Grand Illusion Progress report 5

In spite of spending nearly all day Saturday at a car dealership, I was able to fit in some sewing time this weekend.  My version of Bonnie Hunter's Grand Illusion mystery quilt is coming along nicely. Click on this link and you can see the color choices and slight variations of other quilters.

Step #1 Broken Dishes 1 - have 75, need 25 more

Step #2 Double Diamonds - have 58 need 42 more 

Step #3 Checkerboard - have 101 need 19 more

Step #4A Broken Dishes 2 - DONE

Step #4B Broken Dishes 3 - DONE

Step #5 - Four Patches - DONE

Fellow quilters, did you have problems turning the border blocks correctly?  Check out my initial attempt at the border. Something doesn't look quite right.  And I didn't figure it out until I laid it out with some blocks. The white triangles were supposed to be on the same 'row' as the black squares. I pulled some more blocks to make the sample above and will take the seam ripper to this one below.

Andee at Modern Diary blog called this pattern "busy" and it definitely is. Although to me, it reminds me of a painting. Up close the blobs of paint seem ugly, but when you step back you see the whole picture and the painting comes to life. That's what I think of Grand Illusion. As I followed along with each step, I would have sworn Bonnie was planning to use the yellow as the strong graphical element, but instead she surprised me by using the black to lead our eyes across the quilt.  You cannot see it up close, only when the blocks come together. Amazing!

Are you wondering about that car dealership visit? We finally bought a replacement car for my daughter, You might recall she was in a terrible accident just before Thanksgiving. She and my husband picked out a 2015 Hyundai Elantra. Oooh baby!  I drove it tonight and it was sweeeet!  Let's hope this one lasts longer than her belated Kia Rio (3 months 22 days).