Finally something quilty to post

Last fall I participated in my first ever "mystery quilt". A mystery quilt is where you don't know what the finished quilt is going to look like and you get segments of directions and as you complete them, then you get the next set. My first one was done in about 6 hours from an online forum hosted by Planet Patchwork Merry Mayhem One-Day Mystery Quilt, November 27, 2005.

Although the experience was fun, I was not happy with the final quilt that I made. It is so ugly! Who knows if it will ever be quilted? Thankfully, I used stash that I inherited from my mom so no money was wasted...and I do really like the navy fabric and the gold and just laying them out they looked great together but the top had too much of the cream and I if I had seen a photo of the quilt before hand, I would not have chosen these fabrics for this pattern. That's the risk you take with mysteries. For me I rather see it first.

Opposites Attract was my first, last and only mystery quilt to do from www.planetpatchwork.com However, there is a yahoo group I joined that does mystery quilts and they are great!!! The group is called "A Pocket Full of Mysteries". Dorothy Young is an experienced Mystery Quilt designer. She uses this forum to host Mystery Quilts several times each year. Her directions are FANTASTIC! She even gives you specific tips for selecting your fabrics…. suggesting which to make your large scale or small scale prints and where to have your focus, light or dark. Before her weekend mystery begins members of the group can post photos of their fabric samples. Dorothy is very helpful for anyone wanting advice on their choices.

Because all of her mystery quilt weekends have fallen around the holidays - Christmas, New Year's, Labor Day - because of traveling, I have not had the pleasure of participating but if I ever do another Mystery - it will be one of Dorothy’s!! :c)

Lucky for me, Judy L's "an hour a day project" is sort of like a mystery quilt, only she shows the quilt from the get-go!!! :c) and that is perfect for me b/c I love to know the surprise ahead of time! I loved her first project!!! What a beautiful Churn Dash Quilt! I followed along each day reading - (not sewing) and loved clicking on everyone else's blogs to see their progress too. I saved the pattern information and want to make it one day.

So when she mentioned she would host another "an hour a day project" and then showed a pic of Leaf Season I started pulling autumn colors form my stash so that this time around - I can play along too!!! Yeah! I am no longer gonna be a wannabe, I am going to do it too!

Saturday I drove to Hancock’s in Pt. Arthur to look for fabric to use for the background and sashings since I don't have very many large pieces of yardage in my stash. After a good while of searching, I found the perfect background. Surprisingly I had walked past it at least a dozen times before giving it a consideration. Hummm I thought.. not really my style but... what if...? and immediately upon unfolding about a yard to drape over the other bolts of the leaf colors - I knew it was the perfect BKGD to use! :c) I also bought some brown fabric to use like in Judy's and both of these fabrics were 30% off = BONUS!! I love it when that happens b/c usually I am not looking at price just the fabric and after you fall in love with it price doesn't seem to matter anymore.

Here is a photo of the background with a few of my autumn leaf selections.

On my way up to the checkout from the cutting table I noticed all of their fall fabrics were 40% off.... I hope they are still on sale when it comes time for a backing fabric as I saw 1 or 2 good choices. If not, I am sure I can find a coupon on line to use when the time comes. ;c)