Here is my first block. It still needs pressing but shows a lighter blue with a darker aqua. I’m ok with the low contrast, but everyone will need to make that decision themselves.

I have to say I love this quilt.

Feathers- that's lovely!!!
I spent today remaking HST's to match my FG. I don't know how I goofed that up but I did.

Appreciative
 

thanks for your perspective. I’ve been thinking about this all day and it’s been stressful I’m just now getting to part 8 and while it’s not my first mystery quilt with Bonnie I found part 9 daunting. You’re absolutely right it’s not a race and should be fun. It’s been enjoyable so far and challenge makes us grow. I need to remember to break it up in smaller sections and breathe.

Feathers - your block is stunning. With all the intricate directions for this last part, I'm tempted to just make the main block and sash them. We'll see....

In the meantime, I think I'm losing my mind. Was there a step where we cut squares from the aqua? I've ended up with a bunch, but since I'm using stash, these could have been left over from another project. I need to make quite a few more of the HSTs using aqua and blue so can use these if they are not for this mystery.

Belfrey- they may have been from another project. I don't have any.
I'm going to end up with a lot of raspberry and blue HST's due to my error. I'll save them for another project.
Great comments by everyone! We will get this done eventually!

I'm finding I really need to turn off the music or audiobooks & concentrate on this project. It's doable but I need to limit distractions.

LyndaOH, I would say yes to both, maybe firstly to avoid teaching the Y seams in a mystery format, and then to keep things a mystery. Bonnie goes to great pains to do the latter, I think.

Belfry, I think those must be from another project.

Since this star block is so easy to put up without sewing, I decided to do that. That will give me a good perspective in choosing what direction to go with my neutrals. My thoughts are that were I doing this with foresight, I would choose lighter reds and darker Scandas (med. blue). I have about three blocks with optimal contrast, and I think the others all have value issues because of either lack of value contrast within the pinwheel (thanks to the darker reds, but I did want to use stash), or the lack of contrast between my aquas and Scandas (I had trouble finding this shade and settled for some very light ones). But I guess that's part of the fun of a mystery -- working blind and seeing what you end up with!

Loving everyone's blocks so far- I'm really digging seeing all the green/raspberry/dark blue color palettes come together- and can't wait to see the finished quilts.

Weirdly, Bonnie's patterns are often way too busy for my tastes but, even though this one is definitely busy, I really like the reveal. Maybe it's the colors winning me over <3

Love your fabrics!

I'm also considering not putting blocks on point. I also have a few other things to consider... I have several extra sets of the green/blue FG. I was making extra of everything, just in case. But this is ridiculous! Either didn't count or didn't read correctly. I don't know if I want to try to work them in someplace or just keep them. Also, since we have a lot of neutrals left, maybe I could combine them with the FG to make another border?

Decisions, decisions. Today was catch up on some housework, so haven't even sewn one block yet - although I did lay one out on the ironing board. I was sick early in the week so none of the usual tasks were done. I am not Helen Housekeeper, but if I start hoping nobody drops in, I know it's time to get things taken care of, lol.

Tomorrow I can sew as much as I'd like. Just have to stop checking back online to see everyone's pretty blocks/rows/tops.

Kalama - I hope your surgery goes well! I had mine out over 20 years ago and it was such a huge relief! I never had any bad after effects and the recovery was fairly easy. I'm sure that in that time the procedure has improved even more. Just don't over do, take frequent breaks and you should be fine.

Good luck!

Each year, it seems there is a clue included with the reveal - so sewing of units before assembly of the top. I don't like that bit, but as people are chomping at the bit and saying they want the reveal, I guess it works for many. This year's seems doubly so - those half and quarter units are daunting. I think they will be manageable, though, going one step at a time. Some folks seem to get competitive about how quickly they can get it all together. Me, not so much. If it's done in a month, I'll be thrilled.

While it can seem overwhelming, keep in mind that you have been working on over 3000 pieces! If I was looking at those numbers ahead of time, I might have said, "Nah, I'm good!" But working in (mostly) simple units, we've done so much already. I don't care for this method of doing the FG, but I do believe it's always good to have more than one way to do things. In the future, I'll happily do the 2 @ a time method, lol.

One step at a time, one block at a time. Don't look at the whole, just one doable piece followed by another!

JeanieG, I'm not sure if this is what you mean, but when you're in the Manage Attachments pop-up box, and you hit browse and choose a photo, you then have to make the box very wide in order to see the Upload button on the far right.

Yay - thank you Joe's Mom. Here are my two blocks:

I'm having an issue with neutrals. Since I chose very light aquas, and Bonnie said the neutrals needed to be lighter than the aquas, my neutrals are indeed very light, many of them bright white. (Actually, I don't see a need for the neutrals to be lighter than the aquas because they are never in contact.) My problem is that these bright white neutrals are glaringly bright in the midst of my dusky stars, and I'm afraid the mock second block (corner units plus sashing) is going to grab all the attention. To compound the problem, my greens are a light yellow green and I think they do want a very clean, bright neutral next to them if they are to stand out. I guess it's a choice between highlighting my stars by re-doing clue 2 with darker neutrals, or keeping the bright neutrals in order to highlight the greens.

