This mystery season has been the most fun ever!
My love affair with string quilts has been a long and fruitful one ---one of the first crazy stringy quilts I ever made was a DENIM one I started in the fall of 1980 ---that one of course was so heavy it never became more than just a top, and I don’t know what ever happened to it – but suffice it to say that string quilts remain my favorite quilts of all time, hands down!
When I first used strings for the Roll Roll Cotton Boll mystery, I wasn’t sure how people would react. I knew some would hate it, I hoped most would love it – I hoped it would add a dimension to mixing my love of strings with traditional patchwork that hadn’t been deeply explored before.
And the ideas continued into Orca Bay --- and you turned out SO many beautiful and fabulous quilts!
Knowing that not everyone has a blog, I want to share a few that have come to me via email this week:
This is Sissel’s quilt from Norway! I love how she sent it to me in postcard format --- so I’m sharing it with you in the same way! Thank you, Sissel! You did a great job!
Ursula sent me the following email with 3 pictures attached:
Hello Bonnie,
Since I don't have a blog but I did do Orca Bay, I thought you might at least like to see my quilts for your own enjoyment. I used every piece made for your version with the exception of one small border unit.
I enjoyed making these quilts along with 5 other enthusiastic quilters. They each made your color and size version. I chose a different color scheme with every piece coming out of the cupboard or my scrap collection.
We kept each other motivated both in person and through encouraging emails. I have more use for small quilts which explains why I chose to make all of the units into smaller quilts. I also have enough leftovers from my different way of creating the string units (no papers) that there will be another "leftovers" quilt made from my "trimmings".
It was my first time trying the two rulers which will definitely be used again. Thanks for doing this mystery. I look forward to your next one. from a "Bonnie" fan...Ursula
Thank you for sharing the pics and the story, Ursula!
Now it is your turn to Link-Up your blog posts to mine below! I’m excited to see how you’ve done in the past month since the last Link Up.
Remember that we need the url of the specific POST, not just the address for your whole blog.
To get the correct address in the linky-–right click on the title/subject line of the post 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 that way.
For instance, my blog address is quiltville.blogspot.com but that isn't enough.
If you link to just your whole blog, I’ll have to remove your link and have you try again because I can’t fix it FOR you.**NOTE** You do NOT need to include the http:// when you insert your address into the linky!
We'll leave this open until MIDNIGHT eastern time Friday night to give you time to write your posts! I LOVED seeing what links came in last month! 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!
18 comments:
It is really fun to see everyone's progress on Orca Bay!!!! I love this pattern! THANKS BONNIE for sharing it with us!
sao in Midlothian, VA
I think it was a lot of fun too! There was a lot of quick progress made on everyone's versions because of the Mr. Linky thing and we all got see and share our progress - that was such a great addition. I enjoyed participating in the mystery immensely - thank you so much!
oh my oh my, such Orca Bay eye candy! I especially like all the different colorways I'm seeing, they're goregous! Thanks Bonnie for sharing the mystery and for the linky.
It's neat to see everyone else's completed quilts. Life keeps getting in the way for me, though. I have bags of pieces cut and hope to get something put together before you come visit our guild in March! Great fun!
Bunnie
It is so much fun to see all these lovely quilts. Thanks for all you do and all you share with us.
Thanks Bonnie for the link up. I love seeing what everyone else did. I think I sent you a picture of OB via email back when I finished it. I really wish I had a blog though.
Did OB take less time than RRCB. That seemed to have gone longer. I will look forward to the next mystery by you Bonnie.
Maryella
Great design and great quilts, everyone!
Thanks for the link up Bonnie, it is so much fun to see what everyone has done!
Thanks Bonnie, this was be my first Mystery and I'm ready to start again :)
I loved to see the progresses of other quilters, read their experiences and comments. I felt part of a group with a great Chief, You!
This is a fantastic bunch of quilts! Great job everyone. Lovin' all the different color ways. Bonnie, thank you so much for such a fun project! And thanks for implementing the "link-up" feature so we could "ogle" and drool over each others quilts.
Thank you for the mystery and the link up. I truly enjoyed it and appreciate all you do for us!
I've had such fun looking at the beautiful quilts. I love seeing all the different color schemes quilters came up with. It also gives me hope that mine will be a top someday....instead of the batch of strips and the blue & red string-pieced squares I have now....and the red ones aren't even trimmed yet.
Thanks for doing the link thing. So many pretty quilts from around the world!
These are surely some of the BEST quilts I have seen! everyone's imagination for colors worked so well. I can not say enough about how beautiful each quilt turned out.
Congratualtions all ORCA BAY QUILETRS
JulieinTN
My first mystery quilt & so much fun. I started just after the holidays and now all my pieces are ready to go into the quilt top.
I love your work & I love the "no whining" policy! Thank you so much p.s. I was double checking the sizes of wing triangle units the directions say bottom is 3 7/8" sides are 3 1/2". I'm wondering if the bottom (long side) of triangle should read 4 7/8??
Is that Sissel the famous singer from Norway?! I have & LOVE her CD's
Have you noticed how many of the quilts require a cat scan before they can be declared complete.
One of the best things I've learned from Bonnie's Mystery Quilts is how fast (that's a relative term!) they can be made, if a person is organized and structured. It's a lot easier to make 500 of something at one time, than it is to make 10 of this, and 5 of that, and 4 of another, etc. Good lesson, Bonnie - thanks for the reminder. I spend too much time (??) stopping and admiring, when I do it MY way! 8-))
Thanks so much for Orca Bay, Bonnie. I think mine will be renamed to "Dogged Determination" or "Double D" (huh?). 8-))
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