Project Quilting Final Challenge

Challenge 14.6 was about our fears and facing those fears to achieve growth. This challenge was not an easy challenge for me. I’m not afraid of quilting techniques, whether it is applique, working with Inktense pencils, or other techniques. I had no idea what I was going to make for this challenge, I was stumped.

     Finally, with less than two days to come up with a plan and get it done in time, I had an idea. We have heard a lot on the news lately about atmospheric rains, torrential storms, and mudslides mostly contributed to climate change. My fear is what shape are we going to leave this planet in for future generations. 

Could I make a quilt representing climate change with just piecing and no applique? Could I get it done in time? The challenge was on! 

Please excuse the lack of pictures.

The sun represents climate warming. The bottom two peaks are the ice melt due to climate warming, and the rest are mudslides and possibly earthquakes. The quilted swirls are winds of change. The stars are our hope that we can help our planet heal. 

This wall hanging is 15'' by 12''. 

A big thank you to Kim @PerisimonDreams and Trish @QuiltChicken for another great year of project quilting.

Sew Not A Square

 Challenge 5 of Season 14 Project Quilting hosted by Kim Lapacek was to make anything as long it didn't have any square shapes and could not end up being square.

An idea was born, and I drew up a design in my graphics program. Off to the races to get this finished in time.

triple stitch for vines

I used the 'Crafted Applique' method for the applique shapes. I used Monopoly thread from Superior Threads to stitch the applique shapes down.

all stitched down and quilted, I intentionally left the center unquilted

Now for the intended purpose of this project. I have been going through some of my MIL's stuff, she is in a nursing home. I came across some grandma pins from when my kids gave her when they were little. I have been trying to come up with an idea to display these pins so she could still enjoy them. 

no squares at all

 

I think she will enjoy being able to see these pins, and hopefully will bring back pleasant memories for her.

This project is 6 1/2'' round. 

Love to Read

 Project 14.4 had us making a project inspired by books. I started thinking about the many books I've read. The most rewarding of them all was reading to my children when they were younger, and now to my grandchildren. 

a very small selection of my grandchildren's favourites

For my project I decided to make a reading pillow for my youngest granddaughters. 

I appliqued the letters to the pocket

I printed the letters on some Steam-A-Seam 2 and followed the directions of simply peel, stick, cut and press. I did a buttonhole stitch using MonoPoly from Superior threads as I know the pillow will need to be able to be washed without worrying about the applique ever lifting off.

straight line quilting of the front

Bright and cheery fabric for the front of the pillow. 

I added a handle at the top to make it easier to carry around

The pillow is 16 inches square and I used a 14-inch pillow form to keep the pillow soft and comfy to snuggle up with a good book.

Project Quilting 14.3

 Challenge 3 of season 14, hosted by Kim Lapacek,  was the 54-40 or Fight block. We were to be inspired by traditional '54-40 or Fight block.' It consists of four-patches and triangle-in-a-square blocks. I choose to be more traditional with the block. 

first up do I paper piece or use the 'tri recs tool'

    I choose to use the tri recs tool to make the triangle-in-a-square blocks. 

blocks coming together

    For those of you who have read my blog before, you will notice not a bit of green in this project. This challenge project is for my daughter and her favourite colour is blue.

This was a quick project to piece so why did it take me until this morning to get it finished. I procrastinated over the quilting, my daughter didn't want it over quilted. 

I tried to keep it a little simpler

Straight lines and curves in the triangle-in-a-square blocks. Swirls in the squares of the lighter blue and more straight lines in the dark blue squares.

I didn't have enough of the dark blue I used in the topper for the binding 

I was 10 inches short of the dark blue to use as a binding, thankfully I had another piece of fabric that I think worked pretty darn good.

The finished topper is 20'' by 20'' and I used my favourite batting for table toppers Thermore by Hobbs.

Pink Tint

 Thanks to Kim Lapacek of Persimon Dreams for Project Quilting. The rule in this challenge is that some shade of pink must dominate the project. With 6 granddaughters, let's just say I have pink.

a few pinks

The block I made was a simple plus block.

I pulled some 2 1/2'' white squares from my stash

As you can see in the next photo, I switched my background choice to a background fabric with pink. 

12 blocks later

I made a doll quilt for one of my granddaughters, it finished at 18'' x 24''. I wanted to keep the quilting simple. I stitched in the ditch and 1/4'' in all the pluses and curves and orange peels in the background squares.

Project Quilting 14.1

     It must be a New Year as Season 14 of Project Quilting has started. The first one is indeed the 'First One'. All that's been going through my mind since I first read the challenge has been 'One singular sensation' from 'One' by Marvin Hamlisch. The lyrics praise a singular star, oh I can work with that. Stars are one of my favourite blocks.

    

quilted and ready to put together

    Now what to make with a single star. I pulled some scraps and made a 3'' finished star. Okay, that was easy, but what to do with it. Why not make something useful, I've been thinking of making a rotary cutter cover, to put my rotary cutter in when taking it to guild. Time for some more scraps. I used a scrap piece of Thermore batting and a scrap fabric for my quilt sandwich. I did a crosshatch for the back of the rotary cover and some stitch in the ditch for the star. Sew the front to the back, add a single fold binding, and one singular rotary cover is done.

getting ready for the next project

I don't know if it's a singular sensation, but I think it turned out okay. Plus a few bits of scraps are put to good use.