I did some scouting from in Quilt Shop searches to pretend I was "fabric shopping" for this Mystery Quilt and here are some ideas of what to look for. If you live near a quilting shop - go in person, by all means - but I hope these fabric swatch photos will give you an idea of what I have in mind. (Though my choices often tend to be a bit wild for some who love quieter fabrics.)

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At Glorious Color site I found these Kaffe Fassett fabrics which would be great fun for the A fabric:

Chard on the left or Gazania flowers on the right. Both would look great with a deep-deep green as the B fabric and a hot yellow-gold or fuchsia for the C fabric. I especially love the bold chard!

  

or maybe these interesting stripes for A fabric:

  

Or the Left Dark stripe for a B Fabric with the right hand light stripe for a C fabric:

Or these very light choices for C fabrics: the light Beads (far left below) or the light or bright Chard fabrics on the right.

    

The light stripe on the left would make a good C fabric. Or the medium toned red one on the right could be an A fabric.

  

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I went to visit at PineTree Quiltworks and found two fun novelty fabrics in a bold print that would be great as the A fabrics for a theme quilt. Both have light and dark colors that could be pulled out of them: reds, golds, yellows for C fabrics and deep green or blues or maybe a batik-black for B fabrics.

PineTree also has a selection of batiks in many colors that would make interesting B and C fabrics with "color texture". Here are a few examples:

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I love African fabric and use it a lot in my own work. So I went to visit Unique Spool's Web site and found some wonderful bold "A" fabrics - 

        

Here is an example of a pair of African fabrics which could both be used for a "scrappy" look by using both in the same quilt as "C" fabrics.

   

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For some Hand Dyed I went to ArtFabrik's Web site -

this "crackle" dyed would make a wonderful "A" fabric:

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There are a lot of possibilities at Lunn's Web site, too. And they'll sell groups of similar color family fabrics. I found some great fabrics in the "Elements of Nature" section:

The left one "rain" would be a great "A" or maybe a "B" and the "Fir" fabric on the right would be an excellent "A". Each have light and darks that would pull out for making B and C fabric choices.

  

Here is a set of 6 that Lunns will sell in a group:

And some wonderful batiks in another section:

I hope these have given you some good ideas!

BACK TO PART ONE of Mystery Quilt - Fast Fat Quarters Mystery

When you have your fabric ready:

GO to the  Cutting Instructions here.

 

 Fabrics - ABC:  

 A:  
The main focus fabric should be medium in color value (not very dark and not very light). If you are making the queen size quilt it will be more interesting if you choose a boldly designed print fabric or interesting multi-color batik or hand dye for this fabric. If the quilt is a gift pick a fabric with a theme the person loves - flowers, horses, elephants, children's toys, outdoor trees and leaves, etc. 

 B:  
This is the "Black" fabric, ie. the dark, contrasty fabric. It could be chosen as the deepest color you can find in the "A" fabric? It should be a deep color: navy, deep teal, deep maroon, etc. Contrast is important. The quilt will be MUCH more interesting if this "B" fabric is made up of several different fabrics in a scrappy look. Not just all one dark fabric.
 C:  
This last is the "light and bright" color - it can be a wild color seen in "A" print or anything you think will go and be the "eye catcher". Again, several fabrics in a scrappy effect will look good. Several bright-lime yellows? A few light cherry  magentas? Study your "A" fabric to pick this highlight fabric.

Fat Quarter Mystery Quilt designed by Susan C. Druding
© 2000  - pattern is for personal use only. It is not to be reprinted for distribution in any manner, neither on paper nor electronically by email or on other Web sites. I'm happy to have it used by Quilt Guilds - please ask me for requirements for use in guild projects.

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