It's the wonderful thing about quilting, we all get to do what we want to do!
I usually have enough projects planned and going on that I don't usually have gaps in my schedule and don't do mystery projects very often. I also have my own style and I find it hard to work in other styles... But I really do enjoy group projects and working together even when we are miles apart, whether it is working separately on the same things, or swapping blocks, or whatever -- I was a happy solitary quilter for decade but it is more fun in a group.
Last year was my first Bonnie Hunter mystery I actually did although I've lurked and watched other projects over the years. I knew going in that Bonnie's and My Style were different, and as one lady in my Tuesday group pointed out "but you don't like lots of tiny triangles". And it's true -- I don't, but I had a bag of fabric (that turned out to be a lot harder to use than I expected) and time and an opening in my schedule and I had fun. And Bonnie is great at what she does, I just do things a bit different...
I had sort of a quilting hang-over from going along with the mystery in real time, and then Covid struck and then the rest of 2020 I've just been having issues... I'm finding it very hard to do my own stuff, but I can follow directions and respond to things, so I did my first round robin (which was so great once the anxiety attack I had for the first two months passed). Otherwise, I have not done any of the 6 projects I had planned for this year. That's ok because the fabric is still there and there is next year.
I'm going to do Bonnie Hunter again this year but with easier fabrics. I'm a big believer in pressing open but I'm going to follow Bonnie's directions for pressing to the side to see if I change my mind (unlikely) but it gives me a different construction technique and at the end I end up with a top ready for someone else. That's part of my willingness to do mysteries is because most of what I make is for donation and I don't even really have to like it, but it is a lot easier to complete things if you do like and find joy in them.
I am lucky enough that I have a lot of time available to me -- when I was stingier with "my" quilting time, mysteries were not for me. When I had to schedule in things like quilts for weddings and such, those had to take priority but hey I have a small family and they are pretty well covered with quilts at this point. Likewise, I have a large extensive stash I've grown over the years, but spending a hundred dollars or more for something I'm pretty much not going to keep isn't for me either. There is a certain freedom using things that theoretically go together and be able to say "well yeah, maybe I could have done better with what I had, but it was a mystery and so I didn't know".
Among my current quilting goals is to get better with things like sampler quilts. Again, I sort of like being able to blame any bad things on the designer and that it is a mystery... I didn't do it in real time but I did print off the Canadian Row by Row, and I'm going to watch what they do for 2021, I liked but didn't do the last two years so I figure chances are good that I'll enjoy this year's project.