Those look great!

Everyone's blocks are looking amazing. Here are my first two blocks...I realize that I like them much better than expected which is good because my plan was to enlarge to 100 x 100 size. 2 down, 37 to go.

I am loving seeing pictures of people's blocks already! I did lay out one of my stars without the corner squares and like it so far. I will definitely need to figure out a design wall for this one, just using my kitchen floor is not going to be enough.

I woke up super early today, so took my cup of coffee to the sewing room to sew for a few hours before work, but my iron won't heat up! Looks like I am stuck trimming until I can get a new one...the hard part will be deciding to order a nicer iron and having to wait for it to arrive, or running out and grabbing a $20 walmart special to keep me moving. My vacation starts tonight, I don't want to lose time waiting on a package in the mail.

We had sleet last night, and enough rain there is water across my road atm. Really going to have to go out my way to get to work today, or to the closest department store to get my iron, and the temperature is already falling. We had frozen pipes for most of yesterday, and the low is twenty degrees colder tonight.

I was actually surprised of Bonnie’s reveal as it seemed there was still so much to do...and there is. LOL
Everyone’s blocks are looking great and love all of the colors. The posts to this thread are very encouraging and I will be happy when I get my machine back from the technician so I can jump back in. I can’t wait to see everyone’s progress and photos.

Jeannie and Carol- your blocks are wonderful!!! Now you have me excited.
Peaceandjoy- loved your post. Thanks for sharing that. I'm going to take my time with this.

Good day for sewing with the temperatures going down Sunday and Monday to a minus six. Remembering those Alaska days of working for a car rental and temperature dropped to a minus sixty. With a 'dry' cold, it did not feel sixty below, but the wet cold here feels colder than Alaska temperatures. So I am trying to 'catch up' again today, slow progress bu progressing through the clues. Love the block shows, looking forward to seeing more.

Made my first two blocks. Long way to go but I am liking the pattern and will be happy with the final result. I have to confess that I'm happy I used yardage. The many pieces would feel too busy for me if it was scrappy.

Am amazed at those of you who are getting your blocks together! I did cut my Neutral squares yesterday, but not my rectangles. Have enough fabric just not enough mojo yesterday -- but today is a new day!

Goal for today is to get the subunits for each block done, that is the 4-patch combo and the goose combos.

Snow is gone here, back to rain. Hubby is working. I'm checking in here and with the news and then turning up the CD player loud. Time to feed the critters and turn on the sewing machine.

Edit: Yes, for those using just one set of fabrics, I think this turned out well for you!

Honestly, I love my TFal iron more than any other I've ever had. From JC Penney many, many years ago, but they are widely available. The worst thing I can say about it happened while working on Frolic. I have been soooo careful to keep my units together as directed. But during Clue 8, I was suddenly missing a unit. I looked all over. Did I have it in my hand when I went to the kitchen? Nope. Did it fall behind the ironing board? No. Did I leave it at the sewing machine, or did it fall next to it when I got up? No, not there either. Well, irritating as it is to make another, I can. I decide to finish pressing those that I have, then dig through the scrap pile to find the same prints and make a new FG.

Low and behold, when I pick the iron up, there is the missing unit waving in the air. It was caught up under the edge of the sole plate and the body of the iron. No idea how that happened, but it's all good, lol.

Really, I was not a fan of the Rowenta's I had. Two regular plus the travel. Travel one handle broke when I was pressing, really pressing, to convince a seam to lie flat. I've heard many have had the broken handle issue with this model. The other two leaked within a relatively short time. I was using steam bc I was still working and ironing work clothes at that point.

Have thought of trying the Oliso, but have seen several comments lately that the feet stop engaging, leaving the iron to scorch, a potential fire hazard.

My second favorite iron is a small (but not travel sized small) Black and Decker from WM. It is what I keep in my sewing machine case as it is fairly small and lightweight, so is a good substitute for a "real" travel iron. I think when I bought it, it was less than $12.

Is there anyone else here who hasn't started? I downloaded all the PDF's and now that I see the quilt I wish I had started at the beginning.

Irish- those blocks are beautiful!!!!

Wendy, just jump right in! We will be here in this thread for a long time. :)

Carol and Irish, your blocks look great!

The first thing I'm going to do today is re-make clue #2 (easiest clue) with a non-white constant neutral. I tried a bunch of fabrics in that extra rectangle slot and found some that seem to show my greens okay. Hopefully they'll go with this neutral I'm using in clue 2. It's a plan, anyway.

Thanks for the advice on irons, peaceandjoy. I don't really have the budget for one of the expensive ones right now, so I will stick with what i can find from the big box store on the way home.

Instead of sewing, I finished trimming all my previous clues down to size. Just have to finish approximately 1/2 of the FG from clue 8, and then I can move on to the steps in the reveal!

