Well I wasn't going to do this year's mystery (still slightly undecided)... I've been busting through my UFO list pretty well and don't want to break my stride... haha.

But I really like the colors together - and I've been happy with the last 3 mysteries (although Ringo Lake was tough) -- IF I decide to do this one I think I'll just go with 1 fabric - no scraps (eeks!)

I found some good matches in my stash but I'm mulling over using orange as a neutral and subbing yellow for the orange - or maybe yellow and purple and eliminate the red.... Guess I have a few weeks to decide. :)
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Amy I love your color combos - either would be very striking. I'm still sitting on the edge and haven't decided. But I do have this layer cake with blue's that I really like and have wanted to do something with blue/tan/brown. What do you think ladies, would this combo give enough contrast or "pop"?

Amy, that neutral in your top photo is adorable! Your green seems a little dark. I've been wondering what value pitfalls to avoid, and the only potential problem I can think of is having colors next to each other that are too dark to differentiate hues. Unless we'll have a neutral between every piece of every color?

Carol, that looks beautiful to me.

Look what I found at Tuesday Morning. Might be fun to do it all in solids. I was tempted to buy one of each and do a smaller quilt but I resisted. If I decide to jump in I’ll try to work up another color combination from my stash.

Nice Tuesday Morning find! Beautiful color gradations.

I stopped by Lowes and got the paint chips today. They are very basic, heavily saturated primary and secondary colors. Exactly like crayons... in the box of 8. I'm glad she gave three examples of the neutral range. It's helpful to have chips for those. Still not committing to this quilt until I see a little more... but the unknown factor is exciting. Just don't want to have a big UFO on my hands, because it was so complicated (like Ringo Lake!) Whoever said RL 'wore them out', I'm with you on that!

Carol, your fabrics look nice but one thing stands out to me: The 'tans' look like a darker range of neutrals. I would probably pick a bolder color, if you want the same impact as Bonnie intended. She's got 4 bold, saturated colors, and then many neutrals. Looks like this quilt will be lots and lots of neutral. And then lots of orange.

It's fun to pull those fabrics, but I have so many pulled collections already, for different quilts in progress. Will try to complete some before I pull BH colors.

Gee, it sounds like I'm making this quilt! Well... who knows? :D

Thanks Joe's Mom - the green is not quite as dark as the photo and is very close to Bonnie's paint chip. I'm ok with it even if it's not a lot of contrast and I also really like the light fabric with flowers -- husband hates it and wants me to do the version with orange as the neutral - haha - quilt is not for him though... not sure who it is for - someone that likes orange I think.

If it is helpful to someone, especially if you plan to switch colors around; the % breakdown of colors using Bonnie's yardages are:
13.64% = Jay Blue
8.52% = Kilkenny Green
11.93% = Show Stopper Red
25.00% = Robust Orange/Outgoing Orange
40.91% = Neutrals (Marshmallow/Choice Cream/OysterBar)

QuiltsRfun - oh my gosh those solids are beautiful. I think using those for the mystery is a great idea. Wish I had a Tuesday Morning near me. We used to but it closed. :(

So happy to see this thread! I so appreciate everyone's discussions and input on the Board.

I found all paint chips except the blue, which was all out. The gentleman at Lowes told me he just ordered more. I waiting too long to get paint chips for ORL, and had a hard time finally finding them, so I went out as quick as I could this time. And still was too late!

Still thinking about my color choices. I am wondering about going with all solids this time, either scrappy solid or one solid fabric per color choice.

I may also only do a half size, which is just a 36" square wall hanging. ORL and En Provence put me really behind on several other projects. Even so, I enjoy Bonnie's mysteries!

Thank you for putting it all into perspective and since I'm not excited about a red/orange/neutral quilt, with a dash of blue/green thrown in, I'd have to re-think colors or maybe just sit this one out. Like so many others.. I have a stack of to-dos, ufos, etc.. and haven't yet forgotten the immense amount of time it took to complete my ORL.. But, then again, I also loved the process, appreciate all that I learned and so.. whew.. I dunno what I'm gonna do :D

In the meantime, I love everyone's unique take on fabric selection and look so forward to your parade of finished clues each week after Thanksgiving!

P.S. I'm most curious to see Kassaundra's spin on this years mystery! I'm certain it will be delightful as always :)

quiltsRfun, what beautiful colors! I think solids are a great idea.

sewbizgirl, I'm glad you're considering joining. Resistance is futile, LOL.

