This is my take:  it's called a Mystery Quilt because as each quilter makes these quilt blocks, it's a mystery what it will look like until all the blocks are laid into a design.  Even then, there are variations, as you will see.  I have had more fun piecing these blocks and what a great diversion — honestly, to be able to have control over something feels really, really good.  I remember when I went through a torturous divorce, I turned to sewing knit outfits — the same size, the same pattern, and same type of fabric - knits.  Not much decision-making there, but the act of sewing helped me cope when I felt like I had no control, when everything around me seemed to crumble and fall apart.   DIGRESSION — That was then, this is now.   The moral of that little ditty is that sewing is cathartic and can help one wade across a river of tough times, to get back to the shore of sanity.  Now back to the Mystery Quilt made with a block called Friendship.

This is what the block looks like. Finished, it is 15" square.



I particularly love this block and it came into being, during which time I was struggling with simultaneous contrast among the blocks I had made up to this point - about 15 blocks. 

The little honey below on the left was causing problems, in that it stuck out like a sore thumb.  Why?  Because it was reading as a solid bright light, surrounded by fabrics that were giving way to its dominance.  I had to work to neutralize its power.



After a couple weekends of sewing, I finished piecing the 20 blocks, laid out the design on the floor and placed my ladder in the middle of the blocks, so I could climb up and look down on the design.








It gave me a different perspective and also, how cool is that to be standing on ladder above the stars?  After that, I photographed the whole.

I was going for a diagonal of light, moving from the upper left to the lower right. 



That was okay but I wanted to try something else.  With this, I tried using the reds in the upper right, with the light predominantly on the upper left.



But this became the last layout that I liked the best.  In this, it seemed to have a better overall resolve. 




So with the different layouts, it does prove to be a Mystery Quilt.  I've become acquainted with each of the blocks but it was for the friendship that Jeanette Reynolds, a Napa Valley Quilter, brought to class which prevailed.  She taught this block design to me years ago, and after all that time, one finished block laid in the cupboard, until this year, 2010.  Friendship endures, doesn't it.

-Viktorya