Mystery Quilt 2014-15

Mystery Quilt Project - 2014-15

 

The finished quilt will be approximately 78 ½ x 78 ½. For those who choose to participate, you will receive a new step to follow each month. The goal is to have all blocks completed for the June Guild meeting

The Reveal:

 

September

Background Fabric:

You will need approximately 4 ½ yards in total. For example, you might choose white, black, cream, grey or whatever you consider to be a good background for scraps to play off of. It does not need to be 4 ½ yards of the same fabric but it should probably read as solid from a distance so it gives the eye somewhere to rest from the rest of the scrappiness.

 

Assorted medium to dark scraps (scraps that will be visible against whatever background fabric you choose) There is no total yardage but please see the cutting directions below

 Cutting Instruction

1.      From assorted medium to dark scraps:

·         360 @ 2-1/2 “ squares

·           32 @ 5-1/4” squares

·           64 @ 4-7/8” squares

·           56 @ 2-7/8” squares

2.      From your background fabric

·         64 @ 2-1/2 x 12-1/2” strips. Cut these strips first and use the remainder of the strips to cut 2-1/2” squares below.

·         256 @ 2 –1/2 “ squares

·         32 @ 5-1/4”squares

Step One

1. Sew 25 (twenty-five) four patches with all four different squares of scraps (from the 21/2" squares). Use your assorted medium to dark scraps here and don't have two of the same fabric in one four-patch unit.

2. Still using your 21/2" squares, sew 112 (count 'em: one hundred and twelve) four patches with two opposing corner squares being your background fabric. In other words, background in upper left and lower right, for example, and the upper right/lower left would be two different medium/dark scrap fabrics. (Note:  the photo may distort a bit depending on how you are viewing the blog.

 

STEP 2

1. Take your 5 1/4" squares, and cut them on BOTH diagonals (in an X from corner to corner). You’ll consequently have four triangles from each of the 5 1/4" squares.

 

 

 

2.   Using the triangles you've just cut in the step above, sew 128 triangle patches using one background fabric and one scrap fabric.

 

 

Be sure you lay the background fabric triangle on top of the scrap fabric triangle (right sides facing), and place the 90-degree angle corner under your sewing machine needle to sew the 1/4" seam. This will ensure you're sewing the correct sides together.

 

3. Next, take your 2 7/8" squares and cut on ONE diagonal.

 

 

 

4.    Select eight of the smaller triangles, being sure they're all different fabrics, and set them aside.  They'll be used in the future, but not in this step.

 

5.    Using the pieces you cut in step #3 above, as well as some of your 2 1/2" scrap squares, you'll now sew 12 units together that use three different scrap fabrics for each piece. (Sew one triangle each to two sides of the 2 1/2" square.) Also, don't use the same fabrics in the same corners for multiple units as you'll be sewing some of these units together in the future. In other words, keep these 12 units as scrappy as possible. (For this picture, Charlotte didn't have a sample of the unit with her so she took a 4-patch someone had brought for another purpose and folded it in half. But your units should basically have this scrappy feel to them.)
 

6. Next sew 32 units that use two different scrap fabrics in the opposite corners, with a 2 1/2 " square of background fabric in the centre. Trim all your dog ears. Do whatever you want with those. (Crazy people keep them and use them for something else! The blogger says hers will hit the trash can)

Note: You will have extra small triangles left over. Just set them aside: They will get used in the future (not in this step)

 

 

Step 3

1. Remember those 63 4 7/8" squares you cut way back when? Cut each of them diagonally once to make 128 half square triangles.

 

2. Next, remember the 128 triangle patches you made in step 2? You will sew one of the half square triangles from 1 above to each of the 128 triangle patches from step 2 as show in the diagram below.

 

Press the seams towards the larger triangle (the single-fabric side.
Square up units to 4 1/2".

 

To put together the block you'll need:

·   All 25 all-scrappy four-patches (the ones with no background squares) from Step #1

·   100 of the four-patches with two background squares from Step #1 (set aside the rest for later)

·   100 of the units created in Step #3 (set aside the rest for later)

If you haven't already done so, and want to be as accurate in your sewing as possible, you may want to take the time here to square all the units up to 4 1/2" each.

