2014 Mystery

To download a printable version click HERE.

The clues will be posted the first Thursday of the month, every month, beginning in October 2013. The last clue will be given in May and the final reveal will be in June 2014.
Below you will find the fabric requirements for the quilt top, border fabric is not included as you will want to choose that after the top is complete.

Yardage:                              Throw size                          Queen size

Background                        2 ½ yds                                 4 ½ yds
Focus fabric                        ¾ yd                                       1 ½  yds
Accent fabric                      ¾ yd                                       1 ½ yds


Step One

Step 1 Make 48 four patches from 2” squares or strips. Use two squares of background fabric and two squares of accent fabric for each block. These blocks will measure 3 ½” when you have them assembled.  If you are making the larger size quilt, you will need to make 100 of the 4 patch units.

Cutting: if you are using fat quarters or yardage, you will need 6 strips of background and 6 strips of accent cut at 2” x 18.5” (or 48 2” squares of each fabric)

Sewing: Sew one background and one accent strip together lengthwise, press to the darker fabric, and subcut into 2” units. Flip and sew these units into four patches.

Queen Size: to make 100 four patches you will need at least 12 strips of each, follow the same cutting and sewing instructions.

 Step 2 Make 48 triangle shaped units. These units will be in the shape of a large triangle when you are finished.

Cutting: cut 12- 4.5” squares from the background fabric, then cut them in half on the diagonal from corner to corner. Without moving them, cut them again on the opposite diagonal. This will give you 48 identical triangles (4 from each square.) Repeat with main fabric. You will have another set of 48 triangles.

 Sewing: we will be sewing the background triangles to the main fabric triangles. Be sure to keep the background fabric on the left, and the main fabric on the right. If you swap the fabric (left/right) that is fine as long as they are all the same. Sew them together in pairs along a short side. Place the main fabric right sides together on top of the background fabric and sew along a short side of the triangle. When the unit is open, it will look like a mountain with a vertical seam down the middle. If yours are the shape of a square, they are incorrect.

Queen Size: to make 100 triangle shaped units, cut 25 squares of each and follow the piecing instructions.

These units will be trimmed and added to future units in another step.

 

Step 3

I hope you will be relieved rather than disappointed that this month's step is super quick and easy. With the holidays rapidly approaching, I thought it might be better to make this month's clue the easiest of them all.



Cut 12 squares 3 1/2 " or if you are doing the larger size, cut 25 squares from the focus fabric.

Please note: This is the largest piece in the quilt, and it will be important for you to choose a fabric (or fabrics) that you really like. It's an opportunity to go with a larger scale print, or an interesting conversational print, plaid, or fussy cut design. I chose a medium scale brown. I also chose to use one fabric even though I have gone scrappy up to this point. You might want to do that at well. My focus fabrics so far, have all been yellows, and I decided that this one will stand out. Please know that this quilt will look awesome if you use the same focus fabric as you did in the other steps, but it will also be fun if you change it up a bit. A different look, but not better or worse. Does that make sense?

So have fun cutting, and get all caught up if you need to, because next month the real work begins! To see the other steps, just click on the tab at the top.

Step 4:

Make 20 nine patch blocks (Make 36 for the larger size quilt)

Cutting- cut 2" strips or squares from the accent fabric and the background fabrics. You will need a total of 200" in length (or 100 2" squares) of the accent fabric and 160" in length (or 80 2" squares) of the background fabric . The number of strips you need to cut will depend on how long your pieces are. I used 18" strips and I cut 12 strips of accent fabric and 10 strips of background, with some leftovers.

Sewing- sew the strips together in sets of accent/background/accent and half as many in background/accent/background.

Once these strip sets are sewn, cut them into 2" segments.

Sew them together into nine patches making sure the accent fabric is in the center and corners and the background fabric is in the middle of each side.

These blocks should be 5" at this point.

Step 5

 If you are using one fabric for your background you will simply cut rectangles from your background fabric. This will be the last time we use this fabric. You will cut 5" x 9 1/2" rectangles. For the smaller size quilt you will need 31, and if you are making the larger version you will need 60.

If you are using scrappy fabrics for your background you have a little bit more work to do, but it's not hard! You will be making strip units that will measure 5" x 9 1/2" when you are done. For the smaller size quilt you will need 31 units, and if you are making the larger version you will need 60 units. This is how you will cut and assemble each unit:

Cut 2" x 9 1/2" strips from your background fabrics. (93 for the small quilt, 180 for the large)

Sew these strips together lengthwise in sets of 3 to make your units.

This completes all the steps needed using your background fabrics! We're are getting very close to assembly! Now get busy, so you are ready for the next step!

Step 6

This step uses the units from step 2. We will take those units and sew them to focus fabric half square triangles to make 3 1/2 " squares. If you are making the small quilt you will need a total of 48 squares when you are done, for the larger quilt you will need 100.



I used 3 1/2" strips and cut my half square triangles from them using my tri-recs ruler that I have used in previous steps. Or, you could cut 4 1/4" squares and slice them in half diagonally.

Place the unit from step 2 right sides together with the half square triangle and sew a quarter inch seam along the long side of the triangles as shown in the photo above. Press open with seams toward the triangle that was just added. Trim the square to 3 1/2" if needed. The units from step 2 should need to be trimmed as they were a bit oversize to accommodate for variations in piecing and pressing techniques. As long as your finished block is 3 1/2" square, you are fine.

Step 7

This step will require the units made in step 1, step 3 and step 6.
We will be sewing the blocks together on this step.
Each block will require four step 1 (four patches), one step 3 ( 3 1/2" square piece of fabric) and four step 6 (units made of two focus and one background fabrics)

Lay out the four patches in the corners making sure the accent fabric is in the outer most corner.
Lay out the fabric square in the center.
Lay out the step 6 units on the sides of the center piece.

If you are using all one fabric for your focus fabric your block will look like a star. If you are using scrappy or a contrasting fabric in the center, your block may look more like a flower. It is important that your four patches be turned exactly as shown in the photo. It will be important in the next step.

Smaller quilt: make 12 blocks
Larger quilt: make 25 blocks

I know this sounds like a lot of work, but really you are just sewing nine patches!
Enjoy every stitch!

Mystery Quilt Reveal!!!

TA DA!!! The mystery quilt is a mystery no more! I am pretty sure that most of you figured it out after making the blocks last month, but for those of you who are strict rule followers and waited, I hope you like it! Once the blocks are assembled it's just a matter of using the strip sets for sashing and the nine patches for cornerstones.

Now do you see why it was so important to have your four patches turned the right direction? If your four patches don't line up with your nine patches, your chains won't link properly.

I do hope that you enjoyed this little mystery of ours and are ready to get it all put together. Feel free to add borders if you like. I chose not to. I decided just to layer, baste, quilt and bind! So it is DONE!

If you missed any of the steps, or would like to make this quilt, the pattern is found at the top of the blog by clicking on the word Mystery Quilt. This free pattern will be available for a limited time, so be sure to get started soon!

And look how nice it looks hanging on my back fence? This photo was taken at midday but is dark because a huge storm is brewing. I had to get the photo quick before the bad weather arrives.

If you are making this quilt, or have finished it, please send me a photo! I can't wait to see how they turn out! Email me at butterflythreadsquilting@gmail.com and I will post your photos (unless you ask me not to) and we can see how much variety one pattern can offer.

Thanks again for playing along, I hope you had as much fun as I did!

Enjoy every stitch!

Diane