a celtic knotwork mystery sew-a-long

a year or more ago, i saw a picture of a quilt that a lady in one of my groups had made....it was a LOVELY celtic knotwork quilt. i wrote to her and asked her where i could get the pattern and she said she had designed it herself and she sent me the pattern for it....it has been simmering in my head since then until i found the perfect fabrics i wanted to use for it...i got to start in on it a couple of weeks ago and just posted some pictures here earlier this week....some ladies from one group have asked for the pattern and so i got the idea to present this as a little mystery sew-a-long of sorts--i just had to get the designers permission....so i asked her yesterday.....

i am SOOOO pleased to announce that deborah cohen, designer of this quilt, has so generously and graciously given permisssion for me to do this on my blog :o)

here are the particulars....first and foremost, i write as i think and talk, therefore, you may have to read things several times before they make sense to you --until you get used to me you might want to read some of my old posts to get a feel for me :o) oh, and i don't know how to use tags yet, so i don't. eventually i will learn, but not right now....and i only use capitals for emphasis, not the beginnings of sentences....and i LOVE the little....so... if you think you can manage all that, read ahead and join in!

this quilt is 44 x 44 squares large. it can be done several different ways in sizes of squares and fabric choices.

if you use 2 1/2 inch squares (2 in. finished) you will have an 88 inch square quilt WITHOUT borders. OR this would make a GORGEOUS wall hanging using postage stamps ( 1 1/2 inch unfinished) and would then be 44 inches square without borders.... OR for someone into really miniature quilts, it would be STUNNING done with even smaller squares if you are brave....

this quilt uses 4 fabrics. one background and 3 others. i am using WOW (white on white) scrappy fabrics for my background. one of my colors is a beautiful black with tiny floral on it. so for that one i used yardage. the other colors are very scrappy purples and greens....they are mostly mediums so they read the same value with a few that are more light or dark to give some depth and interest....same with my WOW's, i used a few REALLY light COC's (cream on cream) it gives a bit of character to the quilt i think. you can use prints, but make sure that your squares really "read" what you are wanting them to "read". i am still searching for WOW's coz i want more variety in my fabrics.....

i am NOT going to post fabric amounts. it depends on your choices in making this--your starting size of square as well as if you are going to go scrappy or not.....you can hopefully do some math and figure out how many squares you can get out of a width of fabric strip.....i am using 2 1/2 inch and mostly get 17 squares per strip....you may get something different....what i AM going to post is the amount of squares of each fabric color you will need.....

i have to go recount again before i post the EXACT amount (which i will do this weekend) but, there are:

* nearly 900 pieces of background

* 350 or so of each of 3 other distinct colors. you want to make sure you can really see a difference in the colors as they are what is making the knotwork.....

AND, i have posted at the top of this post a picture of part of the quilt as well as in a previous post (scroll down to a mystery, 2 popups and some celtic knotwork) and you can see a hint of the quilt and how i have used my colors...you can visualize your fabric choices.....hope that helps :o)

so, how does this all work??? and when???

starting july 1st i will post a chunk of the design. i will post a new chunk or two each week. we will be making 25 blocks altogether to later be put together....

i KNOW this is an amazing amount of squares to be joined together, but let me tell you, it is WORTH it, this is a BEAUTIFUL design by deborah cohen. and, the way i have broken it down is really manageable to do :o)

i hope you will join in on the fun....so, decide on your fabrics and size of squares and then cut away and stick them in a large baggie.....then, wait til july first for the first posted graph :o)

and,leave a comment for me that you are doing this along with me if you want....it is gonna be FUN!!! and amazing!