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Monday, December 12, 2011

Mystery Monday Link-Up, Part 4!

HOWEVER you have decided to do your Part 4 units, I hope you will share your blog link below and let us see what you got up to over the weekend!

If you are new and just starting out on the mystery, you can link below too…you can show ANY progress on any of the parts, wherever you are in your progress. The more the merrier! I’ve had a great time checking in on your posts and seeing what you’ve been up to. I loved visiting the blogs over the week and feeling like I got to know YOU a bit better, especially if you write about things that go on in your life as well as your quilting! Did you check back to last week's link-ups? We had 109 participants! Way to go!

As for the rest of my Sunday --- We did go see Tower Heist, and I did like it, but I really liked “We Bought A Zoo” better. Maybe it IS more chick-flicky, but hey---what can I say, I tend to like feel good drama that leaves me feeing inspired at the end.

I spent the evening working on the last of the 2” strips….WOW….This makes such a HUGE difference in my storage space, in the accessibility of the strips, the ability to not only grab what color I want quickly, but being able to just grab a bag and go for when I'm traveling and sewing in a hotel room….

This is the BEFORE ----

yardsalesaturday 004

And this is the AFTER!

stash 061

Some have asked why the bags….the biggest reason is to keep things from getting all scrambled again, but the other reason is to minimize the thready unraveling at the edges of the strips. The thready-ness alone drives me crazy, and this will greatly reduce it.

Folding them in round-ish rectangles like this takes up less space than if I were to roll them “Round” like a Jelly roll. They lay flatter and will travel with me easier on the go. So that’s mostly a choice I made, thinking of where they had to fit where I was going to store them.

We’ve all got ideas and routines and ways to do things that work for us, and I think this is one that is going to work for me, or I’m willing to try it at least. If it doesn’t work? I’ll try something else…I’m really good at recycling zip lock bags ---They won’t go to waste!

So what colors did I have the most of in the 2” strips? Blue and Green. Not much yellow at all, very little orange --- not much brown either, it’s interesting to see them all divided by color family this way. I’ve used up a lot of red over the past several months, but if I run short on a project, I can always head to the Fat Quarters and find something to slice up to add to the mix…..

Let’s link up!

If you are a blogger, please link your post showing your Orca Bay Mystery progress on Part 4 ((Or any other part, no matter where you are in the mystery)) below!

Remember that we need the url of the specific POST, not the address for your whole blog. To get the correct address in the linky –right click on the title/subject line of thepost you wrote about your quilt progress. Chose “copy link address” and paste this url in the form when you link. You can also CLICK the title line of the post you want to link...and copy the url from the address bar at the top of your browser there that way.

For instance, my blog address is http://quiltville.blogspot.com but that isn't enough. I can't link to the WHOLE blog, I need the address of the post. The address of THIS post is http://quiltville.blogspot.com/2011/12/mystery-monday-link-up.html See the difference?

If you link to your whole blog, I’ll have to remove your link and have you try again because I can’t fix it FOR you.

Some have asked how they can link a picture if they don't have a blog, and that is one thing we are not doing right now. You have to have a blog to link up. If you can link a picture, you can put it on a blog page! It's simple as that....start a blog, upload a picture, link it here. :c) Come on, you know you wanna! What's stopping you?

We'll leave this open for a week to give you time to write your posts! I LOVED seeing what links came in last week! If you missed those, you can find them linked in the Orca Bay Mystery tab at the top of the blog ---just look at the bottom of that page below the step links for the Mystery Monday Link up Links !

Happy Monday!



20 comments:

  1. Anonymous6:43 AM EST

    I have enjoyed worked on the mystery so much! But, this weekend I was out of town and didnt get to start week 4! Cant wait to get going on it this evening after work!

    Thank you, Bonnie, for the time & effort you put into this!

    Jess, Tyler, TX
    itsnursejessi@gmail.com

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  2. You've done a really great job on those strips! I don't have as many as you but I did notice they start to unravel at the edges, and I'm assuming it can ever-so-slightly affect the size of the strip. So I'll take this as a head's up for me and neaten up the strips I have so far.

