I'm Back!

Yes, it's been almost a year since I last posted. I started this blog the first year that I participated in Bonnie Hunter's Mystery Quilt in order to have a vehicle to join in Linky Mondays to show my progress on the mystery. Since then I have found that Instagram more and more suited my need to post pictures of my quilting projects and I let this blog slide.

Last year I sat out "On Ringo Lake", Bonnie's 2017 mystery. The 2016 mystery, "En Provence" still sits in parts and pieces although all the blocks are made as well as the sashing. They need "only" to be sewn together. I was hesitant to join in this year because of all the other projects that I have going on.

I was going to skip this year's mystery as well, but have decided now to jump in. But then I watched QuiltCam last night in which Bonnie joined with Holly Ann of String & Story. Holly and Bonnie discussed how to change out colors from the published ones that Bonnie has chosen. I felt more confident in being able to choose my own colors this year after watching QuiltCam. Plus Holly Ann has a weekly get together on her blog Friday evenings and she is going to focus on making the mystery quilt with her Rock Stars. It sounded like fun and there will be a community every Friday during mystery season that sews together. It will (hopefully) keep me on track to get the quilt done this year.

I have tweaked her colors a little bit to give me a Christmas vibe. I really like the colors in Bonnie's "Carolina Christmas" which was originally a mystery quilt (2009?) and is now a published pattern in her book "Scraps & Threadtails II". That quilt is my inspiration for the color palette I have chosen. I may only do half the clues each week, just to keep things sane and because the quilt is not as large as in past years (72" x 72") so it wouldn't serve as a bed quilt for my queen size bed in any case. Here is my fabric pull, all from stash.

Red is red, light/bright green is green, yellow subs for orange, dark green subs for blue, neutrals are neutrals. A number of the fabrics are sparkly or have metallic gold in them and several are actual Christmas prints. I think it looks fairly Christmasy.