I dropped out of a local quilt group last year. The women in the group are really nice, and I’m still friends with many of them. But being in the group itself was just not my thing. I get that a group that large (around 70-80 members?) has to do things a certain way and “conduct business” – it’s a lot of work to organize and keep something like that going. My personal preference was to find a smaller group where we would spend the majority of our time actually working on projects. And I did!
It’s also a lot of work to put together instructions for a mystery quilt. At least it is the way I’ve done two in the past. I had designed a new one that I originally thought I’d put together last year or this year, but since I quit the group, I haven’t felt like writing up all of the instructions (and I still don’t).
So I thought what I’d do is share as I put together the two versions here all of the measurements along with how I put together each of the blocks. I work full-time, and I have a lot of other things going on, and don’t really feel up to putting together an entire polished package of instructions. But if anyone was adventurous and wanted to play along, they’d be welcome to do so.
The quilt I designed will be 66 by 81 inches. The background fabric comprises a lot of this quilt, so it has a lot of negative space, but also has a bit of a “designed” sampler feel.
I chose a black print for my dark background option. This option is for my husband – he loves all things black and gray, ha! As I was designing this quilt, I really wanted to limit the number of fabrics as well, to make it fairly easy to choose and coordinate for those who have trouble picking fabrics. My fabric choices are different from the below, but these should give you an idea of what I was shooting for.
The background fabric is estimated to take 4 and 5/8 yards.
The three others should be dark, medium and light (or light, medium, and dark for the lightest background option) prints.
The shade closest to the background needs about 3/8 yard.
The medium shade needs about 1 yard.
The shade with the most contrast from the background needs about 3/4 yard.
Okay, I think that’s about it to start. I plan to use Bonnie Hunter’s Essential Triangle Tool to make any quarter- or half-square triangle units. I think I’m ready to go. I’ve had the fabric sitting around for over a year now, it’s about time I cut into it.