Chilhowie - A Quiltville Mystery! (Introduction!)

Happy Halloween, Quiltvillians and Friends!

It's that time of year we've all be anxiously waiting for -

No, not Halloween! (though I admit I have stashed a bit of Halloween Candy in the QPO studio for times when I need a sugar rush -) 

Our yearly Quiltville Winter Mystery begins in earnest with Part One going live on Black Friday, 11/25/22.

This post has all of the info you need to be ready.

If you’ve followed along with our many past Quiltville Mysteries, you’ll already have a good handle of what happens.  I’m glad to have you back sewing with me again!

If you are one of the many, many new ones who are joining in from the land of Instagram, Facebook and beyond, I want to welcome you.

Click HERE for Printer-Friendly PDF.

Over the past 5 years that I have resided in the beautiful state of Virginia I have found myself captivated by the history and entertained by the NAMES of places.

If you've ever traveled through Appalachia, you know what I mean.

I live in the southwestern corner of the state and am surrounded by places that include the words hill, holler, gap, ridge, and more. 

Many places also come from their original Native names - such is the charming town of Chilhowie, Virginia.

Chilhowie (Chil•`how•ee), a Cherokee word meaning "Valley of Many Deer" was adopted as the town’s name when the town incorporated in 1913. During its stagecoach days the community was known simply as Town House. After the railroad was built in 1856 the town was referred to as Greever’s Switch, a reference to the name of the first Station Master and to the mechanical switch that allowed freight cars to be moved to a side track for loading and unloading of freight.

Various manufacturing and agricultural enterprises have contributed to the town’s growth over the years. Pottery, brick, lumber, textile, fertilizer, equipment and furniture manufacturing companies have all operated successfully in Chilhowie. 

Cattle farms are a mainstay of the region’s agricultural economy. From 1912 to 1989 Bonham Brothers grew and distributed apples and apple products so successfully that Chilhowie became the center of apple production in Southwestern Virginia.  [source]

Chilhowie is one of those places where if you blink, you just might miss it. It's a spot between here and there. It is filled with charm and interesting history and is nestled between beautiful mountain ridges and ranges.

My inspiration for the colors in our Chilhowie Mystery come from my love of flowers - especially the Fashion Queen variety of bearded iris you see in our introductory photo above.

Orange and purple together?  You betcha!  And when you see them in the sunshine with a bright spring sky as backdrop, there is no prettier palette in the world!

This post contains the colors, examples of the fabrics used in my own Chilhowie quilt,  yardage requirements and some other tools that you might find helpful in the construction process.

You are NOT required to sew with these colors, and you can change them to whatever color palette you would like, but please remember value and contrast when switching things up.

Our stunning quilt finishes at approximately 78'' x 78".  

If you want a smaller size, start with 1/2 the units.  You can always go back and make more units once you decide on your own layout.  If you want it bigger, you can add more blocks and/or borders.

As always - you are free to wait UNTIL THE REVEAL to see what the quilt is to see if you want to make it, and what size you would like to make for yourself and in what colors. I am unable to provide directions for multiple sizes through this free mystery. Thank you for understanding.

I view our mysteries not just as “A Pattern” but as a vehicle to teach methods, tips, tricks, helps and hints while working with each unit.  I will provide a printer-friendly PDF for each clue, and for those wanting to save paper, just save the PDF to your computer or tablet and look at it there without printing it out.  Be sure you know where you tablet or phone SAVES PDFs so you know where to retrieve them. (A cloud service can also be helpful here.)

Clues and links to corresponding PDFs will only be available until the quilt becomes a digital pattern download for purchase in the Quiltville Store and the Quiltville Etsy Pattern Shop. 

You can choose to print certain pages but not others from within your own printer settings.  

You can also copy/paste the blog post into a word document and delete extra photos, extra text that you don’t need. Just save the nitty-gritty. You can choose how to save paper/ink yourself.  My job is to teach, however many pages it takes.

PAINT CHIPS:  These are NOT required, but they are helpful when choosing many fabrics that have to work together from your stash.  These are guidelines only, and I have even pushed the boundaries of those color families a bit in all directions so I have a quilt with more life that doesn’t look so flat. 

Our colors come with intriguing names this year, and I always look forward to seeing what colors have been labeled.

Our paint chips this year come from the Sherwin Williams line at Lowes.  

There is a PDF of these paint chips for your convenience HERE. 

Iris Inspiration:

My Fabric Samplings:

Oranges: 2 yards

HGSW6883 - Raucous Orange

HGSW6628 - Robust Orange

HGSW6627 - Emberglow

While Quiltville Mysteries are designed with hitting up your stash in mind, I know there are always some enhancements needed if these are colors you don't usually keep on hand.

Cotton to Quilts is offering fabric rolls in mystery colors for your fill in needs!

And if you are in the Louisville, KY area - Be sure to stop by the new Cotton To Quilts brick & mortar store at 2416 Frankfort Avenue!

The Grand Opening is this coming weekend: Friday, November 4th and Saturday November 5th: 10am-4pm. Sunday, November 6th: 12pm -4pm.

Weekly Store Hours: Thurs-Sat 10am – 4pm and Sunday 12pm - 4pm.

