2013-M01 "Oh My ..........!" Mystery

I love your fabrics Michelle, just beautiful! I have cut all mine out, can't wait to start sewing, lol.

gorgeous fabrics michele ... i really like them ...


my cutting will get done tomorrow ... if all things go to plan ... i have it all sorted ...just need to get my head into gear ...

Your fabrics are most beautiful Michele, and I am so sorry I was unable to be here earlier to catch you and view them.

I am hoping you have not cut them yet???

Am I right in thinking they are in order form left to right as:
Background, high contrast to background and an accent?

The first two are most suitable.
My major concern is the accent colour that goes with them.
The block design will blend together and not stand out with white (or black) as the accent with the fabrics you have chosen.

If you can use another coloured fabric, other than white (or black), within the blocks it will work.

Can I suggest you use a solid colour from the other fabrics, eg green or pink (not white or black because they will blend) for the accent triangles (labeled H in the cutting table) within the blocks? Something that will stand out and make a statement. The accent fabric triangles will be scatted equally throughout the whole block design and separate the background and high contrast fabrics.

You might also like to add a small peeper after the background frame, and before the border, in the same accent fabric to tie the design all together, but you can decide about that later when the mystery is revealed.

The white fabric you have could still be used for the border.

Refer to the cutting table, there is only a small amount of fabric needed to cut the H patches.

I would love to see more chatting in here regarding fabric choices etc.

Oh dear there was a pink fabric that tied in but the cream looked best I will pop back to the shop and get the pink if it's still there it is also a floral so maybe I should try a plain if I have any in my stash but don't think so.
Will see what I can find.

No checked the stash nothing suitable and the pink is not going to work either as it is also a floral. Will have to go further afield.
I know I only need 30cm if I'm only cutting the H blocks but it's just finding it.

Okay I'm on a role this morning - riddle me this Batwoman......
When choosing fabric for a quilt (any quilt) I thought you choose fabrics that look good together. I'm confused on the accent bit of the instructions.
This is where I have trouble with quilting - choosing fabric I don't understand any of the reasoning behind light, dark, high, low.
I don't want to have to rely on asking quilt shop people I'd like to build myself but if I can't choose correct colors I'm doomed.
Has anyone got advice or a knack that helped them. Please please help this is causing lots of $$$$ problems.

Michele hun ... maybe a darker pink like that in the flowers will work ... i know it is $$ hun but you may have a little in your stash ... if i had my old stash here i would have had some to go but i no longer have that luxury ...


and you are right ... you generally choose fabrics that go together .. but this being a mystery is a little different .. and i used to go to the quilt shops and ask the ladies there to help with a selection ... most of the time i could not afford the fabrics from the quilt shops ... but it would give me a fantastic clue on what i was to get .. then i would go off to spotlight and buy the "sale fabric" in a similar selection ... cheating maybe .... but it really did help me learn to get a feel for fabrics especially when they are listed as dark and medium and light 'values' .... i had no idea what the hell that was until i asked them at the quilt shop ... haha ...

and i really don't know if my colours are going to work either ... but it is ok ... if you go look at my pic .. i have chosen the blue for my background .. the lighter green as the high contrast .. and the dark green for the accent ... so hun ... it really depends on what you want this to be in the end ...

and thinking along the line that i used the darkest of my fabrics to be the accent ... maybe a nice mocca ... coffee or chocolate will work as your accent ... i think something along the same shade as the leaves on the floral .... the lighter ones .... would be wonderful ...



and just a pointer for the designer ... maybe that bit of information regarding whites and blacks etc .. should have been put in the instructions ... jmo

and can i see a tinge of teal or greeny something among those leaves ... that would look very interesting too ...

i am off now to chop up my fabrics ... bag em and tag em ... and see what comes in my inbox tomorrow ....

have the table all set up in the bus ... and i am ready to stitch ...


will also get some mug rugs done too ... and hopefully a lotto block or two ..

