Tag: Lupine & Laughter Mystery Quilt

I have been working on Lupine steadily since after Christmas. As previously mentioned, it is a lot of piecing. This is not a project to work on while distracted and I have made some cutting errors. This means I have had to re-cut and sew some of the pieces. No shortage of fabric, but frustrating. 

I really wanted to make progress, so I cut some 2.5 inch squares and made the blocks for Clue 5.

Clue 1 was the only clue I had completed, but I had the units I needed so with some squares, I thought this was low hanging fruit, which would give me the boost I needed to get back to the miles of piecing I still needed to do.

These are also the first finished pieces for the quilt. I don’t know how they will fit in, but they show me how the color combination I selected work together. I am pleased. So far the black doesn’t seem too dark and I am using up some fabric that has been around awhile.

Jeff Rutherford gave me a great idea. It was a serious DUH! moment. He made a comment on my blog and sent me some instructions I needed (free, no copyright issues here!), which set off an email exchange. In the course of this exchange, he mentioned he was using his Accuquilt** to cut pieces for the various Luppine clues. I don’t have tons of dies, but thought that even if I had one die that would work, it would be worth dragging out the machine and doing the prep.

It turns out I have three dies that worked for this project, though I couldn’t find one of them. ERGH! Fortunately, I had HST and HRT dies that I could use. There was some pre-cutting because the HST die I have is the “Value“** die. It came with my Accuquilt and has pretty useful shapes. I cut some fabric just the size of the HST section so I wouldn’t waste fabric on shapes I didn’t need. The picture above shows my fabric/die layout before cutting. 

I was able to layer 6 pieces of fabric on the die and cut about 6 HSTs at a time. When you need a lot, it is a good deal. 

I did the same thing with the HRT die. I don’t think I had ever used that die before. I think I bought it when I was writing the HRT Resources guide or while making a donation quilt. Anyway, it worked GREAT. I was able to cut, then sew them together easily. As a bonus I didn’t need to trim. I am behind in getting my clues done, but this machine really helped me to almost get caught up. I have to start incorporating the machine into my thought processes and planning  when working on a quilt that has general sized shapes to cut. If I start using it more, I might even consider buying one of the electric versions.

 

 

 

 

 

 

N.B. Bonnie will remove the posts to which I have linked from her blog sometime in February 2026. Download or save the clues now if you want to make this quilt.

**Obviously, you should shop at local quilt shops and small businesses. However, if you are too busy or can’t find what you need there, I use Amazon affiliate links and may be paid for your purchase of an item when you click on an item’s link in my post. There is no additional cost to you for clicking or purchasing items I recommend. I appreciate your clicks and purchases as it helps support this blog.

I finished Clue 2 FINALLY!

I am very behind, but not giving up. These Flying Geese took a long time, but I was working on the HSTs at the same time. 

Clue 5 will be easier, I think, as it is block making and I might jump to it before I get back to the HRTs and HSTs.

 

 

 

 

 

N.B. Bonnie will remove the posts to which I have linked from her blog sometime in February 2026. Download or save the clues now if you want to make this quilt.

I have been working on and off on Lupine, especially after I finished some gifts. 

A week or so ago, I finished the Lupine & Laughter First Clue. I wasn’t sure how the black would look as a background, but I am pleased with the combination. It has a little bit of a 1954 vibe. I know you are thinking “WTH? How can she be so specific?” I have a book called 100 Years of Color** by Katie Greenwood. It gives a palette for each year for 100 years. While 1954 doesn’t have the black as part of the palette, it does have the feeling that occurred to me when I put the combo together.

One concern I have with the black is that the fabric seems to shred very easily. Not within patches, but as I trim shreds of fabric embed themselves in my rotary mat. As I mentioned before, I have had this fabric for a long time, so it is possible that the quality is different from current fabrics. Fortunately, I have a number of blacks with colored dots that I will use for this project, so not all will be subject to this problem.

I am simultaneously working on Clue 2 and 3. I sewed quite a bit over the weekend. It was kind of rote sewing, but it was good that I didn’t have to think too much. I also did quite a bit of trimming, though not enough. There is a lot of trimming in this quilt.

Bonnie always has different ways to make the various units. Friend Julie says that she likes to try the various methods in order to practice and to find the method she likes best. I usually just use a method with which I am familiar. For the HSTs, I am using the 8-at-a-time method you can find under tutorials. Her comment gave me something about which to think. I did use the Essential Triangle Tool** to make the QSTs, which was new-ish to me.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

N.B. Bonnie will remove the posts to which I have linked from her blog sometime in February 2026. Download or save the clues now if you want to make this quilt.

**Obviously, you should shop at local quilt shops and small businesses. However, if you are too busy or can’t find what you need there, I use Amazon affiliate links and may be paid for your purchase of an item when you click on an item’s link in my post. There is no additional cost to you for clicking or purchasing items I recommend. I appreciate your clicks and purchases as it helps support this blog.