Tag Archives: challenge quilt

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Another late night Saturday start for this week's Project QUILTING challenge, A Novel Project. 67 minutes from fabric pull to finished mini mini quilt this evening. Woo hoo!

At the beginning of the week I shared other quilts I have made that were inspired by books, but I had a hard time deciding what I wanted to make for the challenge. Earlier in the week, I scrolled through my Goodreads of what I've read in the last couple years and wasn't particularly motivated by what I have read recently.

I've been inspired by Margaret Fleisher's improv book cover blocks. See a few of them in this Instagram post and hear Margaret talk about her book cover project at about 6 minutes in to this video. You can also scroll back farther in her instagram feed to see the posts of each cover in 2020.

One of my basic tenets for Project QUILTING is to work small. While I admire those who make a baby quilt, lap quilt, or larger, in a week, I know that my schedule and bandwidth do not allow for that. I usually aim for 16" square or smaller. And the later in the week I get started, the smaller my quilts tend to be. This week was emotionally and physically challenging, and while I considered options and looked for inspiration numerous times, nothing was grabbing me. This evening before I settled on my back up idea, I took one more scroll through the books I've read in the last couple years and this time the cover of 32 Yolks by Eric Ripert stood out. I really like the strong graphic nature of the cover. So I pulled some fabric and got to work.

While I could have done some improv curve piecing I wasn't in the mood for the potential fussiness of that avenue. And I really loved the frayed edge of my scrap of yellow fabric. This drove two decisions. (1) I would use fusible appliqué. And (2) my yolk wouldn't be a curve at all, instead using what I had with the frayed piece of yellow. I got out my MistyFuse and improv cut a piece of blue fabric for the lower right. (I cut this one twice before I had a shape I liked.) Then I picked at the curved edge to fray the edge of the blue fabric to complement my frayed yellow fabric. Next, I cut MistyFuse to fit my yellow and blue fabrics and appliquéd them in place. Note: the fusible was applied just inside the frayed edge so that element could be a little bit dimensional.

I used two cardstock mats to envision the trimmed composition, added minimal quilting along the inner edge of the yellow and blue fabrics, and trimmed it 1/4" larger in each direction than the finished quilt would be. Then I used my 1/4" food to topstitch 1/4" from the edge around the quilt twice, then I trimmed down to 1/8" beyond my topstitching.

My mini mini quilt, Just One Yolk, finished just under 3" x 4".

The back has my fusible "Sarah Goer Quilts" label.

And here's my finished quilt next to the cover. Thank you to Margaret for the inspiration!

Thanks for visiting! I'm linking up on Kim's blog for the Project QUILTING A Novel Project challenge.

As a longtime participant of Project QUILTING, I'm excited to be a sponsor this year. Each week as a Weekly Sponsor I have contributed a PDF pattern to one winner. I'm also a Grand Prize Sponsor. The prize is a spot in one of my self-hosted open enrollment live virtual workshops.

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This week the Project QUILTING challenge was based on a traditional block, 54-40 or Fight.

As the week progressed with no progress, my quilt plans got smaller and smaller. I finally made it into the studio with less than 12 hours left to the deadline.

I used the traditional block as a springboard and pulled some fabrics in a palette I enjoyed. I opted for a grid-based design instead of piecing the 4-patch units. Taking creative liberties I omitted the 4-patch in the center, in favor of a single square.

Then I improv pieced the triangle units before deciding that I preferred them pointing out.

Here's the rundown of my sewing schedule for this project.

  • 10:38pm entered my studio with new idea
  • 10:42pm fabrics pulled
  • 10:59pm fabric cut
  • 11pm sewing underway 
  • 11:16 experimenting with pieced units 
  • 11:33 finished quilt top
  • 11:59pm finished quilt!
  • 12:00am photos taken
  • 12:34am blog post complete
  • 12:35am linked up

Tada! It's just over 4" square and pillowcase bound.

Thanks for visiting! I'm linking up on Kim's blog for the Project QUILTING 54-40 or Fight challenge.

As a longtime participant of Project QUILTING, I'm excited to be a sponsor this year. Each week as a Weekly Sponsor I have contributed a PDF pattern to one winner. Additionally, this week, I am the Ultimate Weekly Sponsor. The prize is a spot in one of my self-hosted open enrollment live virtual workshops. I'm also a Grand Prize Sponsor. Again, the prize is a spot in one of my self-hosted open enrollment live virtual workshops.

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April 19 Update: Pink Tartan is up for auction in SAQA's Spotlight Auction through April 29, 2023. Read all about the auction on the SAQA website and bid on my quilt here!

 

The first Project QUILTING challenge of season 14 is Pink Tint. Pros and cons to a color challenge. It can be anything. And it can be anything. Well this week folks have been talking about making their donation pieces for the SAQA (Studio Art Quilt Associates) Spotlight Auction which runs in conjunction with the upcoming conference (which I'm unfortunately not attending). One of the things on my idea list that I created before the current Project QUILTING season started was to make pieces that were the correct size for the Spotlight Auction as well as the SAQA Benefit Auction that happens later in the year.

So then I had a size (6" x 8", of which 4 1/2" x 6 1/2" will show in the window of the mat) and a color: pink. I pulled some fabrics to consider, from my larger pile, these scraps and colors/textures caught my eye. I narrowed down even more from there as I worked.

I still didn't have much of a plan of what I was going to create, but 4 1/2" x 6 1/2" is not a lot of real estate to work with. I love a skinny strip, an 1/8" wide pieced strip of fabric, so I decided to start with one of those using slice and insert. Then another. Then another. I cut my starting piece of fabric oversize since I didn't have a plan, so I kept checking what 6" x 8" and, more importantly, 4 1/2" x 6 1/2" looked like and decided to stop there with the piecing. Then I shopped my thread to pick greys and pinks in a variety of weights. Then I shopped my thread to pick greys and pinks in a variety of weights.

I used Aurifil 50wt Baby Pink (#2423) and Fuchsia (#4020); 40wt Light Peony (#2437), Antique Rose (#2430), Light Blue Grey (#2610), and Dark Pewter (#2630); and 28wt Grey (#2605) for some walking foot quilting, adding to the woven feel of the piecing.

I call it Pink Tartan as the piecing and quilting emulate a woven design. It is 6" x 8" finished with a feature area 4 1/2" x 6 1/2". I love the back view on the medium grey solid. Perhaps this is really two sided. :-)

 

I am donating this piece to the SAQA Spotlight Auction 2023. The fundraiser auction coincides with the 2023 SAQA Conference, but you do not to be attending the SAQA conference or a member of SAQA. Bidding will be open to everyone via the Handbid platform in April. SAQA members have until February 20 to complete the online submission form for donating artwork to the auction.

 

As a longtime participant of Project QUILTING, I'm excited to be a sponsor this year. Each week as a Weekly Sponsor I have contributed a PDF pattern to one winner. Week 3, I am the Ultimate Weekly Sponsor. The prize is a spot in one of my self-hosted open enrollment live virtual workshops. I'm also a Grand Prize Sponsor. Again, the prize is a spot in one of my self-hosted open enrollment live virtual workshops.

I'm linking up on Kim's blog for the Project QUILTING Pink Tint challenge.

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