The Grand Illusion Mystery is still making progress here. Â Although it’s slow.
The last four blocks got put together. Â Ya-hoo! Â Onto sashing.
The sashing pieces all got connected….so now that I see it together do I like it?? Â Honestly, a little OCD is kicking in and I don’t know if I like the mix of 2″ units with 2 1/2″ units. Â Last week, I thought I would just go with it. Â This week….I’m not so sure now that I see it.
I did do a little experimenting. Â Here’s what the pattern suggests a blue (teal for me) cornerstone.
Here I added a green one instead. Â I think I like that a little better.
What did those of you who did the mystery do? Â Did you just go with the original pattern or did you change it up? Â Would you go with the green or the teal cornerstones??
On my agenda today…working on the floors at the house. Â Saturday was a Menards run so all the goodies are at the house so we should be able to get the work done on the floors.
One more thing before you go. Â Did you see that we released our new quilting book for presales? Â You can read more about that here.
Today I am hooking up with Patchwork Times.
I love the house updates. One idea you may want to consider is a shelf for nick-knacks above the kitchen sink. Or a floral swag in the area. Whatever you decide will be wonderful.
Love the teal cornerstones. In the photos it pulls the teal hst out. With the green cornerstones I just see the green in the lattice. But I usual don’t respond to questions such as these because the color is often distorted in the photos.
I am going with a solid piece of fabric. The checkerboards will look lovely on the back. I am using scraps, but not pieced. It was just too busy for me.
if you go to Bonnie Hunter’s Quiltville Open Studio site you will see an amazing number of variations. All beautiful,
I ended up using pink cornerstones since I already had most of what I needed already precut that were left over from another project. I love the brown in yours that you substituted for the black.
I like it with the green. I have seen other tops where the green strips were not used in that spot and just put the squares together. Then the green strips were placed all around the squares. I am thinking of that approach. You are so much further than I am. You are like the energizer bunny, you just keep going on and on.
had you thought about going with a solid gold cornerstone to match your blocks? It might help to unify the quilt and provide an alternate resting place for the eye.
My GI units are still sitting idle because the finish was just too busy looking for me. I am thinking on it. I still have to run it by my girls and if any of them love it I will finish it per instructions for them. Otherwise I am holding off. I do like your green cornerstone. It gives the eye a place to rest I think. I am going to have to try that.
I definitely like your green cornerstone better than the teal with your blocks. Good luck finding time to squeeze in some sewing in the midst of your remodeling work and your move!
I’m still working on mine but I put together a test block and I’m sticking with the teal. Since there is so little of it in the main block I feel it needs the teal square to pull out the color. It adds to the color story of the whole quilt when I’ve seen photos of all the finishes on Bonnie’s site.
Congratulations on the book and I can’t wait to get mine when you’re ready to ship! I just hope it doesn’t add to your stress with all the work at the house!
I love reading your blog and especially the tale of your house! I would go with the green cornerstones. To me there is not enough teal in the block to use it as a cornerstone. Then it becomes too busy and gives me a headache. The green cornerstone is restful and lets the teal be the zinger in the quilt.
My Grand Illusion is giving me reason’s to think on it a while too. I ended up trying just half the blocks in the original placement. It’s growing on me. I decided I have to TRUST the designer. There’s a reason she says no Whining. I like the green in your blocks for the cornerstones.
I always follow Bonnie’s color schemes and always love them, but this one did leave me in a bit of a tizzy. I didn’t change anything and I’m figuring that if I quilt it with an edge to edge design in pale yellow, that everything will come together in harmony (here’s to hoping)!
As for your layout, have you tried using a yellow cornerstone? That would bring out a secondary design kind of like an Irish chain between blocks. That might help bring some of the cohesion you feel like you’re missing. Good luck!
I like the green square better, Jo. I am not using her sashing, either. I don’t like the mix of 2 1/2″ and 2″ units. I have to get the blocks up on my design wall to decide what to do.
Green cornerstone!!!
The more I have looked at mine the more I don’t like the 2″ units. I may try to replace them with 21/2″ units to see if that makes it any better. But I also like the idea of solid rather than pieced sashing.
I like the green, It sort of calms it a little. I followed Bonnie’s color scheme and it was just too busy for me. I usually like anything she does but I gave this one away as soon as I finished it because o fit being so busy. I couldn’t stand looking at it. But it did help me use up scaps and will keep the new owner warm. I enjoyed the process just not the finished product. I wish I had done something different. Not meaning anything mean towards Bonnie This one just wasn’t for me. for the first time since she’s been doing the mystery. I’ll probably do this years too because I learn so much from her processes.
Thanks Bonnie!!
Love your house. Can’t wait to see the finish and your stuff in it!
You are the most amazing person….that you have kept sewing through all the house work you have been doing….sanding floors for 8-10 hours a day and still having the energy to piece blocks….My hat is off to you…
I just love your new home and it is so fun to see it all coming together……
I prefer the green cornerstones over the teal but I’m kind of with you on the sashing size–I’m not crazy about the size difference. Nice progress on this. It’s a lot of sewing!
like your colors
Jo, on the quilt sashing, I just did not like the busyness of the greens. I laid it aside. I am sashing with the blacks used in the blocks and the consistent yellow for the cornerstones. The blocks now seem to flow together with a place for the eye to rest. I intend to use Bonnie’s sashing pieces on the back of the quilt. To me, it looks so much better and tones down the busyness of the blocks.
I think it depends which part you want to highlight. The green definitely highlights the sashing and the teal makes the blocks stand out more. Personally, I prefer the green.
Hello Jo, I’m house sitting for my daughter this week and she doesn’t have Internet so I am late responding to your Monday post. I prefer the green cornerstones. I read your posts before all the others. I really enjoy your blog.