Has anyone joined a Mystery BOM club?
 

Only to find out that the blocks were very difficult to make? I finally gave up and now when they come in the mail I toss them in a basket. I wonder if that is why they are called Mystery? Because they are so dang hard that no one would do them if they saw the blocks.

where did you talk the mystery? If you took it somewhere near you ask for help. If not ask here they are very good with helping people. Or go to your local quilt shope and ask for help they are pretty good about helping quilters with any of your quilting.
Deb

I haven't done any mystery quilts, possibly because I want to know what I'm making before I start it. It may not turn out the way I envisioned it at first, but at least I know where I think I'm headed. That said, I think one of the best reasons to do a mystery quilt, or any other BOM/quilt-along, is to be challenged each month to learn something new, step outside your boundaries, do something you wouldn't ordinarily do. And what's incredibly hard the first time will be easier the next time, and still easier the next, and finally it will become part of your skill set.

I did one mystery quilt online. I am not crazy about them because I too want to know what I am making so then I can truly make the right fabric choice! I won't do one again.

I love the mystery quilt online here. Others i am leery of due to support. Here was the besst one. It was like having having everyone in my studio talking and sewing.

I did one mystery quilt and really enjoyed it. The instructions were published every Friday for about six weeks. Now I am doing a mystery BOM that is hand appliqué. I had to learn how to appliqué by hand. I found that I really like the hand work. I hope you can learn to do your mystery blocks and that you will enjoy doing them.

I've done numerous (free) mysteries (QOV runs them fairly often) & for the most part, I like them. But, they're hard for me to do because I'm super obsessive about my fabrics syncing up. But I find that they usually are pretty good about giving suggestions.

Is the mystery here still going on or is it time for another one yet? Where do they post about it?

under the section of BOM and swaps
Here is the link to the ones that happen here
http://www.quiltingboard.com/blocks-month-week-f9/
the one that i like is the mystery train quilt i heard she maybe starting again in august/september. Keeps you guessing till the last week as to what the design is

paintmejudy does a mystery quilt project she calls the 'mystery train ride' and the last two have been a lot of fun. she will gear up again in aug/sept.

here is the link to her last one that just ended about 2 weeks ago. http://www.quiltingboard.com/blocks-...188477-67.html

here is the link for her first mystery train ride. http://www.quiltingboard.com/blocks-...180032-79.html

hopefully you will consider joining for train ride 3 and give up just a little bit of control and have plenty of fun.:)

Mystery Quilt for McCalls Magazine
 

I made the McCalls Mystery quilt this year and loved it. The directions were in three magazines and I could work on it, finish the directions, then work on my other quilting till the next magazine came. I hand quilted and machine quilted it on my home machine. Here is a picture of it Oh, by the way, the middle block was just suppose to be a solid color but I thought it needed a little extra touch so I fussy cut a flower from the floral part and added it. Wasn't in their directions but it was my quilt. :-)

oooohh so lovely!! your quilt turned out great. there was a group of us who worked along together with the mccall's 3-part mystery quilt. here is the link http://www.quiltingboard.com/blocks-...g-t174799.html.

like dunster suggested, this is a time to learn something new and challenge yourself. you can always reach out to the creators of the mystery bom for further directions or your local quilt guild or your local lqs or this board to see if someone can help you. there are so many talented quilters on this board i know someone can help.

so find some time to pull those bom packages out, post pics and ask questions here or any of the other resources i mentioned above. after all you are paying for them so use them. hang in there and you can get it done.

personally i have found that the blocks i have encountered (i consider tough) can be broken down in to smaller parts and i conquer the block piece by piece. i am one who reverse engineers the quilts (and blocks) i see that i like and add my own touch to it.

mary

the mystery quilts i have seen/participated in have all stated what (experience level) they are geared toward- they have also had (help available) if you signed up for one that is a bit (over your head) often you can contact the host & ask for guidance---they will help you- there are designers who tend to create quilts for very advanced quilters- i (tried) to do one once that was way above my skill level at the time- when i contacted them & started asking questions i was told---maybe it would be better for you to set you kits aside & learn these techniques first---then when you have more experience come back to them- it took me a couple years but i did manage to learn the techniques and go back & make the quilt-
it never hurts to ask for help & if it is just something way outside of your experience level set it aside & start with something simpler to learn the techniques first- sometimes the patterns are just not written well- once you understand the way it's written it may 'click'
no---mystery quilts are not always difficult- some are actually quite easy- designed for a beginner quilters- don't give up on all mystery quilts because of one-
but contact them & ask for some help/guidance- or ask for specific help here- or set it aside & learn the techniques- then go back to it...you have options :)

I love mystery quilts, as a new quilter, I have been challenged to do things I probably would not have tried otherwise. I have done 4 and currently have 2 in the works. If you haven't done one I would encourage you to try.

The mystery BOM I was talking about had a block that had 81 pieces to it. I was able to do the blocks up to that month, then had to quit. It was way over my head. I am not that advanced. They were 12 1/2" blocks and I know me and I know it would have ended up being smaller than 12 1/2" by the time I got done with it, if I could have even figured it out.