For newer quitters: If some of your squares measure less than 4 1/2", Find the measurement of the smallest unit and square all units up to that measurement The enact measurement matters far less than the fact that all your units are the same measurement.

Next, lay the units out like I have here.

 

Keep track of what direction your units are in - you'll be happier with the result if you do.

Sew it all together and press it out, and you'll have something along the lines of this:

For newer quitters: Press all the seams in the top row in one direction, the second row in the opposite direction, and the third row in the same direction as row number one. That way you can "nest" seams when you’re putting the rows together and make those corners come together quite nicely! See Step #1 for my short tutorial on nesting seams if you're not familiar with the technique. You're doing it along the rows now, instead of for individual pieces. Same principles apply, however.

The block should be somewhere in the neighborhood of 12 1/2" square (unfinished), depending-as Kimberly Einmo puts it-on "your own personal quarter inch seam." As with the units, square them all up to the size of the smallest block.

Make 25 of these blocks. (This star goes by a few names, but “Party Hats” makes it the most fun to work on!)

If you decided to go with matching pairs on some of your triangles, you can use those pairs in such a way that the star points are highlighted in this block. I didn't do matching pairs so I can't adequately demonstrate that-sorry! In my block above, picture if the dark green point, the lighter blue with vines, the purple/blue butterfly print, and dark red with white swirly print were all from a single fabric..that should give you the picture.

 

New Instructions from February Begin Here

 

Step 4 Part 2: Triangle Units

 

You'll be making four smaller triangle units. For these units, you will need a total of:

·         4 of the "party hat" units from step 3

·         8 of the triangle units using background squares from step 2

·         8 small cut triangles leftover from making those triangle units-see the "Note" on step 2 (See? We told you they'd get used)

 

 

Lay the pieces out as shown at left and sew together.

Be sure you have all your background squares in the right place.

For newer quilters, if you're not clear how to assemble this piece:

1.     Sew the two triangle units on each side of the party hat unit first, lining up that straight edge at the bottom. After sewing, trim the dog-ears at the top of the seam. Press.

2.     Sew the two triangles forming the point together in the center. Press.

3.     Sew the unit formed by the two triangles to the other unit you just made. Trim dog-ears again. Press

When you're laying it onto the party hat right sides together, be sure to line up the seam between the two triangles to be directly on top of the poinl between the background and two scrappy pieces of the party hat unit.

...And you'll end up with something that looks quite a bit like this.

It's hard to know which direction to press seams since we're not sure how it's all going to come together. I pressed mine towards the triangles on the side for no good reason at all. They just seemed to want to fall in that direction, so I complied, despite the fact that meant I was pressing towards the white. That won't show up that much once it's quilted and even if il does, it'll get lost in the overall impact of the quilt design, you can always re-press it in another direction if that works better when you're assembling the blocks together later.

Next, you're going to be making 12 larger triangle units.

For these units, you'll need a total of:

·         12 of the triangle units with all scraps (no background) you made in step 2

·         24 of the triangle units that include background squares from step 2

·         24 "party hat" units from step 3 12 four-patches with background squares from step 1

Lay the pieces out as shown at left, and sew together.

As above, be sure your background squares are all in the correct place to be sure the secondary design will carry through. (Pay special attention to that four patch at the top!)

Again, for newer quilters, if you're not sure of the best way to sew this together—there's a couple of ways you could go about, see below:

1.   I broke it the unit into rows and sewed the 4-patch to the party hat at it's right:

2.     Then I sewed the triangle unit at the end on the other side of the party hat. Since you're lining it up so the right angle of the triangle meets the right angle of the party hat, you'll have a dog-ear at the bottom to trim. Press.

3.     I sewed the party hat in the second row to the triangle unit next to it. {Chain-piecing is the order of the day for me-so I actually did the pieces in the first row together immediately followed by the pieces in the second row.) Trim the dog ear and press.

• I pressed the seams in the first row in the opposite direction of the seams in the second row so they'd nest when I put them together.

4.   I then sewed the triangle at the bottom on the whole piece, trimmed up any remaining dog ears, and pressed. I don’t recall which direction I pressed that piece in-again, at this stage you don't really know how it's going to be put together so just press it the way it seems to want to go. You can change it later if necessary.

And you'll end up with something along these lines.