Bonnie Hunter's 2019-2020 Frolic Mystery
 

She's up! Since a thread hasn't started yet, I thought I would begin. NZQuilter mentioned it on last years blog. Quiltville.com. I'm not the best to start a thread, since I can't figure out how to attach a link but this year's is looking good. Off to Lowe's for paint chips.

just saying, this is the 2019 mystery.

Oops, you are so right. If I can figure out how to change that to 2019-2020, I will.

I'm in! "Frolic" is a great name for this adventure in the Mystery Quilt.

https://quiltville.blogspot.com/2019...ntro.html#more

I think this is the link: https://quiltville.blogspot.com/2019...ery-intro.html
Looks like the mystery this year is called "Frolic". The first clue is supposed to come out Nov. 29th. The above link should take you to the introduction. Can't wait to see things as they progress!

Thanks for the heads up. I’m thinking about participating this year. What has been the difficulty level of her mysteries in years past?

I find her process very simple. Lots of redundancy after the technique is mastered. So for me, time to get it all done is the biggest difficulty -- I've never finished one of her mysteries. But I am great at collecting the fabrics to do the project and practicing the methods. :-)

I have only participated in one of Bonnie Hunter’s Mystery quilt’s but have to say I found her directions very clear. When appropriate she demonstrated more than one way and if memory serves the people here occasionally gave another method or two. I learned so much and her “extra” triangle technique is something I use every time I quilt. I have a huge stack of extra half triangle squares to put together into something from fabric that might have been eventually thrown away.

That said I am in. Really happy with the colors this year so will stick close to her choices. Oddly they are close to the colors I had decided that I wanted to use no matter what the pattern called for. I definitely need to buy as my stash just isn’t that huge in those colors as I tend to use them the most!

"generally" 2.5" 2" and 1.5" pieces are the norm, but she said today this will be an easy one as she will be traveling and not available to give quick answers.. based on that maybe 5" down to 2.5" pieces? Just a guess.

Even being a quilter since time began and long term serious about accuracy, I have always learned something and become an increasingly better quilter since doing the mysteries. My first was 2011.

Thanks for getting the thread started for this years mystery quilt. I'm in for another year. My first one was 2012 with Celtic Solstice. I didn't make that one until this year though. Funny thing about this years, she's based it on her trip to Texas earlier this year. Guess what, I remember it well, I live right down the way from where the pictures were taken!

Thanks for starting the thread, toverly!

I think the palette is fascinating. I'm hoping I can find these colors in my stash. I think they will have to be more subdued versions.

Someone posted a photo of the Bonnie mystery mugs on her Facebook page; I noticed they are dated with the year the mystery ends, rather than the year it begins. The Good Fortune mug is labeled Mystery XIV January 2019.

Yaaaay I'm in! I'm not even messing with the color choices this time! I love the combination as it is!

Good Fortune was the first mystery quilt that was actually still a mystery for me. I stumbled on Celtic Solstice, On Ringo Lake, and Grand Illusion after the fact. I've completed the top for On Ringo Lake and I have Grand Illusion cut out in preparation for a retreat soon. I haven't settled on colors for Celtic Solstice or else I'd have that one cut too.

The patterns aren't overly difficult, but there are little pieces. I work full time and did a bit of each Good Fortune clue as they came out, but I didn't finish until maybe February or March. There are people with quilts all bound up and done the day after the reveal, but that will never be me and I'm fine with that.

I'm so looking forward to sewing this years mystery and seeing everyone else's work! I absolutely despise winter. This is one of the things I look forward to to get through it. Yay for mystery season!

Yes! I am in and have got my paint chips already. I love these colors!

I love the colors for this mystery, Frolic. I know I won't be able to keep up this year, since I'm back working. A little bit here and there, it will eventually get done.

The colors are really nice! I can't wait to see what Bonnie has in store! I'll be downloading each clue but I don't think I can join in right now. I have Christmas quilts to finish.

I am in as well, Bonnie plans to change it up a bit this time according to hints she gave the recent travelers on her trip to Kenya. The units will be grouped as sets this time whatever that means. At any rate, I've nearly got all my fabrics gathered and I'm sticking with her colors except for the fuchia. Mine will be more of a reddish-coral.

I am in on this one. I like Bonnie and her information. I've looked before but I'm jumping in this time. Also, have spent several winters in Texas and loved seeing the spring flowers on our way home, so more motivation.

