Good Fortune begins!

I'd decided NOT to participate in Bonnie Hunter's mystery quilt this year for the first time in 5 or 6 years because I've got several projects already underway and seem to be making very little progress on any of them. Also, my dear oldest son has moved back in with us, temporarily, making it challenging for me to work in my sewing room without infringing on his privacy.
But when I woke up this morning and saw Bonnie's Instagram post about the first clue in Good Fortune mystery going live today I had to check it out. Within half and hour I'd changed my mind and persuaded my husband to head to Lowes with me to pick up paint chips so I could start the quilt immediately.
Here's what I've done so far:

I love making Bonnie's mysteries because I always learn so much doing them. Just making these simple 4-patches I was reminded of all the little tricks and methods that go into making finished quilts look perfect and professional.

And I'm especially glad I jumped in for this quilt because its design was inspired by Bonnie's trip to China. I took a 3-week trip of my own to China 6 years ago with 2 girlfriends and and had a wonderful time.

Here are a few photos of our adventures there:

Here we are at the Great Wall. It was August and VERY hot.

Here I am wearing one of China's ethnic minority's traditional costumes that I'd rented from someone for about a dollar along a bike path we happened to be riding on.

Above I'm posing by a lake trying to keep my sun hat in place and below I'm with a bunch of Chinese children and their mothers I met while touring a historic site. Chinese kids study English in school and are quick to waylay anybody they think they can practice speaking with.

To check out what other some of the other quilters are doing, or to learn more about this mystery quilt, click HERE. 

More next week!

On Ringo Lake, Week 6

Here are a few of the units I've finished for week 6! I have to confess I was relieved that the big reveal didn't happen today. I feel pretty behind on the previous clues (I know it's not a race!) and seeing the finished quilt always makes me slow down instead of speed up. It does't make sense, but there you have it.
Anyway, I hope you had a great Christmas or whatever holiday you celebrate, and that the New Year brings you many good things.
If you want to see what other people are doing, checking out Bonnie's blog here.
PS. Bonnie's unexpectedly released 2 more clues since I posted this photo, so I'm adding another to show my progress since. Happy quilting!

On Ringo Lake, Week 5

Here are some of the brown-and-neutral geese I managed to make this morning, the day after Christmas. I missed last week altogether, since I was out-of-town at a Winter Solstice yoga celebration, but I printed out the clue so I can catch up.
So many people from all over the world are working on this mystery! If you want to take a look at what other people are doing, just click here.

On Ringo Lake: Week 3

This week I really broke out my orange fabrics! I thought these little units looked cute arranged as a zig-zag, so that's how I photographed my first few.

I can't wait to see what everyone is up to. If you want to share the fun, click here to check out Bonnie's blog.

On Ringo Lake, week 2

I'm enjoying the 2nd week of Bonnie's 2017 Mystery! I'm using regular fabric for the neutrals, but trying to stick to batiks for the colors. I've got a lot of orange batiks (I don't know exactly how they got into my stash, but they're there now and I feel obligated to use them).
I'm cutting these from 2-in. strips, because I bought Bonnie's ruler for the last mystery. It really makes this process go faster, and more easily. I still need to trim each of the geese units after I finish sewing and pressing, but I'm more accurate with this method than some other's I've tried in the past.
Thanks for stopping by! To look at what everyone else is up to, just click here.

On Ringo Lake!

I'm excited to start Bonnie's new mystery quilt. Here's some of what I've done (using only fabrics in my stash) for the first week's clue:

My colors will be similar to Bonnie's, but not exactly the same. I'm going with blue-green batiks and  orange batiks as my two main colors,  because I have a lot of it in my stash I've always wanted to use up.
We'll see how it looks in the end.
To see what everyone else is doing, click here.
More next week!

Week 6 of Bonnie's Mystery

Over the weekend I managed to make a few of the Week 6 units with Bonnie's new ruler. It's really terrific, and a great way to make these little triangle units. I'm so happy to have it!
I was glad to see the finished quilt design--really pretty. I know what I'm going to be doing with my free time in the coming weeks.
If you want to see what other quilters are doing, just click here.