Announcing: the Tea and Crumpets Memorial Day Quilt Mystery

It’s almost time for a picnic.  Let’s make a pretty Tea and Crumpets Mystery Quilt for the table. Choose florals for a spring quilt or red, white and blue for a patriotic one. This quilt finishes at about 64″ x 77″, although you can make it bigger with borders.  Have fun this summer!

The Mystery Quilt Begins Monday, May 25 at 9AM EST

There are 7 clues, one per hour.  This is an easy quilt so the clues won’t take the entire hour.  (Except maybe the last two.) I hope you don’t figure it out TOO early! As always, anyone who sends a picture of any step will get a copy of the completed professional pattern at the end. Send your pictures to
moc.liamgobfsctd-2c10e5@sngiseDnooMebeohP.

This mystery quilt was inspired by the Cool to be Square blog hop, so it might not surprise you to learn that this quilt is completely made of squares – okay, maybe a couple of rectangles, but mostly squares.  Here are the fabric requirements.  Scraps will do just fine if you don’t have enough yardage.  If you have an Accuquilt Fabric Cutter, may I suggest these dies?

Accuquilt Dies

• 2″ strip # 55025
• 2-1/2″ multiple 55059
• 4″ strip (55085) or 4″ HST (55031)
• 4-1/2″ strip (55054)
• 4-3/4″ square (55725)(or 55019)
• 6-1/2″ strip  (55086) or  6-1/2″ square (55000)
• GO dies are presently 15% off with free shipping over $50.

Fabric Requirements

• 4-1/4 yards Background
• 1/2 yard Square # 1 Fabric – if you are going to do an I Spy quilt, this is the fabric you would use.  Fabric #1 and #2 can be the same fabric if you really like it a lot.  I used a fussy cut print – see the Fussy Cutting Tutorial below.
• 1/2 yard Square # 2 Fabric – if you are going to do an I Spy quilt, this is the fabric you would use.
• (4) Colorful Fat Quarters. Try to pick the colors used in Fabrics #1 and #2. My colors are green, purple, blue, and gold/tan.
• 2/3 Red.  Or your favorite color that goes with Fabrics #1 and #2.

Not required but helpful:

• a 6-1/2″ square ruler
• a 12-1/2″ square ruler
• a rotating cutting mat

See you on Monday!

How to Fussy Cut a Motif

I had a lot of trouble deciding on Fabric # 1 and #2 for my sample.  Finally,  I found a very old piece of fabric with different fussy cutting motifs on it. I decided I would use them as my fabric #1 and #2.

Then came the problem of actually cutting!  4-3/4″ square is a very odd size.  I thought about cutting a template out of cardboard, but at the last minute I found a square of gridded vinyl plastic.

I cut a 4-3/4″ x 4-3/4″ square, marked the diagonal, and used it to center the floral motif on the square.