I’m on a strict moratorium so I had to use fabric from my stash. The fabrics aren’t ideal but I’m ok with them.

JanieW- I think your fabrics are great!

I got one set 8 made I think, based on a photo like janies I saved from open studio. And playing with that set, oh man, I’m going to love this in my 30s fabrics! Think waving windmills... but then I got unsure so set things aside to think over sets going forward.

i don’t mind the confusing clues, the sew it all and a show it alls have brought us to this. Insert smiley 😆

Slowly but surely, I'm catching up!! Finished clue 6 finally and strips for clue 7 are all cut, pressed and ready to match up in pairs. I'm including a photo of how I lay out my FG for chain piecing, roughly 10 sets at a time. I think over the weekend I will be able to finish clue 7, and move right into clue 8.
I'm struggling with my back hurting too much from standing to cut and iron so many little pieces so I have to keep taking breaks to sit with the heating pads. It's sure slowing me down!! LOL I had dreamed of finishing up 6 and 7 today.. silly me.

I had cut clue 7 but hadn’t sewn it. So now I’m doing 7 and 8 at the same time. Slow going but Im getting there.

I am only doing half the units, so...it’s much easier to get through the clues. My clue 8 flying geese are about 25% done, and the non-pinwheel units are sorted and clipped. I thought I had a method of doing more than one set at a time, but my neighbor came over and interrupted me, and got totally lost. So—now I have tri-color geese units all clipped for each set, and the pinwheel and remaining units clipped. And am ready to start again tomorrow.

I haven't made any progress today, I am out of clips and days off this week, which is when I do most of my sewing. My clue 7 triangles are stacked neatly next to my machine. I plan to do clue 7 and clue 8 at the same time, since the sets are getting combined. My goal is to be completely caught up by next friday...if I do 6 or 7 sets a day I should get there easy. But I do have to trim the geese and check the size on the HSTs from clue six, sew together, trim, and make pinwheels from 7 and do all of clue 8.

That makes me tired just to think about it! My next quilt will be triangle free for sure, lol

I almost made a colossal mistake.
I totally skipped Clue 7 and had my raspberry and neutrals all set to make pinwheels Yikes!!!

I need to turn off my listening devices and concentrate on these instructions.

I'm still way behind, I've finished clue 3 and have started clue 4. I'm off my Kindle tablet and on my rebuilt laptop and it looks like I can post pictures ........

Thanks, SusieQ. They’ll do. I’m glad you caught your mistake and didn’t use your neutrals for pinwheels. I almost sewed all the hsts instead of leaving some pairs unsewn. We both would have been frog stitching. The clues are intriguing.

wildyard, I love the amount of variety you have in your fabrics. I need to make 20 more flying geese for clue 8 and I will be caught up.

Those pinwheels really required some aggressive pressing!

I plan on starting my tri-colored geese tomorrow. I saw an exciting partial layout on Instagram. No idea if it's correct, but it did require the particular color placement on the clue 8 geese.

So glad you've been able to do some sewing wildyard and Sync! Origami, just think about one step at a time, not of all you have to do to catch up.

Sync, I am also way behind and just started on clue 4 yesterday. I think I will make just 12 or so of each clue for now so I can get a feel for how it works out when she reveals it soon. It has been interesting to read all the comments and I am thankful for hints that have been posted along the way.

The green fabric arrived (woohoo) and I have made all but 4 or 5 geese with it. Had to stop to make dinner. Rats!
I think I must have missed something in a clue because I have no extra aqua units cut to avoid cutting anything in clue 8. Must go back and read the clues to see where I missed that. I do have the raspberry and blue triangles cut but nowhere do I remember reading to set aside some aquas. Skimming too quickly through the clues I guess.

Help please! I looked back over clue 4 which, as far as I can see, is the first and only clue that we cut and used any aqua before clue 8. It says to cut 41 sets which are then all sewn into something. I don’t see where she said to put any aside for later. What am I missing? Do I now need to cut 25 to use in clue 8?

Well Raggle Snaggle!!! I have found my error. Seam ripper and I will become best pals today. On clue 6 I sewed the aqua to the wings instead of the blue. Now I have a lot of flying geese to dis-assemble.

I'm enjoying everyone's work. It's going to be fun when we start our own reveals, huh?

Despite all my previous moans and groans I'm really enjoying it and like being a part of this group!

