Gypsy Queen Mystery QAL – Fabric Selection

Greetings friends!  Can you believe that we’re starting our Gypsy Queen Mystery QAL next week?  I am so very excited to embark on this grand adventure together and I just can’t wait to start seeing photos of your blocks!  I wanted to re-share some important information tonight, as lots of new quilters.  I’ve also shared some thoughts on pulling together your own color palettes, if you’re looking for a little guidance. 🙂

---

Part of the fun on these types of projects is seeing what everyone else is working on too.  You can share your progress pictures in the following ways:

• On Instagram: Follow us @CorasQuilts and use #GypsyQueenMysteryQuilt and #CorasQuilts to share your photos.
• On Flickr:  Share your photos in our Gypsy Queen Mystery Quilt Group and please use the tags “Gypsy Queen Mystery Quilt” and “Coras Quilts”.
• On your own blog, with our QAL button – available on our homepage.

We’ve also set up a Facebook QAL community for those who want to chat about their projects with fellow quilters.  Anyone is welcome to join.

---

 

Starting next Friday, our QAL posts will be available every Friday morning around 6:00AM, California time.  The final set of instructions will be posted on the Friday after Thanksgiving, so you’ll have plenty of time to have a finished quilt for the holidays.

Next Friday, we’ll post the official cutting instructions for those who’d like to knock out all their cutting at one time – there is quite a bit of cutting and some of our pattern testers shared that they preferred to do it week by week, so the choice is yours.

While the blocks in this quilt come together in a beautiful, intricate pattern, there are no special tools, templates, or applique are required.  The blocks are put together in a straight-forward manner, all using traditional piecing and some “Stitch, Trim, & Flip” type blocks.  We’ll also be making some Half-Square-Triangle (HST) and Flying Geese blocks, assembled in very traditional ways.  If you have your own preferred methods of putting these blocks together, go for it!  We’ve made notations throughout the cutting instructions to let you know which pieces NOT to cut if you’re using your own method.

---

Finally, let’s talk a little bit about Color Palettes tonight. Without giving too much away, here are some helpful hints when pulling together your own prints.

• Print A – this should be your darkest, boldest print.  It will live next to prints E and F, so make sure you have a good contrast.
• Print B – he plays with all the other colors, so make sure he stands out but plays nicely. 🙂
• Print C – lives close to prints A and D, so pick something with a nice contrast with these two and something that stands out against E and F
• Print D – he should be a neutral-ish color, but definitely should be bolder than E, F, and the background
• Print E – she is a background print – color is ok, but it would need to contrast with A and B, and still be visible against the background.
• Print F – lives near prints B and D, and should be subtle.  Make sure that it still stands out against the background!

These three color palettes are just a place to get you started, but if you’d like to use them for your own project, kits are available for purchase by clicking here.  Please note that shipping rates are for US addresses only.  We are happy to ship internationally for an additional fee.

Pull together your yardage, get it all nicely pressed and starched, grab a new blade for your rotary cutter, and get ready to start on Friday – yipee!!