happylab

I’m still undecided on my colors. I found another fabric group I like. So I need to get all my choices together and decide. I’m leaning towards all of them. So very undecided at this time. I really don’t want to go r/w/b combo. I have several patterns I want to use for those fabric colors. Decisions, decisions.

Iceblossom

Just one more week to go!

Would love to see pictures Happylab and if you can describe your process/reasons for deciding on a different color scheme. For me, it is finding (single) pieces of fabric large enough for one color and trying to figure out how to use that in the project -- basically being driven by yardage. I know just because I have so many blues that I'm going to keep to that for this project.

I've been working on my Christmas String top and just got what I call the bed (the center minus borders) put together. I'm debating whether or not to stop at this point or work on the string pieced border. I want to be able to put it away once the mystery starts and this might be a good time for that... but there is a week to go so maybe I should keep going.

I have quite a bit of prewashing to do to start the Indigo Path. Don't mind the washing part so much but I am not a fan of ironing (my least favorite part of the process).

IrishMom

Hi everyone! I’ve watched Bonnie’s gift to us for the past 5 years and have always regretted not joining. This year I have two signature quilts to get done by March, so it seems perfect to join! (Haha - I hope I’m not crazy!). I figure I’ll use the mystery as a reward for work done on the signature quilts.

I pulled my fabric and almost stayed with her color scheme. I have pulled hot pink instead of the red. I wish I had enough of one of the pinks, but to make total yardage needed to pull in three. I’ll try and show a picture later of my fabric, I’m typing this on my phone and will need to be on my computer to add the picture.

So for those who have done this before - how do you account for all the fun scrappiness? Just a little of each fabric for each clue? Or use up each scrap and move on to the next one?

Looking forward to being a member of this fun and supportive group!

quiltsRfun

Here’s my choice for this year. Going a little rogue with pastels. We will see how it works. 😉

Iceblossom

IrishMom -- Welcome out of lurking!!

I think that I probably use too many fabrics and should dial it down a bit or at least make my "color" definitions narrower. In my defense, I'm trying to use up my little bits of things, little strips (when I still cut/saved them), 6.5" strips (my new small scrap size) and 10" blocks and such. With scrappy quilts it can help to use up everything so that you don't end up with the same fabric touching or "too close" to each other. I still use the term "Charm" to mean "only one piece of a fabric" and not as a precut size.

Even though I work in a very scrappy/busy style, with all that chaos I find it very helpful for the finished project to have some consistency so I will be using the solid reds instead of red prints. A single neutral can help too -- or a very narrow definition like all white on whites. But that's just for me -- some people love the riot that comes from charms.

Nice thing is that Bonnie will tell us if we need to make sets of a color unit if the design needs them.

One of the things that makes these mystery projects all the same yet all different is choices on how we make them. I'm typically going for scattered, so would make each step roughly 1/3 each of the 3 colors. You might decide to try and color shift somehow (which I think would be a nightmare in a mystery). You might decide that -- oh! I think this is going to be borders and will make all these units out of the same fabric. And you might be right! Or, Bonnie puts in things to keep use from guessing too far ahead. Some of us (me included) were really annoyed that she had us make excess blocks in the Frolic project (or at least we cut finished blocks in half to use as setting triangles. I got over it and put spare blocks on the back.

Iceblossom

QuiltsRfun -- Good to see you join up and love your fabric selections. I do love/admire the people who pick different colors. I think pastels will be lovely. Not saying it will lose definition but "low volume" can certainly make a big difference in taming down the riot and chaos I was talking about in Irishmom's post and my own quilting style.

For me now, it's time to do some prewashing. With my thoughts today (and my normal thoughts about ironing), I'm thinking of taking some of the larger pieces of (unwashed) fabric out of the mix and delay the prewashing until another project...

joe'smom

quiltsRfun, those yellows are so pretty!

IrishMom, as for how to use your scraps, I would say, just do whatever you feel like doing in the moment. It will all work out in the end. I tried something different last year, to simplify things for myself. Rather than trying to incorporate all fabrics of a color in a clue, I chose a few combinations I liked and did the whole clue in that set of fabrics, then picked a different set of fabrics for the next clue, etc. It made each clue much easier to cut, but the quilt still looked very scrappy.

happylab

IrishMom, welcome to active participation. 1st of all there is no right or wrong way to do scrappy. There are so many different ways. But when I do Bonnie’s scrappy, I try to use each color pieces in each step. When I run out of a fabric I just use less fabric choices, until it’s done. I have been known to add in more fabric choices as the project progresses. Depending on how I feel my pieces are going and looking. I did that last year.

IB, to answer your question, how do I select my fabric. 1st of all, I really like this time of year when I can work on Bonnie’s mysteries. Very rare do I ever go with her fabric choices, since I always plan to keep the quilts or give to special family members. So I pic quality scraps and fq & yardage. I start pulling out large fabric pieces in summer from my stash. This year I note I really like a piece of winter fabric that have some of my favorite colors. I also pulled out fall colors, but rejected that b/c I have several fall quilts. Earlier today I found scraps and FQ’s from a wall hanging I did last year, but rejected that b/c I don’t have enough dark and gold fabric to complete the fabric requirements. So that leaves me back to my original 2 selections (which I will post pics soon). I very rarely go with Bonnie’s colors, not a fan of red or yellow. I also decided not to do this years colors b/c I have r/w/b fabric pegged for several other projects. I’m leaning towards snow flake fabrics in dark blue, light to medium blues, and purple or tourque color fabric (1-3 pieces) very close in color range for the red. Then use the piece I liked 1st as a final border, tying all of my color choices together. Is that as clear as mud. I usually enlarge the top to fit a king size bed. So I added at least a 1/2 yard per color) for blocks and borders to the project. But this year I’m just want to make the queen size. One final note, I alway start a project with extra fabric in case I want to enlarge the project or change up my colors or change the final border at the end. That’s my thought process and choosing the fabrics is one of my favorite process in making a quilt.

Teen

quilts4fun….I love your color choices. Anything yellow always works for me. Lol…

joesmom….My method of scrapping follows yours. I choose the method that causes the least mess and anxiety.

I assembled my crumb quilt and now just deciding on a final border so it’s laying out for a few days as I ponder it. Need to pre wash my reds but I’m ready for Friday.

Hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving..🇱🇷🇮🇱

Macybaby

I think I'll join in this year. This last year has seen a lot of changes for me, but unfortunately I'm going to be spending the winter in South Dakota again. Though that means lots of indoor time for sewing. DH and I are both retired now and will be moving to GA, but the house didn't sell over the summer so we'll wait until next spring to put it back on the market. Just don't want to deal with possibly needing to move in the winter.

I've got another project I've got to get finished before Thanksgiving (it's a baby quilt) and then I'll be able to pull fabrics and get ready for Friday's clue. The Tri-Rec ruler is one of my favorite to use so I'm looking forward to that.