HappyLab... I am obsessed with that purple on the lower right! Do you think I could find some somewhere still?

I’m not sure, I’ve had the fabric for several years now. I’m not even sure the store I bought it from is even open now. I’m really hoping l like this year’s pattern. In 2 months I will know. If not I’ll like the colors.

I’m also looking for some batik background, but so far haven’t found it yet. Still looking. So far all fabric selected is from my stash. Another positive.

Do you think it will work ok to use solids for the green or would I be better off to go buy some green with some texture to it?

Her quilts are usually so busy solids aren't a problem. Some people use all solids and they have turned out lovely. The only issue is if she uses "strings" again but you won't know that until they are used.

Love the colors this year! The colors fit right in as three of the colors are similar ones painted in my home so a quilt will fit right in. Could you guess that my scraps and stash fabrics match too?

I'll try to match the fabric cutting to accuquilt dies.

It sort of scares me to down load Chrome stuff, to access the patterns. is that what everyone else did? the one of hers that i did years ago, i could just click and see the stuff right on her site.

sewNso: She includes a PDF file that you can print. Sometimes I will snap a picture on my phone of patterns I like but there are usually several pages with Bonnie’s Mystery clues each week.

I am not clear on what you meant by this. What patterns are you wanting to access? Were you perchance talking about the clues for the mystery? Those will be available on her blog, same place as the intro to the mystery.

https://quiltville.blogspot.com/p/frolic-mystery.html

You scroll down just a bit and click on 'Introduction.'

Love the combination of colours!

Ok, I still have some tweaking to do but thanks to the ladies in my Tuesday group I do have a couple more yellows. I'll still need to dye some of my own and I found my remaining bottle of red dye, so just need yellow. I'll be doing a couple of different things, and since I'll have stuff out, I'll also treat some of the green.

I have the paint chips on the color groups, didn't grab a white chip so that's just a piece of paper from the hubby's pocket... I'm changing white/neutral to school bus yellow. My red is definitely brighter. My dark blue is just dark. I'm still working on getting the proper distance from what is just dark-medium-lighter.

It's so funny, I didn't like the paint chips together but I am loving everyone's colors that they pull from their stash. Looks like after this weekend (company coming), I'm going to have to pull from my stash to see if I like it. Glad so many have hopped on board. I love the posts here once the clues get started.

Love all the colors each of you has chosen. I follow Bonnie Hunter by newsletter and faithfully download her clues. My favorite quilt shop for fabric is in Dade, FL,. QuiltedTwins.com has a package put together for her color choice this year, and its less than I can get 13.7 yards anywhere else. Much less than I normally pay to make a quilt top!

Looking forward to following progress of each step here. I collect clues, and have yet to get one together. Fabric and clues are together, so someday before I hit my 80s, I hope to get one or two done. Maybe.

I have heard so much about her mysteries. I may skulk this year. Really working hard at finishing.

I have an extra set of color chips if anyone needs them. Only problem is I couldn't get the "Pure White" chip. Got the one number prior to it (I think it is "Ultra White"). I figured white is white and just took what I could get to see the way the white looks with the other chips.

PM me your address and I'll be glad to send them to you. I only have one extra set, so first one to PM gets them.

Rhonda K,
I am trying to cut everything with my Accuquilt dies. I love the system....just finished up cutting some scraps into 2" and 2 1/2" sqs.
I find the Accuquilt invaluable when doing the mystery with 240 of this and 310 of that...
Let the fun begin!
Kirsten

I may jump on this one. I never heard of BH until I heard about her here. Sounds like fun.

Edit- yes I'm going to do it!!! Just clicked on the link and it looks like fun!!!

SusieQOH, Welcome! These are fun mysteries that Bonnie does. This will be my 6th year of doing them, so far I dont have any of them I havent finished.

ILovetoQuilt, I couldn't find it either and there were no blank spots, I finally asked for help and got the paint guy to show me the white chip. It was in a display beside the one where the other chips were located. All along the bottom were white chips. It was shorter than the rest.

I'm heading out soon for a lunch with a group of ladies who all love Bonnie's mysteries. There will be a sewing day once Clue 1 is released and another get together sometime after the final reveal. So much fun to have a group to do the mystery with! They call themselves Bonniacs - Ladies of Mystery!

