A Star is Born: The Mystery Five O Star Bright Mini Quilt Revealed

The Cotton Cuts Mystery Five-O Star Bright sew-along was a huge success on Saturday, bringing quilters together for a fun-filled day of stitching, creativity, and a stunning mystery reveal!

Our Star Bright Mystery Five-O was a big hit! If you’re just tuning in, we had an amazing time on Saturday with a mini sew-along for both our pre-cut orders and those who shopped their stash. The fun kicked off in the morning with video tutorials and PDF instructions for those using our pre-cut fabric selections. In just six simple steps, participants created a stunning quilt block—Star Bright—and the results were truly phenomenal!

Stephanie Frazier completed the Hot Hot Hot! colorway from our pre-cut options.

Around 11:30am. our "Shop Your Stash" participants joined the fun! After selecting and coordinating fabrics using a few helpful hints, they began by cutting their fabrics into a variety of triangles, squares, and strips. From there, they followed simple step-by-step instructions to assemble their own unique Star Bright quilt block. The results? Absolutely amazing!

Holly Belan shared her completed Shop Your Stash choices in our Facebook group as she finished up.

Participant Amy Campbell documented her journey from start to finish for us in the group. She shared her fabric choices, then her cut pieces, followed by sewing together her block and her completed look. Her focal fabric in the center is stunning, and complements the design so well. Great job, Amy!

And even though the day of fun has come to a close, the videos and instructions continue to live on in our special Facebook group M50 Mystery: Cotton Cuts. You can find the instructions for both blocks. You can use this as a foundation to create a different look, or build multiple blocks and create a full size quilt. Just take a look at what some our our creative minds came up with.

As a new quilter and a Cotton Cuts employee, I dove in head first to understanding this new project. The Cotton Cuts PMQ has allowed me to learn so much about sewing. Pre-cut, color coordinated colorways have allowed me to focus on sewing skills and create beautiful quilt tops. Sewing a pre-cut from the Star Bright project was the perfect choice for my skill level. But what about the Sew Your Stash option? Could I coordinate fabrics from my limited stash of fabrics? And could I accurately cut those fabrics and put this project together on my own? (Truth: I do own a rotary cutter and large cutting mat. I found them under a layer of dust in my dining room.) 

Just a few thoughts and takeaways as I complete both projects:

• Ordering pre-cuts feels so much like a PMQ. It's awesome to have those color coordinated fabrics arrive in a pretty package, all perfect shades that will coordinate just right. No need to struggle or stress. Just sit and sew, knowing it's going to be gorgeous.
• Being one of my first experiences with cutting my own fabric, it was more tedious and took longer than I thought it would, leading me to wonder if I need to research if there are better tools out there to help me cut more accurately and quickly.
• Fabric coordination is also a new skill to learn. Part of the complication is certainly not knowing which fabric is going to look best in what position, as the pattern is a mystery. But while following the helpful hints provided, it still gave me more pause than I expected. 
• Doing more projects from my own fabric stash or shopping will require me to add to my stash of fabric on hand at home. Am I ready for that? Where would I store it? Do I want that much unused fabrics? I've completed five gorgeous Cotton Cuts PMQ quilts. No leftovers. No cutting. No waste.

As our day of sewing finished up, participants flooded our feed with their finished products. And in true Cotton Cuts detective fashion, everyone knocked it out of the park with their color selections, and fantastic finishes. We are astounded by some of the sewers who "went rogue" and truly made their project their own. Take a look at some of our out of the box thinkers and quilt designers.

Delaine Nored swapped out her middle square for a fabric she found in her stash, creating a lovely focal point that brought all of those pink hues together beautifully. What a great touch!

Savannah Stillman used her green pre-cuts from Cotton Cuts to create a focal point, and added from her stash a variety of coordinating borders, finishing up with a quilt that is throw size. Amazing how quickly her quilt came together.

Holly Taylor really thought ahead. She made sure she had enough fabric to quadrupal her block, finishing up this amazing quilt top, with Star Bright as the star of the show. Gorgeous work by Holly. She is a super fast cutter and sewer who really knows her stuff!

Kim Jones is another detective who really thought ahead. Just look at how well her color choices balance out the focal fabric! And her quilt was also completed quickly -- she showed us her final project just days later.

Are you amazed? You can go to the Mystery 50 page on our website and download this pattern for FREE, but just from April 10-12. Go get it quickly and put your own Star Bright together. Be sure to share your creations in our Cotton Cuts Fabric group. 

The Star Bright mini mystery is just the tip of the iceberg. There are more projects to come. Consider the mini mystery a test run, to get your feet wet, and get an idea of what it is all about. Do you love our Puzzle Mystery Quilt? The Mystery Five O program is the same idea, but a faster paced project which will have you sewing your clues every week, completing your quilt in less time.

Shoutout to our participant Lindsay Robey, who sewed the lovely block we used for the blog cover.