Valentine 26 Mystery QAL Clue 3

Valentines 2026 Mystery Quilt Along

Clue 3

Designed by Karen Meyer, Sister of The Divide, All Rights Reserved 12/30/2025

 

Welcome! This Mystery Quilt and the accompanying video tutorials are designed for a Beginning Quilter. There are several options along the way. To start you will need to gather your scraps of fabric in pinks or reds for your hearts and low volume or white for your background. That said, colors are not in stone, so if you feel like coloring outside the crayon box, by all means,  feel free to do so.

I will offer tips along the way, which have worked for me over the years. There are always multiple ways to achieve the same results. Do not feel like what I am teaching you is dogma and that the Quilt Police will be after you if you don’t do it “my” way. Just have fun, relax, you will have a beautiful quilt.

Now, if you are like me, and you have been around the “mystery” block (all puns intended), and you want to wait and see how it all comes together, that is perfectly fine also. Download the PDF pattern files as the clues come out and save them. I will be removing the mystery after February 14^th, 2026. It will then be placed in my Etsy shop and you will need to  purchase the pattern after that. Until then, it’s free for you to enjoy.  

PDF LINK FOR CLUE 3 HERE

VIDEO TUTORIAL FOR CLUE 3 HERE

Clue 1 click Here

Clue 2 click Here

Okay, let’s get started!

You will need, your sewing machine, rotary cutter, mat, iron, thread, starch, a 12” x 6” ruler, a 6” square up ruler, scissors, a marking pencil or air erase pen.

ALL SEAMS ARE ¼”

Clue #3: There are 3 hearts. This will be the most challenging part of this QAL. If you are making the quilt, you will need to make 17 hearts in total.  You can make all your hearts the same or you can mix them up. If you just want to make a few hearts and see where it goes, that’s fine too. You can always make a baby quilt or a table runner. We will be making a large throw size quilt 60” X 65”. For bigger sizes you may want to make extra hearts.

Heart #3  A tiny Nine Patch completes this heart.

Cut  the following from your Pink or Red heart fabric:

Two rectangles measuring 2” x 2.75”

Three strips measuring 6” x 1.25”

Cut the following from your background fabric:

One 2” x 2” square

Four 1.25” x 1.25” squares

Three  4” x 1.25” strips

Follow the instructions on Clue #1 to create the outside heart pieces.

To create the little nine patch you will first make two strip sets.

One will have two background strips and one heart strip

The other strip set will have two heart strips and one background

Stitch together your strip sets as shown below  and press to the dark fabric.

Now cutting across the strip sets, for each nine patch you will cut, strips across the strip set that measure 1.25” wide as shown below. Match up your seams and stitch your nine patch together.

Place the outside pieces to your heart in place to make the “4” patch as shown below and stitch together. Square up your block as shown in Clue 2 Video.

Refer to the Videos for step by step instructions.

You have completed the third heart in our mystery quilt. You need to make a total of 17 hearts. You can mix and match them or select the one you like the best. The next clue will have additional options for you to select but will be very easy as well. You have plenty of time to get your hearts completed. The next clue will come on Friday, January 9th.

If you need fabric for your project we have some pretty floral bundles in our Etsy Shop, they are priced at $10.00 per five fat quarter bundle, 10% off when you buy 2 and free shipping when you buy 3.