Another Mystery Quilt! "Courtyard"

Clue 1:  Introduction and Fabric Selection

"Courtyard" reminds me of a tiled courtyard flow, with some intertwining and rotation going on.  It's an easy quilt, though quite complex-looking and interesting.  It should be do-able for any beginning quilter who has any experience with strip piecing.

 The finished size will be 54” x 78” with a border.    If you want a larger quilt (72” x 96”), simply double the amount of fabric for the main fabrics and the background(s) and make twice the number of blocks.  The larger size wouldn’t have a border, but you could add one if you want something even larger.  In either case, you will also need more for the binding.

A print-friendly version of this clue is linked at the end of this post.

Fabric:

Choose three colors, plus a background.  The three colors should have good contrast between each other and the background fabric(s).   I will be using Pink, Blue, and Purple for the main colors, and 2 background fabrics.  The 2 background fabrics are just a hair past subtly different from each other, and you could certainly use just one background fabric—simply add the fabric amounts for the two of them together, and treat Background1 and Background2 as the same fabric in the instructions.

Here are my fabric choices:

There will be more Purple than any other color; blue will be the least-used. (If that makes any difference to you.)  You could use the same color in place of the Blue and the Purple, but two different shades; just be certain the lighter one has enough contrast with the background.

To be honest, if I were doing the quilt again, I think I would want a touch more contrast between the Purple and Blue--going a shade or two lighter (or darker) with the blue. Or maybe a teal color instead.   Contrast is important.

The fabrics will, generally, be in small-ish pieces so a wild, multicolored print will probably not be as successful.  (Though, if someone does it, I’d love to see it—I might be surprised!)

Other possibilities for fabric choices:

I think this would look good in bright Caribbean colors:  teal, orange, and lime green, for example.  If you’re looking to do a winter quilt, you could do red, green and black (using the black in place of the Blue, I think.)   The key is to have plenty of contrast. 

You could go scrappy with either the backgrounds or main colors, but be prepared to make adjustments in the instructions, as we will be doing strip piecing.

For the border I will be using the same Purple as I’m using in the rest of the quilt, but you could choose any of the Main Colors.  You could use a print that coordinates with them all, but the design of the quilt will have plenty going on, and a print—at least a large one—will likely be competing with the main part of the top.

Here is what you'll need: 

Purple:                 1-1/4 yards
Pink:                       7/8 yard
Blue:                       2/3 yard
Background1:         2/3 yard
Background2:         1/2 yard

Border:                  3/4 yard
Binding:                 5/8 yard

Next time we'll do the initial cutting.  See you then!

Print-friendly version of Clue 1