Hello all, Mary Ellen here.

So everyone, how are you passing the time in “social distancing”? Quite a novel concept on a St. Patrick’s Day for all of the Irish folks around town. I’m finding that while on an average day hanging out and not accomplishing much is quite easy to do, when I must stay in and keep calm it’s not so easy.

I think I may get some of my various UFO projects accomplished. There’s a crochet project in my magazine rack that has been there since before Christmas, and of course several quilting projects are hanging in the closet upstairs. There are garden edges that have heaved over the winter, and … No shortage of things around here to do-where should I begin?

How about with the first construction step of our corona challenge for those who are playing along? I’m going to keep the parameters for this project fairly loose so that each of you can add your own flair to the finished “quilt”. In my current plan, it will be a 30 x 30 square mainly based on traditional blocks where value will be a key element. Make sure you have chosen your 6 fat quarters and your background fabric so they will have nice contrast.

For this first step please make 6 four patches that will finish at 4 x 4 (4-1/2 x 4-1/2 raw). Make 3 of them using light with medium, and 3 of them using light with dark. I am attaching my favorite method for making small numbers of four patches–learned at a long ago seminar from Billie Lauder. Click here four patch-two from two copy for those directions.