I enjoy doing the matched sets. In Allietare, it meant we paired one neutral with one red for each alternate block. In En Provence, it meant using the same yellow for all four yellow squares in the block. This time it sounds like we will be pairing dark blues with light blues.

Thank you! whoever corrected the dates. I hope I can post the following, the information obtained really helped me rethink the Mystery colors. We had a guest lecturer at our Guild meeting, Marilyn Rose. We got to talking about Bonnie Hunter's Mystery. She does it too. I mentioned that I would love to have the courage to change the colors. She referred me to a website, Stringandstory.com by Holly Knight. Holly has you tube videos on color theory and how to change the colors of some of the past Mysteries. Of course, there is not one on this one but it was interesting watching. Hope it helps some of y'all that might be like me. I don't have a whole lot of these colors so will probably be changing.

Here is what I pulled from stash. The floral is 5 yards that I can use for backing, so I changed the fuschia color to the reddish-corals. My aquas are the ones in the middle - they are light but if I am careful in choosing my neutrals I think they will be ok.
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So pretty, QV! Bonnie made a point of saying stay light with the aqua, so those should be perfect. My aquas are also very light.

Thanks for the link, toverly! Going now to check it out.

I love the colors and plan to join in again, though I may not get started until after the reveal. I always learn a great deal both from Bonnie and all the ladies on this site.

Hi! I will be following along. I may make some of each clue. However, my priority after Thanksgiving is to start some things for my first grandchild due in February. :)

Thanks for starting this thread, toverly. I intend to participate again this year, but I'm not sure if I will stick to Bonnie's color choices. Blue is my favorite color, but for some reason I rarely use it in quilts. There is a lot of it in my stash, so maybe I will use her palette. I do like the addition of the fuchsia. I think I've used that in 2 of her mysteries already, so that may require some shopping!

Leslie

I did the math like Holly Knight suggested. It is as follows. It's a total of 13 yards which breaks down into: 31% neutrals, 19% navy, 17% purple (so 3 dominate colors for 67% of the quilt). Equal parts of aqua amd green at 11.5% each and a splash of medium blue at 10% ( 3 accent colors for the remaining 33%). I am not a math person but this sure helps me. Hope it helps someone else too.

I'm in too. My stash only needs the raspberry. I'm taking her Smith Mountain Morning class at Shipshewana in about a week. Oh happy day. I've waited about 3 or 4 years to get in. I just missed it last time she was here. So I decided to practice the Smith Mountain Morning. I'll do the 4th one in class and it will be tarnished gold and green. I hope anyone on this board who is taking the class will let me know who they are. I already know two.

I usually don't do things like this much any more but I have all the fabric in my stash... debating going along for the ride or not.

Maybe I'll try convincing one of the ladies in my sewing group that she needs to do this too! She's already doing a block a week thing, along with her quilt guild monthly thing.

I do love the look of the mysteries and love quilts that are scrappy. I have never done a mystery, because for some reason I have to wrap my brain around the finished project before I can proceed with any steps. However, it would be a way of thinking differently for me and probably a good learning experience. How time consuming is this quilt on a weekly basis? Also, there is only one quilt store near where I live. How do you all get that scrappy look if you don't have the stash. Many online companies require buying 1yd increments, which I really don't like to always be doing.

You would want to see the directions for cutting I would think before deciding. You can do the project as "planned" if you wish. Checking out the first link was really interesting, the paint chip idea is pretty cool but I really liked seeing her clumps of colors. And we don't have to limit ourselves to her colors, I think that's part of the fun of mystery quilts is seeing what the various people do and their interpretations of the theme.

One way to add fabrics is by precuts, finding a layer cake or fat quarter collection that speaks to you. You never know quite what you are going to get (which for me is part of the fun!) but I've gotten several Scrap Packs from eQuilter, it's a 1 pound bundle of bolt ends, some of which are maybe a bit skewed but never tiny strips.
https://www.equilter.com/category/38...se-scrap-packs

Grace, doing scrappy is the result of having stash and recognizing I have to use it ;) I'd love to go out and buy the fabrics this year but I work from what I have and the only thing I have enough of is the dark blues. So I'll be changing out colors to what I have, it will still be pretty. I'll be doing half size, as a bed runner/couch quilt size. I don't need any more big quilts.

Shortly there will be links here to shops that have bundled the colors or the quilt, you can get them all in one swoop if you desire.

