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2016 Puzzle Mystery Clue Three

mystery quilt Apr 02, 2016

Here are the photos to go with the instructions for Clue Three of this year's Mystery Quilt.

You will need to have the pattern, either from your precut pack, or download Clue 3 from my Craftsy store.

I have been working on the Pewter and Linen quilt again, as this is the one of my colourways that has the most directional fabrics, so you can see which direction the stripes go if you have any.

Here's the first part, making C1 to C4

C1 step 1

Then a simple step to complete the section:

C1 to C4

I like to chain piece to make my sewing quicker - here's an action shot!

Sewing C1 to C4

If you haven't done chain piecing before, do give it a try. You just follow one piece of sewing right in front of the next, and clip the thread when you are done. Use a scrap piece as a leader/ender and you will save a lot of thread, as well as stopping your machine from pushing the fabric down and getting all tangled up.

Right, that's C1 to C4 made, now onto D1 and D2

D1 step 1

D1 step 2

D1 step 3

D1 step 4

D1

D1 and D2

 

That's my single quilt pieces made, now onto the extra...

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The Mystery Continues - Part Two

mystery quilt Mar 05, 2016

Hi everyone,

Well it is now March and after a glorious New Zealand summer, autumn is arriving. The tomatoes keep on giving, as does my single zucchini plant - one a day just for me. For us in the southern hemisphere, thoughts are turning to spending the cooler days and nights sewing, while all of you in northern climes are thinking of spring. Whatever the weather, there's always time to make a couple of easy sections for the Mystery Quilt.

I have started making some more of the colourways in my 2016 Mystery. One of these is called 'Pewter and Linen', and uses some gorgeous fabrics designed by Jennifer Sampou, from her Shimmer range.

If you would like to start making my Mystery Quilt, you can download the pattern in my Craftsy store.

This blog contains photos to help those of you who have purchased the pattern or who are making the ready-cut Mystery quilt from my shop, Quilters' Lane

If you are using directional or striped fabric for your Mystery Quilt, take a look at my previous...

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Those pesky stripes!

techniques and tips Mar 01, 2016

Hi all

This week I have been dealing a lot with striped fabrics. I thought I would write a post about cutting stripes when you have to deal with triangles.

Often people shy away from striped fabrics, apart from using them in borders and bindings (which they are great for). One of the reasons is that they behave very oddly when you are cutting them into triangles.

Take a half square triangle, for example. The way the stripes go will depend on how you place your ruler.

If you put your ruler like this, you will get stripes leaning to the right (I call them 'righties')

  Cutting HSTs
 
Cutting HSTs 2

However, put your fabric the other way under your ruler and this is what you will get - 'lefties'

Lefties Lefties1



Making quarter square triangles is even more confusing! If you cut a square and then cross cut into four, here is what you will end up with

QST Template 5 QST Template 6 QST Template 7


Hm - two of the triangles have the stripes going horizontally, and two are vertical. How can we get around that without wasting fabric?

Make a Template

If you cut a...

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2016 Puzzle Mystery Month One

mystery quilt Feb 05, 2016

Hello from a very sunny and hot New Zealand summer,

Yes it's here, time to start this year's Mystery Quilt!

There are two ways of doing this quilt; you may have signed up for our precut Mystery quilt packs, or you may be purchasing the clues from my Craftsy Store. These clues contain all the cutting and sewing instructions month by month. There are ten clues in total so our Mystery will conclude in November.

Take a look at my other blog posts to see the fun we have had making my previous Mystery quilts!

This year, I am making the Japanese Traditions colourway for my sample.

Here are my fabrics:

Fabric 1     Fabric 1 66160_1    Fabric 2     Fabric 2 66170_1  

 Fabric 3     Fabric 3 66160_6    Fabric 4     Fabric 4 62500_7 

Fabric 5     Fabric 5 67820_9    Fabric 6     Fabric 6 66170 7


Fabric 7     Fabric 7    Fabric 8   Fabric 8

In my fabric requirements I have...

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Join in my Mystery Quiltalong - Here's what you will need

mystery quilt Jan 28, 2016

Puzzle Mystery 2016 by Sheila Christensen

Join my facebook group

https://www.facebook.com/groups/mysteryquilters/


Forget boring old sampler quilts, come and join me in my 2016 Puzzle Mystery Adventure!
You can make my Mystery quilt in one of two sizes:


SINGLE – 48” by 60”
Or
DOUBLE (QUEEN): 72” by 72”

What is the Mystery?

The 2016 Puzzle Mystery is available as ten monthly clues in my Craftsy shop. It is the same as the precut quilt offered through my bricks and mortar shop Quilters' Lane. Each month you will get a clue to parts of the quilt. With this Mystery you will be scratching your head right to the end wondering what the finished pattern is going to be!


