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So opened my big mouth at Guild last week and asked if anyone had done a Mystery Quilt..the majority said NO...shocking I know.. We need to turn out more quilts for donation and they need some inspiration so that brings me to the best experts I know that give great advice with hands on experience.

I would like to introduce them to the fun of Mystery Quilts while expanding their skills but pretty basic at first.

Have you done a Mystery you found pretty easy online or in a magazine that is still available so I can get it and share it. I will contact the originator of the Mystery for permission to share with my small guild.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: TcMay,

Sue and I made a Billie Lauder mystery quilt for our other sister, It was fun and easy. I believe that her books are still out there somewhere. we saw her at the Chicago quilt show several years ago. Good Luck. Pat

Patty...do you remember the name of the Mystery? Thank you for your input....

Give me a little while and I'll look for the book or ask Sister Sue if she has it. Pat
That wasn't hard to find. I can't believe I found it so quickly.
It is called Mystery Quilts A Quilt Detective's Handbook 2nd Edition by Billie Lauder published by easymade
They have a phone # and an Email:admin@easymade.com or www.easymade.com

This message has been edited. Last edited by: patty j,

My guild did one of Billie Lauder's mystery quilts at a retreat a few years ago. We spent all of one day and 2 or 3 hours the next day, most people go it done. Here's a pic of one of them. And here's the link to the online directions. http://anotherpat.com/qt/03LauderMystery.pdf The only tricky part was getting all the HSTs in the border turned the right way. One of the ladies got them turned wrong and got very upset with me when I told her the only way I knew to fix it was to rip it apart and start over. She was also the one who said her ruler didn't have 1/4" marked so she cut everything at the 1/2" mark! Very frustrating person to try to help.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: pvillelou,

Thank you Patty sounds good.

Pville...thank you too... that is nice....I have 2 ladies like that in Guild...they get everybody upset.

I looked at my books and found Mystery Quilts by Rita Fishel by the American Quilter's Society. The one Patty J and I did was called Legend of the Spinning Top. My sister uses it every day. Hope this helps. Sue

Quilt Patterns from Seattle will have a new baby quilt mystery starting on the 27th and her site has several posted there. No pictures, of course.

http://carterquilter.wordpress .com/

pvillelou: That is a nice quilt, and it was a mystery?

This message has been edited. Last edited by: paus4quilts,

try this site: http://merrymayhem.com/more-mystery-quilts.html

here's another: http://www.debbiescreativemome...m/free-patterns.html

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pvillelou: That is a nice quilt, and it was a mystery?

Yes, check the link to see how she divided up the piecing into clues.

Judy Hopkins did so many mystery quilts and made them available for guilds to use. She has since passed away and some are still available at http://www.marshamccloskey.com/mysquilsin.html These are free and do not need a written statement to use. Recently I did Golden Oldie with a group that meets at our church. Every one of them was different, based on fabric choices, but all were so pretty. Worth a look.

Thank you, pvillelou. That has some interesting components in it when they are put together. It's a rather large project, isn't it?

When you do a mystery quilt at a retreat, do you hand out the fabric and cutting instructions in advance? Then everyone just sews it together at the retreat?

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When you do a mystery quilt at a retreat, do you hand out the fabric and cutting instructions in advance? Then everyone just sews it together at the retreat?

Yes, that's pretty much the way we did that. Our group always takes a shopping trip in December so I gave them the fabric requirements before then. I handed out cutting directions in January and our retreat was in February. Sewing directions were given one clue at a time. Everyone had another project to work on so they would have something to do if they got a step done before others. It was a lot of fun to see the members laying out the parts trying to guess how they would get assembled.

Thank you to everyone for your Mystery info I sincerely appreciate it.....

I don't need this until August as it turns out but am trying to get a handle on it now...because my work schedule April thru November is super heavy..

Ill try to keep popping this up for awhile in case you run across another Mystery I can look into.
I did know about Cindy's and am going to do that one on the 27th myself.

pville thanks for sharing how you handed out your Clues...that helps too.

If you google mystery quilt directions, I think you will gets lots of results.

Thank you, pvillelou. With all the HSTs and 4 patches, I'll just bet it was fun watching everyone trying to figure the quilt out.

I drew it up and reduced the size by half. It would make a great WH for you know what Day. lollll If only, I was brave enough.

I've done a lot of Googling but not finding as much as I thought. I had found a few. I was hoping to hear from folks who have done mysteries and "liked" the mystery...I remember some I did not like at all..Seems to me there should be one or two coming up for Superball Sunday...

If my memory serves me, let's go back a couple of years to the first year of the COF retreats. Either Evelyn or Elaine2 made up a mystery project for us on the board so we wouldn't feel left out.

I recall it made a very nice wall hanging when completed. The biggest surprise of the evening/weekend was Dyed Grey's completed quilt. She did not complete it the way the directions said. I guess she was inspired by her aliens and moved a few units around, coming up with a different WH. lolllll It was great!!!!

