first you simply cut out a strip of fabric.  Then you use the ruler to cut out the triangles along the strip - the first one you cut the other two sides, but after that it only takes one cut to create your triangle.  Maybe a picture from the ruler instructions will help explain it:

Cut, flip the ruler, cut again, repeat all down the strip of fabric.

The edges of the triangles are bunted, so it's easy to line up the two triangles together. 

Do the directions help again?

Normally, you'd have to "guesstimate" exactly where the triangles should line up before sewing, then cut off the tips (or dog ears, in quilting terms).  This method also saves you from having to drag your rotary cutter around three sides of a template, so it's much faster!

A close up of the rectangle formed using the Tri Rec Triangle rulers - see the sharp pointy triangles?

Once we put the blocks into rows, I'm in love with my quilt.  I didn't see the secondary design, the "circles," until I put the blocks together.

Double checking the borders..

The pattern calls for only one border, and I have a small print floral that goes beautifully with the colors in the quilt.  However, it's too busy to be directly beside the quilt center, so I place a thin dark border between the sections.   Since this was a mystery, I had no idea what the final product would look like.  However, if I were to change one thing I'd extend the blue squares the rest of the way to the corners of the border.  I could applique them on now...

Voila!  The top is done.

So I finished this in mid-January 2017 (I'm a little late blogging about it).  I have the backing and binding fabric, but I haven't basted or quilted it yet (Laurel's graduation quilt took precedence).  Maybe I'll get around to it soon...