Welcome Back! I guess its time to get this blog going again. I always look forward to this time of year when it gets cold and the weather is kind of bleak. My gardens are all put to bed. I decorate the house for Fall and I just started to putting that away and replacing it with Christmas. It’s just me and the dog so I don’t get too caught up in a lot of stuff any more but there’s always lots of time dreaming about how I’m going to use up all that stash and of course, all my scraps. You know I will have to live to be about three hundred to do that but I’m gonna give it a try!
What do you think will be fun to cook up this year? Well, this quilting recipe is about to be presented. You may have a clue from the featured picture at the beginning of this post. That is my 2 1/2″ strip tote. Before I took the picture it was stuffed to the top and overflowing. I couldn’t snap the cover down even if I sat on it! It looks a little different now and but there will be more changes since I’m not yet finished.
How long has it been since you took inventory of what is in your 2 1/2″ strip box? I think you may just have an opportunity to check it out very soon. Heh! Heh! Since I’ve been endowed with such an abundant blessing of assorted strips I figured how better to clean up that tote than to make a mystery quilt! From what I have heard apparently quite a few of you have the same dilemma. Such a position to be in……Alas! Looks like you are going to need a tote full of 2 1/2″ strips for this one so dig out those scraps and lets get going!
Before we get into it, I randomly pulled strips from the tote. I cut the required lengths when I could but not too many. I want a good assortment so extra lengths go back in the box. I decided I did not want to mix solid colored strips in with the others but that’s your decision. I’ll have plenty to make a solid colored quilt for sure, but not this time. You are going to need a small amount of background (1 yd. can be scrappy) but make sure it will give you the contrast you need so your eyes don’t go bonkers with all the busyness going on. You will also need two borders. One basically inside the quilt (1 yd.) and the other outside ( 2 1/2 yd.) but with some inside too. Make sure they kind of like each other so you have a happy quilt with no arguing. My background is white-ish with a tan-ish inside border and dark brown for the other. I did use solids for my backgrounds to give a good contrast with all the assorted strips going on. I know some of you like to speed piece the clue and beat everyone else…Ha! Ha! I’m going to challenge you this time! We’ll see just how fast you are! LOL!
OK! Here goes!
Stars and Strips Forever – 2026 Mystery
Approximately 73″ x 90″ including 3″ border
Fabric requirements:
1 yr. background, 1 yd. inside border #1, 2 1/2 yd. border #2
Assorted colored:
88 – 1 1/2″ squares
22 – LIGHT assorted – 3 1/4″ squares
78 – 4″ squares
44 – 2 1/2″ x 6 1/2″ strips
44 – 2 1/2″ x 8 1/2″ strips
80 – 2 1/2″ x 10 1/2″ strips
Background:
132 – 2 1/2″ squares
22 – 3 1/4″ squares
Inside Border #1:
54 – 4″ squares
Border #2
35 – 2 1/2″ squares
13 – 3″ squares
44 – 3 1/4″ squares
21 – 4 1/4″ squares
2 – 8″ squares
remainder to be used for the outside 3″ border
That should do it for now. We’ll start with the first clue on January 14th, 2026!
My, My, How time flies!
Happy Quilting!
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THANK YOU FOR YOUR COOPERATION!
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