Need A Little Mystery In Your Life?

Are you ready for some winter fun?  How about a winter sewing project that will keep you guessing?

I know that you have plenty of fabric. I hear that from customers all the time. "I probably have as much fabric as you do" or "I can't buy another piece of fabric until I use some of it up". Well here is your chance.

I have designed a project we are calling WINTER MYSTERY. It measures 63" by 72" when finished, without borders. That makes it a comfy sized throw or twin comorter. You can feel free to add borders later if you would like a larger size.

This project is designed to help you use up your scraps! Before cutting, sort your fabrics into color groups. Arrange at least 6 different groups, think of them as red, yellow, green, blue, purple and brown. Your groups may actually be pink, teal, gold, green, blue and taupe (you get the idea). You may have as many different groups as you like as long as it is more than six. You may divide one or two colors into light, medium and darks. For example, if you choose to work with all blues and greens, you can separated into light blue, medium blue, dark blue, etc.

If you have an exceptionally large stash, you might want to use all of your fabrics from a certain "style" or category, like 30's Reproductions or Civil War prints. I've decided to use my Kaffe style prints. I might need to wear my sun glasses for this one!

• Select scraps that are large enough to cut a 2 1/2 by 4 1/2 inch rectangle and 2 1/2 inch square from the same piece of fabric.

• You may have several rectangle/square sets cut from the same fabric.

• If you prefer that all of your sets are different you will need 224 different fabrics.

• Set smaller scraps aside to cut the 448 smaller squares. (these can be 1 1/2 inch strips that are sub-cut later)

• You will also need an accent color that is NOT one of your color groups. Black, white or cream is an easy choice for this fabric. BUT if you prefer to use a color, like red, eliminate the red scraps from your color groups.

This Mystery is broken down into 4 parts. The plan is to upload one clue each Friday in February. That gives you the entire month of January to get your fabrics together and get everything cut out so that you are ready to sew starting February 1.

Here is the materials list and cutting instructions to get you started:


MATERIALS

2 yards accent fabric for blocks and binding. I'm using school bus yellow!

1 1/3 yards for blocks only

Assorted scraps, lots of them!

4 yard backing

twin batting, unless you are planning borders.



CUTTING INSTRUCTIONS

From the sashing fabric cut:

5 strips 5 1/2 inches by the width of the fabric

Cross cut these strips into 112 rectangles measuring 1 1/2 by 5 1/2 inches

5 strips 3 1/2 inches by the width of the fabric

Cross cut these strips into 112 rectangles measuring 1 1/2 by 3 1/2 inches

9 strips 2 1/2 by the width of the fabric

Cross cut these strips into 224 rectangles measuring 1 1/2 by 2 1/2 inches

2 strips 1 1/2 inches by the width of the fabric

*Cross cut these strips into 56 squares measuring 1 1/2 inches

From an assortment of scraps cut:

224 sets of 1 rectangle measuring 2 1/2 inches by 4 1/2 inches

AND

1 square measuring 2 1/2 inches from the same fabric

448* assorted squares measuring 1 1/2 inches


That's all you need, just those 1400 pieces!

.........Take a rest, we will cut the binding when we are finished
* If you prefer, cut 1 1/2 inch strips for these pieces. We will sew them together and then cross cut them into squares. The scrappy pieces can be any length - we will make it work!