joe'smom

Iceblossom, I'm also intrigued by Bonnie's photo of her ice blues; at first glance, I thought those were her neutrals. Her fabric photos often differ substantially from the paint cards, and this time the blue card is much brighter than her blue prints. I usually follow her lead when there is something distinctive about her fabric pulls, so I've also added some white background blue prints to my blue pile. Her Indigo Way solid red turned out to be quite important to the effect of the pattern.

It will be fascinating to see your monochrome quilt take shape, if you do go that way

joe'smom

An afterthought. There was a photo of a fabric pull on Bonnie's FB page. All of the purples were on the reddish side, but the pinks were all on the warm side. The blues looked beautiful in this setting. So I'm wondering if it isn't the cooler pinks that don't look good with the redder purples.

WMUTeach

For my two cents, I like the second choice on post #60. The colors seem to blend nicely and none over power the others in their color group. I like the icy blue in that second choice rather than the print. It is more soothing.

Iceblossom

Still playing with fabric!

I really think I am going for the drama with the monochrome project. But I still want to play with brights.

If I was to go Bonnie Colors, I like using those white with blue prints for the Ice, maybe a couple of "barely" blue fabrics. They help transition the stark white on whites to the color. I'd keep with the Bluer Purples and the lighter pinks. Is lovely and tempting...

Remember the earlier start time (or keep to Black Friday because of timing) but just 10 days to go until we start cutting

Quossum

I keep looking at this one. I’ve made a number of Bonnie’s easier/free patterns: Scrappy Bargello, Diamonds in Squares, and so forth. But her mystery quilts are a whole ‘nother level. I don’t know that I have it in me.

I’m “experienced,” I guess, having made over 100 quilts, but my accuracy is casual at best, my attitude towards mistakes the “if you wouldn’t notice it from the back of a galloping horse, who cares” kind of vibe. Just thinking of cutting rectangles in half makes me nervous. But she promises paper piecing templates instead, and that’s something I’ve been wanting to learn…

But maybe I’m ready for a challenge? I can certainly take my time.

I dunno… would I be making a fool of myself? Give up the ghost with 5000 one-inch pieces of fabric strewn across my comatose bod?

I do have lots of purple and pink, don’t think I have a lick of “ice blue,” buy maybe I could substitute colors…

I don’t know if I’m trying to talk myself INTO this or OUT of it! Halp!!!

joe'smom

Quossum, LOL. There's no chance you'll make a fool of yourself. I think the biggest secret about Bonnie mysteries is that they are not as complicated as they look. She makes them look complicated by creating illusions with the piecing, but it's just basic units that you've probably already mastered. Her directions are very thorough. You just need some determination and patience, and you end up with a very impressive-looking quilt. I hope you do manage to talk yourself into it!

WMUTeach

Quossum Thank you for joining me on the fence. I am sure I have the skills but the endurance to turn all of those cuts into a BH beauty..... well. I am still on the fence.

Iceblossom

Glad to see the new names here, and the fence sitters! You can join in at any time -- including next year if it takes that long

Quossum, you can do it! And if you don't like the results you can blame Bonnie or that it was a Mystery. Take a look again at Bonnie's Ice Blues and comments that Joe'smom and I have made. Do you have any white backgrounds with blue prints you can use??

I didn't get much time to play with fabric yesterday, it was my sewing group day. Today I plan to look at some of those black and brights -- and to put some things away. I will keep my preferred Bonnie color fabrics out for now, but yeah... I am pretty much set on the Monochrome.

Think of things like Navajo weavings in gray, white and black (sheep colors!). I really like the idea of the amount of contrast the limited colors will show. I'm especially hoping for those thousands of pointy triangles I don't like, it will be my luck if this year is mostly little squares...

Gemm

Full disclosure first: I'm not going to be doing the mystery. :-)

I've been a lurker for several years now and a number of people do choose a smaller version of the project as a jumping-off point and that might be something that appeals for WMU, Quossum and others who are fence-sitting. It seems if you make about half the units as you go along, when it's time to put things together it only takes a little tweaking and going back to make a few extra units to make the pattern work (this also applies if you want to make the pattern rectangular or even larger).

Just a thought. :-)

joe'smom

I've gotten to a good pausing place in my current leader/ender project (all primary units constructed), so I will put that aside and take up the mystery as my new leader/ender while continuing with my scheduled main projects.

This leader/ender I'm putting aside is the one using the half rectangle unit. I've been speculating on which two colors our units will be composed of for the mystery, and how Bonnie will use the unit.