More on the mystery quilt

Just a little more info.  I would really like your input.
Here are fabrics I pulled that match Bonnie Hunter's color scheme:

And here are my choices:

 The neutrals would be the same shirtings.  Is this going to work, or do they need to be darker?

New Quiltville mystery quilt

Oh boy, it's that time again - when Bonnie Hunter starts a fall mystery quilt.  I scampered to the computer this morning like a kid to the Christmas tree to see her post about color selections, and while I love what she picked, I may change them for my quilt. 

The design is called Orca Bay and is based on a beautiful picture she took while in Alaska.  Her colors are red, blue, black and neutrals.  While I think her selections are lovely, I am ambivalent about making another dark colored quilt because my husband likes brighter, lighter selections.  He doesn't appreciate all the brown I use and I fear that he will feel the same way about black.  Truth told, I'm not a person who makes many quilts with black either.  But Mom and I have been discussing the large number of red and green antique quilts you see and I started leaning toward making a red and green quilt this time.  So, I substituted the green for the blue and bright golds for the black and came up with this:

I have no idea if it will work, I just have to trust and believe.  And remember that Bonnie says "No whining allowed!".

On other fronts, I made a house for the feral cat we have been feeding.  Since the weather started getting colder my husband has been worrying that it doesn't have a warm place to sleep.  We actually have no idea where it goes most of the day and night.  It will appear in the back yard several times a day to eat, and we will spot it around the neighborhood, but it keeps to itself.  That is probably what has kept it safe all summer, that it doesn't trust people and is scared of cars.  I don't want it to be too cosy with people, that's how stray kitties come to harm. 

Anyway, we decided to make little Hobo (that's what I call it) a house.  It had to be waterproof and warm and be able to shelter on the patio under the eaves.  I decided to use a plastic storage box with a locking lid.  I cut out a doorway with a saber saw - badly, it turned out because the plastic splinters easily.  I had to cover the edges of the cutout with layers of packing tape to shield the cat from the rough edges and it looks really tacky, but it was all I could do.  Then, I made a pad for the bottom and a liner for the sides and bottom to keep it warmer.  I had heavy fusible interfacing and leftover fabric, fleece and batting, so this was easy.

She may love it, or she may never set foot in it.  I may have made the world's fanciest opossum house.  I don't know, but at least we have offered a warm spot for her to make it through the winter.  We can't control her choices but I feel good that we made them better.

So, without further ado, I give you - Hobo House: 

Please note the color coordinated box, fabric and fleece.  I went overboard, but what the heck - it was fun.

Let's twist again. . .

This is a pattern called "Strip Twist" from Bonnie Hunter's Quiltville website.  At least, these are the blocks for the pattern - not joined together yet.  I just cut these strips out yesterday morning.  The blocks went together like wildfire.  Joining the rows always takes longer for me.  The colors are dark red, pink/rose, gray, grayed green and tan, with shirtings for the neutrals.  I like the muted look of the palette.  It was inspired by a photo on the Quiltville group of this quilt made using a collection called Azalea Trails.

I'm waiting on a brain burst for border ideas.

Quiltville's Carolina Christmas mystery is on!

Around 11 p.m. I staggered out of the kitchen after washing the last of the pots and pans. I checked my email before heading for bed to see if I had anything from the family, and there in my inbox was the announcement for part one of Quiltville's new mystery. Well, of course I had to go look at it and print it out, but I was much too tired to do more.

This morning after a quick trip to the post office (that's as far as I was willing to go on Black Friday - luckily it's not near the mall) I started reading the directions. She's given us plenty to work on in the first installment - and, blessedly, no square in a squares! I had to press everything and make a final decision on my neutrals before I could cut, so that gave me one more chance to ponder the color choices.

I pulled out most of the darker neutrals so they would contrast better with all shades of gold but left a few darker tans for interest. I like the selection of golds of all shades and intensities that I'm substituting for the greens, and the good variety of blues which sub for the reds. Instead of the single gold she's using to tie it together I'm using this pretty coral-y orange. I'm happy the colors play well together and have a lot of interest. Now, the only concern is - am I substituting the right colors? It's always a concern when you don't use the colors the mystery designer used. Since you don't have the end result at hand, you can't mock up a block or two in EQ to see how it looks before you cut. I think I'm doing the right thing using gold for green and blue for red, but I can't really be sure until I'm too committed to make changes. This is hard stuff for a control freak.

Well, I've given my back a rest after that stint at the ironing board, so it's time to start cutting!

Oh, by the way, check out the Oct/Nov issue of Quilter's Newsletter (which I JUST RECEIVED - what's up with that?) for a wonderful small basket pattern quilt made from a Moda Layer Cake. Now I just happened to have a layer cake - Moda's Simple Abundance - that wasn't committed to any project so I decided to try it. It's one of those patterns where you sew together patches and then cut to size, and I normally dislike that method, but for this I'll give it a shot. I basted and appliqued basket handles yesterday while the turkey was cooking. I finished all the basting to the freezer paper shapes, but only appliqued 4 out of 12. But I've got a start on it for when I can get back after the mystery.

Christmas Lights Mystery Quilt, part 1

Does anyone have any guesses? Nope, me neither.