Hey!! How is everyone? I designed two different quilts for this mystery weekend. The first one is fabulous, but very difficult to breakdown. The second on is inspired...and that's the one that you are doing. It's a very basic block...only one. There are no HSTs or QSTs or Flying Geese. Just lots of 1/4" seams to be sure are accurate. You have the choice of three different sizes. Block sizes are all the same, so the larger the size...the more blocks you will have to make. I have done what I've done before...each size has a somewhat different layout. And the borders are very simple which will make enlarging any size easy. So...let's get started.

And now for my standard paragraph...For those who haven't done one of my mysteries before, what follows is the basic information that I give for all my mysteries. I will be spelling out everything from what size to cut your fabric to when to sew each section to which way to press your seams. If you do not follow the instructions carefully, you will not end up with the same outcome that I did. My instructions may seem picky at times, but I assure you that they do work.

The first place to start is with your fabric...this quilt was designed to be scrappy, so I'm only going to give you recommendations for your fabrics. You need 4 groups of fabrics...lights, darks, a focus for centers, and a group of brights.

Lights: You need to choose if you are going to do lights for your background, or for your design...either will work. The more fabrics you use, the more interesting and "traditional" your quilt will be. Graphics will show as Lights.

Darks: Again, you need to choose as many different fabrics as you can. I recommend at least 4 different fabrics. Graphics will show as Darks.

Focus Fabric: This fabric is going to "center" your blocks...literally. It should be a color not in either of the previous two groups and it needs to be a "solid". You don't want to use a print here...tone-on-tone such as a hand-dye, or Moda Marbles is recommended. Graphics will show as Red.

Brights: This group of fabrics does exactly what the name says: it brightens one small part of your quilt. It too should be a color not being used in any of the previous groups. Graphics will show as Yellows.

The choices for your borders are going to be yours. I designed for four borders and will give you the amount of fabric you need if you are going to do them my way, but as I said earlier...I did very simple borders that will leave you the ability to make changes. If you are doing lights for your background, then these should be darks, and vice versa.

Let's get to the information you really need...the basic information about the quilt, how much fabric you need and the cutting instructions.