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Season 11 of Project QUILTING ended two weeks ago and Kim decided to keep challenges rolling while much of the country (and the world) is sheltering in place during COVID-19. So PQQ 2020 (Project QUILTING: Quarantine 2020 edition) began last weekend with PQ Q.1: Big. Quite frankly everything seems big right now.

I have been sewing while I can, in the minutes I can steal between monitoring two elementary-aged children doing school at home, preparing too many meals per day, and all the other normal household tasks. I'm getting out nearly daily for short neighborhood walks alone. And we're trying to have quality family time among all the chaos. Since I have been sewing, I've been creating schnibbles (all those little bits of unusable fabric and batting). I save most scraps down to about an inch wide, so most of my schnibbles are the truly little bits. I keep them in a little trash bin from IKEA. Well, my pile of schnibbles had gotten quilt big and was threatening to overflow the trash bin. So it was time to do something about it.

I pulled out my fleece cat bed kit from Bay Area Modern Quilting and sewed it up so I could stuff it with all the little bits. It's hard to tell the scale, but the dimensions are approximately 16" x 20" on top and 5-6" tall. The top and bottom ovals are identical, with a double pass of stitching on each seam to attach the strip used for the sides.

I've developed the habit over time that when I have scraps I cross-cut them so the pieces are small. This goes for fabric, batting, and practice quilt sandwiches. All are cut up before going into the bin, so they are ready to go when I stuff a cat bed, or when I bag up my scraps to pass on to another guild member to fill cat beds.

This was a pretty quick project and it turned my big pile of schnibbles into a medium-size pile:

A big thanks to Kim for hosting additional quilt challenges during this weird time.

I hope you and you are healthy and safe. Thanks for visiting. Make sure to pop over to see what others have created for the Big challenge.

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Well, hello April! Was March just a complete blur in your life? I hope you and yours are happy and healthy. We're doing okay at my house. Maybe okay enough that I can get to the backlog of blog comments, blog writing, and other work that went by the wayside in March.

Alas, the fun stuff. This month's Show Me Something theme is Improv! Choose something you've already finished or use Show Me Something as a one-month quilt challenge to finish something new. Just make sure to linkup by April 30. See all the details below.

Now, I suspect you're either an improv quilter or you aren't. If it's something you've done, that's grand! If not, I sure hope you'll try something new this month. Here's an Improv Triangles on the Corners Tutorial from my blog. (Double Triangles shown below.) Or your improv could be precise piecing turned improv in the layout and design step, like my Playful Pillow. The possibilities are endless! (Just check out the #improvquilt hashtag on Instagram.)

Maybe you own one of these books that could be an inspiration to you this month. (affiliate links)

Here are the linkup details:

  • The monthly Show Me Something linkup will start on the first of the month and continue until midnight (PST) on the last day of the month.
  • You may linkup a maximum of 3 new or old finished projects that fit the theme.
  • You may linkup a blog post or Instagram post.
  • If you linkup from a blog post, please link back to this post in your post. If you post from Instagram, you can tag me @sarahgoerquilts.
  • Visit others in the community who share their projects... and leave comments. :-)

 

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter


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When I heard that this week's Project QUILTING challenge was Vibrant and Vivacious I immediately thought rainbow.

Before I forget, this is your official reminder that we're nearing the end of Show Me Something Rainbow! Be sure to link up your finished rainbow projects by the end of March. There's still time to finish something up in the next nine days. :-)

I chose a rainbow of fabric in lighter and more vibrant tones. I realized as I started piecing that my wonky, irregular log cabin wasn't really very wonky, but I went with it. My strips were cut without a ruler, approximately 1.5" wide.

Once my quilt top was complete, I started to consider my options for quilting. I couldn't resist pulling a rainbow of thread for the quilting. Including white for attaching the binding, I used 14 colors of thread on this project.

From left to right, the thread I used: Aurifil 50wt Light Lilac (#2510), Light Robin's Egg (#2710), Light Avocado (#2886), Champagne (#2105), Fleshy Pink (#2420), Baby Pink (#2423), Dove (#2600), Red (#2250), Burnt Orange (#1133), Yellow (#2135), Green (#2870), Medium Delft Blue (#2783), Dark Violet (#2582).

I considered wishbone quilting but opted for this variation with loops on one end and points on the other. In the end, I like that my quilting looked like a series of Vs for the Vibrant and Vivacious challenge. I wish I could say I planned it. ;-)

My quilt finished at 16" x 16". The great part about making a mini this size is that you can back it with a fat quarter. I chose this black and white silhouette fabric for my backing. I wanted black and white so my many colors of thread would be visible on the back.

Thanks for visiting. Be sure to hop over to Kim's blog to see the 100+ quilts made this week for the Vibrant and Vivacious challenge.

And on to my next rainbow project! I'm participating in the Mini Series SAL on Instagram and I've chosen a rainbow to feature in my blocks.

I've linked up to Free Motion Mavericks.