Mystery Quilt I

"Survivor - Rectangle Island"

Step 6 - Path B

OK, you've opted for Path B... the tough one. Only not really. Here's what you do...

 

 

 

 

Cut 40 squares of background 4 1/2"

 

From your pattern fabric, cut 2" strips and from those cut 80 pieces 4 1/2" long and 80 pieces 7 1/2" long...

Wait a minute... this is beginning to sound familiar...

 

Bet you already guessed... Sew a 4 1/2" piece to each side of each background block

 

The sew a 7 1/2" strip to each of the other sides... Like I said, it should feel familiar.

 

 

You should now have a full complement (72 to 80) of blocks, half made as color centers with background sashing and half made with background centers and color sashing. You're ready to do the initial laying out of your quilt...

 

 

Here you see the basic layout of the quilt... alternating the two types of blocks in a simple checkerboard pattern.

Study the layout... look for spots where specific colors may have congregated too close together. Swap with other blocks until you are satisfied with the color balance, or at least that it looks prettt even.

 

 

 

Here you can see something I tried, but decided I didn't care for. When I did my initial layout I thought I'd try to put some "movement" into the quilt by putting one row of color sashing in with the long sashes vertical and the next row with the long sashes horizontal. You can see this here. However, when I stood back and looked at it I wondered what a more regular arrangement would look like, so I tried it with all the long color sashes going horizontal.

 

 

Here's the layout with all of the long color sashes horizontal. I'm not sure it shows in this picture, but in life if seems to me to be more attractive than the other arrangement.

 

 

 

Here is a closer shot of the pattern.

 

 

Once your are satisfied with your layout, start at the upper left corner and pick up the first block in that row. Turn it upside down. Take the second block and turn it upside down on top of the first block... the the third block, etc. until you have all 8 blocks of that row in a stack. Now pin or clip them together with a piece of paper on top that says, "Row 1". Do the same with the remaining rows.

At this point you are ready to for the clue to Clue to Step 8... where you will rejoin the group that opted for Path A. They will have completed Step 6A, their cutting and sewing of the alternate for the blocks you just cut and sewed. This is a bit confusing, but because of the way Step 6 split up into two options, there is no Step 7. Step 6B would have been Step 7, but renaming the file would have meant having to re-enter the pictures and I didn't feel like it. So there! Again, there is no Step 7. Both the 6A people and the 6B people will meet up again at Step 8.

ET, give them the clue to Step 8...

Captain Dick

Clue to Step 8

No Step 7! Go straight to Step 8! 6A... 6B! Me head hurts! You can be more complicated tryin' ta keep things simple than anybody I ever met!

Here's the blasted clue...

 

Every map needs a legend. Ya can't find a thing without one!

 

ET