Here's my reflection on this year's mystery.... Many people do this mystery every year and it follows the same course each year. So this year she decided to drastically change how you build the units. This allows for way more mystery because you have no idea what is going on.

The problem that I'm having is that it is really confusing. This clue in particular is super confusing. I'm going to have to read through it several times to make sure I'm doing it right. And keeping track of the way everything is pressed so it nests together correctly is really overwhelming. It may just be that my life right now has me overwhelmed and that is clouding my judgment, but this is a lot to keep track of and separated and pressed and fiddly.

I'm very excited for the reveal and know that I'm going to love it because I love my colors and fabrics. It's just a little overwhelming and I'm spending more time cutting and double checking directions and organizing and counting then actually sewing.

I am overwhelmed right now.
I didn't realize it was going so fast. I thought her mysteries were over several months. (This is my first)
I spent all last evening trimming my blocks for clue 5. Yikes!!!!!!!!

I knew it was just over the holidays typically ending the beginning of January. This is the first time I've done one in real time. Usually I wait until the reveal and then decide if I want to make it. I feel like she's never focused so much on how things are cut and pressed though. It's kind of anxiety inducing. Like if you press something wrong it's not going to fit into the quilt right. That is very stressful to me as a Type A personality.

the pressing is just a learning curve, you don't have to do it that way. And many times she doesn't specify so it won't matter. But when she does, it is so units nest when assembling. Please don't stress, take want you want and leave the rest.

She does it over the holidays for those of us that don't have holidays, or are alone, or whatever. The first year I did it (2011) I did it because I started 75 days of radiation for breast cancer on Dec. 1. It kept my mind occupied and whatever else, I'll always love her for that.

I'm cleaning out my files readying for a laptop change over and found this. When I had my mother here with dementia, my Rob defied his boss who told him he'd be fired for taking a day off, and he sat with mother and I was able to go to a Bonnie class in Portland. She sat with me at lunch and we had the nicest visit. I look old and tired because I was, I could hardly get through my days and nights. It was the kindest gift he has ever given me and there have been many. 2014

It took a little bit of digesting for me to get it... but we will have about 2/3rds turned into pinwheels, the remainders will be HST and there are some cut but not sewn HST combinations.

Edit: I've overdyed the pink fabrics, one last wash and then dryer. Used up the last of my vinegar I bought at Costco, nice to get that jug out of the way. I'm trying to keep on task with my combo units and not get distracted by the red issue but too late!

I was thinking that maybe next year I'd do the mystery her way as a very good lesson on pressing to the side. I still prefer my open pressing but I'd be more likely to join more block exchanges if I did what was expected and this would be a good way to do it. Her explanations have been terrific for the side pressing.

Also wanted to credit you accurate sewists! I used to be very good and sniffed at what I called "fabric wasteful" techniques but then I started my slice and dice and trim techniques partly because of my vision issues. After a couple of decades, it's the way I work now cutting large, using squares for small triangles, things like that. My speed is much faster, my accuracy actually better once trimmed, and the waste really isn't that bad, sure an extra half inch per unit or whatever adds up, but typically only adds one extra row of cutting.

In my normal quilting it is extremely rare anymore that I cut anything smaller than 2.5" so these are small but not tiny pieces for me.

I'm a tad confused about the dog ears as well, so since I make mine the magic 8 method, I'm just not going to trim them off except the ones going into the pinwheels. That way I'll have two dog ears and will trim whichever needs to be gone during the assembly. The only thing I do know is I really need to pay attention to the direction of the pinwheels. My second Bonnie mystery, I had the pinwheels spinning in the opposite direction and it really made a difference in that quilt. But with a huge amount made, I decided to just spin in two different directions.
BTW, has anyone considered what a pain this is going to be to assemble? Yikes!

Kalama, for all you went through I'd say you looked wonderful! What a nice photo and a nice post.
I don't feel so bad right now. It seems I'm not the only one a bit overwhelmed. It doesn't take much
to get me in that state haha

In a sense you had it right SusieQ, because many of us do make the quilt over several months. We get the techniques for the clues down during the mystery weeks, and then finish at our own pace. Bonnie recommends, if you're not done with one clue when the next comes out, put the previous one aside so you can get in on the question period for the new clue. This goes along with her recommendation of making at least a dozen of each clue during that week. That way you get familiar with it and learn the pitfalls.