Iris Inspiration:

My Fabric Samplings:

Purples: 1 3/4 yards

HGSW6832 - Impulsive Purple

HGSW6831 - Clematis

HGSW6830 - Kismet

Purple rolls available at Cotton to Quilts.

Iris inspiration:

Yes, there is an aqua (light blue) iris!

Aquas:1 1/4 yards

HGSW9043 - Aquastone

HGSW6751 - Refresh

HGSW6750 - Waterfall

*Note*  The color on the above card is off in my photo due to lighting.  See side-by-side paint chip images below for more clarity:

Aqua rolls available at Cotton to Quilts.

Iris Inspiration:

White iris!

Whites/Neutrals 4 yards

HGSW7757 - High Reflective White

HGSW4002 - White Gallery

HGSW7006 - Extra White

I stayed with the white to barely cream backgrounds on my neutrals, leaving the sandy toasty ones for another project.

Neutral rolls available at Cotton to Quilts.

Please remember: Paint chips are only for personal reference, and fabrics do not have to be EXACT! 

This is going to be such a fun mystery with a lovely color palette!

Yardage amounts are for scraps and/or planned yardage.  If you want one piece of yardage for each color, you are fine there too!

Those who wish to explore shades and tints within our chosen color families or in choosing a completely different color scheme may also find the Ultimate 3-in-1 Color Tool helpful.  It’s found in the Quiltville Store for those who want guidance.

No specific pages on the 3-in-1 color tool are given as there are so many varying shades.  We go for variety in color families, so open up your 3-in-1 color tool to the desired color page, comparing it to paint chip images and your fabrics.

One hint on ALL FABRICS - Scale matters - if you have sewn my mysteries before, you know there may be small, medium, and large pieces within the same colors.  Big prints don't work well in small pieces, so keep that in mind when choosing fabrics.

And once units and sizes are given - feel free to attack your Scrap User's System strip drawers to see what you can pull in there as well.  It feels good to clean out.

So there you have it -  And here is the short run down:

Oranges: 2 yards

Purples: 1 3/4 yards

Aquas:  1 1/4 yards

Neutrals: 4 yards

Clues will start posting on Black Friday 11/25/22.  

There will be one clue each Friday until our completion sometime in January.  Just WHEN that reveal happens is also part of the mystery!

Other optional things that may be helpful to you:

My Essential Triangle Tool.

Simple Folded Corners ruler or Simple Folded Corners Mini

As with previous mysteries, I will be giving unit sizes in finished and unfinished dimensions so you can choose your own favorite method to make them. 

There will be NO Accuquilt die information as it gives away too much on units and unit sizes. Remember, this is a mystery. We need to keep it that way all the way to the end. Unit shapes and sizes will be given with each step. Not ahead of time.

I am placing a Chilhowie Mystery tab at the top of the blog and all of these posts will be linked there for easy reference.

Please share this Quiltville Winter Mystery info with all of your quilting friends and online groups and social media and more. 

The more folks we can get to jump in, the more fun it will be! 

Oh yeah - and one more thing:

LOL!

There will be many pieces.  Some smaller, some larger, some in between. My best suggestion as the holidays get to bustling - SAVE the clues each week to your computer, device, or cloud service.  Save them where you know you can find them.

Make SOME of each unit each week, even if you can't finish all that each step entails.  That makes it easy to go back to that step when you can - because you've got some memory of what to do there.

Always check your unit size.  The numbers on the ruler don't lie.  More on that to come -

If you would like blog notifications sent to your email so you don’t miss anything, please visit the blog on a real computer where the right hand side bar is visible (It’s not on mobile phone) and input your email address in the space provided at the top of the side bar.

Hit subscribe. Go to your email inbox and find the email from groups.io and confirm your subscription by clicking through the links in the email. 

Your blog notifications will start once you confirm your subscription.

And if you've made it this far - there are some other things going on you'll want to know about!

LAST DAY TO SAVE!

Introductory Special: I have placed the PDF pattern for Bristol at 25% off in both the Quiltville Store and the Quiltville Etsy Pattern Shop.  No coupon needed!  Sale price good through TODAY 10/31/22.  Hurry now and save!

Don't forget to sign up for the Nov/Dec '22 Quiltmaker Gift-Away HERE!

That drawing happens on Saturday 11/5/22.

Quiltville Quote of the Day -

I'm really excited about our upcoming Quiltville Winter Mystery season.

I hope you are too!

Gather some friends together, plan on stitching together and keeping each other focused and making progress.

Now go start pulling fabrics! Please use hashtags #quiltvillemystery and #chilhowiequilt on your social media posts so we can find you.

I'll see you back here on Black Friday when the fun REALLY begins!

 

©2022 Bonnie K Hunter. All Rights Reserved. 

This mystery is given for personal use only. No part may be reproduced or transmitted in any form by any means, electronic or mechanical including photocopying for sharing, scanning or by any information storage and retrieval system without permission in writing from the author. 

Please no uploading and saving of this file with intent to share, email or distribute, either digitally or in hard copy. NOT FOR RESALE. 

Please send your friends to my blog to print their clues. Thank you!