There is maybe a days worth of cutting sewing in each clue. The crush comes at the reveal and the time it takes to put it all together. That is done according to our own speed. Weeks or years, doesn't matter. The first year I participated I thought that first week, "is this all there is to it?" so I cut a second wad of strips in another color group. Mistake... :)

The cutting was what I always hated about making quilts, but learning how efficiently Bonnie does it make it not drudgery but a pleasure.

Using the easy angle rulers was a quiltmaking changer, no more +1/8" measurements. If you need to make 2.5" half square triangles, you cut 2.5" strips, and use the ruler to add the difference to make them come out perfect every time, no trimming down which is an exercise that doubles the time to make a quilt. As my FIL says, work smarter, not harder.

Two of the online stores that I know of, whittlesfabrics.com and quiltedtwins.com, can be counted on to put together bundles specific to the Bonnie Hunter mysteries if you do not already have enough in your stash.

Grace creates, it's definitely a great learning experience! Doing the mysteries has helped me in two ways: I've learned easier ways of making units, and working with a large number of smaller pieces has helped improve my piecing skills through sheer repetition.

I guess how time-consuming it is depends on how fast a piecer you are. I'm slow so it's quite time-consuming for me. The mysteries usually involve smaller pieces with a lot of units to make. But it isn't necessary to keep pace with the mystery week by week. I think most of us end up finishing our top several weeks or months into the year. The main thing is to complete some of each clue each week so as to get the hang of how to make the unit.

I also have to shop exclusively on-line. Three of my favorite shops that sell 1/2 yd. are Fat Quarter Shop, Thread Bear Fabrics and Shabby Fabrics. Below are some of the shops I've found that will sell either a FQ or 1/4 yd. (Fabric Shack will even cut 1/8 of a yard, or they used to). :

Fabric Shack
https://fabricshack.com/cgi-bin/Store/store.cgi

Carolina Cotton Co.
https://www.carolinacottoncompany.com/shop.htm

Crazy Redhead Quilting
http://www.crazyredheadquilting.com/...htm?checkout=3

Feed Mill Fabric and Quilting
https://www.feedmillfabricandquilting.com/shop.htm

Ladyfingers
https://www.ladyfingerssewing.com/

L'il Red Hen
https://www.lilredhenquiltshop.com/shop.htm

The Little Red Hen
https://thelittleredhenonline.com/products

Mountain Creek Quilt Shop
https://www.mountaincreekquilters.com/shop.htm

Olive Juice Quilts
https://www.olivejuicequilts.com/shop-online.htm

Prairie Point Junction
https://prairiepointjunction.com/

Rossville Quilts
https://www.rossvillequilts.com/

I am joining in this year again. I have made all her mysteries except Celtic Solstice. Well except the quilting part of Grand Illusion. It has sat as a UFO because it is a big quilt and I do my own quilting on DSM. I have loved them all and have learned so much from working on her mystery quilts. She is very good with her instructions and helpful methods. I went to Lowes yesterday and got the paint chips as I intend to use her colors. Not sure how much I will have to buy to supplement what I can pull from my stash.
I would love to take one of her classes.

Whittles Fabrics is carried Frolic fabric FQ bundles specifically for the Mystery Quilt. https://www.whittlesfabrics.com/search/?q=Bonnie+hunter . Quilted Twins.com usually puts together bundles of MQ color fabric too, but so far I haven't seen it on their webpage.

Did Bonnie hint somewhere that thus will be an easier mystery? Maybe if I finish my Christmas quilts before Thanksgiving... I do love all things blue!

Oops, just saw your post too! I guess I should read the whole thread before I post. :D

some of the etsy sellers have bundles up now also.
I got my paint chips, the colors are much prettier in person than on the monitor.

And please remember Bonnie has asked us Not to take a hand full of chips to pass on, which leaves the locals without any ;) there are other sources (dmc numbers comes to mind) for color clues.

I'll be joining in. Not sure what colors I'll pick, but it won't be what is listed. I've found that Bonnie and I have different color preferences and I've yet to make a mystery where I liked the end result if I stuck with the provided colors. However I've never had a problem finding a home for any of them.

Gives me an excuse to play in my stash for a day!

Got my paint chips today and had fun pulling some fabrics out of stash. This is the first time I’ve tried to pull matching colors together like this using paint chips. How did I do?
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I think I may try this one! I have not done any of her quilts yet, but I do have several of her patterns. I’m going to go though all my bins of scrap fabric and see what I come up with, I ran into Lowe’s while running errands and grabbed my chips. I have a bazillion rulers so I think I’ll make do with what I have rather than adding another to add to the mix. At least yard work won’t take time away from sewing!