Expanded my comfort zone
 

I usually don't do scrappy as I am too OCD to put random fabrics together, even if they are in the same colorways. I almost always do a kit where fabrics are chosen for me to eliminate the anxiety of picking my own colors. Even using a bundle of the same collection is hard for me. BUT the colors in this year's Bonnie Hunter Mystery Quilt, found here on her website free until early February: https://quiltville.blogspot.com/p/gr...k-mystery.html, intrigued me, especially since I had lots of FQs in the appropriate colors, except for grays. Who doesn't love fall colors?! I went out on a limb and started gathering my scraps, determined to expand my comfort zone and learn ideas for using my rather large collection of FQs and scraps.

I was so proud of myself on keeping up each week of the seven weeks, though some weeks were rather intense with lots of cutting and sewing. Bonnie is a great teacher, gives excellent directions with multiple ways to sew units such as HSTs, etc. I learned so much and am finally contemplating trying some "scrappies" on my own.

Here is the center of "Grassy Creek" as I start to assemble this large 92" x 92" quilt. It is viewed on our king sized mattress, but without the seams there wasn't enough room to lay out 4 more borders, another 11" on all 4 sides.
The whole quilt can be seen in her final reveal on week 7. Sometimes it is liberating to expand and try new things. I hope you enjoy.
Attachment 631319

Congratulations on getting out of your comfort zone and for doing and completing a Bonnie mystery quilt! Yours is stunning and I love your color choices, very beautiful! She does indeed give excellent directions and I love her patterns. I hope that you will join in this years again when it comes out.

You did a fabulous job! It's beautiful.

Emiliasgrandma, you might enjoy going to the forum Quiltingboard Challenges and Contests, if you haven't already. There is group for people doing Bonnie's Grassy Creek mystery quilt. Fun to see everyone's take on this quilt and share our progress and frustrations. Yours looks great!

Your quilt turned out great. You could try a couple other Bonnie quilts- she certainly helps us (see) our scraps in new ways. I’ve learned a lot seeing how she puts scraps together.

I think that we need to get out of our comfort zone sometimes, and hopefully it will help spark all of us to do so more often. You did a great job on the quilt.

It’s outstanding, Emilia’sNana....... I am thrilled with my first BH mystery, too. It was the colors of this mystery that intrigued me to finally make one. Once you start scrappies, it’s hard to turn back!

Well done! Although I have done some BH quilts, I haven't tried her mystery quilts. I do make scrappy as I have so many small pieces of fabrics given to me. What I have gained working with scrappy over the years is color confidence. The more one works with color the better one becomes. May your "baptism" into scrappy lead you to more adventures in color!

gorgeous quilt and congrats for getting out of your comfort zone!