Tag Archives: challenge quilt

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This successful little quilt was a plan B and FOMO all wrapped into one.

It’s Project QUILTING season again! I’ve participated the last five years. (Though some years I don’t complete all six challenges.) In the last many months I have been focusing on finishing up works in progress. I even updated the full UFO/WIP list. (Updated list coming later this month.) So... I decided what I would do for Project QUILTING this year would be to finish a project that was in progress for each of the challenges. I figured with the lengthy list of projects I would be able to fins a project to suit any challenge. I even looked over that UFO list and narrowed down to five contenders. But it's been a busy week and it's Saturday evening and I hadn't sewn a stitch.

One of the drawbacks to finishing an in progress project is that most of my WIPs are larger. Many are finished quilt tops, but I'm interested in doing detailed quilting that could take a while for some of them. But more importantly since those wouldn't be new projects started and finished in the challenge period my finish wouldn't count toward the collective total; I wouldn't really be part of the community this season. (Relatedly, I wouldn't be eligible for prizes, but that bothers me less.)

In past years I have often chosen small projects. I got the big idea that maybe I could do my unofficial project and a small official project. So now I'm trying to make TWO quilts in one week. (Are you laughing?) Then the next natural thought was that I should do the official one first.

I've finished a bunch of mini mini quilts recently. I really love the artist trading card size for a mini mini quilt (2 1/2" x 3 1/2"). And I have a couple fabulous rainbow fabrics that would be perfect for the All The Colors challenge. This week I decided on a whole cloth mini mini quilt. I quilted it with seven colors of thread, Aurifil 50wt in Dark Violet (#2582), Turquoise (#2810), Spring Green (#1231), Light Magenta (#2588), Bright Orange (#1133), Canary (#2120), and Light Delft Blue (#2720). I used a contour line motif, following the pattern in the fabric.

I encourage anyone who is interested to dive into the Project QUILTING challenges. If you want to participate and don't have enough time, just make a smaller project. Not enough time for that? Think even smaller. I quilted mine in the hour before dinner this evening. And after dinner I bound it while I played a game of Bloom with my sister on Zoom. Start time 5:40pm. Finish time 8:40pm.

I'm still planning for finishing a WIP that meets the theme of this week's challenge. It probably won't be by the deadline, but since it's unofficial, that's just fine. Maybe I'll use the off week between challenges to finish it. And as for the rest of the Project QUILTING season... I am now planning for a series of ATC mini mini quilts (perhaps all whole cloth) as well as finishing a WIP that ties to each challenge theme.

I'm linking up with Kim for Project QUILTING 13.1: All the Colors. Be sure to hop over and see the over 136 finished projects that folks created in just one week! Such an inspirational list. A big, giant thank you to Kim and Trish for creating this amazing community of makers. Also, a big thanks to my daughter. She selected all my thread colors and assisted with swapping thread as I quilted. She also filmed my video for the reel I shared on Instagram of my quilting.

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Six for six! This little quilt completes season 12 of Project QUILTING. And true to form, I waited until the last 24 hours of the one-week challenge to get started. And as you know, the later I start, the smaller the quilt gets. ;-)

This week's challenge is Ab Intra, or "from within." At first glance, I think the theme is a little intimidating. But really, there are so many options. So far, there have been a variety of deep, personal, or lighthearted submissions.

It was hard for me to roll over the one year mark of being home during the pandemic this week. Beyond the general stress of the pandemic and the waiting for our turns in the vaccination line, there are numerous things that have been weighing on me recently. I told a friend I may just make a quilt of this emoji: 🤯 (the head exploding), because that’s it what’s inside a lot of the time these days. I consider this little improv quilt to be the fabric equivalent of that idea. I had no plan, just grabbing a couple solids to get started and moving between the sewing machine and the cutting table as I worked.

My quilt finished at 5" x 6 1/2". I used Aurifil 50 wt Desert Dawn Variegated (#4648) for my quilting and binding, chosen because it was leftover from another project and already had a bobbin wound. It was backed and bound with remnants. (One of the best parts of smaller quilts is the likelihood that I have remnant binding made that will work for the project.) I quilted with a zig zag meander, one of my favorites. This quilt marks Day 50 of my 100 Days of Free Motion Quilting. (I'm overdue on sharing on the blog, but I've been posting daily on Instagram @sarahgoerquilts.)

A shadowy pic to show off the texture:

Plenty big for my water cup and room for a snack!

Be sure to hop over to see the other entries this week!

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This week's Project QUILTING challenge is You're Crazy, inspired by the "crazy quilt" movement of the late 1800s. I honestly hesitated a bit about participating, because I've become more aware of ableist language and I've tried to edit the word crazy out of my everyday vocabulary. Ableism is defined as discrimination or social prejudice against people with disabilities based on the belief that typical abilities are superior. It includes the use of ableist words, many of which people don't realize have an impact on people with disabilities. If this isn't a concept you're familiar with, I encourage you to check out those two links above.

But in the context of this challenge the word "crazy" is being used as a historical reference to a widely known style of quilts from another time. I've chosen for my small piece to be inspired by crazy quilts by the style of piecing, use of a non-quilting cotton fabric (the denim I used to back it), omission of batting, and use of embroidery (which I used to hand quilt my little art quilt).

I chose a variety of embroidery stitches in five colors of Aurifloss. MMXXI = 2021 for the year.

My piece finished at approximately 6" x 6".

Old jeans for the backing.

I'm linking up with Project QUILTING. Hop over to see how others were inspired by the quilts of the 1800s.

P.S. My Show Me Something March linkup post will be coming out soon. But, FYI, this month it's Show Me Something with Squares! (I hope to see some creative uses of squares, but welcome