Veteran's Mystery Quilt

Two things have occupied my thoughts lately. The first thing is this blog and how to get members interested in using it. I think it can be a great tool for is to keep in touch between meetings and to get to know each other better. The second thing on my mind is what to do for my next veteran's and QOV quilts. I work on one veteran's quilt and one QOV at the same time and I finished the last pair at Saturday Sewing. I've been working on several design ideas in Electric Quilt and it hit me that I could combine both goals in one activity.

I've developed my next veteran's quilt design and decided to offer it here on the blog as a mystery quilt. I hope some of you will join me and make it.

Basic information about the quilt:
It's designed as a veteran's quilt so it's 48" x 60" finished. I'll offer instructions to add borders for a Quilt of Valor that will be 65 x 81. You can make this quilt for any purpose you want. It doesn't have to be a veteran's quilt or QOV. It can be a quilt for yourself or gift or another charity. It's simply a fun project and I hope you'll join in.

The quilt is all squares and half square triangles. No curved seams and no applique. The smallest cut piece is 2.5". Blocks finish at 8" square.

I'll post clues monthly on the blog around the 20th of the month and the quilt top will be completed with the September clue.

Fabric requirements:

The quilt uses 4 colors. As an example, I'll give the fabric requirements for a red, white and blue quilt.

Fabric 1 (red): 1 1/4 yards
Fabric 2 (dark blue): 1 3/4 yards PLUS 1/2 yard for binding
Fabric 3 (light blue): 1/2 yard
Fabric 4 (white): 1 3/4 yards

If you are making the QOV version you will also need the following fabrics for borders:
Border 1 (recommend Fabric 2): 5/8 yard
Border 2 (a coordinating print or Fabric 1 or 3): 1.5 yards
Border 3 (Fabric 2 or 3) and binding: 1 3/4 yards

Red, white and blue isn't required, of course, so I wanted to show a few other color palettes that would work great for this quilt. I chose all "manly" palettes because I'm making it as a veteran's quilt but you can use any palette you wish. Here are a few ideas.

This is the palette that I am using and I'm doing it scrappy.

Here are my fabrics. The veteran's quilt is on the left and the QOV on the right. The fern print is in the back will be one of the borders for the QOV version. Printed fabrics are a great resource for color palettes and this is the fabric that I used to pick the palette for these quilts. I am trying to use up my huge stash of commercial fabrics so I limited myself to my stash. I'm using charm squares, fat quarters and half yards.....anything that fit the palette of the quilt.

Blue and brown is a good combo for a man's quilt too.

This one reminds me of a fishing cabin in the woods.

A good choice for a vegetable gardener.

Black, white and red for Betsy.

A beachy look.

For the UVA fans.

For the Hokies.

What do you think? Will you join in? Leave a comment and let me know what colors you will use for your quilt.