Guild Mystery Quilt

I'm a sucker for a mystery. This goes for mystery quilts and mystery knit-alongs. I'll join them and sometimes finish them. Okay, I mostly finish them. Some just take longer than others.

The Baltimore Modern Quilt Guild hosted a mystery quilt this year. It took several months to get all the clues as clues were distributed at the monthly meeting. This is a painfully slow pace for me as I generally participate in mysteries that are released weekly. These are my fabrics. I'm getting lazy and have been buying a single piece of fabric even when scrappy would work just fine. It doesn't mean there isn't scrappy in my future. Only that I didn't go that way with this one.

The pattern had some pre-cutting to do which I liked. Since the project took months to get all the clues, I added this project to my current leader and ender bin until the clue was done. If you don't know what a Leader and Ender is, please check out Bonnie Hunter's excellent post about the hows and whys of this technique. It can save thread and time.

I won't go into each of the clues (or the name), as this was a mystery. If you have a group that would like to try a mystery, I can recommend the directions as well written (pattern information at the bottom of the post). The pattern had several potential finishing layouts and I played with my blocks until I found one I liked.

I could have added more blocks to increase the size. Instead, I added a 1.5" border in the green.

Followed by a 3.5" border in the orange.

I made the binding with the blue and a couple strips of the orange. Since backing fabric is one thing I rarely have on-hand, finishing this one will have to wait until I get to the fabric shop to buy some backing.

Pattern information: Pattern designed by Debbie Caffrey. You can find several mystery quilts on her webpage Debbie's Creative Moments, Inc. The site also includes several free patterns and mysteries if you would like to try one of her patterns for yourself.

I'm not giving the name of the pattern to maintain the mystery. I recommend you try at least one mystery quilt in your quilting life. It is a great way to learn new techniques and tools. A way to stretch your quilting muscles and make something new. You might surprise yourself.