Surprise! Quiltville Winter Mystery INTRO: GRAND ILLUSION!!

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I am revealing the colors, background info and yardage requirements for our Quiltville’s Winter Mystery 2014 SIX DAYS EARLY!!

Whoooowhoooo!

Why?

Because when I realized that I’d still be in San Diego on the 15th, and all of the prep work as far as taking photos, figuring yardage and providing background goes –I was going to have to have it all DONE before I left on this trip anyway!

SO why put it in the queue to post on the 15h when I can just let it fly EARLY!?

Okay, and most off all because I love you guys and this is the most fun time of year for me.  The time when I get to give something back to you, as in reader appreciation!

As you can tell by the photo here –our theme is GRAND ILLUSION.

Where was I this past MAY?  at the GRAND HOTEL on Mackinac Island, Michigan!

 

Mackinac in May 2014!

The colors and sights inside this beautiful old historic building have inspired me to combine what I experienced into a very cool quilt that you will love hopefully as much as I do!

I’ll explain the colors and how they came to play together as this post rambles on – but let me give you what I know you’ve been waiting for…COLOR CARDS!

Grand Hotel Awning Yellow!

The most amazing thing is…I didn’t even READ this card until I was taking a photo of it yesterday afternoon!  I just went by the color in my mind and picked these up by color this past weekend…is this a SIGN or what?

These color cards are from Valspar, and mine came from Lowes.  This color card is 2008-1!

We have ONE constant fabric in this year’s quilt!  You will need  1 5/8 Yards

((More if you choose to bind in this color))

Yellow is prevalent all over the hotel, but especially in awnings and window treatments:

Dining room windows!

Gorgeous fresh flowers  against a green wall in one of the lounge areas!

Check out this décor!

But oh yes, those awnings!

Here are some of our other colors so you can see how they play together, they play a big role too!

Green, Turquoise, Pink and Golden yellow!

Green for the striped back chairs and green accents we found everywhere!

I choose brighter grassier greens, about the color of the far right darker hue on the card # 6005-10!

1 1/2 yards total

The turquoise is for the ceiling on the underside of the porch

And all of the interior ceilings!

((See the green too??))

My selection of turquoises!  Card number 5008-10  2 1/3 yards total

I stayed with the two lighter hues on the card.  The darker one was too close to green.

And what is the Grand Hotel famous for?  Their icon that you see on this stretch of carpet and on our soon-to-be side bar badge photo! ((I'm flying today and will get to it as soon as possible. I'll be adding this info to a Grand Illusion tab as soon as possible as well...I just need to land first!))

Pink Geraniums!

This pink couch against the green wall was quite the icon too!

(Pay attention to the black and white tile, the green wall as well!))

Pink Geraniums!

My pink fabrics using card # 1003-1

2 yards total

I stayed toward the medium and dark pinks, not wanting to fade out on the light ones.

My crabapple class against the germanium pink wall in our classroom!

Along with the awning yellow, the ceiling turquoise, the green and the geranium pink we need a couple of other things to make this design come alive!  Remember that black and white tile floor?

Black!  2 1/4 yards total!

No card number given.  Black is black!

My blacks were mostly tone on tone and small prints...don't use blacks with too much white in them!

Neutrals!

And More Neutrals!  3 yards total!

No card number given – you know neutral if you know me!

My neutrals went from white to cream to beige – but keep them from being too yellow or too tan or they may disappear against our constant yellow gold.

Now the nitty gritty and brass tacks:

This quilt finished 88” X 88” 

My quilt is completely scrappy other than the one golden yellow “constant” but this quilt can be made with one piece of yardage in each color just fine.

I will only be providing directions for ONE SIZE of quilt.  If you want it smaller, make 1/2 the units.  If you want it bigger –wait until we are done and add an extra row. 

This year is about going a bit EASIER than last year, and that includes ME TOO.

Specialty Rulers:

I will be using the Easy Angle Ruler in the making of this quilt.  Regular rotary cutting directions WILL be given for those who do not have access to this ruler.

You can use EITHER the 4.5" or the 6.5" version of this ruler...but look at it this way, if you have the 6.5" one, you are set for ALL sizes we will ever need.  The 4.5" one will only work up to a 4" finished half square triangle.  So if you have to buy one, go big!

For those who use Inklingo, you will likely find that you already have the basic shapes needed in previous shape collections.  For this reason, there will not be a mystery collection this year.

You can switch colors if you don’t like these, but I am not giving personal advice on color selection.  Remember this mystery is running during my time off from travel and I plan on spending much of it at the cabin, and not being in contact!  We do have an awesome group on facebook called Quiltville’s Open Studio and they will be posting photos like crazy and discussing much mystery stuff there, so join us if you haven’t yet!

Our first clue goes live on Friday, November 28th, with each new clue being released on consecutive Fridays until we are complete. Plan on 6 to 8 clues – I haven’t decided how to break it down yet.  Remember, it’s a mystery for a reason and some things need to be revealed without us knowing every detail first!

It is your responsibility to PRINT EACH STEP as it is given.  A "printer friendly version" link will be at the top of each post.  ((It's at the top of this post too!))

As with previous mysteries, this one will be retired and pulled from the website on June 1st, 2015  to appear in a future book.  I will be unable to provide you missing steps after this point.  That’s the way publishing runs!
 
And let me say something here.  Last year there was an issue with people posting their own steps with piece counts and sizes and basically re-writing my instructions and posting them on their own blogs.  Please don’t do this.  If you want to show your progress fine, but please leave out the sizes, leave out the piece counts and do not turn my mystery into a complete  step-by-step quilt tutorial on your own blog.  Be courteous and share your photos, and simply refer people back here to me, okay?  I really appreciate it.  So much work has gone into these mysteries, and when it is time to retire it, it is time to retire it for a reason.  I don’t want to have to ask anyone to remove my quilt pattern from their blog.  It’s embarrassing. Thank you so much for understanding.
 
The internet is a busy place, and there will be quilters posting pictures of their progress on their blogs, on Facebook, or Flickr groups and other message boards---We will be doing a LINKY so that those with blogs can share their progress each Monday following the Friday clue.  I love seeing how everyone is progressing!   If you are behind and do not want the mystery “spoiled” for you – don’t go surfing!
 
My other suggestion is to keep up with each step as best as you can each week.  When the new clue is released stop the previous one wherever you are on it ---and start the next step.  This should keep you familiar with what is going on and you will have SOME of each step ready by the time the mystery is revealed.
 

Rule #1! NO WHINING!!

I think that’s it for now!  I’m off to San Diego!

Let’s get ready for  our own GRAND ILLUSION!

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