CFQG Mystery Quilt Revealed!

I just got home yesterday evening from teaching a Personalized Mystery Quilt class for the Central Florida Quilters Guild in Orlando.
The theme was friendship, so I designed a quilt called "We're All In This Together". It used the traditional Bright Hopes block. Each person had a square of fabric to represent herself, and four other fabrics. The squares were exchanged, then everyone made her quilt using her own fabric, so it would be the colors she liked.

Pink & green...a classic combo! This quilter was trying it for the first time.

Mystery Quilts are rather tricky, as each clue is a separate step of construction and you don't know where you are going with the colors.
There are a lot of papers to keep together, so I always have something for the students to help stay in order. It's different each time, because I go to the Friendly Dollar Store (that really is its name!) and buy something. This was a real find:

The sides of these little items are shiny metallic squares! So tacky & fun!

They are folding stands with a little bag. I am sure you could buy these for many more dollars as something to use for sewing scraps.

To the right you can see the little trays I use to hold the clues...another Friendly Dollar Store find! In the middle of the clues is the crucial element of the class...a bowl of small chocolate bars and peppermints, waiting like a little reward each time you have completed one clue and come up to get the next!

CFQG has a number of Featherweight AND batik lovers

When it comes to a Mystery Quilt, fabric selection can be difficult. There's just no way to tell ahead of time how each color may be used, and the supply list needs to be as simple as possible.
My advice is to go with holiday colors, or maybe the colors of a favorite sport team...at least that way you can be sure there will be some use for the quilt!
Batiks are another good choice. They just always seem to look good together.

Jinny Beyer border stripes are never quite out of fashion!

The block was simple, so the really good part of the class was learning about setting a quilt on point or straight, and how this pattern can be used in differnt ways. The stripes in my sample (above) give it a definite woven effect.

All this came right out of my scrap basket...
...and the BGPC gave me the center squares

My other sample is done in a charm style...each fabric used only once.
If it looks familiar, that's because you've seen it before in my Scrap Basket lecture! Ha, ha...it was hiding in plain sight in public and on this blog! I am going to finish it up with a wild flowered border and give it to my friend, A. Coffee Queen, for allowing me & Cherry Cherry to stay at her house.

C.C. came along with me as a mini-vacation and to help with selling patterns.

What a nice suprise to find this wicker furniture to set up a display!

I recently published Summer Garden, including a sheet of instructions on doing trapunto by machine. You've seen the quilt in progress, and I'll show you the finshing touches in a post soon.

Speaking of soon-to-come posts, I am quickly arriving at two blogging milestones: the first anniversary of Patchwork Pie and the 100th post!
Some bloggers have a drawing or contest to celebrate. I'd like to do that, too. I know you are out there reading my ramblings, but aside from the Mysterious Ms. E and CC herself, there are not too many commenters.
So here's the deal...leave a comment on any post starting tonight (Oct. 5, 2008) through Oct. 31st. I will award a small wall hanging (yes, one that is already finished!) by drawing from the names of those who have commented.
Check in tomorrow for a picture, so you'll know I really do have something finished!