It's a Mystery!

A mystery quilt class that is. Though really, the mystery is how we managed any sewing at all with all the talking we did! We being Fiona and me! I don't think we stopped talking the whole weekend - so much fun :)

The class was at Hunters and Collectors in Coffs Harbour, NSW. I have driven past it so often but haven't dared go in as I usually have two wild monkey children attached to me. But gosh, what I have been missing out on!

Here are a few photos of the shop. You can imagine we were like kids in a candy store (though we did show some remarkable restraint amongst all this beautiful fabric).

And here's one of Fiona checking out all the goodies on offer. Oh so many pretties!

Then.. there were the quilts on display. I only snapped a couple of photos but there were so many lovely ones about (I think Fiona got more photos of quilts than I did). Very inspiring! I think I'd like my house to look like that someday. Guess I should get some of these WiPs done...

Loved this little bird one. Makes me want to get into stitcheries!

I did pick up a small pattern along this birdie line on my way out..

Now this quilt was my favourite - I wish I had a better photo. It is just amazing! All these little kiminos are folded fabric. Isn't that amazing?!

Here's a closeup of one:

Right well that's enough of the scenery! Now the class! I have never done a quilt class before, let alone a mystery quilt. But I knew the teacher, Lisa, as she attends the quilt group I go to. So it was lovely to see her and she is a fabulous teacher. I picked up so many tips and tricks throughout the day, it was excellent. That's when I paused for breath amidst chattering away to Fiona.

I think I looked like this a lot of the time:

Less talk, more sew!!! Bet that's what the teacher was thinking!

Fiona was more dedicated and she looked more like this:

Star pupil - sewing away!

So we had to show up with three fabrics - a feature, a contrast and a light colour. I decided to kill two birds with one stone (figuratively, obviously ;) ) and decided to use the fabrics I had set aside for a Mother's Day gift for my Nan. It's a joint gift from Mum and I. Mum picked the fabric, I sewed the quilt. Who got the better end of the deal I ask you?

I had my fabrics pre-cut ready to go! And it all started with clues set out on these cute little fancy papers:

Day One was a LOT of sewing, cutting, ironing. At one point we were cutting 2.5" strips. 96 of them to be precise. They were turned into 48 four patch units though. I was wondering what the quilt was going to look like at this time.

When it finished we headed off to the tavern for a wine (well for the other girls, I'm boring and don't drink - alcohol makes me sick. No, not just hungover, sick while drinking it. Shame, I know!). Met up with our lovely quilt friend Jane and had an early dinner while we talked quilting, fabric and kids. Have some pics from there but I'm not sure if Jane wants her photo plastered all over my blog. Forgot to ask her!

We also did our little handmade swap there - pictures and details of that can be found here. Then Fiona and I headed back to my place for a planned paper piecing lesson. Because I know Fiona is just dying to be a paper piecing fanatic like me (hehehe!). But alas, between children (see previous wild monkey children comment) and sewing fatigue, it did not happen. Next time perhaps!

So Day Two. I had lots of fabrics and pieces looking like this:

 Okay full disclosure. This photo was taken this morning after I did a lot more sewing at home haha! I did not accomplish this much in the two day class! There was one speed quilter in the group - we were all 'encouraging' her to hurry up so we could see what the quilt was looking like. And can I just say I was impressed that she nearly got her entire quilt top finished in the two days? Do you think Fiona and I came close? Okay well we did get a quarter done!

Day two was a bit more relaxed and we started putting blocks together. Even with a quarter done, I still couldn't figure out what the finished quilt wouuld look like. Here are the quarter blocks Fiona and I made.

The teacher relented and showed us two finished quilts in this design. It really is lovely! Would you believe that the final project has a fantastic star right in the centre? I have to get busy and sew the rest of my quilt to make that star appear! Which means I should proabbly end this blog post here and actually go and sew. Again, less talk, more sew. I think that's the story of my quilting life.

Thanks for reading through if you made it this far! It was lovely meeting Fiona (and please pop over and check out her blog - she makes such lovely things, I saw some of her projects in person! Gorgeous!) and hanging out. Who knew we had so much in common?! And can I say, for my first class, first bloggy friend meeting, first mystery quilt - it was all an absolute blast! Must do it again. Soon. :)