Baby Steps

The quilt of valor is layered and ready for machine quilting. I still intend to have the machine quilting finished by January 20, so I can sew the binding on as I watch the inauguration. I also want to have it finished before classes begin on January 21. I will be taking a computer graphics class and sculpture (a.k.a. design fundamentals 3D).

I also made progress on the mystery quilt. I went to the mystery class on Saturday and found out it's really called a mystery club. And as I suspected, all of the participants were nice with strong tendencies towards optimism.

We were given our first assignment and are expected to bring what we have finished to the next meeting (February 14, the second Saturday of the month). I figured I should pull everything together as soon as possible or I will be looking at the instructions on February 13 and scratching my head.


So I dug through my stash of fabrics for a "focus fabric," essentially the palette for the quilt. The focus fabric itself will only be the border. As I rummaged around I found a fabric that I swear I have never seen before in my life. It's an Alexander Henry from 2001 according to the selvedge. It seems that this is therefore an appropriately mysterious fabric for a mystery quilt.

For the lights in the quilts I went with sage green, and then decided to go split complementary and pull in the red orange and violet for the medium and medium dark. Not the usual color combination I realize, but I thought the colors in the quilt should tie to the most dominant colors in the border. I'm using a neutral for the medium light background.

The photo shows the completion of the first step: 18 sets of 4 patches. And by the way, I did recognize about 80 percent of the other fabrics I pulled into this project.

It's a Mystery to Me

Today I am going with a friend to a mystery quilt class. I admit I don't have the faintest clue why a person would want to make a mystery quilt. Making a quilt following construction instructions without knowing what design you are making? Isn't that like going to IKEA, but instead of going through the store picking an item you like, you head for the loading dock where a clerk hands you an unmarked box? Then you're supposed to take the box home and assemble the unit without knowing what piece of furniture it is. Do you assemble it step by step wondering whether it's a chest of drawers, a bookcase or a TV stand? Maybe some would think "Oh, I just love IKEA furniture and I can hardly wait to see what wonderful piece of furniture I'm making." Others like me might dwell on, "Oh, I hope it's not a table for changing diapers. Too bad IKEA doesn't make cat trees."

So that might be the answer...quilters go to a mystery class to meet happy optimistic people, because the grouches stay at home. And speaking of grouches. For my printmaking class, each student illustrated a scene from the story "The Three Bears." I didn't realize until today that I had chosen the most tragic scene in the story--the little bear realizing he had no porridge. Well, hopefully the class with happy optimistic quilters will cure my bad attitude.