Life is Not Predictable!

I think most of us today would agree that life is not pedictable at this very moment.  If you are staying home, like me, every day has its ups and downs.  I think I would seriously lose my mind if I did not have the internet as I am not a big TV addict (like my husband).  Plus if I didn't have any hobbies, my bordeom would be unbearable.

But thankfully, I have plenty to take my mind off the reality of the day.  Since every day is an adventure, I have switched gears from the Scrap and Sew Along and decided to start the Fort Worth FB Mystery Quilt project.  So for the next couple of weeks I am going to mix it all up and do a variety of blog posts to keep you on your toes. 😁

If you are not a follower of the Forth Worth Mystery Quilts, that's OK.  They have several digital patterns to download on their site and you can access them here.

I have made a few of these as well as started a few of these. I do not buy the kits but I do combine scrap fabric in my stash and then shop for the rest at Scrap & Sew.  Here is the Christmas Mystery Quilt ready to be quilted.

Don't forget Scrap & Sew has curbside pickup now.  Not all of my fabric selections are on the website, but call Cthy and she will help you out.  Here is the link to the site so you can shop. 

Scrap and Sew Store

The latest Mystery Quilt is the Ultimate Picnic Quilt and it started on April 13th.  

They have already posted the fabric requirements and cutting instructions.  You can access the General Instructions and Week One here.   Their kit is a red, light blue and darker blue combination, but I wasn't loving it.

The only fabric that matched was the gingham check and so I set out to find some other theme to my design. So I waited.  The first two set of blocks were posted and that did help me think about a different direction.

I waited until  a few others had posted their blocks and finally I was inspired by this block by Penny. I love the bees but started digging and no bees.

Here are a few more for your inspiration.

Janet F. asked me how I get started when there is such a long list of fabrics. The first step is to find a printed fabric with lots of colors to work with.  Here is my first color combination that I selected. 

I then started to dig into my stash and came up with fabric scraps to coordinate with the colors of the main design.  Did you know that most fabric lines today have printed color codes on the selvage? 

They are called color registrations and represent the number of colored screens used to make the print.  The numbers represent the the first color printed and is also used by inspectors to make sure the colors are landing where they are supposed to be.  This insures that the print pattern has nice clean edges and lines.

I use these color registration marks to help select my fabrics to coordinate with my designs all of the time.  So here is a picture of my scraps that I pulled out to work with. The tone on tone white will be the background.

My second color combination started with these two fabrics.  I love everything watermelon and I have several accessories that are watermelon themed.

Here is the first color combination I came up with.  My gingham print fits in perfectly with this collection.

But I wasn't totally pleased so I added this watermelon print from my stash.

Now I was ready to cut.  I do not cut all of the pieces before I begin.  I cut each block separately to make sure it works with the fabric choices I have selected. I do not prewash my fabrics and sometimes I starch the fabrics.  Remember I do not call myself a quilter, but I like to dabble in the art from time to time. 

You can find the cutting for week one here.  Come back tomorrow when I will share with you my cutting and stitching for the HST Star Block.