I have many of the same batiks in my blocks as well, you did a wonderful job!

I’m really enjoying seeing everyone’s color choices and I’m really excited to see everyone’s finished quilts. I will tackle the last clue at a far more leisurely pace with perhaps a block/section a week as I continue my major overhaul and purge of my sewing room. I agree with many that there could have been a few more clues eeked out, but I’m in love with her color choices and I just love the bold brightness of the colors. If anything I’ve relearned to stop, read directions, stop read them again and to finally stop and read the directions as many times as needed to make sure I understand them and make notes accordingly.

I too love the reveal. Once I finish a few UFOs I'm going to join in!

WendyMcD, my friend Barb was caught up in another project but had selected fabrics. She says she is going to go ahead and do it even after the reveal.

What I wish I knew then: I should have thought through the Parakeet a bit more. It was a big hint to us all that Bonnie used one fabric, I considered it but decided to go ahead with random because everything else was random. With changing my neutrals to Yellow, I should have changed the Parakeet too -- to a deeper more mossy green which I even had in my bag of fabric but I felt good about being close to her paint chip. I'm having a lot of issues with my Neutrals being yellow anyway, and the light green going into yellow as well is not my happy place, so far the red into yellow isn't as big an issue. So when I stretched my aquas into a broader ranger of colors, those are actually working better for me but not so sure how it will all go together. But I'm sure it's going to be fine, fine, fine. I think my son and DDiL might like this, I haven't been able to get any input from them on a wedding quilt...

I'm going along pretty well now, making the sub-unit for 2 blocks at a time. I'll be doing all the sub-units for all the pinwheel sets before I start putting the blocks together. I did have a bit of a freak out when I started, thought I lost a pinwheel, but no -- just grabbed a non-pinwheel set out of the box!

I finally have some blocks! Count me among the 'leisurely' finishers please! Winter came back to visit and I believe 3 blocks might be all I've got in me today. There's a partial top still on my super fancy design sheet that needs to come down, so I'm bouncing between the two.

I love seeing everyone's blocks! Every last one of them is just beautiful!

armybandvet- gorgeous!!!!!!! I'm getting excited to post a few of my own!!

I've been admiring everyone's progress from the sidelines and love the final reveal.. Now I'm anxious to see everyone's variation over the next few weeks/months! The colors and pattern are just delightful and I'm expecting each version of frolic to be a masterpiece! I say there's No Rush that way us grandstand admirers will have a nice, long quilt show to enjoy :)

Yep.....I haven't started.....I did pick out yardage at the beginning which is something new for me as I have always gone scrappy before but had all but the aqua in my stash......I have another quilt that I was determined to finish before I started the mystery...and I have some of the rows together....but three borders to put on it also.....I am still a bit on the fence about doing the mystery but I do like it and it should go faster as I have all yardage....got to get the other pesky quilt out of the way....the way winter is going in northern Minnesota, I don't think the snow is going to melt until June....so plenty of snow days if shoveling doesn't take up all my time....that is what I was doing this morning as we got another 6.5 inches

wow! loving the blocks I'm seeing! count me in on the slow & steady this year. I have 2 blocks done, but alas I've got to put Frolic aside & get a very important UFO finished. but I will be working on the in between, for sure.

I'm also loving all the blocks being posted. I am feeling much enabled to finish mine too! I do have to put it aside for a few days as I got calls for 2 comfort quilts that always have priority in my sewing room. For one I am combining an orphan block and putting borders around it. The other will be a similar thing except my son is making the center block as it's for a dear friend of his. I know his friend will love that his quilt is a combined effort!

Keep posting blocks everyone, each one gives me a little more confidence that I can handle this. In fact I have taken some great advice here and am going thru clue 9 and making notes about the steps to do it in. It really does help me get my mind around the whole thing!!

Everyone -- your blocks are all fantastic. I must say these final instructions are whooping my hiney! I still haven't wrapped my head around the half and quarter blocks so am doing the main blocks first, then will decide what I want to do with the rest. I am not cutting ahead as I'm confused enough.

Irish - I really like your blocks and like the way you alternated the light/ dark blues in the same block. I also used yardage and don't like my block with the light, so might follow your example and mix them. Around the third step I was really tempted to stay with all one blue -- the darker one shown here. I now wish I had. But I think by combining them in the same block, the pattern will be more striking.

Kalama, wishing you well with your surgery. I hope you have a quick and uneventful recovery.
I love everyone's blocks so far. The variety in colors and patterns is fantastic. I finally finished clue #8 today. I am not a big fan of raspberry, so I used what I like to call cherry Popsicle pink for the most part. My green is a solid, since I knew it would be a busy quilt (as usual.) Maybe someday I will be able to learn how to post pictures and add an avatar. It seems that every time they change the Quilting Board, it gets more difficult to figure out how to navigate it.

Leslie

sewingpup: I chuckled about your comment that the snow might not melt until June. We only got about 4 inches but the wind picked up today so I heard the roads were slicker tonight than this morning.