Sun City West quilters find fun, learning in Winter Mystery

Blogger and designer Bonnie K. Hunter began her online Winter Mystery Quilt series on Black Friday 15 years ago. It still starts on the day after Thanksgiving, and for the third year, some Rip ’N’ Sew members participated.

With Jackie Iverson leading the group, participants learned new techniques, improved their skills, and had fun, too.

“This is not a race and it always takes some quilters longer than others to finish,” Iverson said.

“The clues have you make enough units for a queen size quilt. This year we all opted to make fewer units and use them in smaller projects,” she said.

This was Marilyn Zenz’s first year doing the mystery quilt. She used the blocks to make a table runner and a table topper. The table topper is set on-point with setting blocks that mimic the layout of the larger quilt.

Marian Clish has participated all three years and she’s adept at making modifications and using alternate settings.

This year Clish adjusted the unit size to take advantage of her AccuQuilt Go! cutter.  She made two sets of everything in two different sizes, giving her enough blocks to make three lap quilts. One has the larger blocks set on-point and one has smaller blocks set with sashing.

Iverson and Jean Heinen still have work to do on their projects.

Iverson’s table runner needs the final border, but she will must go shopping first: she’s out of the dark blue fabric.

Heinen is still deciding on a final layout but brought two blocks to show.

Several other quilters couldn’t attend the final meeting.

For background on this mystery quilt, called Indigo Way, and a little history about why there’s a Winter Mystery Quilt series, visit quiltville.blogspot.com/2023/10/indigo-way-mystery-introduction.html.

Visit ripsew.scwclubs.com/about-location for more information about Rip ’N’ Sew.