Perhaps someone has those directions hanging around somewhere? I had them but, alas, they went away with my old computer.

It was a good one and many of the ladies did it.

Too funny, Paus, that you remember my "design opportunity" from that mystery!! I loved that quilt and wish I still had it (I donated it). That mystery was so much fun! Can't remember who hosted it -- Kentucky Sunshine, maybe? Dunno.

Wish I had the directions too .... the old 'puter met a virus and eloped in the dead of night. Shucks, I don't even have a picture 'cause the site where I stored everything (webshots) is gone too. Bummer.

Cheers!

Dyed Grey, so good to see you, I hardly see you online these days, it must be the time zone difference, hope you are well...I don't remember this mystery, but it sounds like FUN it may have been before my time, I joined in 2008

quote:

Originally posted by paus4quilts:
..... Either Evelyn or Elaine2 made up a mystery project for us on the board so we wouldn't feel left out.

Sorry wasn't me. I've done several mystery quilts, some liked, others not. They were all twin-sized or larger - which is probably larger then you want to do.

sounds like a fun project.

I don't have any free Mystery's - they all are 'for sale only' after an initial time. But check out http://www.planetpatchwork.com/ or http://www.merrymayhem.com/mystery-quilts.html they have one day mysteries a few times a year and some longer ones to.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Elainetoo,

In 2007 Daisy the Chocolate Mouse hosted a mystery quilt for us stay at homers during the COF retreat that year. The pattern was an online one. I don't remember where.

Editing to add a picture of the design used. I don't remember what the designer named it. In my photos I called it "Catsaway" - I think that was Karen's name for the project.

I eventually added borders of more of the crazy cats fabric to make a larger quilt for our local Q4K.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Bozie,

Daisy the chocolate mouse rang a bell...I think this was the one. Don't remember where the pattern came from.

Bozie -- that's it!!! And yep, DtCM hosted it. Thanks so much for the pic of yours 'cause now we can figure out the pattern! With all the quilts you've done over the years, I'm floored that you knew exactly which mystery Paus was talking about, lol!!

Quiltcat, I rememeber that one too -- it was the 2nd mystery DtCM gave us!!

Planet Patchwork used to have great mysteries (and a few duds, lol!) but it's been way too long since I've had time to check out fun sites for mysteries. You've got a few months to investigate, May, and I'm sure your 'big mouth' will be appreciated once you find a fun project for your guild.

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With all the quilts you've done over the years, I'm floored that you knew exactly which mystery Paus was talking about, lol!!

It was easy. It's the only mystery I've ever done.

Just did a little searching and think I've found the pattern - it's still available.

There are some pictures of finished quilts here.

The instructions start here.

Ohhhh, Bozie, Thank you!!!!! Yeppers, that was it.

Doing the mystery was fun but it became funnier when Dyed Grey came up with a very different ending. Many kudos for her inventiveness and still a very fun project.

Hi, DG. Miss you. How are the aliens treating you these days? hugs

You guys are terrific ...even brought Dyed Gray back for a visit....
Hey Dyed G.. how are those kids doing,are you on your third wind yet? Are they still with you?

Wow!!! 2007...I remember this Mystery...now anyway...Martha thanks a bunch for the Link..
Quiltcat I like it a lot. Daisy the Choc. Mouse are you out there????? have directions??? a Link???

May, there are links to both pictures of finished quilts and to the instructions in my 11:42 post.

Oops...I missed one of the Links in your above post Martha...thanks...

Saw your new title, TcMay. lolllll

Okay, enough of this. I have lost two posts because I had to resize my pics, twice. This was my first mystery quilt. I had so much fun. So glad I did it. I was a relative newbie to this forum at the time. I used this quilt top to take to a local lqs class to learn how to quilt, add backing and add the turquoise binding. I just need to finish the binding and my "The Mice Will Play" quilt. I highly recommend Planet Patchwork's 2007 Mystery Quilt. I would imagine diehard quilters will have theirs done in a day.

Have fun.

Susan

I think you can see the simple quilting I did.

Up close. If I had used an additional very bright yellow print, too; more than likely I would have titled it, "Yellow Submarine".....lol...

Thanks for jogging my memory. I so want to finish the binding.

TX Wildflower...that is super I like that...do finish it...I did Planet Patchworks newest Mystery and liked a lot tooo. I'll try to get the 2007 one from them

TcMay, stumbled on this little trove of treasures. Mystery quilts for Quilts of Valor.

http://www.persimmonquilts.com/QOVMysteryHomePg.html

WOW thanks a bunch,that is a trove...we actually talked about making quilts for this cause....that is wonderful...bummer a lot of the older pictures were stored @ Webshots and now are gone...

I recall seeing that Webshots was closing shop but didn't they go to another site? And I don't know if it's the same thing but over on Smile, last night, I stumbled on something called Webshots. Could it be the same thing?