Originally Posted by
CraftyBecksa
I'm curious: how many hours would each step of the mystery normally take? Or is it completely variable based on a range of factors?
'Completely variable based on a range of factors' is a great way to put it. I follow along on Bonnie's Facebook page, and it literally takes my breath away how quickly some people can work. I've always been a slow poke quilter, even when my health was better. I would say that over all the years of the mysteries I've participated in, I rarely would finish an entire clue before the next one was released. Bonnie used to recommend that if people hadn't finished one clue on time, they should put it aside and start the new clue with everyone else, so as to experience any problems with the unit that might arise for them.
Using a black background usually produces a spectacular result, and I think pink and black look great together. For Chilhowie, I used a black background, and I did have some contrast issues between my blacks and purples, but as I recall, that ended up only being a factor in the border.
Originally Posted by
Iceblossom
Some people swear by some of rulers they have gotten for these projects. Sometimes I just swear at mine
Exactly! Using the half rectangle trim tool made me realize that I am not a specialty ruler kind of quilter.
It is important with her projects that you can easily tell one color group from another, but we can usually switch entire color groups so long as you end up with (for this project) 3 distinct colors plus a background. Some of her projects can be done in values, so Dark, Medium, Light, and the Neutral for this one.
Bonnie used to say more about value in the mysteries. I used to worry about it more, too. This year I could have very little contrast between my grays, pinks and blues but will just try to take care of it with fabric pairings.