Friday, August 27, 2010

Mystery quilt II

Choosing fabrics for this mystery quilt was difficult. I started with the “inspiration fabric” you saw in yesterday’s photo, then followed the directions and tried to choose a range of light to very dark fabrics. This took more time than anything else. I rejected numerous fabrics until I got a combination (including pink, green and yellow) that I hope will work. I won’t know if I chose wisely until it’s all over. My choices include one sort of “ugly” fabric, which is one of my favorite little quilting tricks. Sometimes the ugly duckling reads as a neutral and makes all the other fabrics work better together.


Part 1 directions included cutting out ALL the pieces for the entire quilt, which took a whole day. I carefully stored the pieces in labeled plastic bags. Making the four blocks took another day. That was a lot of fun, because I could begin to see bits of the mystery quilt unfold. My four finished blocks from Part 1 are below, and I’m happy with the result. The star points look black in the photo, but that fabric is actually a deep maroon and black swirl. See if you can pick out the “ugly” fabric.


Now, after all that work, I have to pack the pieces away, try to forget about them, and wait for the next issue of American Quilter, which doesn’t come out until Sept. 15. To join the American Quilter’s Society and get the magazine, go to www.americanquilter.com.

Now it’s back to my Simple Shapes project! I have a UFO with rectangles—the log cabin block. Actually, I have A LOT of log cabin blocks, and it’s time they came together.

5 comments:

  1. Your mystery quilt is so lovely.

    The idea of a mystery quilt is so fun. I have done one with my guild and each had a lovely quilt when finished. Enjoy the project.
    Sharon

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  2. Thank you for your comment, Sharon. I think these first few pieces are pretty, so I am confident the rest of it will be, too. The hard part now is waiting for the directions for Part 2!

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  3. I have a similar problem. Choosing fabrics was so difficult that I had to just pack it away for a few months. Now at least I have a plan.

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  4. Which fabric was the ugly duckling? I can't tell...

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  5. Sorry I didn't see your comment right away. The ugly duckling fabric is the one that looks avocado green in the photo. It actually has flecks of turquoise in it. Since I grew up with avocado green kitchen appliances, I automatically think that color screams "1968" or whatever.

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