Making a Mystery Quilt

Hello Dear Friends and Readers and a warm welcome to 2026! Happy New Year! It is probably obvious to say that I’m sure that we have all been busy in the lead up to, and over the Christmas period. I think it depends on how much we feel like we need or want to do too. It is easy to get over extended. I know… I’m guilty of that too. It is important to try to etch out some time for yourself too. No matter what that might be, and I believe that for many of us, sewing can really be a godsend, whether that is with company, or just finding those quiet moments to sew, relax and reflect. It is a good place to be.

Leading up to Christmas, one of my FB friends, Karen Sharp, asked me if I was going to do Bonnie Hunter’s Mystery Quilt??? To be honest, I have never considered it before, as I always have too many of my own unfinished projects and ideas to work on. However…this year, it did peak my interest, having been to Iceland less than 2 years ago and a few months ago I went to New Zealand, as I really wanted to see the Lupins there. And they were spectacular in the setting of all the glacial lakes over there.

So, with that in mind, and looking at my burgeoning desk scraps, and despite the fact that Christmas is so busy, I decided to take up the challenge. Could I keep up with the pace of the weekly posts? No, not entirely, but I gave it a good crack…Could I finish most of the top in the time allocated? I have made most of the parts except Part 7. Could I use up some scraps? Indeed I did, And I do feel motivated to clean up the rest of them now? Yes I do! Sometimes this is a problem. Quilting Patchwork Mojo! I really tried to use from my scraps. I only used a bit of yardage when absolutely necessary. I didn’t have a lot of purple, so I substituted some of it with blues. As you can see from my main photo, there is blue in the Lupins too!

At the same time, I have also been working on completing this quilt top Scrappy Diamonds Kaleidoscope Beauty Star Medallion Quilt – Part 3 My next post will deliver the next part of that quilt top.

So, getting back to the scraps, I thought, what have I got to lose, my scraps were looking very messy and frankly uninspiring, so I decided to make the Mystery. It is called Lupine and Laughter “A Quiltville Winter Mystery”

Today I thought I would show you what I have made so far, and let you know, if you haven’t already, that it is not too late for you to join in this mystery before it becomes one of her paid patterns. Head on over to Quiltville Blogspot for all the instructions.https://quiltville.blogspot.com/2026/01/lupine-laughter-mystery-part-seven.html

Today is the big reveal, so you can see what the whole quilt will look like!

I will warn you, there is a lot of sliver trimming as you can see from this photo!

I really have enjoyed the mystery, and in a way it did help me to take a little bit of time out and still have a sewing focus happening in the background of the Christmas rush. And my sewing space is regaining some order too!! That is a bonus.

I hope this post finds you well, and that you too can find some time to sew today.

Again, best wishes for the New Year, and if you enjoyed this post you many also like this post which is a pattern from a Brigitte Giblin, and Australian quilt maker.

Starmania Trip Around the World Quilt

All the best, and happy stitching.

Susie

© Susan Stuklis 2026