OK ladies, is it too early to guess, The "Oh my .......... Mystery. Lorna

This morning, I cut all my little peice. I'm ready. Lorna

i don't know lorna ... i have had an idea for it for ages ..... and want so much to put it in here ...

but fear i may get into trouble ... haha

Bobby if it is the same as mine, you will have to split with me, ha ha ha ha. Lorna

ok ... then you post away ,,,, and i will email you what i think it is ...

Thanks for the info Bobbie - I have now come back from the same shop with some pink that is a little softer than the hot pink I found in my stash lol (too small wouldn't have got all the H cuts out of it.
The new fab is on the line drying and then its time to press and cut.
Great idea about asking and then shopping at Spotlight - luv it.
I'm currently designing my mug rug with all it's beautiful green scraps cause I've got heaps of those aka the op shops, I get lots and lots of bits from them cause I cut up shirts and dresses and whatever I can find when it's on sale. lol the bonus is the buttons you get.
Anyway had to clean out the craft room so I could find my pelon and cotton batting. Yep in the double wardrobe under all the other stuff.
So ready willing and hopefully able. lo

great that you are organised and have fabric you are happy with ... that is all that matters really ... i have so many things unfinished and i really think it is because i have been unhappy with the choices of fabrics and they just don't 'grab' me enough to want to finish them . ....


but happy happy that you found something ...

Well seeing it is a whole damned mystery then I don't see while your original fabrics won't work.
THe main thing with fabric colours is the basis colour. Now fabrics are either a black base or a yellow base. It's the way the whole dying cookie crumbles.
Your 3 - from the pic - are all black based and therefor should all go together.
If you want to test my theory - go into a fabric shop and put out several (say) greens and you will see - one or two just 'don't go' They have a different base to the rest.
Put out yellows and you will see it even more. Some yellows - lemons even have a bright face on them and others look 'pinky'. THe latter are the yellow based ones.
It is also the reason why lots of pinks and oranges go together - same colour base.
And who in the hell are 'peepers' and when did they get into the story as a 4th colour I ask.
Monday will see me into flight with all of this. Meanwhile I will go back to my beading ........... lol

i think the reason the whites and blacks won't go is due to the placement of those colours in the actually blocks ... now as i have no idea what we are making i am just guessing here ... and with the colours that michele chose .. the 2 very lights ... which i believe are creams ... when placed side by side in the block will not show up the defined line of the block pattern ...

again i am just guessing ... but enjoy your beading wendy ... i am still cutting my fabrics up .... its a long and drawn out process i'm afraid .... but only cos i keep ducking off to jump into the pool ....

While the cat was away it looks like the mice have been in playing and we have so many posts! Well done everyone, it looks like Michele is back on track with her fabric selections.

Where to start............. the most recent first and work backwards I think?

Bobbie is correct in saying the blacks and 2 whites that Michele chose would not work as the three fabrics should have been 3 entirely different fabrics to define the overall block pattern. I did say a dark background fabric with a high contrast (which could have been black and white like Michele chose) and an accent fabric.

An accent fabric, to me, would not be the same hue as either of the other two. It would be, as Bobbie has suggested, maybe one of the secondary colours (other than black or white) from the first two fabrics chosen.

The only reason I made reference to the black and white in the previous post is because of the fabrics Michele posted in the gallery. Everyone's quilts will be very different because of the fabrics they choose. I also gave more advice on fabric choices earlier in this thread to Bobbie when she was saying she might have to use more than one fabric for either the background or the contrast. I suggested she use lots of greens for the contrast and put them on a light background. It really is a versatile pattern and will only work with 3 distinct colours.

If anyone actually chooses to use black and white for the first two fabrics, I would expect them to choose an entirely different colour for the accent. Any other colour except for black or white. This design would look just stunning in black and white with a red accent as a table topper in a modern kitchen that had black marble benches and red utilities.

