A Quiltville Mystery Quilt!
©2008 Bonnie K. Hunter. All Rights Reserved.
(Click here for printer-friendly .pdf file)
This quilt will get us rolling into spring and summer! An assortment of 2"scrap strips, 3.5" scrap strips and some coordinated yardage combine in a design destined to make your mouth water! Just like...Orange Crush! Who can resist an ice cold Orange Crush on a hot summer day? Or poured over vanilla ice cream for a "dreamsicle" treat?
The finished size of this quilt is approx 77 X 90, or a full size.
Fabric Requriements:
The finished size of this quilt is approx 77 X 90, or a full size.
Fabric Requriements:
Here is a sampling of the strips I intend to use!
For this quilt you will need:
- Approximately 1.5 yards of light (neutral) scraps cut into 2" strips.
- Approximately 1.5 yards of dark scraps cut into 2" strips.
- Approximately 3/4 yard of dark scraps cut into 3.5" strips.
Yardage requirements may vary depending on how many sub cuts you can get out of each strip,and since scrap strip lengths vary, plan accordingly!
And yes, my scraps are actually that jumbled in my bins! I can't help it! I start out all nice and neat, and then dig for what I want, and pretty soon I've got scrap salad :c| So..I just gave up, and iron as I go :c)
In addition to the scraps above....here is a chance for you to get into some yardage that you haven't found a use for yet! Because this is a scrappy quilt for the most part, the yardage fabrics I have chosen for my own quilt are more in the "tone on tone" variety so that the design will really show up when I put the blocks and units together. Feel free to copy my color scheme if you are unsure of what to do. Busy fabrics will give the quilt a different look. For this reason, I am thinking tone-on-tone (think Jinny Beyer Pallet or similar) or even solids.
Here are my choices!And yes, my scraps are actually that jumbled in my bins! I can't help it! I start out all nice and neat, and then dig for what I want, and pretty soon I've got scrap salad :c| So..I just gave up, and iron as I go :c)
In addition to the scraps above....here is a chance for you to get into some yardage that you haven't found a use for yet! Because this is a scrappy quilt for the most part, the yardage fabrics I have chosen for my own quilt are more in the "tone on tone" variety so that the design will really show up when I put the blocks and units together. Feel free to copy my color scheme if you are unsure of what to do. Busy fabrics will give the quilt a different look. For this reason, I am thinking tone-on-tone (think Jinny Beyer Pallet or similar) or even solids.
I have chosen the following:
2 yards of Orange with a little red leaf in it.
1.5 yards of a red documentaries print with little black picotage designs
1.5 yards of vintage looking black with white doodads spaced randomly.
Accent: Assorted pieces of blue/white indigo that I've had hanging around for a long time and want to use up. These can be all one fabric here, or you can make them scrappy when we get to that point. If you are cutting from scraps, the pieces can be cut from 3.5" strips. If you are using yardage, 3/4 a yard should be enough.
Other Color Combos: There is not a lot of "LIGHT" in this quilt. Contrast is mainly between the dark yardage fabrics shown above. To change the colors, try replacing ONE color at a time and see how it plays with the others.
For example, for a Pennsylvania Dutch pallet you might want to go with Orange, Double Pink, Chrome Yellow,and Poison Green. All of these fabrics contrast nicely with each other. All would work this way.
You might want to go brights with Apple Green, Hot Pink, Orange, and Purple.
You need 4 colors. Red white and blue are not good color choices, but if you want a patriotic feel, go with Red, Gold, Blue, Black. Use your lights/white where the scrap lights are, and choose one color (blue) for where the scrap 3.5" strips are above. That will unify the design.
If you want a "vintage" civil war look...how about brown, double pink, drab green, and an indigo blue? Use shirtings where all your lights go.
Do you have 30's fabrics to clear out? Try to choose prints or solids of SMALLER SCALE so the design isn't lost in big busy prints. This is a good place to use those 1930's solids in bubble gum pink, bright yellow, nile green, and lavender! Just as long as those 4 colors are more intense than your "lights" are. For a 1930's quilt, you can use plain muslin or cream for the lights. They didn't have "white on white" or "cream on cream" in the 1930s...so dare to make it look really vintage with muslin!
