Midnight Mystery Quilt Revealed!

I am very happy to at last be able to show you the Mystery Quilt for the retreat in Panama City! These blocks are from a very scrappy version I did right out of my scrap basket. OK, except for the background.

This is how the blocks look set side by side:

Blocks with squares in each corner have some interesting design options

When you make a scrap quilt, it's nice to have one element provide some unity.
I used all the same fabric for the center squares. The others squares that form a cross around the center are all dark green, but I used three different fabrics (all from the scrap basket, remember!)
With the blocks set together, I knew the corner squares would form a 4-patch, so I used different values of teal. The fabrics are the same in opposite diagonal corners.

Here's how the blocks look set up with a sashing:

By using a cornerstone, and matching the sashing to the background, you can create a floating 9-patch! It's like getting two blocks for one!
Now this whole thing was planned for using 2.5" strips, but I think it would look even better with a narrower sashing strip and smaller cornerstone. You'd still have that 9-patch, but it would have large cornersand a small center.

I want to finish this up at least to a top, so I decided to stick with the fabric already cut. I needed more of the background.
Of course, I had yards & yards of it...so where did it go???
I could not find it anywhere! And having cut from it recently, it could not have gotten completely lost.
About the time I was making Plan B, and feeling both disappointed & confused, I found the fabric!

For once I had attempted to use up all of a fabric, and I had sewn the rest to make up the backing for a quilt I have yet to baste!
Eureka!
And yes...I did rip up that back (it wasn't such a good choice anyway) to get the few strips I need to complete the Mystery Blocks top. That is, if I would get off the computer and go do the sewing! It will make a nice comparison picture between blocks stuck on a design wall and the same blocks sewn together.

I do want to thank all the brave quilters at the retreat for participating in the Mystery. They boldly sewed where no group had sewn before! They even did the dreaded partial seam construction I sneaked in, and handled it like champs. (It's not hard, it just sounds like something nobody wants to do!).
Their machines were set up in the three different-but-connecting classrooms, so I really got a workout that night.

I wrote the "clues" for making one block, as it was an evening event and some people do like to go to bed! Not to mention they were not totally invested into a quilt that they wished was made with different colors or fabric placement. But the blocks were beautiful, and many people were excited about continuing to make a top, because, of course, I had also provided the cutting instructions to make a 12 block quilt!

And I did say I'd show you the other quilt I made using these blocks in a very different way, but I'm finishing the binding made with the wild pink/ green/black striped fabric. It should be done soon, and then you will see "Roxanne's Honeymoon".