Wendy, I understand what you are saying too! But, the one black and 2 yellows Michele chose will not work with regular block designs, as Bobbie has said, because it calls for 3 distinctly different coloured fabrics to define the block. The 2 yellows were almost the same colour and would not define the block.

Michele's three original fabrics would work wonderfully in a more modern blended pattern, especially with a crazy block where each of the patches are defined with embroidery stitches, or a triple rail block.

Tips for choosing fabrics for the mystery were mentioned in the first PDF I sent everyone with the purchases table.

I encouraged you all to post photos in the gallery and chat in here so we could help each other with anything that you didn't understand. No question or concern is too small and we all have some experience and advice to be offered that might solve any problems. Thanks ladies for doing just that today while I have been away at the 'big smoke' and not here to help out.

Patchwork is a serious business (because of the $$$$ involved) and we don't want anyone so disappointed with their completed tops that they don't want to finish them. I already know what your finished quilt will look like Bobbie from the fabrics you have posted in the gallery and I am sure you will be finishing this one, and somewhere down the road, enjoying many a picnic on it. I also expect you to enjoy many compliments about it from fellow travelers too!

How am I going? Hope I am covering all these post? Now to Peepers:

I think they were first mentioned when Karen decided to make her quilt for the granddaughter and I suggested she make extra blocks and make it bigger and I know she likes adding peepers to her quilts. I think I suggested she might like to buy accent fabric for the blocks, a peeper and the binding? That is when I took a second look at my fabric choices and decided I would add a peeper too! It will be very interesting to see what everyone's finished quilts will look like, how they add their border and bind it.


riddle me this Batwoman......
Was a coffee on screen moment here Michelle! I could almost hear the Joker's voice.......... almost........... then I wondered if you were referring to me as being a tad 'batty'? Yes, I resemble that remark I am afraid! ha ha But I take comfort in the fact that others here are also in the same category as myself!


Michele, can you post a pic of the new accent fabric please? I do think a pink will work perfectly as your accent fabric.

Bobbie, I thought you were going to say the cutting was a long drawn out process because you didn't have an accuquilt machine! It didn't even occur to me you would be jumping in and out of the pool mid cut!


Now for the last thing, which was really the first thing I read tonight and that was the conversation between Lorna and Bobbie regarding the block name.

Of course it is not too early to have a go at 'naming that block'. If it helps at all, I will tell everyone it is 2 words and one is a multiple. If you have read everything along the way you might have noticed the criptic clues I have been sprinkling in here and there? So girls, guess away..........................

I think I have covered everything? Any way, I am sure someone will let me know if I have missed something............ please?

I have just emailed out the next Instalment 2.
As always, please let me know in here if you don't receive it today.
Good luck everyone..............

Evelyn: is it " Oh my lucky stars ", Lorna

Awwwww Lorna........... That is such a lucky guess! The mystery name suggests that is what is should be don't it? But..............
That's not it sorry. (insert sorry face here ha ha)

Is that what Bobbie thought it was too?
I have added clues along the way that will help...........

Keep guessing everyone and that means Lorna and Bobbie too!

Starry Night?

Sorry Karen, not Starry Night either, but that is also another good guess.


Oh, and to those girls who have spoken with me in person on the phone

(I won't name names cause I don't want to dob and you both know who you are, and so does most everyone else in here probably cause we are all friends - right? ... anyway) ... if either of you think you have 'inside information' to help you solve this little mystery puzzle............. I have to tell you both, I haven't 'slipped' yet with any extra clues that all the other participants haven't had access to, so ...... Keep them coming ladies because I am enjoying this too!

Today I am sewing up a storm, well as fast as my little machine will let me sew that is, which is pretty darn slow I might add!

If the Patchwork Fairy is listening ...... Oh how I wish I had a new sewing machine with more than 6" under the arm and faster than 100 stitches per minute!!! Having said that though.......... my cute little Elna Lotus has been with me for longer than I have been 'really' sewing. It is like an old friend and I would be lost without it!!

Happy sewing day everyone.................

oh my twinkling stars