Quiltville Mystery! Orca Bay!

Bonnie Hunter has started a new mystery on Quiltville! If you love mysteries, you know that Bonnie’s designs are always great.

The first clue was posted on Friday: Orca Bay Mystery

When I noticed quilters ordering and downloading Inklingo QST, I knew something was afoot! LOL Monkey suggested a special deal to make it even more irresistible.

“Make 224 Hourglass blocks, okay?”
(896 triangles, 448 pairs of fabric)

Bonnie’s Part 1 starts with 224 scrappy Hourglass Blocks made with Quarter Square Triangles (QST).  When you use 2 inch QST, the Hourglass block is 2 inches finished (2.5 inches unfinished).

Orca Bay needs 896 triangles, but only 448 are printed with Inklingo (19 sheets of fabric, below).

In addition to Bonnie’s instructions for QST, Inklingo quilters have a choice of two methods that work perfectly with scraps.

  • Print, Layer, Stitch & Cut
  • Layer to Cut

1. PRINT, LAYER, STITCH & CUT

Print 19 sheets of 24 QST (7 x 10.5 inches) and layer with scraps. You will have a few extras. (456 instead of 448)  That goes really fast, especially if you use a Print Checklist.

Print one fabric (usually the lighter one), layer with unprinted fabric, stitch on the diagonal lines, cut on the other lines.

Sew first, then cut.

  • You have a line to sew on, without paper to pick off afterwards. How cool is that?
  • You have a line to cut on, so no measuring. Use scissors while you “watch” the football game, or rotary cut.
  • It uses fabric very efficiently and is great for scraps.

There is more detail in the free Inklingo “Triangle Tips” (PDF) on pages 8 and 9. The video is old and for half square triangles (HST), but you’ll get the idea.

2. LAYER TO CUT

Layer to Cut may allow you to do less printing if you rotary cut several layers at a time. Print one fabric, layer with several other fabrics, and cut. One quilter calls these “fabric rulers” instead of “acrylic rulers.”

To cut 896 individual QST 5 layers at a time: print 7.5 sheets of 24 triangles each, layer a printed fabric on top of  four unprinted fabric scraps, and rotary cut. No measuring. Just cut on the solid lines. The dog ears are marked too.

Monkey says to put a fresh blade in your cutter for 5 layers at a time!

The printed sheet of fabric is like a ruler or template, but it doesn’t slide around the way acrylic does. Just rotary cut on the lines without measuring.

Some triangles will not have stitching lines, but you can machine piece without them. Make sure you sew an accurate scant 0.25 inch seam.

________Printing Tips

  • Print the lightest fabric so the cutting lines are easy to see.
  • Difficult-to-print fabrics don’t need to be printed at all.
  • Only one fabric is tested to choose the right ink color.
  • Choose Layout 1 (in Squares, above) or Layout 2 (in Rows, below) to make the best use of your scraps.

________Sewing Tips

  • In some cases, you can layer pairs of fabrics right sides together, so the shapes will be ready to for you to pick up, two at a time, for chain piecing. Don’t forget Bonnie’s leaders and enders!
  • Pinning is not usually necessary, but you can press fabric layers together to prevent shifting, if necessary.

________Tips for Using Up Scraps


  • Print a large sheet of fabric for efficiency, and cut it into sizes that can be layered on smaller scraps. If you print Layout 2, you can layer on 1.5 inch strips (above).
  • Trim the margins from the fabric after printing, and before layering with other fabrics to save a little more.
  • Unprinted layers can be made up of fabrics that have already been strip pieced. (Wow!)

SPECIAL PRICE FOR ORCA BAY

Inklingo QST 00B includes 2 inch QST and 11 other sizes. The PDF download is regular $20, but if you mention Bonnie’s mystery in a comment, I will subtract $5 manually before it is processed with the bank. That’s a very good deal. You will use these sizes over and over again.

Everyone who has ordered QST 00B since Bonnie posted the mystery on Friday will get the same discount, so no one is left out.

The special price is good until Black Friday (November 25). That’s the day after Thanksgiving in the US. We have already had our Thanksgiving in Canada, but Monkey, Russ and I celebrate twice because we have so much to be thankful for.

(Other sizes are listed in the Index of Shapes under the Support tab.)

Bonnie’s Orca Bay is going to be fun, don’t you think?

Thank you for visiting!

Linda & Monkey

New to Inklingo? Order and download free shapes and start sewing in the next few minutes.Quick Start (Always FREE.) There are triangles, diamonds, and squares in the free collection—great for dozens of different blocks.

Inklingo for Beginners

Tilde’s 15 Minute Challenge

8 thoughts on “Quiltville Mystery! Orca Bay!”

  1. I am thrilled that Bonnie mentioned Inklingo on her blog. We are getting a very nice reaction from quilters doing the Orca Bay mystery. Aren’t quilters The Best!!

    Reply
  2. My first time ordering Inklingo! I appreciate how bloggers work together to make quilting super fun and interesting. Thank you and Bonnie!

    Reply
  3. This will be a double first for me, using Inklingo and doing one of Bonnie’s mysteries. I have downloaded your generous free shapes, but have been too timid to try, but have printed them out to practice on before getting into the mystery, Helen on Vancouver Island, B.C.

    Reply
  4. OOOOh thank you for your generous offer Linda! Perfect time to update from the CDs to the downloads. I am glad as the downloads have the dog ears marked so I can ‘properly’ trim them. (I love the way Inklingo has continued to get better and better. Didn’t think it was possible.)
    These are my first QSTs. I’ve got everything cut, printed, layered and ready to sew. Off to do that now.

    Reply
  5. I appreciate how you both are so willing to work together like this. No drama – just easy-going whatever works for folks to enjoy quilting. That’s how both of you strike me. Thanks for sharing.

    Reply

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