If you think of it as having until next November (when the next mystery comes out) to finish the quilt, maybe it will not seem so overwhelming.

KalamaQ, thank you for sharing that lovely photo!

joe's mom- I didn't know that! Thanks for posting. Now I feel a whole lot better! I thought the reveal was soon!!!
Oops- read it too fast! haha

I am feeling so much better after reading some of the posts here. I thought to myself, " What is going on with my brain and why am I having such a hard time with this?" I consider myself to be intermediate in quilting, I have several quilts finished and some have been a challenge but these instructions are really confusing to me. I am still not getting how many are pinwheels, how many are just HSTs and how many are combos. I guess I will just do some up and make more as I go. I already have half of clue 6 finished and trimmed. I will also try to go to her blog or other places she said to go to. The more the better for me to try to understand.

I am having a devil of a time with those flying geese. I despise doing them this way as I can never get them perfect. This one might have done me in. Much frustration.

Here's the link again --
https://quiltville.blogspot.com/2020...ry-part-7.html

For those having problems with Clue 7, starting at the top of the clue is the important number of sets we need. Each set is made up of 2 fabrics one blue (any, dark to medium -- no aqua) and one Frambois/Red.

We will be doing various things, but first we are cutting matching sets of HST. From each of those sets, half are sewn together in HST and half are not -- keep the sets together. There is a reminder of how many just above the picture with the triangle ruler.

Then, some of the HST are turned in to a pinwheel -- Bonnie says it matters what way it turns! You keep the pinwheels with the unsewn HST. The number is under the picture of the completed pinwheel. When you've done the pinwheels, what is left is kept in matched groups of sewn HST and cut but unsewn HST pieces.

So keep your baggies, safety pins, or clips handy for another round of organization. I think I'll be using safety pins this time, out of clips.

The reveal may be any Friday soon. But that is OK. Just print the clues now, save them in a folder, and do at your leisure. Just be sure to print all of the clues before Feb1, when they will take off into cyberspace. 🚀 If my mystery is done by March or April, I think I am right on schedule. After all, there are other things to quilt, right?

Don't anyone feel bad! I still have a lot of sewing left to do on Wednesday's clue, and I've only got today's clue cut out. I'm using my Accuquilt and just decided to heck with this leftie/rightie dog ear cutting thing. I have no dog ears! I assume its something to do with aligning pieces but I'm going to keep on with what I'm doing and appreciate the explanation of alternate ways of doing things as a broad introduction that I can look into later if I ever need to.

I've got my matching sets of pieces cut out and colors paired up. I'll probably read through this step another time (or several!) before I decide I'm ready to sew. So long as I end up with the right number of pinwheels spinning in the right direction I'm probably going to call it good enough!

I've only done last year's mystery in real time. I fell behind then and I'm honestly surprised that I kept up as long as I did this year. Even if I didn't work and had all the sewing time I could stand I don't think I'll ever be one of those people that have their quilt finished the day after the reveal. I'm just glad to have something positive and interesting to look forward to during the winter.

This is my third year with the mystery quilts. I’m on clue 4 so need to catch up eventually. I fall behind every year. I just save the clues and go at my own pace. Some days my brain and fingers just aren’t on the same page and if I force it I just end up cutting the wrong sizes or shapes or spending a lot of time with “jack”.

It’s supposed to be fun. I’ve got enough deadlines at work so I don’t want any in the sewing room.

I finally finished On Ringo Lake that started November 2017 last week. Good Fortune that started November 2018, I finished the top around June of 2019 and I’m still playing with the back. I used Halloween colors and I’d like to have it done before October 2020.

Has anyone else completely run out of their raspberry? Ive has to pull from a jelly roll to get enough strips. I started with fat quarters so I’m not sure why I’m so short. I’m running out of blues too

I would not have had enough Red for the sets if I didn't do this overdying I've been doing today, my scraps were just getting too small, there will be a number where it is the last bit of the fabric I have -- still not sure it's fully enough but it will be close enough I think/I hope, can always include more of the pink and browns I'm avoiding. I just had stacks of yardage for my colors with an approximate amount of yardage so I've been uncertain this whole time on how much have we used of what.

