Mystery Quilt Archives

Do you enjoy making mystery quilts?

Personally, I love every part of them, except one thing… the fabric choices.

When we don’t know what the final quilt will look like, it’s easy to feel completely overwhelmed with what fabrics to use.

One of my solutions to this dilemma is to draw on color ideas from photos I have taken.

In a project from many years ago, I remembered the brightly colored houses we had seen on a Bahama trip…

The photos easily translated into these fun fabrics….

I chose a background based on the deep blue seas….

…ending up with a Kaffe background and 3 sets of 3 colors……

I adored the finished quilt…..

….and especially enjoyed presenting it to a young friend in China who was expecting her first child….

So, the next time you are having trouble picking out fabrics and colors for a quilt, turn to your favorite photos for inspiration!

….

………………………………………………………………………………………………………

On Tuesdays, I provide a tip, technique, or product review. Please subscribe to the blog to ensure that you don’t miss ANY of them!!

Over the last few weeks, I have been talking about challenges and mystery quilts and now I am up to my very first Mystery quilt!! As a matter of fact, back in 1993, I had never even HEARD of a mystery quilt!!

This was the brainchild of guild member Shirley and she proposed that we have small bees with just a few people in them and that we would do a step in the mystery each month. The idea was that we would work together and help each other as we went.

I remember this amazing group!! We started out with just four members…..Judy, Jessica, Estelle, and myself. Judy and I are still great friends and, although I don’t see Jessica much, I hear from her often on Facebook.

SO….the first benefit of this Mystery quilt was the chance to meet new friends!!

As the mystery continued, we found that we were making stars….

…and the quilt quickly grew!!

This was the final product and I REALLY wish that I had a better photo of it!!…..

This quilt became the FAVORITE quilt for our family. When someone was sick, this was the quilt that picked to comfort them. It was thrown-up on, cereal was dumped on it, it was used as a pallet, and most importantly, it kept my family warm!!!

However, back in 1993, I didn’t have the money to buy quilt-quality fabrics so it was made from everything that I had lying around, and the result was this…..