Christmas fabrics? Probably not a good choice for this quilt. There just isn't enough color variety. Save them for another mystery, another time!
Special Notions:
Directions for this quilt will include use of the Easy Angle Ruler. This ruler makes quilting a breeze without having to deal with a lot of math challenges. It also works great with the strip sizes I cut my scraps into, so I can pull pre-cut strips, slice them using the easy angle ruler, and off to the sewing machine I go! :c) Do to the demand, I have made it easy for you to order an Easy Angle ruler from my amazon store if already don't have one, or can't find one locally where you are. Click here for easy angle ruler!
1.5 yards of a red documentaries print with little black picotage designs
1.5 yards of vintage looking black with white doodads spaced randomly.
Accent: Assorted pieces of blue/white indigo that I've had hanging around for a long time and want to use up. These can be all one fabric here, or you can make them scrappy when we get to that point. If you are cutting from scraps, the pieces can be cut from 3.5" strips. If you are using yardage, 3/4 a yard should be enough.
Other Color Combos: There is not a lot of "LIGHT" in this quilt. Contrast is mainly between the dark yardage fabrics shown above. To change the colors, try replacing ONE color at a time and see how it plays with the others.
For example, for a Pennsylvania Dutch pallet you might want to go with Orange, Double Pink, Chrome Yellow,and Poison Green. All of these fabrics contrast nicely with each other. All would work this way.
You might want to go brights with Apple Green, Hot Pink, Orange, and Purple.
You need 4 colors. Red white and blue are not good color choices, but if you want a patriotic feel, go with Red, Gold, Blue, Black. Use your lights/white where the scrap lights are, and choose one color (blue) for where the scrap 3.5" strips are above. That will unify the design.
If you want a "vintage" civil war look...how about brown, double pink, drab green, and an indigo blue? Use shirtings where all your lights go.
Do you have 30's fabrics to clear out? Try to choose prints or solids of SMALLER SCALE so the design isn't lost in big busy prints. This is a good place to use those 1930's solids in bubble gum pink, bright yellow, nile green, and lavender! Just as long as those 4 colors are more intense than your "lights" are. For a 1930's quilt, you can use plain muslin or cream for the lights. They didn't have "white on white" or "cream on cream" in the 1930s...so dare to make it look really vintage with muslin!
Christmas fabrics? Probably not a good choice for this quilt. There just isn't enough color variety. Save them for another mystery, another time!
Special Notions:
Directions for this quilt will include use of the Easy Angle Ruler. This ruler makes quilting a breeze without having to deal with a lot of math challenges. It also works great with the strip sizes I cut my scraps into, so I can pull pre-cut strips, slice them using the easy angle ruler, and off to the sewing machine I go! :c) Do to the demand, I have made it easy for you to order an Easy Angle ruler from my amazon store if already don't have one, or can't find one locally where you are. Click here for easy angle ruler!
Other Notes and Mentions:
- Mystery Quilts are called Mystery Quilts for a REASON! If you happen to solve the mystery as we go along, please sit on your hands and keep it to yourself ;c) There are many out there who don't want the mystery revealed until they see it themselves in their own work. Besides,you might be wrong! :cD
- One of the benefits of doing a mystery is TRYING NEW THINGS....sometimes that means making decisions on your own. There is an email group of quilters called Quiltvillechat who are also working on this mystery. We invite you to join us! You will get helps and hints there from others working on the mystery, just like you, and you will find encouragement to make your own choices without being told specifically what to do.
- The finished size of this quilt is approx 77" X 90", or a full size. You can make more blocks to make it bigger. After we have completed all the steps, and you go to lay out your units, you can decide then how many and of what to make.
- If you want it smaller, you'll probably end up with extra blocks because I cannot give individual directions to make as many blocks as you need to make it the size you want it to be. You'll have to wait until the end. :c)
- I also can not give you individual directions for making units out of different sized strips to get the blocks the size you want to work with. If you have different sized strips on hand, either cut them down, or save them for another mystery.
- As I have said before, you are welcome to just wait and watch for a bit to figure things out in your own size and do them the way you want to. You won't miss out on a step if you take a "time out" to see where the project is going.
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