Get Ready to Make the Mystery Quilt
Let's start by talking about a few ideas for mystery quilt yardages and possible fabric combos.The palette on this page is a suggestion, and I hope it helps illustrate the value difference that will make the patches of your quilt contrast with each other (your fabrics can have even more contrast than the swatches illustrated).
Fabrics are shown as solids to make selection less confusing, but feel free to choose prints for your quilt, and to go entirely scrappy if that's your preference. To make a scrap quilt, use the value and warmth (or coolness) of an illustrated fabric as a guide, and then find scraps within those ranges.
If you are a new quilter, read Color Value Simplified and Color Wheel Basics before you select fabrics.
The quilt is small, but patches aren't so little that you'll have problems with them, so don't panic if you have only worked with large blocks.
Yardages, moving from back to front in the illustration:
Deep Golden Orange: 1/2 yard
Deepest Red: 1/2 yard
Lightish Green: 1/2 yard
Golden Yellow: 5/8 yard
Black: 3/4 yard
Medium Green: 3/8 yard
Backing: 1 yard
Binding: 135 running inches of doublefold binding Yardages are generous.
Mystery Quilt FAQ
When will you update the instructions?I'll add most of the instructions on New Year's Day, 2009, beginning at about 8 a.m. eastern time.
Will I be able to finish the quilt in one day?
That's the idea -- and the early cutting instructions will get you off to a good start.