Here are some pictures of my previous Mystery Quilts:
2013 Mystery Quilt


Blue Hawaiian Colourway

Blue Hawaiian Quilt

Sundowner Colourway

Sundowner Quilt

2014 Mystery Quilt - Jungle Fever and Summer Daze

2014-11-08_15.55.07_jpg_800x800_q85

2015 Mystery Quilt

Lime zest single
Lime Zest Colourway  - Single Size

 

Opulence double

Opulence Colorway - Double Size



Sounds like fun! How...

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Quilt Along with our 2016 Mystery

mystery quilt Jan 09, 2016

Welcome to 2016. Have you thought about which projects you will work on this year?

Why not join my MYSTERY QUILT ADVENTURE

  • Ten monthly parts
  • Single or double size
  • NEW - pattern download on Craftsy

Each year for the past three years I have designed a Mystery Quilt. Until now, the only way you could join in with this was to buy the precut fabrics from my shop, Quilters' Lane. This is a very popular project to do and having the fabrics precut is wonderful, every month you receive a package with all the parts ready to sew!

11206948_1052094894815004_5749948706414927875_n

This photo shows one of the 2015 Mystery Quilts

The Mystery comes as either a single or a double quilt, and you can purchase the precut block of the month here

However for those of you for whom postage from New Zealand might be a little prohibitive, or who are keen to cut your own fabric, I have decided this year to offer the Mystery to you. There will be free quiltalong information here on this blog. The only requirement is that you purchase the pattern each month...

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The Big Reveal 2015

mystery quilt Nov 11, 2015

Last Saturday was the annual Big Reveal of the Mystery Quilt. It is quite nerve-wracking to finally share my design with everyone, knowing that they have invested time and money in making a quilt when they had no idea how it would turn out!

We started the day by showing the two samples that I had made, with help from Linda who did the binding on both, and Noeline Day who quilted the double.

So, here is the Vintage Roses Single

12122893_1051921768165650_7488559118343106052_n

 

 

 

... and the Blue Diamonds Double

IMG_0132

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Once we had done the reveal, there was frantic activity while everyone got themselves set up to sew.

12190787_1051983188159508_2275379684813811438_n

 

There were so many different colourways being made on the day - this one is called Graffitti Chic, and uses fabrics from Moda's Zen Chic range

12190831_1052094938148333_9217589284386646006_n

This one is Lime Zest

11224737_1052094914815002_2996519135551684394_n

Here it is completed

11206948_1052094894815004_5749948706414927875_n

Pauline was busy making her Opulence quilt

12191839_1051983121492848_5811710032086352550_n

 

Linda and Brenda had been testing out the instructions before the day. Here's Brenda's Kansas...

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Aotearoa Quilters Tutors Seminar

This weekend I attended the inaugural Aotearoa Quilters Tutors' Seminar in Wellington.

The three day course was full-on and packed with great information, networking with others from the quilting world and of course lots of fun. We also had the Aotearoa Quilters AGM and dinner on Saturday evening.

Aotearoatutors1

Bobby Duncan (organiser), Yvonne Roberts (tutor), Jared Murdoch (tutor), Louise Murdoch, Jenny Bacon (tutor), Natalie Murdoch (convenor)

 

We were divided into two groups - Green group and Blue group - reflecting the colours in the Aotearoa Quilters logo. My group was the Green group. With about fifteen members in each group there was an excellent attendance at the seminar and lots of people to bounce ideas off and to learn from their experiences.

The first day was spent with Jenny Bacon from Australia. Jenny is an internationally qualified Quilt judge. We learned about what judges look for, ways that work (and don't work!) for judging exhibition quilts, and we had a practice session...

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Fun and learning

Last week we had some fun classes. On Wednesday we made 'Banana Bags' - these are not bags for putting bananas in, but a generous sized zip up bag designed by Wendy Williams that is great fun to make and looks fabulous. Unfortunately I forgot to take a photo of Lynda's finished bag yesterday.

On Saturday we had a full house for the Pop Stars class. Pop Stars is a quilt from the Material Obsession books.p This is one of my favourite classes as we get to relax and have fun while making beautiful blocks. I have posted more photos on Facebook (www.facebook.com/quilterslane) and Instagram (quilterslanesheila) but here is one of the stunning blocks:

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One of the advantages of my job is that I get to go to lots of classes and workshops.  This weekend I am looking forward to attending the Aotearoa Quilters Tutors' Seminar in Wellington. This course is going to cover teaching patchwork and quilting, judging quilts and using social media. Hopefully I will learn lots that I will be...

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The Mystery Revealed

mystery quilt Dec 08, 2014

Last month we completed the 2014 Mystery with two amazing reveal days. I have put some photos below.

We have now launched the 2015 Mystery, to see the colourways please visit my  new website here

This will be my last typepad post, for more information on Quilters' Lane and my quilting please go to the Quilters' Lane website where you can find all sorts of information and purchase products.

If you are doing any of my classes at Symposium I look forward to seeing you in January. Please note I have now put all of the hand quilting products on the new website.

Happy Stitching

 

Sheila

 

2014-11-08 12.07.53

 

2014-11-08 15.55.07

 

2014-11-08 12.08.36

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