Pick a little, talk a little.....

Bonnie Hunter has posted the first installment (fabric requirements) of her next mystery quilt, ORANGE CRUSH. A very cool name and it's generated lots of excitement. Poor Bonnie though, she finally had to express her frustration with all the questions she was receiving about fabric choices. I can understand her feelings when she has over 1000 ladies in a Yahoo Group suddenly jumping all over her, but I'm afraid it kind of goes with the territory...darn it. Everyone is asking questions all at one time. She made reference to hens clucking and I had to laugh when I immediately thought of the River City Ladies from The Music Man.




Don't get me wrong. I LOVE the music from this show but it's a bit much when it's running through my dreams all night long! LOL

Now here's some chickens for you. I wish I could show you the fine workmanship.


This is a BOM (block of the month) that my Mom did. The detail is incredible. Talk about frustration with fabrics. All the applique and quilting is done by hand. Another BOM in this series of quilts is shown in the detail below. She has a third, Fox Chase, in the works. She's also done the cat one.

I watched them being made and I still can't grasp the innate Talent, incredible Patience, attention to Detail and sheer Perseverance that got her through these. She has a pile of ribbons, mostly blue and best-in-shows, that I don't even try to compete with! Go Mom!

SO ANYWAY...I'm not about to get my britches in a twist about Bonnie's mystery. I'll take what she offers and enjoy it thoroughly. Her Carolina Crossroads mystery quilt was so well planned and went together so "easily" (that's not quite the right word) I have complete faith in this one.

So of course all last night in my dreams I also was choosing fabrics. (Always fun, but I'd rather do it in the daytime! LOL) So this is how it's going so far..... (Bonnie's words in italics)

Approximately 1.5 yards of light (neutral) scraps cut into 2" strips. Woot! a chance to get out the 2" strip bin and see what I have. Lots of my stuff is from Mom's old scrap bin so I don't know what treasures I have.

Approximately 1.5 yards of dark scraps cut into 2" strips. Ahhhh. Dark strips are easy. I have lots of brights too. And if I don't have enough I can always cut more as we go along. Neutral is going to be my problem. FIELD TRIP! :-)


Approximately 3/4 yard of dark scraps cut into 3.5" strips. Hmmmm. This bin isn't quite so exciting. I'm going to have to clean off my cutting table and get to work.

Bonnie says she has "scrap salad" in her bins. Cute way to put it. I thought that was the way the bins were SUPPOSED to look! LOL

Then she said we will need some additional yardage. She chose 2 yards of an Orange, 1.5 yards of a red and 1.5 yards of a vintage black. Her accent fabric is assorted pieces of blue/white indigo but we can use scraps if we want, in 3.5" strips.

So far very clear. But wait! Bonnie goes on to suggest other colorways for the mystery. I read through them all until I was gobsmacked by the last one!

Do you have 30's fabrics to clear out? This is a good place to use those 1930's solids in bubble gum pink, bright yellow, nile green, and lavender! Just as long as those 4 colors are more intense than your "lights" are. For a 1930's quilt, you can use plain muslin or cream for the lights. They didn't have "white on white" or "cream on cream" in the 1930s...so dare to make it look really vintage with muslin!

Wooohooo! I just bought a big packet of 30's fat quarters from Keepsake Quilting! I can use these and I also get to buy some solids as well! *tee hee*

My intention was/is to make a shower curtain and give the bathroom a sort of "quilty 1930's" look. This might be it! If it turns out shower curtain sized great, if it doesn't that's fine too. Hear that??? ME, the control freak, being loosey goosey! Yesssssss.

Oh! And Mom has expressed interest in doing this mystery too! Once again...THANKS BONNIE!