Welcome aboard SuzSLO! Last year Kalama did a 30s print variation that came out super cool. She's not really doing the boards this year but maybe I'll poke her in an email and see if she will be doing this year or not.

Those sets last time Terry were difficult for me, but I sure learned a lot of good organizational techniques and bought a bunch of clips to handle them! I much prefer projects where I can substitute any quarter or whatever unit for another instead of keeping track of them or making them block by block.

I'm finishing up a Frolic UFO from last year and I can still only work on maybe 4-5 blocks at a time (max) instead of going through whatever step with all 25. I know a lot of people do build quilts one block at a time but I'm all about zipping through assembly line process.

The other thing that bothered me last time was the amount of unused pieces representing time and money/fabric both "just" to keep the mystery alive. For me quilts are at least in part about being thrifty and that was just waste. I think she expected (and got) an amount of backlash from that, but if there is something similar this time I won't do a third.

LOL, I love sets! But there was so much grumbling last year about how complicated the sets made the clues, I very much doubt Bonnie would do sets again this year. But that's just me speculating!

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I'm extra excited about the mystery this year, because my new sewing machine makes sewing so much faster and more accurate. I had to stop sewing after 20 min. on my old machine because the motor would overheat, and I had to manually lift the presser foot for every piece.

Suz....I like your color choices. Reminds me of “under the sea” colorway...

SuzSlo: Welcome to the forum! I really like your colors.

I am a lurker too. I have pulled some fabrics just in case and I would not use the gray either. I would use a medium/dark brown. Instead of an asphalt road mine would be a dirt road. We will see if my lurking turns into piecing.

SuzSLO - love your colour choices! I envy folks who can put together different colourways and they come out better than the original.

Thank you to everyone for the warm welcome! I’m really looking forward to getting started. We are now at T- 15 days ... just have to get through that big meal with the turkey first!

NZ- I LOVE your idea!!!! Wow,thanks! Blue is my favorite color :)

I've been in a low energy/health phase these last couple of weeks and mostly I'm flat on back, staying home and letting the hubby do the driving if/when I do go out. When I'm upright I'm either on the computer or I'm continuing work on that Frolic UFO -- suddenly the little bits have bloomed into squares so it won't take long now. Today's task is to piece the sashing strips. I had to cut the "parakeet" color but the starter had the neutral/red units made for me. I do the L-shaped thing for sashing and will lay it out for the first time once the sashing is on.

For this year's mystery, I've prewashed and ironed the grey fabrics from my Tuesday ladies, so nice when fabric gets thrust at you just for the asking :) It's especially a good thing because that was my biggest gap between stash and project. Found a few fat quarters and things tucked in various boxes of my stash that will get washed today as well.

Having mentioned the Parakeet shade, think I'm still planning on going a different green direction. As Kermit would say, it's not that easy being green.

I hope you will be feeling perkier soon, Iceblossom!

I am planning to finish pressing my black neutrals today. I don't know if I'll have the nerve to use them, LOL. Maybe I'll do a few units in the black and some in the light to start with, to get a feel for which I prefer.