Christine, if memory serves, the final look of ORL surprised some people based on the fabric percentages, so perhaps the orange won't seem as dominant within the pattern.

Thank you Barb for the embroidery floss numbers! That's a big help - I'll be able to get those. So fun to see everyone's fabric!!

I just ordered a package deal from Quilted Twins. The picture they showed was yummy. I had gone to the fabric store yesterday, without my list. I was really there to get a bigger piece for a back.

I bought three yards but only two would be suitable. I got so confused and besides men were waiting on me to get in and out of the fabric store. So I just bought this entire package. $97.00.

I Love orange!! I switched my ORL from peach and aqua to orange and royal blue. The orange is so much fun!

I love these. I will need to go out there and see if my store has them too.

[QUOTE=sewbizgirl;8154175]Nice Tuesday Morning find! Beautiful color gradations.



Carol, your fabrics look nice but one thing stands out to me: The 'tans' look like a darker range of neutrals. I would probably pick a bolder color, if you want the same impact as Bonnie intended. She's got 4 bold, saturated colors, and then many neutrals. Looks like this quilt will be lots and lots of neutral. And then lots of orange.

Thank you Sewbizgirl for the input. I really want to keep the tans and wonder if they should be my neutrals and then introduce another color to replace the white tone on tone. I need to add more of the very dark brown, but wonder what other color might work for that 4th. strong color. Ideas??

Well, I got paint chips today and will try and pull fabrics tomorrow. Don’t really like orange as a color, so will try subbing golds. Going to do about a hakf size, maybe with some borders added to get it to a twin size. Blue, green and red won’t be a problem. Post pics after I pull some fanrics.

Carol, I covered up the white in your photo and didn't like it as well. And I recall someone referring to Bonnie saying to stay lighter with the neutrals in this quilt. So if you keep the white, then add various shades of brown to go with your brown and tan, I think you would have something comparable to Bonnie's model of the lighter and darker orange.

Thanks Lisa, that is what I will do; it seems that there should be enough contrast that way. I appreciate your thoughts.

[QUOTE=Carol in WI;8154374]I think I would use them for the neutrals, just staying lighter than "a brown paper bag", as Bonnie says. For another bold color, think primary or secondary. How about gold/cheddar?

But... at this point we are all just guessing! If you use fabrics you really like, I'm sure you will like your quilt.

I think these look really good together.

Keep in mind the neutral doesn't Have to be the lightest color of your group.

Carol, it just occurred to me that if your tans/browns represent your oranges, you still need a 'green,' if I'm understanding correctly that your layer cake=blue, red=red, white=neutral, brown/tan=orange.

This is what I have in my stash in Bonnie's color families (that aqua peeking out under the blues is part of the quilt underneath). Value is another matter. Every year I range far from the suggested values, and every year I regret it, so if I'm smart I will not think of using the dark greens. These certainly are happy colors!

Carol, would you have a reproduction purple or a medium gray print you could try with your colors?

Pretty group, Lisa. Those two med. greens in the center of your green row look just about perfect.

Lisa, I like your fabric choices and can imagine that is what Bonnie is suggesting - I like your collection of neutrals. Through doing these mysteries, I've learned that I don't do total scrappy very well (esp. with the neutrals), but then seeing how others jump right in with the wide variety I sometimes wish I did get a bit more risky.
Here I go....for sitting on the edge I'm spending a lot of time and thought with my choice fabrics. This is what I thought my colors would represent as I wanted the largest % (aside from the neutral) to be the blue, so the blues will replace her orange; tan/beige replace her blue; the rust replaces red, and the dark brown replaces green.
Thank you Kassaundra....I always appreciate everyone's insights and like several others am anxious to see your fabric collection.

My real fabric won't be chosen until after the reveal. I will be using stand in fabrics for the units I am assembling during the mystery. I am wanting to incorporate fussy cutting and or directional fabrics and won't know where they can be effectively used until the reveal.

I agree - there are numbers on the top and bottom of the chips and are not very visible (old eyes LOL). And, yes, they were scattered all over the place. Some were on cards with a color family and others were individual.

Quilted Twins has a fabric bundle with the colors needed for Bonnies Good Fortune Mystery Quilt. They will vary the fabrics somewhat in each bundle but the colors will be what is needed if you follow Bonnies color choices. They do not have her pattern. Go to her site for the pattern and clues.