AlvaStitcher- it's totally fixable, right? But I feel your pain haha

Glad to see you're working on this, and that you are still sharing it with us. Can't wait to see the finish product.

Thanks, Mavita!!! Insert heart because I can't lol

Glad to see someone else has just finished clue four. With ice and snow week, I may get more done. If the power stays on. Love reading this challenge and progress being made. We are close to the last clue whenever that happens.

Ok, for those who feel they are falling behind: First off, it doesn't matter and we each have our own pace and lives to deal with and secondly, this is a week to get caught up. For those that are behind and that haven't read the current clues, read them first, especially these last three sets. You can do some easier organizational stuff.

So yesterday when I thought I was done, I actually was done. All I had to do with the "remaining"/non pinwheel sets was combine them and clip them together which took about 2 additional minutes. I thought I had more sewing to do, but unless I've missed something major (and I've been through the clue several times both yesterday and today), the only sewing we did were the 3-color geese units. There is no cutting (except for those of us who hadn't yet trimmed our pinwheels, or cut our triangles).

I was running out of things to keep stuff together fast! I had basting safety pins, paper clips, large clamps and clothes pins. I doubt I will ever need the total again, but next time I go to the dollar store I'll pick up one more bag of the large clamps I'm using, they are really good for just a couple of pieces of fabric or a big stack. 6 to a pack for a dollar, and then I have a plastic tub they stay in.

So here's a no-give aways picture of my project. First box is the end of Clue 8, second box is the rest of the quilt (you have to say that in a Paul Harvey/The Rest of the Story voice). Those are extra units I made by mistake in the baggy. Depending on how they are used, the paler pinks may be replaced by the extras -- or with as much pink fabric as I had to make, they might be better staying in. Don't know quite yet!

I'm caught up except for last clue - except that I screwed up six and either have to cut more, or rip a bunch of flying geese. I think if I have the fabric, I'll just do more - faster in the long run for me.

I agree with Iceblossom, clue 8 is quick and if you are not there yet don't worry. Just make sure to save the clues or you will be buying the pattern from Bonnie to finish.

AlvaStitcher, I'm glad you found your mistake. At least they are short seams!

You mentioned that you had all but a few geese made, and also that you have 38 geese to undo. Just in case you had the wrong total, I wanted to point out that the total number of geese to make is the number of sets times the number in the sets.

Iceblossom, looking beautiful!

Speaking of buying clues, the website still says we have until Feb 2 for the free directions. I'm expecting one more clue (containing neutrals) and then the final layout clue. But what do I know? Besides, I still lack the vision to see how these scraps of fabric will work together. Even if it is what I think, it's going to be a mystery to me until I lay it out.

I spent some time looking today, but I swear back around week 3 there was a picture of her and a quilt in the background that I felt was pretty darn close to what we are making now but in some different colors. Couldn't find it to save my life, so maybe somewhere more in the general site stuff. But it was fun to go back and carefully look at her clue links and how little she gives away that way. The clues are all very narrowly focused pictures.

One thing about Bonnie, she does give very clear and useful instructions. I'm pretty convinced that if I have an opening in my schedule next year, I'll do it the pressed to the side way. But not with hand dyes! Tell you what though, safety pinning the stacks right side up is going to help in more than one project. Was thinking about it this morning, have a friend who loves sparkly fabrics and once again had problems determining what side was what... her solution at that time was for me to not let her buy them if I was with her. I think safety pins might be the better answer!

I'm not good at planning things, nor am I good at guessing so I have absolutely no idea how this is going to turn out but I'm excited.
I'm strictly a pattern sewer. I would not be able to design a quilt to save my life I don't think. (Maybe a 4 patch lol) But I have plenty of things that keep me interested in our wonderful craft.

Please don't anyone feel bad about being behind! I've been sidetracked with a bunch of stuff the past couple weeks. Life happens to us all and it's ok. I do appreciate the slower pace this year and I'd love it if she keeps that change for future mysteries. I've got a handful of blue and green geese still to finish, and all the sewing from clues 7 and 8. I'm looking forward to catching up (at least somewhat!) maybe this evening and tomorrow.

OK, a quick question before I cut my clue7 strips. In other clues for our sets, we have used reds and blues. Now that we are pairing up reds and blues, are we trying to keep the sets matching so I should pair the same reds and blues used before in the red/neutral HSTs and the blue/neutral HSTs or do we use different reds and blues for clue 7?