And yes -- for those where this is your first mystery, unless you have completely cleared your calendar and have prepared yourself for regular sewing intervals you are unlikely to keep up but this thread will be here all year. And here's the thing, even if you are willing and have a clear calendar (mine is pretty open) you can only do what you can do, and we are supposed to be having fun with this. So I've got music playing loudly, I'm dancing, playing with the dog, singing along and doing 1-2 sets at a time as I go by them and feel like doing them. My back was giving me some issues the other day and held up pretty well today until about half an hour ago. Time for some dinner and a break before I break myself!

Now that I have my system down and using my oversized pieces, it's not bad except for the darn extra complexity of dealing with the hand dyes. Had I used the solid green for all my parakeet, I'd be done by now -- or at least a whole heck of a lot closer, and I'd probably be unhappy with using all one fabric and a solid at that! It's always something.

Bravo, Iceblossom, for managing to explain so well without using numbers. It verges on the comical how much more difficult it is for us to help each other when we can't mention numbers, LOL!

I went to lie down for 'a few minutes' to rest my back and read the clue. Now it is hours later! I want to point out something that seems quite significant to me. The business about the trimmed dog ear being in a certain position applies only to the triangles that end up remaining unsewn. For the triangles that end up being sewn into HSTs, those dog ears are all removed as usual! So unless I am totally missing something, there is no reason to do the HSTs by the method shown. They can be done by any method. Only the triangles that remain unsewn need to be cut as shown. I have verified that if you are using the Easy Angle ruler in place of Bonnie's Essential Triangle Tool, the blue needs to be on top for a right hander. With the blue on top and working left to right, you get the dog ear orientation that is shown.

The stars are not aligning for me on this mystery. I thought I would be able to start working on this between Christmas and New Years. But then my furnace died and my sewing area once again became a storage space so that the area around the furnace could be cleared to allow for removal and replacement. New furnace goes in on Wednesday but now my priority must be a baby quilt for my expectant niece. She decided she wants her baby shower sooner rather than later....I have until Feb 1....and am out of town for work for one of those weeks, yikes!

I am saving the clues but it looks like I will miss out on the ‘mystery’ aspect......maybe next year!

I will continue to follow the thread as I am very interested to see how the different fabric selections work out.

Ok... I think I was panicking for nothing. I’ve got all my pieces cut for this step and clipped together and the HSTs sewn together. Tomorrow will be pressing and pinwheels.

I've decided to just let it go.... if some of my bits don’t nest nicely... that’s what pins are for LOL!

Also the 100 pack of little clips and Creative Grids Stripology ruler I got for Christmas are my new favorite things.... I don’t know that I could go back to life before them!

SusieQH, this is my third BH mystery but I only participate every “other” year and I usually don’t get them finished until Fall...just go at your own comfortable pace.

Quiltinglawyer, I have had to purchase more of the framboise fabric from the get-go, it’s just not a color I gravitate towards but hopefully I’ll have enough to get me through this quilt.

Hopefully I will get through Clue 6 this weekend and then Onto Clue 7 later in the week.

Many thanks to all for posting. I feel a whole lot better now!
And you're right- this is supposed to be fun! So I'm going to slow
down and get out of the panic I got myself in!

Don't know if I will make it or not, but I have less than half of my Clue 6 to finish and I want to get them done today!

The reds I dyed yesterday are just not sticking no matter how much boiling I've done and mostly I've just made the pinks pinker, which does make them a bit more usable if they aren't going to bleed over all the others. Going to go to Walmart after posting this (gotta love not waiting for stores to open in this modern world) and get some Retayne or Rit setting agent or something and hope for the best/try to think of other resolutions.