Thanks, Sandra!! I may need some help but I know I can count on my quilting board buddies :)

Just an FYI. We have a Sherwin williams store here and they had the colors as well although my paint chips are a slightly different shape/size. They are the same names/numbers.

I'm sure that is why she identifies which brand she gets at Lowe's. We were traveling last year and I got mine at a regular Sherwin Williams store. The gentleman who helped me was really interested in the whole reason why and went out of his way to help :)

I get the Eleanor Burns emails and this morning, although not identified at Frolic fabrics sure looked like them to me
https://www.quiltinaday.com/shoponli...06906-34935841
(not sure how long this link will be good)
I expect if I include the email image of the bundle it would be removed, sorry.

One of the LQS near me hosts a sew-a-long each Friday starting with the first clue. There's usually about 4 or 5 ladies, plus the shop owner. I've already scheduled the days off work! I haven's pulled any fabrics yet, been busy getting ready for 3 days of Bonnie in Shipshewana, should be sew much fun!

Yesterday I did some bleach and tea dye processes on the green solid and a piece of solid yellow. Today I went to the dollar store and picked up things like rubber bands and cheap sponge and going to try some binder clips and paper clips in my processes! Also got some cheap vinegar to help set the tea and any natural elements I use. Don't know if it will stay in or not, but I think I'll get some basic beets and just cut some slices and let them soak up on some of the white before I dye it yellow.

Right next door is my local Joann so I picked up some Golden Yellow Rit dye, and a spray can of Tulip brand paint that is white... the spray can wasn't where the dye stuff is it was back in the markdown section but apparently it wasn't marked down in the computer, but I thought it would be fun and sometimes you need to lighten stuff back out after you've dyed it.

So now I'm sitting and waiting for the plumber, we are having a problem with water heater expansion tank and/or relief valve and I've had warm water going straight out of my house for the last couple of days. We turned the heater down and it isn't warm enough for my bath or to safely wash dishes, and I don't want to do extra laundry (ie, washing those fabrics) until the water loss is dealt with.

My fancy Bernina sewing computer is also acting up. Oh yeah, have a car issue going on. It will be good to have a project to keep me busy and not spending! Or at least I'm done spending now, Joann and Dollar store was a little over $20.

Quilted twin.com from Dade, Fl., is now offering a Bonnie Hunter in batiks, slightly higher than the first one, but batiks don't fray is what I have been told. Ordered both so I can compare the colors in each one. Really need two, anyhow for each child that will inherit them. They sold out the first bundle in 25 minutes. Each to their own choices. Anxious to see the pictures as the clues and quilts grow on this site.

Iceblossom, I am curious to know how it goes with your fabric dyeing and experiment. Dont you just know it, something acting up to keep you busy with something else other than our fun. Hope the water heater issue gets resolved. Quiltvagabond, how fortunate you are to have a group to do this with! I wish I did but there doesn't seem to be much interest in it at the quilt store I go to so I am on my own, except for the board here and reading what others are doing on Bonnie's site.

Oh it's terrible news on the plumbing. My house was built in 1963 (it's younger than me, I wish to point out) and standards have changed a lot since then. When I first moved into the house only two outlets had been adapted to 3-prong, so I grounded the outlets and put in the 3-prong. My built-in wall oven is not standard to today's models in addition to being hardwired into the wall, no plug for it or the burner top. Cabinets are built in, not custom sizes, can't just take out a cabinet and put a new one in.

Anyway, the tank is about 8 years old, at the end of it's product life. We replaced the expansion tank but it didn't solve the problem, to get to where they think the problem is they have to pull out the heater. No guarantees that the heater would survive the move and/or how long it will last after the moving -- could be another 8 years (unlikely) it could be two weeks... The opening is very small, 18", the heater we put in there was the only one that fit at the time. There are no heaters rated for the size of house demand that will fit in the space (that is, we might be able to find something for a mobile home or RV). The only option in the space we have is to go tankless, his rough guess (and he isn't a tankless guy) is that would start somewhere about 6-10k and require venting into the attic crawlspace. We discussed other options, originally there was a half height tank in the "dead corner" in the kitchen -- not big enough for current standards.

So my quilter brain went into action, the most cost-effective option is to make the space we have larger, except that the water heater is between the masonry fireplace wall and the furnace. But we can build/frame out the space (it's a garage converted into a family room). It will be awkward as heck really and not ideal but we can have a nice 24" diameter circle big enough for many options and plumbing changes would be minimal since we are essentially going to the same location, yes connections will need to be changed out but no cutting out the concrete or super expensive stuff.

