Pulling the Fabrics for Lupine & Laughter--post one

Fabric pull for Lupine & Laughter

Last month, Bonnie Hunter released the introduction to her 2025 mystery quilt along. She is calling it Lupine & Laughter. She released the information a week early because she would be traveling to Oregon to assist her son's recovery from brain surgery. 

If you want to participate, clink the link for more information. I participate because it is an opportunity to use from stash, to play with different color ways and to become more accurate with my cutting and piecing. 

Purple fabrics starched in the shower

In 2019, I started a group to work on the mystery. We call ourselves the Mystery Mavens. We gather the first Monday of the month in a hybrid meeting. We meet the third Monday of the month via Zoom. 

A couple of our group moved to other states so we added the third Monday meeting to stay in contact with them. After a few months, I realized there was WiFi at our in person meeting space so that meeting turned into a hybrid meeting. 

Dried fabrics ready for the iron

Several of our members who met in person don't want to haul their supplies to our first Monday meeting so they Zoom into the meeting. Several of our members don't Zoom. It is nice to have options! It is also great to be able to stay in touch with our members who have moved to Kansas and Alabama.

The reason that I started the group was because working on my own with Bonnie's mysteries, I didn't finish. Sometimes, I never got past the choosing fabric stage! Often, I would get stuck and the project ended up as a UFO. From watching Bonnie's FaceBook page and reading her blog post comments, I could see how much fun it was to stitch together in a group setting.

Some of the prepped fabric

There are 25 members in our group. You do have to be a member of the local quilt guild to join our group. Some members only work on Bonnie projects during our time together. Others are working on the mystery.  It could be a past mystery or it could be the current mystery. Once members complete the mystery, they work on other projects. Often, they work on another of Bonnie's patterns.

Fabrics prepped and in the project box waiting
for the first clue

As am aside, I have had several people say they want to join us; but they have no interest in working on a Bonnie project. I encourage these people to start their on group. I. explain how to set up a group. Each time, I've been told that the person didn't have time to start or maintain a group! 

This year, we are planning to work on Bonnie's Leader/Ender challenge, Four Patch Fun. Because some of us have little pink or little yellow we are going to exchange strips in December. We tried to do it at the end of summer, but, some of us (like me) forgot! Those that live out of state can participate too. It will be fun to have fabric in this project from other members of the group!

We have a FaceBook page where we post photos and exchange information. They are a wonderful group of women. Frolic was our first mystery together. Then it was Grassy Creek, Rhododendron Trail, Chilhowie, Indigo Way and Old Town. I am working on Grassy Creek; but, I will finish it in 2026! The other one I haven't finished is Good Fortune which was the mystery before Frolic.

It's been awesome to share fabrics. I've been inspired by members' color way choices to go "rouge" which I did with Rhododendron Trail. I've been awed with members'
creativity in putting blocks together in different layouts and using alternate sashing options. The best part is the support of the group. Without them, I'd likely have more unfinished projects!

Eleven of us in December 2023

For Lupine and Laughter, I pulled fabrics from my chunks of scraps. Most of the pieces are between an eighth and a quarter of a yard. I hope that the bits I have will work into the project. I have so little pink! In Rita's Rhododendron Trail box, there were a few pink chunks so that helped me with my fabric pull! The plaid fabric in the photo was leftover from a skirt my oldest granddaughter stitched in 2016!

The purples also came from the chunks scrap drawer. I emptied it by about half! Again, I hope that the size pieces I have will work well with the project. I did have some light creams in my neutral pull; but, I switched those out so that the neutrals are white as per Bonnie's suggestion.

Ice blue fabrics were not many in my stash either. I had to stretch what constituted ice blue to me! But, the great news was that all the fabrics came from my stash. I did order and purchase the half rectangle ruler that Bonnie suggested. I understand that these are sold out everywhere. Amazing that one woman could have that much influence in the quilting world!

Once I had chosen the fabric, I tested each one to be sure that it wasn't going to bleed. Pre-washing takes some time! I dried the fabric in the dryer to ensure if shrinkage was going to occur it did! Next, I sprayed each fabric with a mixture of one part starch to two parts water. I have a few containers of Stay-Flo; but I understand that Linit Starch is a good alternative. Purex stopped making Stay-Flo some time ago. Stay-Flo was starch in concentrated liquid form.

I dilute the concentrate with a ratio of one part concentrate to two parts water. I use a spray bottle to distribute the starch on the fabric until the fabric is soaked. I spray the fabrics in the shower because clean up from the overspray is easy! I hang the fabric to dry, then I iron the fabric. It takes a long time to complete the fabric preparation; but, it is important because I find my accuracy is better if I use starch. The prepped fabric feels stiff like thin cardstock. 

My fabrics are prepped and I'm ready for the first clue to be released November 21! Are you playing along with Bonnie this year? 

Pulling the fabrics and prepping them was goal number two on my November list. Linking to Oh Scrap.