Mosaic Mystery Quilt ++ Quilt Top and Quilt Linkup

I hope that you are love the Mosaic Mystery quilt design and are working towards finishing your quilt tops and quilts!

Please take the time to read through some important items as we near the end of the quilt along...

Important Dates:

• January 31st - Linkup of quilt tops for January's monthly linkup. See below for prizes.
• NOTE: The link up for the reveal parade and the January linkup are the same so you only need to linkup once (if you link up for January, you do not need to re-linkup your quilt top for the reveal parade)
• March 5th - Linkups of all quilt tops and/or quilts due into the linkup to be eligible for reveal parade prizes.
• March 12th - Mosaic Mystery Quilt reveal parade!
• March 16th or 17th - prize winners revealed.

How to Submit Your Quilt to the January Linkup and Reveal Parade and Be Eligible for Prizes:

• Use the link-up link below. You will link up your quilt top or quilt and then on the reveal parade day, they will all publish together in one post.
• If you have any problems with the link-up, e-mail me at MMDmysteryquilts@gmail.com. I will help you and will even load your quilt picture if needed.
• If you need help, please do not DM me through Instagram, PM through Facebook, leave a comment in the Facebook group, etc. I simply cannot keep track of all of the different avenues of communication and might not see your question or problem.

Frequency Asked Questions:

• Do I need to finish my quilt (quilted and bound) to take part in the parade and be eligible for prizes? 
• No, you can enter pictures of completed quilt tops or finished quilts.
• I posted my quilt picture to Facebook / Instagram / my blog, am I entered into the parade? 
• No, you must link up your picture to be eligible. I will help you if you have any problems.
• How are the prizes given out? 
•  All prizes are given out randomly to quilters who participate in the reveal parade.
• I loved the Mosaic Mystery quilt so much I made two (or more) versions, can I link up both of them? 
•  Yes! You can link up all of the quilt tops and/or finished quilts you made from the Mosaic Mystery quilt and each quilt gets an entry into the prize drawing.

Mosaic Mystery Quilt Links:

• Monthly pattern instructions - note: all pattern instructions will remain on the blog posts, but pdfs will be removed the day of the reveal parade.
• Quilt kits available
• Facebook group
• Non-mystery quilt option
• Sponsors & Prizes

If you have any questions, you can e-mail me or leave them in the comments below, now onto January's Linkup!  Many thanks to our generous sponsors for January!

Hobbs Batting
Monthly prize: Twin-sized cotton/wool batting 

Hobbs strives to create the best battings for quilters and has many options such as wool, cotton, polyester, and silk for quilters to choose from.  I love using Hobbs battings in my quilts.

Quilting Jetgirl

Monthly prize: One winner of 2 pdf patterns 

Yvonne of Quilting Jetgirl is back as a sponsor for the third year in a row! Yvonne blogs at Quilting Jetgirl. She has been quilting for 20+ years and credits quilting with helping her feel balanced and connected to both her local hometown community and a larger global community. Her patterns are available through her shop. 

Click here to enter your quilt top and/or quilt into the linky party

Remember, those quilt tops entered by Jan 31st midnight are entered to win a prize from Hobbs or Quilting Jetgirl. The linkup will remain open and you can linkup your quilt tops and quilts to this same linkup anytime before the end of Thursday March 5th.

January EQ8 Block Spotlight & Giveaway!

Did you know that each month Electric Quilt highlights a block from the EQ8 Block Library? They share a few ideas on how you could use the block in a unique way in a quilt top then asks EQ users to play and show what they can do with the block.

This month's block is the Pinwheel Square and you can find it on EQ's blog here. You can link up your design and see everyone else's on the blog page too.

I decided to play with the Pinwheel Square this month and came up with three different looking quilt tops.

1. Vertical Layout

I used the vertical layout to have regular and half drop blocks and then colored parts of the block the same color as the dark background to give a vertical zigzag look between the columns of blocks.

2. Combined with Duck and Ducklings

For the second design, I combined the Pinwheel Square block with the Duck and Ducklings block. I colored parts of both blocks white like the background to simplify the quilt top a little.

3. Combined with Irish Chain

For the last design I combined with Pinwheel Square block with a simple Irish Chain block I drew in EQ8. I colored the blocks to look a little like flowers.

Which is your favorite design? Have you ever played with and submitted a design in the EQ8 Block Spotlight?

GIVEAWAY ALERT

Do you want to win a copy of EQ8? I am giving away a copy over on Instagram right now! You can find the link here. (Note: this giveaway is only on Instagram, a comment on this post will not be counted as an entry.)

The Electric Quilt Company is generously offering a special coupon code for my readers.  Use can use EQ8CHERYL for 20% off of their entire website, ElectricQuilt.com (EQ8, EQ8 upgrades, books, add-ons, etc.). The code is good until March 31, 2020.