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  3. Bonnie how do you post pics if you don't have a blog? Just wondering even tho" I didn't get much done on Orca Bay this weekend.

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  4. Anonymous9:53 AM EST

    I found something really appealing here. Better than red, I just love the pieced red squares (that make red HSTs) with all their attendant combinations. They really sparkle. There are some lovely quilts coming down the road. Stephani in TX (Tomazec@aol.com)

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  5. Okay, I think I figured it out.....I have a technophobia......but I'm working on it :0)

    You should see the scraps I have scattered all over my sewing space. I'm pleased they are ending up in Orca Bay instead of sitting endless in their boxes :0)

    thanks Bonnie!

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  6. A picture of a frog???? showed up in my space but goes to my blog.......now what I have done?

    Ha ha ha
    Happy sewing

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  7. RSB --- you can't link if you don't have a blog. All the more reason to GET a blog..it's free! Come on, you can do it! :cD

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  8. Bonnie, what a great way to sort and store the strips. Mine get into the biggest 'jumble', once the Season is over with I must do some organizing. I can't tell you how much I am enjoying my first mystery quilt with you! Great fun!

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  9. I look at your strips and I think to myself...I have that, I have that too, I used to have that, I have that but in a different color, wow I wish I had that. So much fun to see other people fabric and reconize it.

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  10. I love what you are doing with your strips. It just makes my OCD body want to sit and spin in joyful abandom. I can see you packing your luggage for a teaching trip and just grabing some baggies of colors to work on in your hotel room.
    You rock lady!
    XOXOXO Subee

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  11. I've fallen behind unfortunately but am going to spend the next few days working on my mystery which I'm so excited to work on. The new idea of plastic strips to store strips in for traveling is great for me as I go to other quilters houses to do sew days all the time and it's a good way to carry WIP. Onward to the sewing machine

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  12. When I pulled out strings for Orca Bay I noted how ravelly the edges were. I'm torn (no pun intended) about string storage. I have three popup hampers under my cutting table for 1-1/2", 2", and 2-1/2" strips. As I generate strings I toss them into the appropriate hamper. If I smoothed them out and sorted them by color I'd have to come up with another way to store them. I guess I could try a multi-drawer unit like yours; it could fit under the cutting table the way the hampers do. (DH has asked what I want for Christmas.)

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  13. Anonymous2:42 PM EST

    Tell again how to send a linky. I finally managed to create a blog but can't figue out how to link up?????

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  14. You're doing great! I love how you can pick everything up and see exactly what colors and size you're getting. I think it will be a huge boon to you and your system, plus you'll see exactly what colors you need to use and which ones to add to fill holes. Awesome.

    (Some day.....some day....)

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  15. I am really enjoying this. I have looked at your mysteries before and not joined but decided it would help with my seasonal depression. It has really helped keeping my mind and hands busy.
    Love it. Keep it coming.

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  16. Thank you for this mystery. It is my first and I am enjoying so much!

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  17. Wow, this is the first time I've looked at the linkies, what a banquet of color!

    I'll knock on wood, but must say how much I think we all appreciate the size of the clues this year. We don't care how long it takes to get through the clues :) My clue 4 cheddars are coming out gorgeous!
    Thanks again, your time and effort on our behalf are heroic in the annals of quilting~

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  18. I can't wait for part 5! This is my first string blocks ever and find that I love them! I decided to cut bigger strings for part 4 and wound up cutting them down to get more color in the blocks. This is my first mystery quilt with you and I am really enjoying it!

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  19. Thanks Bonnie, just thinking ,because of you we all have some wonderful and interesting blogs to visit, I have been all over the world!

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  20. I am loving doing the mystery, although I have only completed part one and have all the preparation done for part two. We have started our summer holidays now and I'm away for the week, so took part one trimming away with me. I have spent the morning going through all the parts again and can't wait to get back home to continue with part 2. Ive also had time to work out how to link - done. Thank you Bonnie.

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