Orca Bay week two

I started right in in the blue string-pieced blocks called for in the directions in the 2nd week of Bonnie Hunter's current mystery quilt, Orca Bay. I think I've only done string piecing once before, so I was happy to have such detailed instructions about how to do it properly: the correct stich length, using the paper foundation, etc. It's addictive!

Time for a mystery quilt!

Actually, I DO NOT have time to be making a mystery quilt, but I've been checking in on Bonnie Hunter's blog Quiltville every now and then and noticed that she just happened to be starting a new mystery quilt one of the days I clicked on her site. It's called the Orca Bay Mystery. Since Bonnie seems to be all about using up scraps, and I've got more scraps than I know what to do with, I figured I can justify my involvement. So I started right in. Here's a photo of the first units she's asked us to make, from black and white fabrics.

If I remember correctly, we're supposed to make 230 or so of these little units (they measure 2 1/2 inches) but the instructions said to just get started, and not to worry if you didn't get all of them finished before the next directions are published on Friday.

That said, I'm determined not to let my current project, the Scrappy Trip, become another UFO. So I'm working on both quilts at the same time. I've got all of the large blocks for the Scrappy Trip finished, and I'm now creating a border for it that I hope will read as a zig-zag line when it's done. Here's a photo of where it stands now:

I want the border to be separated from the main part of the quilt by a strip of fabric---I was thinking of even using white, or maybe a pale yellow. I'll see what looks best when I'm ready to start sewing it all together.