I just picked up Rob Thomas's Chip Tooth Smile CD that just came out in 2019 as a present to myself because I was needing some new music and wondered what he was up to. Rob was/is the lead man for Matchbox 20, if you liked what they did then, you'll like what he does now. I love the entire album. It's one of those where you want to hear the next song and in sequence, or at least that's how it is for me.
Can't help but dance along to the ironing when this one come's on. (It's on now!)
I Love it
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jo84qxVfbqU

but then slow down and waltz for
It's only Love
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fnRZV8X_1Ng

Also in my CD player is a bunch of old music, well, the last 20 years or so. I had a favorite radio station but they changed formats a couple of years ago, it used to be described as "Adult Alternative". So more of a softer rock world beat with a lot of acoustic?? KMTT, The Mountain in Seattle. When grunge overtook Seattle and the music scene, it was more Counting Crows than Nirvana. It was nice to have the same station for decades.. but tastes and delivery systems change. When I do my thrift store shopping with the hubby, I look at the CDs and have been able to find a number of collections from the Live Music Lounge as well as various compilation albums. I load them up and it's like 6 hours of commercial free happy noise.

​That's how I'm interpreting the dog ear instructions too, but I still cut everything with the Accuquilt so there are no dog ears on any of my pieces. I'm curious to see how this matters later. I'm not a super experienced quilter, but I can't come up with any scenario where this makes sense to me! But it must make sense somehow if it's emphasized in the instructions. I'm sure I'll get a learning experience out of it, and I may or may not be crying later over my decision to ignore the dog ear thing! Maybe my no dog ear having pieces will wind up as an extra pieced border or something fun on the back. 😁

I am about halfway through clue 6, the first few sets of flying geese went slow, but now that I have a system they are going much faster. The mid week extra clue last week is really going to throw me behind...I am slow at cutting and piecing, and the timing of this mystery coincides with a very busy season at work. I knew that when I started, and I want to keep up to keep the mystery part intact, but it has been harder than I thought!

I am pleased with the geese units...so far I think they are going together well, but we will see if my opinion changes once I have to sew them to other units!

my poor broken mind is still not wrapped around clue 7, but I am cutting my strip sets this morning, and I get why she wants the pinwheels set up the way she does, well, I think I get it, a specific color next to it will lead off from the specific setting of the pinwheel making an arm or W or something. And starting with the half square cut with pink on top and cut going / sets up those pinwheels correctly. Using the easy angle my first cut is always \ so I'll just be aware of that.

some of what we've cut and not stitched may going into a border treatment too, she has done that before.

I know we have 3 or 4 members here with vision problems, one of the many ways I've adapted my passion for quilting is taking off the left side door on my machine. Can't do it on the vintage ones, but they aren't so bulky. It really opens up with window for seeing what I'm stitching.

Best time to go to Walmart is before 8:00 am! They didn't have much in the Rit dye area and no usable red dye for me dry or liquid, but they had several bottles of stabiilzer. And then I went down the next aisle where there were tons of Tie-Dye stuff. I bought some caustic soda, which is the pretreatment for dying figuring it will help me remove the unset dyes or at least make the cotton more reactive along with some red and fuschia dyes. I've got yesterday's fabrics soaking in there and will do some with the tie dye additives in a bit and hope for the best while I continue on Clue 6 and my hopes to start cutting Clue 7 tomorrow.

I now have the remaining sets ready to go together. Although I try really hard to let my random happen naturally, there is a certain amount of color and value cross over in my fabrics and I had to fiddle around with those last 3-4 sets until I reached good enough balance. Not my favorite combinations at all, Clue 6, but considering all the reservations I've had I'm satisfied that it will work out in the end. The Parakeets looked rather nice together but not so much with my dark colors.

I did not have the mental energy for geese last night, so had an enjoyable time sorting through my leftover blue and red strips from previous clues and cutting what I'll need for clue 7. This morning has gotten away from me and I have to finish basting the quilt that is on the dining room table so we can use the table to stack all of the Christmas ornament boxes; I'm hoping to consolidate and eliminate a box this year. When that is done I can get to what I really want to do, which is the rest of the geese.

Her clue 7 sounded like the reveal might be next friday. Part of the fun after the yardages and colors are revealed in October is all the finishes it spurs on, from all the years on her Quiltville Studio at Facebook, before this years clues start coming. Always lots to do still after the reveal.

