For the past several years I have participated in Quiltville's annual Mystery Quilt. After a couple of years making quilts with some very intense piecing, it was announced that this quilt would be easier. Nothing smaller than 2". I can tell you that it takes a LOT of 2" squares to cover a queen size mattress, especially since a 2" square becomes 1 1/2" once it's sewn into a quilt! The name of this year's quilt is Easy Street!
Earlier this summer I took a workshop from Bonnie Hunter. Bonnie is the designer of the mystery quilt and many other quilts that I've made. During the workshop, she suggested that, if we are planning on participating in the 2012 Mystery, that we start stashing turquoise, lime green, purple, white with black print and gray fabrics. A few weeks ago, the color palette was published. And I bought my gray and white with black print. This morning, the first clue was released. It was nice saying in and working on this mystery quilt. I'm quite excited to see what she does with these colors!
Easy Street  |
| Easy Street Mystery Quilt Fabrics |
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| Step one is four-patch units! Background and gray. My background is the black and white fabric. I'm using only one fabric for the background rather than many prints. |
The first clue was to make 4-patch units with gray and white with black print fabric. I cut 19 strips of each fabric, sewed them together, pressed open, stacked in pairs, alternating the colors. This gets them ready for cutting.
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| Working on the 4-patches. |
Once the pairs were stacked, I cut them into 2" segments. Carry to the sewing machine, making sure the dark fabric (gray) is on top. It has to be this way for the seams to spin. Sew together, open, press.
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| Press. Spin the seam allowances so all of the seams lay clockwise. |
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| 192 four-patch units done! All of the centers are spun (see bottom left). Now I'll have to wait until Friday for step 2. |
Looks great Sharon.
ReplyDeleteLove your fabrics, the black and gray prints. And thank you so much for showing the steps you took to make the first blocks using those colors. I am a relatively new quilter, or rather I have not learned any short cuts and this helps me so much. I hope you continue to show the steps you take as you continue on this quilt. Again, thanks so much.
ReplyDeleteEdie
You are so organized and your fabrics are beautiful. Great little 4 patches.
ReplyDeleteOh my! I love the grey. Such a great shade.
ReplyDeleteI did all of mine the exact way, but couple figure out how to get a darn one of them to spin! eerr. I know i have to be missing something somewhere!
ReplyDeleteAll of yours look great!
Love your steps, thank you so much! Happy Quilting!
ReplyDeleteThat last commetn about having to wait until Friday sounds like you have nothing else to do and are a bit sad about already beeing done.
ReplyDeleteYour fabrics are gorgeous. I pressed mine without spinning - must remember this tip for next time.
ReplyDeleteSuch gorgeous fabrics you've chosen - can't wait to see what else you'll add to the mix! -- Jo
ReplyDelete