Sometimes it helps to have a background in construction. But the hubby isn't taking it well at all. He had budgeted it as a $300 repair and not a $3.5k one. But, a gal needs hot water to wash her hair and her fabric so we gotta do what we gotta do.

Iceblossom: That’s a bummer but it sounds like you may have a cheaper solution in building it out.

We bought the house from heck in 1989, we nearly killed us. By now we have the equivalent of george washington's ax. 4 new handles and 3 new heads but yes, it is still called george washington's ax. Stay out of the thrift stores, you don't need any of that stuff ;) and soon you'll have enough for what is really important. Good for you for thinking outside the box!

Don't know how well these will come out, the first shows the solid green at the top and then four pieces of treated, two bleach and two tea dye. The first bleach is just basic bleach, the second is more subtle and uses cleanser with bleach. Half of each of those pieces will also be dipped in the yellow dye when I'm running that. The darkest piece was from the bag of scraps, I'm going to put into a mild bleach solution and see what it looks like, might find a couple more to work with that way as well.

The second piece is a solid yellow that I tea dyed. Again, I will overdye it with the yellow when I'm doing the white cloth. Think I'm going to get some beets and slice them and put them on some of the white and see how well that transfers, I just want a touch of color. I also have red dye at my disposal, would thin it out to orange.

I really want to be more patterned than subtle, but I already found out I didn't like subtle batik patterns so I better just keep it splotchy.

edit: Plumbing issues still on-going, we had made plans before this happened to treat our neighbors to dinner tonight. He's a contractor and has been gone a couple of days so haven't been able to talk to him yet. I'm figuring after we talk to him we will shut down the water to the tank and have it removed so we can work without it in the way and get the new space ready, complete with essentially a fake wall behind the heater so we can sufficiently earthquake strap it. Not sure with my old house if I will be completely without water or just hot water, but I can put coolers in the bathtub to hold water to flush with and buy a couple of jugs of potable water, and we have our Planet Fitness just a couple miles down the road for showers if we need them that badly.

I’m going out on a limb and choosing my own colors using what I have in my stash. I’m also using only one fabric for each color family. I’ve come up with three possible combinations. Which one you prefer?

quiltsRfun, your fabrics are beautiful! My favorite photo is C, but I think you need the light orange in there for your aqua. If you could find a darker orange for your framboise, I think you'd be safer value-wise, because the orange is reading pretty close to your mediums. I think the green in the second photo is a bit at odds with your other fabrics, so I would go with the other green. So I think A is your best option. It's always such fun to see the quilt in alternate colorways!

I think B, BH made a huge point of contrast between color groups and B has the best contrast especially in the two browns

I think B is the best. Pretty fabrics.

B, because of contrast. But I like the green in A and C better than the one in B.

I like your fabrics and would be in a similar quandary. I think I'm leaning towards A but you might try looking at the yardage amounts and laying out the fabrics proportionately to see if that changes your mind.

There are 4 yards needed of Neutral (egads, my school bus yellow is going to be so bright!). There are roughly the same amounts of Dark Blue (2.5) and Framboise (2.25). Aqua and Green are smaller at 1.5 yards.

So I'd put a long strip of my neutral along one side, two big squares of the Dark Blue and Framboise, and two squares half that size of each of the aqua and green and play around a bit.

Edit: In my case, I'm using light/medium/dark values instead of colors, yellow instead of neutral and a brighter red. It can be harder to chose our fabrics the more we work with what we have on hand instead of what is designed. In the picture I posted earlier in this thread I knew my yellow and red so have those on the edges, and I'm working with the three in the middle. I simply have a reference tone/value (the paint chip) and put it in the pile that is most appropriate. I have to have the dark dark, so the medium above it must be noticeably lighter. Likewise the green I'm using has to be lighter/contrast with the aqua -- which has to be lighter/brighter than the medium!

quiltsrfun- I'm having a really hard time giving you an answer! They are all lovely fabrics.
I have to say B but there is a green in A and C that I absolutely love.
I'm no help!!! :D

Thanks for starting the thread Toverly. Count me in. I look forward to seeing the different fabric choices. So excited! I went through my scraps and came up with enough fabric without shopping. So happy to be part of your group! Tallchick I love your batiks!
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