tallchick

I was disappointed with clue 6 as it’s not my preferred method and I find it tedious. I was going to stop and wait before continuing, but decided to just go with the flow and work through it. I’ve started this morning and I’m halfway done, hope to get all caught up and finished with 7 before the next clue. I agree with others that 7 is a bit confusing so I’m glad I opted for traditional method vs the specialty ruler which I find far more straightforward. I’m really enjoying seeing everyone’s progress and colors, really looking forward to the reveal.

armybandvet

I'm still slowly plugging away at my geese. Clue 7 is cut and ready but I'm not going to try to sew it until I finish the geese. I don't trust my brain to keep it all straight! If I can keep up with the cutting it's no problem to sling pieces through the machine later as I get the time.

I can imagine some cool things happening with the pinwheels I haven't sewn yet and the HSTs. I could see the geese as star points since they are in matched sets of 4s. Maybe the 4 patches and skinny rectangles could be pieced sashes and cornerstones, mostly because I can't imagine what else those skinny rectangle units would go with so far! I have some half baked ideas but I enjoy the surprise of each clue so I don't count units, do math, or think too hard on it. It all works out in the end. This has been a fantastic mystery for keeping people guessing all the way through.

AlvaStitcher

I am still waiting for the green fabric to arrive so I have not done anything with that clue. I did cut and make the pinwheel units and extra unsewn triangles today. I only cut enough for the pinwheels and 4 extra but not enough for the remainder of the 41 sets.
I think I will need to re-read some of the clues. I don’t remember leaving any other units unsewn before. Maybe that was the clue using the green? Hope I have not messed up on sewing when I shouldn’t have.

Belfrybat

Everyone has been so industrious! I finished up the Merry Mayhem quilt so am behind on this one. I did half the FG for clue 6, and tonight cut the squares for magic 8 HSTs using the darker blue. Tomorrow I'll sew them and try to finish the rest but using light blue/ red. I'm only making a half-size and I can't imagine how those of you making the full size are managing.
I too think there will be one more clue before the reveal, but knowing Bonnie it will probably come early. She seems to get on the fast track when close to the end. But I've kept up better this year than in years past.

joe'smom

I'm kind of bummed tonight. I really liked my dark blues and reds together in clue 1, so I thought I would like them used together in the clue 7 HSTs. I'm seeing now that an HST is rather useless without contrast. I'm wishing that I had just used the medium blues in this clue; it looks like I'll eventually have to do some of these over, along with re-doing some of clue 6.

maminstl

I really struggled with clue 6 - put it aside and moved on. I think I'll wait until the reveal and decide whether to start over or figure out how to use what I've done. Working on 7 now and after reading it about ten times should be able to get it right

Iceblossom

Hang in there folks! For those waiting I don't think you'll have to deal with some of the mystery elements those of us doing it along with the clues so you won't have to do the organizational work.

I'm still working on the current clue but it is going so much better than those geese units.

I've learned a lot working with these hand dyes, which I think also goes along with working with batiks and some issues with large scale prints as well. First is, unless it really doesn't matter, don't fold your fabric when you cut it! I spent so much time in the early stages looking at both sides of each piece trying to determine what was what. By this point, I figure out a right side, stack it if I have multiples and single cut it if I don't. If the piece varies in shades from one side to the other, I put the like sides together and cut sets. If I have to flip a piece over so it fits in better with the others, I do it at this stage. Finally, if there is a problem piece that would end up with one light side and one dark side, I put those on the top. For the fully scrappy combinations it doesn't matter, but for the matching set ones it is better if I slice it the other way, so I get two half-and-half triangles instead of two completely unrelated ones.

If this really was more scrappy and less done in sets, I wouldn't have had to worry so much about those color shifts. As it is, if there is one 2" spot of yellow in the red fabric, when I cut the fabric that yellow is entirely one triangle!

So once you've determined what side is up and cut, leave it on the board as I did in the clue with the geese where I could only do one set at a time without getting confused, or pin them together so you can remember which way is up and don't have to look at them all again! I put top side up as a constant, and the safety pin is a nice little handle for the blues. Getting out these basting pins just for organization as about tripled the speed and ease of actually working with these pieces.

I'm still using my oversized squares with a line drawn down the center to make my HST. For the reds I turned them over and drew my line on two of them down the back. I decided to not cut my non-sewn squares. Last time I stacked them in alternating colors but did not use them that way and it annoyed me to unstack them. Since I don't know yet (but I have a strong suspicion) what we are doing, I'm leaving them whole, and I just took my pencil and made a little tick mark in the dog ear part of the corner so I can easily tell which side is which.

Today at my Tuesday group I'll be putting together the red and blue units and prepare them for sewing. I'll be done with this clue by Friday. Maybe tomorrow even... but I can make it by end of day Thursday.

SusieQOH

I'm having trouble with the geese. I don't know why.
I'm using the wing clipper but some aren't coming out right.
Grrrr.....
Iceblossom- I love your hand dyes!!!

Queenbarbiej

I have my fabrics cut for clue 6 but not 7. After I am done with the 2nd Merry Mayhem 2020 quilt I will do clues 6 and 7. They shouldn't take too long. The longest part for me is the trimming.

Iceblossom

Thanks for the kind words SusieQOH. Those darn funky little monkeys/loosie goosies! I think most of us need kind words on those.

Most of the disappointment with the pink is having seen them red and glorious and popping with color and contrast. If they had already been in the bag that way, I'd have used them. In Clue 2? the one with the neutral/red rectangles I had some I wasn't happy with because I felt they were too pale but I had made too many and so was going to sort in some of the brighter combinations. Depending on how they are used, I might reconsider that stand and it may be a good thing to have some of the paler pinks in that series.

So here's what I did last night and what I'll be putting together today. Hubby has bowling league on Mondays and sometimes I come along for the ride and the fun and work on something behind the action. The guys are really sweet and come and chat and look at what I'm doing. Last night I was drawing the lines on the reds and I randomized them, lol the pinks aren't even what is bothering me today but again I'm telling myself it's all going to be fine.

So the pinks are grouped together in sets and many of them have 3 or more repetitions, but what I've done is just randomly sorted them out. Since I rarely had more than 3 of any type, I started with three columns and just put the squares there and then stacked them up.

The blues on the other hand, I am keeping in their cut sets and/or putting some of the individuals in with similar pieces. So I know if I have 3 blues in a row, for example, each of those same fabrics will be paired with a different red for maximum variation. Other people (and on other projects) maybe I wouldn't care but I feel I'm having enough repetitions with the groups that I otherwise I want more random. Again, on another project maybe I wouldn't care/want enough. Most of what I complain about is stuff I am doing to myself. I really am a lot more compulsive and uptight but I'm trying to get free-er.

Have to say again that my "Blues" are really Darks and Mediums and have been all along. They are blue, purple, green and everything in-between and combined. Despite the pictures, there are, however no blacks or solids!

What I do isn't exactly the same, but Karla Alexander gives a remarkably good way to deal with fabric combinations in her Stack the Deck series. Highly recommend them. There are the fast crazy quilt template sets now, Karla was one of the people who developed the technique and teaches how to do them without templates.
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/...tack_the_Deck_

The second picture is a before/after of some of the pieces. What I had left of the red splotchy one was basically white with a few red splotches. Now it's pink with red splotches and was very usable, what's shown is actually two different over-dyes. The darker piece was the original piece which had light background dyed once. The top piece is actually mostly light background and dyed twice, and is the "back" of the piece dyed once, it was almost all white when it started. The golden yellow... well it's more orange with stains but it mixes in.