Sunday, December 5, 2010

Mystery Quilts, Not for Everyone

Have you ever taken a Mystery Quilt Class? They have them all over the place, online, at local shoppes. I think if you step into any Brick and Mortar shoppe you will find a sign up sheet for one of these classes. Be warned, do not sign up!

I took a Mystery Quilt Class to answer the "Why Mystery Quilts?" question. I have to tell you, I will never, ever, take another one. The Mystery Quilt Class offers the opportunity to meet new people with like interests, allows you to start and finish a quilt top in a day and go home with a completed top, ready to be shipped off for quilting. "What more can you ask for?" you may ask... a pattern that will not make you cringe when you finish it. Ouch!
We chose our fabrics and spent the day chatting, cutting, stitching and pressing, all on a very tight schedule to ensure that we would get the job done and once all the blocks were sewn together I almost gasped in horror.

Yep, I would never recommend taking a mystery class, ever. But I will say this, it's one way to make a a quilt in a day. ;)
BTW some ladies loved their quilt tops, which proves my point...
Mystery Quilts are just not for everyone.
My theory is, the finished quilt top was not displayed because no one would have signed up... which is exactly what I think every time I see a sign up sheet for a Mystery Quilt Class. LOL!
I will show you my MQ top someday but I'm still not confident enough to "own up" to having made that, LOL!

12 comments:

Strlady said...

LOL! That makes perfect sense. It's the quilt class no one would make if they saw the finished product.
I agree 100%. I have never figured out the allure to a mystery quilt. I usually wait until the Mystery quilts offered free online are done and decide if I want to get it done.
I'm all about the companionship and the meeting new people but there are so many other outlets to do this that I will never sign up for a Mystery Quilt.

Barbara Sindlinger said...

I've never taken a mystery quilt class but I've done the mystery through our guild and have led several of them. I can tell you that I have liked all of them. We are very specific ahead of time of the size and fabric requirements. But like Round Robins, they aren't for everyone. Sorry you had a bad experience.

Fiber Babble said...

Brenda, honey, you don't have to sugar-coat it. Why don't you tell us how you really feel??

LOL!

I have to confess two things: One, I'm the one who always waits until the end of online mysteries to see if I want to do them (and most of the times I don't). Two, uh.... I am 'throwing a mystery party' at our shop on New Year's Day. :ducking:

It's just a 2-color quilt that's fairly simple, but looks kinda impressive when done. I guess I'll have to send you a picture after it's done... if it's not too ugly!! ;-)

Terry said...

Oh come now...it can't be that bad! I wanna see it! PLEASE!! LOL

Jocelyn said...

Nope not for me either! I have seen some horrible quilts in my day, and I've got enough to work with here. I guess I had a bad experience with a shop hop a couple of years ago, and it kind of turned me off to some of these activities.

Sandi Linn Andersen said...

I'm not crazy about mystery quilts either, but did offer a series of five tabletopper sized mystery quilts back in 2001. I had taught a series of small quilted wallhangings in our community education program and several students became good quilting friends. They got to talking about mystery quilts and thought it would be fun to do them. So I said I'd give it a try. They liked all the quilt designs for each of the five quilts but in almost all cases, they would have chosen different fabrics if they could have seen the quilt design first. We decided we would never do mystery quilts again and so the next year I did a block of the month and everyone picked the color scheme they liked and it was fabulous fun! We all felt that we have enough mystery in life and we don't want it in our quilts! On the other hand, I have a blogging friend who loves mystery quilts and does a lot of them and they are always gorgeous!!

WoolenSails said...

I want to know what I am making, before I start it;)

Debbie

Anonymous said...

I'm sure it's all in the color/fabric choices. Thank goodness you had the fun of meeting other quilters!
So how did the trip to Disneyland go? Did GP enjoy it? Any pictures? I'd love to know--good or bad :)

jackiero said...

Your brain caught my own negative thoughts regarding mystery quilts. Up until now not an ear has heard how I feel, I don't care for the pattern, nor the fabrics (yeah, I even bought one of the kits ;} But, everyone who sees my wallquilt loves it.
Just my humble opinion.

Beth McConnell said...

Now now ladies.....don't knock it until you've tried it. My FIRST quilt lesson was a mystery quilt and 2 years later those ladies are my quilting friends and buddies. We hoot and hollered and had a blast. Most quilts you give away...right?? Well go have some fun...solve a mystery or 2 and make someone ELSE happy :) I LOVE THEM~~!!

Sheri Howard said...

I am with you Brenda about the mystery quilt class....it is a mystery to me why I did it? I didn't like that I couldn't choose the fabric, although I was okay learning a totally new pattern...I too experienced it ONCE...not for me. P.S. I am dying to know about your trip, I hope it was good.

trash said...

You could just email me a picture. I wouldn't tell anyone. It would be our secret. (Is it really that bad?)