I'm I'm thinking because of the uneven total of units we've cut this will be an on-point setting. Not that anyone ever has to do that...our projects at the end of the day.

But the good news is Hooray! At last the rinse water is running clean and not bright red. I will have available fabric tomorrow. Still intend to finish Clue 6 today (almost there!), but we are going to go look at a new dog today or tomorrow and that will take priority over quilting when we get the call. Is actually another set of small bonded terriers, their owner has passed away. They do get along with other dogs and cats and we hope that Buddy, our remaining half of our pair of terriers will get along with them. He's lonely, but I figure we have another 2-4 years ahead of us and although 3 may be one too many, at least they are only knee high and I don't love great danes!

I’m thinking the unsewn HSTs for clue 7 might be paired with the unsewn QSTs and then the rest might go into a square in square.... now I really want to finish all my clues so I can throw everything up on the design wall!

my guess is there will be one more clue before the reveal. There’s just to much not sewn together and I have a ton of neutrals left that will need to go somewhere!

Bonnie usually posts the reveal on New Year's Day. Guess she is doing it a bit differently this time. I sat out last year's mystery, so maybe this is a new thing I'm not aware of.


Will be lurking to see your progress. I'm going to wait to see if I like the quilt before deciding to make it. I know, I'm a Mystery Pooper... so be it!

I am feeling so frustrated right now! I came down with a major fibro flare on New Year's Eve and have been pretty out of it ever since. I am way behind on clue 6 and haven't even started clue 7. I know there is no point in trying to accomplish anything when I am feeling unwell as my mind just doesn't work right. It barely handles quilting math and complex instructions when I'm feeling good, lol. I have only cut a few sets of green for clue 6, haven't even got near the sewing stage. I've read clue 7 and my mind just goes.. arghhhhhhhhh... and I put it away again.
I thought I'd be better enough to do some sewing this weekend, but so far it's not happening. I'm going in the hot tub now, and taking some cbd in hopes of at least having a decent night. Wish me luck!
Hugs and smiles mystery quilters!! Try not to stress too much, have fun!

Linda, I hope you feel better soon! I'm behind on mine too and have no excuse really. Just a bit overwhelmed but I'm going to take my time.
This is my first BH mystery so I wasn't sure how it was going to shake out. Still not but I'm not worried.
I remember the older ones on this board and they seemed really long. But now I can see that it was people going at their own pace. I didn't pay too much attention.

sewbizgirl, Bonnie said that because Thanksgiving was late this year, and because the early clues had been easy because of her being away on a trip, we would go a little longer this year.

wildyard, I hope you will be back sewing very soon!

If you really want to have the mystery aspect, you do have the option of saving the remaining clue(s) without actually reading through them, or asking a trust-worthy friend to save them for you.

I hope for at least one more clue before the reveal - we haven't used near enough neutrals yet! Maybe neutral sashings? or string blocks? or???

Oh my goodness, it feels so good to get Clue 6 done and off the cutting mat. About 90% of my geese units are perfect, 5% are ok, and about 5% are (to use the technical term) are pretty funky little monkeys.

So goal for today is to get the reds cut, otherwise it is bowling date with the hubby day and not one of my production quiltingg days. I have a few pieces of the over dyes in the dryer now so it was a good time for a progress report/break. I was unable to match the bright red colors by the original dyer and am calling my attempts "the revenge of Pepto-Bismal" but I'm telling myself it will be ok. I got about half of the reds cut from the remaining scraps, the most sets I got out of any given piece so far is 3, mostly 1s and 2 so only about half will be decidedly pink. It should be ok. Just keep telling myself that. It will be ok...

After I leave the board here I'll check my email about the possible new dogs. No phone message from them yesterday.

Iceblossom I feel like yours is going to be so bright and cheery! I love the way you give your colors names and the process you have used. If we lived closer I would want to have a sewing date with because you just seem so awesome!

Linda, I'm so sorry you are having a bad flare.
IceBlossom, looking forward to doggie news

My brain is bent, but I've finished clue 7. Making 1/3 size, and different amounts called for of stuff... whew.
I'm saving strips longer than 5" in case I want some more units of something, but anything less I'm cutting down, not waiting till way later and wondering why.