7th Annual Quiltville Mystery Kickoff: Frolic Edition!

The 7th Annual Quiltville Mystery Kickoff Party happened on Saturday in Chandler, Arizona! Our group has grown from the original five who met on Black Friday eight years ago and brainstormed the idea of having an official party each year to inviting close to 50 people!  This year 24 were able to come and some were new so more quilty friends were made and plans to get together and find each other on facebook took place.  SEW much fun!  As always, there was cake (and this year things are spelled right!) and plenty of food too.

Kathy is taking the selfie this year so we can get everyone in the picture--24 all together this year, one had to come super late and missed the picture.  You may notice one man in our picture this year--this is Limbania's husband Mark.  We invited him to come on down around noon for pictures and a special something.  His wife Limbania was part of our group from the very first party and lost her battle with breast cancer a few months ago.  She was a sweet spirit and loved all things Bonnie!  She had several unfinished mysteries and several ladies are now finishing them.  I was the lucky one who wound up with Good Fortune (by accident it was mislabeled "On Ringo Lake") and decided to finish it up in time for the party!  My friend Andi Williams saw I was finishing it on facebook and graciously volunteered to quilt it for me before the party!  We then gifted this quilt back to Mark for his oldest daughter who is fourteen.  Limbania had hand dyed the fabric in this and it was precious to her so I knew it was meant to be for her daughter to have a one day wedding quilt just as my daughter got one this year.  Good Fortune is the perfect name for a wedding quilt!

Andee, Mark and Andi with Limbania Quiltz' Good Fortune

 Bonnie always says she does this mystery quilt during the busy holiday season to help keep those who may be alone or sad due to loss or whatever.  The clues give us something else to look forward to and new friends to share our love of quilting with.  I love how our quilting community came to Mark's aid to organize and sell Limbania's things, finish them off etc.  I know she is looking down on us all.  She has forever touched us and made us better for it.

 As always, the party favors were labels for the back of the quilt.  I try to get my signed by Bonnie each year to make it even more special. Victoria brought door prizes this year three lucky winners (the oldest, the one who came from the farthest away, and the one with the closest birthday) won!  Turns out it was Victoria's actual birthday and she brought the gifts!  It was nice celebrating it with her!

Marguerite, Laura, Andee, Deone, Kathy, Sheila, Mark in for Limbania, Kathy, Jill, Celeste, Betsy and Tina

Becky arrived after pictures but hers is a flimsy too! 

That makes thirteen Good Fortune tops/quilts to show off this year!  Beats our previous record of twelve.  We had everything from traditional Bonnie colors to Halloween!    Sew much fun to see all the variations of this one.  If somehow you missed doing the mystery with us you can still purchase the pattern here!  Of course people brought other Bonnie quilts and we shared them too!

Pretty sure this is the first time I have completed the clue while at the party!  I normally cannot get it done and host at the same time.  Since this was an easy clue and I pulled the right size strips from my scrap savers system (thanks SEW much Bonnie for sharing yours--it works so well) that I was half way there before I started!  The card in the middle was a thank you from everyone to Kathy and I for hosting every year (we got chocolate too) and I was astonished to see that BJ found a card that has my color choices on it!  Love it!

Marguerite always surprises me with a fun gift each year.  She made me this gnome!  I collect gnomes and had just seen some that looked like this and made a note to buy one...this one is cuter and makes me smile!  Thanks Marguerite!

Me with my Good Fortune--my daughter is already asking if she can have her wedding gift back yet!

Hannah and Jeremy with their wedding quilt last summer!

If you want to see the entire parade of mystery quilts click here! and you can see them all!  I have made every  one and several of them more than once. I love Bonnie's mystery quilts and have become a much better quilter from all her tips and tricks and clear directions with lots of pictures!  Thank you Bonnie for sharing your life and love of quilting with us!