Linda, good question.
I was under the impression that we can use any blues and reds we have.
Maybe someone else has the definitive answer.
Thanks for bringing it up.
Hope you're feeling better!

As I'm working on clue 4, I've decided to also combine it with clue 6, sort of killing two birds with one stone. After I get a few more flying geese done I'll take pictures.

She extended the time the free clues will be available until Feb. 15th. But if you download them as they come out, you'll always have them.

I had high hopes for today and getting some sewing done. Not so. Last night and this morning had power going off and on and off again and a ten this morning it remained off until 3:50 thies afternoon. In an all electric house, that's getting chilly to say the least. Poor, cold linemen stayed on the job until they solves all the problems. Its still blinking at me, making me nervous. Fingers crossed, hoping it will stay on. Sewing tomorrow hopefully.

Although there were some I could have matched one of the fabrics in the sets, many of my sets have been made with the last bit of fabric. I decided to make sure that nothing matched, rather to get down to the end and be unable and very noticeable.

So in my personal understanding and making of scrap quilts,, I go with as many as possible variations. Other people do other things. I rarely have more than 4 of any given piece of fabric in a quilt and I'm happiest with charms, where every piece is different. But here's the thing, as I curate my fabrics different pieces of fabric should be able to switch in for any other fabric or I just didn't choose well. With my fabrics maybe I wouldn't be watching them so closely if they didn't shift so much and if I just had more in true blue to start with, as it is I'm dealing more with a range of value than shades/tones of a particular color. After the first set, each time I deliberately put in one piece of fabric that was darker and one that was lighter than my desired range just because it was going to happen anyway and to push the project and myself a bit.

These are some of the scrap tops I've pieced (and mostly not quilted yet) this past year. The inner me is more like this first one, over 30 purples, controlled scraps. The collector one is next, toning down the wide range of fabrics with basic solids. The last one was one of the most recent, I tell it's story here:
https://www.quiltingboard.com/8320378-post1575.html

I think Bonnie would have mentioned this if it was a good idea to match. I didn't care for the look of it when I tried one with the blues from clue 4 and clue 7 matching. I went for complementary rather than matching.

And I have not been able to match up the red/blues with the green/blues and neutral/blues. Some I could match but the majority of the 25 with be scrappy. I have 10 or 11 remade and, yes, I am glad they were short seams that needed to be ripped.

Thanks joe'smom.... I pretty much came to the same conclusion.
I ran into a real issue once I started cutting my clue 7 triangles tho. Seems I misjudged the length of strip needed to get a full 8 from a strip so a lot of my pinks are 1-2" too short and I'm only getting 7 triangle sets out of them. Argh!! Now I have to dig back into the reds to see if I can find pieces to make that last one. I have way more blues than reds so the blue is not an issue at all.

I have even toyed with the idea of keeping the blue the same for each set and being scrappy with the reds within each set. If I can't pull out enough to finish up the short sets matching, I just might have to do that with some of them at least.

Anyone think that would be a disaster? lol

wow, you have a lovely "stash"

Lovely quilt tops, IceBlossom!
Although I am not participating, I enjoy the pictures and conversations. I am keeping the clues in case I want to make it another time.

I don't think it would be a disaster, but I'd try to keep them as similar as possible in value.

I petered out after doing 7 sets of clue 8 geese. I had 7 aquas, so I could do that many at one time without fear of forgetting what went with what. It's so much more pleasant now that I am getting better results, and it is really fun to see how the sets are looking together

I'm with you, Iceblossom. I like to go with as many variations as I can. And at that, I still have a hard time being random. I always manage to get the same fabric next to itself.
Your scrap quilts or tops are really terrific. Most of my tops haven't made to the finish line. I guess I'm more of a topper than a quilter.

Leslie

I am in the same boat with some in that I dont have enough of some of the pinwheel blues to match up with the set it goes with. It is going to have to be ok, like someone said just match the values of blues. I am thinking of past quilts with Bonnie and it didnt matter but this one seems to be more focused on sets than the ones in the past. I have not played around with seeing how any of these units go together. My brain just cant imagine so I will no doubt be totally blown away when the reveal happens. My guess is she will give the last clue and the reveal at the same time. Lots of neutrals left!