peaceandjoy

I'm still on the fence. I made Rhododendron Trail a LARGE king, and Old Town is in a project box - 42 blocks (I think the pattern was for 25?) and sashings, ready to be assembled into another king size. I really dislike putting tops together!

I do love a mystery, though, lol! If I hop in, I will be changing the colors - pastels are not my jam. Also, considering up-sizing the units. I saw a picture (which I can't find, of course) of last year's where the maker doubled the size and only had to make 4 blocks to get a good size throw.

Whehter i participate or not, I always enjoy seeing what others do.

joe'smom

Iceblossom, have you considered simply hand pressing your washed fabric, and waiting until you use it to press with an iron?'

Iceblossom

I am a believer in prewashing. I used to only wash when I was using the fabric, but I really like being able to go into my stash and be ready to go with what I pull out. Sometimes I will prewash and carefully place the fabric to be ironed later, but it seems easiest fresh and slightly damp from the dryer.

This "prewash when it comes in" is a way of slowing down my fabric purchases, I do think of the work ahead of me and whether I truly want that piece or not when I add in laundry time and ironing work.

I'm at a guild mini-retreat yesterday and today, and put up a sign on my station saying "Do you Bonnie Hunter?" one of the ladies there does and I may have pulled her into this year's mystery. Today we are going to get together and talk Bonnie

joe'smom

I rue the day I stopped washing as soon as fabric comes in! I don't know if I'll ever get ahead of it again, as there's now a limit to how many stair climbs I can do in a day. But I hadn't thought of it as a way of slowing down my fabric purchases; that is a good connection to make!

CraftyBecksa

Iceblossom, love that you are connecting over the Bonnie Hunter quilts.

I know that some of the women in the local quilting guild do BH's mysteries, however, I haven't made it back out to them for the last few weeks. I was going to join but then I don't know if I have the time to go out and participate. Quilting seems to be my solitary quiet hobby, but I have found I enjoy the interactions on here.

I have ordered all of the specialty tools/rulers for the mystery, and also a bunch of fabric. I have gone with a black background in place of the neutral. I have a mid blue, mid - dark purple and mid pink to go with it. I'm looking forward to how this one is going to come out! And excited to start piecing.

Iceblossom

So I was showing the one lady my Bonnie projects and it turned into a show and tell for the whole retreat which really wasn't my intent. Everyone was very appreciative of Bonnie's project and my work/changes. She was later discussing the project with one of her friends there, I had my copy of the print out with me and they were going over it and the Old Town project pages. So maybe she did some Bonnie recruiting on her own!

It turns out one of the ladies there was on the Poland trip that turned into Old Town. We looked for her in the group pictures but she always seemed to be in the far end/back row...

I got up my normal too-early today and swept out the sewing room -- I had so many trimmings and stuff from the last project which I did get put together at the retreat. Picture is in VQW thread, post 26/page 3.
Virtual Quilting Weekend--11/7-11/9/25

Spent a long time this morning washing and ironing all that fabric I ordered. I'm taking pictures and thinking thoughts -- and as much as I want to play with the pinks and purples, I am still really taken with this monochrome idea and the drama appeals.

WMUTeach

Well, Ice, you could do both versions of the 2026 mystery! One could be in BH colors and one in you monochromatic choice. Tee-Hee-Hee!!

Iceblossom

I have considered doing two, but I think that's probably a bit excessive even for me. Still... if I wasn't going to be gone for a week or two during the time period I probably would!

Here are some of the "fun with fabric" pulls.

First picture is the shimmering fabric that I would love to use for all my ice blue, but it is just a yard. I guess we would have to call it a blend, it is blue cotton threads with shimmery mylar?? woven in, just blue thread the pink and other highlights come from the mylar. One of the ladies in my sewing group had gotten it and gradually realized that she was just never going to use it, but since I used metallic fabrics in my scrap quilts maybe I would. I just love this piece of fabric, will save it whole for a "better use" project. I know I have some northern lights type dark fabric that would probably love to play with it. It has been washed, it irons, it is not scratchy, it passes a burn test for cotton, the mylar stuff doesn't seem to burn.

Edit: The angle I shot the picture at and the flash enhances the colors. Looking straight on in dull light it is pretty much just blue with a shimmer.

Second picture is my pull for Bonnie's colors. My purples tend reddish, my pinks are strong but do not go all the way to red... lol my white on whites are overflowing, my first order of business will be to use up the smaller pieces before I cut any larger yardage.

Third picture is substituting the light blues that I have picked for some of my "Bonnie Neutrals" with white backgrounds and blue prints - these were left over from the Indigo Way. Not a spoiler I hope -- but when you look at Bonnie's fabrics, there is not a whole lot of difference between her neutral collection and her Ice Blue collection, plus there isn't much difference between her paint chips either. I'm thinking of the Ice Blue as a shadow to the neutral...

Iceblossom

Since I still have time (and a clean sewing desk) I will still be playing with fabric, particularly the black and brights combinations.

Right now though -- I am pretty set on the monochromatic version. I tried to set up the pictures in the same way so Neutral on the bottom, Ice in the middle, and purple and pink on the top.

For Monochrome, I am using Black (neutral), Black and White (Ice), Gray (Purple), the White on White (Pink). The black neutral allows for small amounts of white print, the Black and White will have white backgrounds.

Iceblossom

Last set of pix today -- I promise!

I still like the Monochrome best so far, but looking at my previous pictures I realized I just didn't like those Reddish Purples with the ice blues, and that I had done my initial color pull with that blotchy fabric -- so here it is back again. I am still drawn to using the blotchy fabric with the reddish purples even if the scale might cause problems.

The second picture I swapped out some bluer purples and lightened up the pinks. I like this set better with the blue.