RRCB--Thanks, Bonnie

I've been following Bonnie Hunter's blog for several years and I've liked her scrappy quilts. She's at http://www.quiltville.com/ and she specializes in designing scrap quilts. I usually don't do scrap quilts but every so often I have to clear out some of my scraps and left overs to--make room for/justify buying--new fabrics. I turn to Bonnie for a project I can do. I've made some of her mystery quilts but never as they are progressing--I like to wait for the end result to see if I like it. This time, I decided to trust her and I started the Roll Roll Cotton Boll mystery quilt last November I think. If you want to check it out, it's here: http://quiltville.blogspot.com/p/roll-roll-cotton-boll.html

Instead of going through each part and describing all the work involved, suffice it to say, I was overwhelmed at times by all of it. Bonnie saved the most daunting part--600 HSTs for Part 6, I think, and it was too late to quit by then. Great strategy, Bonnie! Anyway, I have the center assembled and am waiting to open the last part of the instructions which is the border, which I assume will be a pieced one since I have a pile of what must be a thousand units left over. Or maybe I made a mistake????

When I came home from Lake Mills last Sunday, I had assembled all the colored blocks except 5. This week I finished that part and I sliced and I diced the neutral blocks and I sewed them back together again. This is what they looked like last week:

This is a close up of the 2 contrasting blocks in the quilt center. If I make this quilt again, which I may very well do, I will forgo the HST and just add a strip of color around the edge. I ended up with way too many of the points getting cut off and I don't like that. Besides, a simple border strip is a lot easier than 600 freakin' HSTs!

And here's the center laid out on my floor. It's very large and with the borders added, it's going to be a giant queen sized quilt. I can't wait to get this one quilted and on my bed. It's just the thing for our dreary snowy winter time and I love it!

I apologize to Bonnie for the whining I did as I went along (not that anyone was listening but still) and I sincerely thank her for designing such a beauty! I'm glad I trusted Bonnie and made this a true mystery quilt.