Sow-Along blocks and a mystery begun

I had to re-do the Sow-Along sickle block from this post, and in the process I made a decision about the white-based fabric. I've decided to use it for a border on the finished quilt and to no longer use it in the blocks. I'm going to use Kona white as the background. It makes the other fabrics "pop."  Here's the new sickle block, using the Kona white. Wouldn't you agree that the little blocks look better now?

Randy gave us two bonus blocks last week. The first one is called Papa's Birds.

The second one is a star, and I'll add the pic after I make it!

I have another project that I've started - it's a mystery quilt.  (A mystery quilt is merely a quilt that you make step by step, not knowing what the final layout will look like until you're ready to make the final layout.)  I joined a Yahoo group called Mystery Quilts 4 Military.  To be in the group you must commit to making at least one quilt a year from the mysteries given, and to give that quilt to an organization or group that collects quilts for active duty or retired military.  A new mystery is started about 3 times a year. I WAS going to do the current mystery, number 27, but accidentally printed the cutting directions for number 26. But that's all right - I'll do #27 some other time.

Here are the fabrics I'm using for the mystery:

The background fabric will be the black/gold.  Nearly all of the quilts done for this mystery used a white/neutral background, but one gal used black and I decided to give that a try. I get to use up some yardage I've had for over 5 years!  The two "main" fabrics will be the turquoise prints and the golds.  These are all different designs from the fabrics I was given by my friend Linda. They all come from the same line of Egyptian-themed fabrics and therefore go together well.  The accent color will be purple - which also comes from the same line of Egyptian fabrics.  So far I've completed cutting all the pieces, and in the next couple of days I'll start making the first set of blocks.