Battle Axe, I just read your entry after I posted this message. Have you received your bundle yet?

Hello all - I have a set of all the paint chips for this mystery that I would love to send to anyone who can't find/get them and will use them!

Just send me a pm with your mailing info and I will ship them out right away :)

Christine

Mariposa, thanks for starting this thread. I plan on doing scrappy and have to hit my stash and fill in with FQ if need be. I love reading everyone's comments and look forward to seeing fabric selections.

[QUOTE=Terry in the ADK;8153515]Went to China several years ago and so will try to replicate Bonnie’s colors which were certainly prevalent in Beijing !
Here’s my question: I “justified “ buying an Accuquilt Go Big because I do these mystery quilts every year! Good excuse don’t you think! Anyway the dies are on sale,20% off, right now. What ones will she use! Does she give any clues? I have the very basic I think but would like to get what else I need while on sale.
BTW most LQS who carry them honor the sale so you don’t pay shipping![/QUOTE

If I were to guess about Accuquilt dies for a Bonnie quilt, I would focus on small (2”,2.5”,1.5”) HSTs and QSTs. After those, I’d go for flying geese. For me, strips are fast to cut, where as her triangles can take many hours every week. Last year was the first time I already had all the necessary dies, and I spent an hour or less cutting each week. I view my dies as an investment. I don’t intend to sell them if they aren’t being used “enough.” To me, they are something to be used and used over the years.

I hope that as each clue is revealed , someone will tell what dies we can use. I have an 8 inch cube, so naming by number would be helpful. I trim each unit anyway so I can make them smaller. Bigger however is much tougher LOL.

I learned today that not all oranges go well together! I received some fabric in the mail, and mostly picked oranges that are much too yellow to go well with Bonnie's orange. I got out the 3-in-1-tool and checked the cards. There are several related to orange; the first (starting from the yellow end) is called 'orange yellow,' and these are the oranges I mostly picked. The next card is Bonnie's color family, called yellow orange, then comes the orange, and the red orange. I also tended to pick colors that were more intense and brighter than our sample orange. I think it would have been helpful had I paid closer attention to that peach. I then might have realized I was in too-yellow territory. Thankfully, I did make some good choices, too.

I am doing 125% on the clues so hopefully that will give me one more row of blocks to make the quilt a little longer. This is going in our new to us camper. The width should be about right to just barely hang over the sides of the queen mattress, but I want to be able to tuck the bottom of the quilt under the mattress during the day. I’ve got my fabrics picked out, although I’m struggling with the urge to go buy some tamer neutrals. This is the scrappiest I’ve ever done for neutrals, but I always like how other quilts look with the bolder neutrals. I usually put all of my fabrics in one bin, and then it is a huge mess after a few weeks of clues. This year I decided to try these individual bins from DollarTree, hoping that each color having its own bin will keep things neater. Then they all fit in an apple box together.[ATTACH=CONFIG]603489[/ATTACH]

Feathers N Fur, love how your bins match your fabrics. I dump mine into small white dishpans, it works great but mine do get jumbled.

Lovely color combinations being shown. I am still undecided if I am making or following along. Lol! Last year, I only did 1/4 of the clues. I added borders to make it large enough for my church quilting group. Less stress and I still was able to enjoy the camaraderie of other participants.

Love your colors collections, Feathers-N-Fur.

I usually ruffle some feathers every year when I say this, but will risk it again: Fabric with white backgrounds read as white. In your quilt, they will look like your neutrals. Everyone can do as they like with their fabric selections, but if you want the distinction of colors as Bonnie intended, you need to be sure your colors are true. This is one of the biggest things I've learned from Bonnie Hunter over the years.

Thanks for the floss color numbers. I did the last BH mystery- it was my first, so I followed her colors. And well I had fun making it and watching what all of you did here on the board, I think mine looks to Southwestern for me. I think this year I am going to print the clues & wait a bit before I choose my colors (choosing colors is my biggest weakness). But I know it is going to be fun here on the board!

OH! I almost forgot- I got an email from the Quilted Twins website they already have a bundle of 31 1/2 yard cuts for the bh mystery on sale $92.00 just FYI.

LOL. How can anyone hate Mardi Gras colors? Believe me, I do understand. But I still love all things Mardi Gras!