Aisle Path Lighting

I have a bunch of quilt finishes from 2019 that I have not yet shared on the blog so I will attempt to do so over the next few weeks.  The first quilt I would like to share is called Aisle Path Lighting.

My local guild, the Greenville Modern Quilt Guild, hosts a quilt challenge every August.  The challenge for this past year was the crayon challenge.  The rules were:

• Randomly select 3 crayons 
• Make a small quilt (no side larger than 36") 
• Use the the crayon colors as the majority of the quilt top
• Focus on negative space

My colors were a dark blue, bright yellow, and grass green.

I wanted to push myself out of my comfort zone a little and try some improv piecing.  I started by creating little dots of yellow on a dark blue background which I thought looked a little like aisle path lighting you would see in a plane (which is how the quilt got its name).

I then slowly pieced the top together cutting different angles and using slightly different hues of the dark blue for interest.  I really did not care for the grass green so I included it in just one tiny spot :)

For quilting, I first machine quilted some dark blue lines echoing the seam lines and then added some big stitch hand quilting using Aurifil 12 wt in dark blue.  I faced the quilt instead of my usual binding.  The finished quilt measures 34" wide by 25" tall.

I am happy to report that I submitted Aisle Path Lighting into QuiltCon in the small quilts category and it got in!  I am working on putting a hanging sleeve and label now.

I'm linking up with NTT at My Quilt Infatuation.

Camden Road Quilt Along Annoucement

Looking for a good quilt along to start the year?  Cindy of Hyacinth Quilt Designs and I are going to be hosting a quilt of my new pattern Camden Road.

The Camden Road Quilt Along will run from January 28th - March 24th, 2020.  The Camden Road pattern contains instructions for baby, lap, and twin sizes and you can make any size you would like during the QAL.

Post on social media with #CamdenRoadQAL to share your progress with the other quilters.

How many blocks you should aim to complete each week depends on the quilt size you are making, we will have 5 weeks of block making, followed by 3 weeks to catch up on blocks and sew the quilt top together.

You do not have to follow the number of blocks per week, if you prefer you could make all of the flying geese one week, the corner units another week, etc.  The only link-up for prizes will be at the end of the quilt along with the quilt top and/or finished quilt so make the quilt in your preferred method and pace. 

Baby size - 9 blocks - aim for 2 blocks/week

Lap size - 20 blocks - aim for 4 blocks/week

Twin size - 30 blocks - aim for 6 blocks/week

Pattern

The Camden Road pattern is available in the Meadow Mist Designs pattern shop for 25% through January 28th using the code CAMDENROAD.  The code will only work on the Camden Road pattern and only in my shop (not on Etsy).

Camden Road Digital Pattern

Camden Road Printed Pattern

QAL Schedule

You can find all of the quilt along related posts on the Camden Road QAL page.

Tuesday January 7th (today) - QAL Announcement and Fabric Requirements
January 14th or 21st - Prizes Announced
Tuesday January 28th - Official QAL kick-off
Tuesday February 4th - Weekly in-progress post
Tuesday February 11th - Weekly in-progress post
Tuesday February 18th - Weekly in-progress post
Tuesday February 25th - Weekly in-progress post
Tuesday March 3rd - Weekly in-progress post
Tuesday March 24th - Parade and Prizes


Prizes

We will have a bunch of great prizes announced within the next week to win if you link up with the parade with a quilt top or finished quilt for the March 24th reveal.



Fabric Requirements

Kits

Bear Creek Quilting Company and Needle & Foot Fine Fabrics have come up with some wonderful quilt kits options.

Bear Creek Quilting Company

The Bear Creek Quilting Company has put together two quilt kits:

Rosewood Kit (this kit will make up to the twin size)

Amethyst Garden Kit (this kit will make up to the twin size)

Needle & Foot Fine Fabrics

Quilt Kit 1 - baby & lap sizes

Quilt Kit 2 - baby & lap sizes

Quilt Kit 3 - baby & lap sizes

I hope you decide to join in!!  If you have any questions, you can leave them in the comment section below or e-mail me at MMDmysteryquilts@gmail.com

New Printed Patterns Available

I just got a batch of printed patterns back from the printer and got them listed in my shop.

Printed versions of the new patterns Disappearing Oranges and Spinning Stars are now available and they are at the introductory price of $9 through Wednesday at midnight.

Printed versions of Camden Road and Arrow Point Path are now also available.  The official Camden Road QAL announcement will be tomorrow and in it will be a coupon code for Camden Road (which will work on both he digital and print versions).

You can click the pictures or links below to be taken to the new printed patterns...

Spinning Stars

Disappearing Oranges

Arrow Point Path

Camden Road