Project Quilting 11.6 - Vibrant and Vivacious

I am sad that this is the final challenge of  Project Quilting for this year.  It has been a great way to stretch myself over these last 12 weeks and a great diversion in what has probably been the worst start to a calendar year, ever,  in my 49 years!  Project Quilting got me through a lot this year. Job struggles, major anxiety, illness with aches and pains, a hospital stay, and now a world Pandemic!

Creating is ALWAYS a balm for my soul.  There simply isn't a better way to quiet my mind and lift my spirits than to sit down at the sewing machine.  I just feel better when I work with fabric.  It's good to be busy, of course, but the COLORS are the other part of the equation.  I think Trish must have realized that when she chose Vibrant and Vivacious as this week's theme.  We are all in need of some color therapy this week, I think.

Sometimes it's the simple things, like a happy little pile of Trimmings...

I'm so excited that my entry for Challenge number 6 is an actual quilt!  I've participated in project quilting for two years, but this is the first out of 12 projects that's an actual quilt!  I've done mini quilts, baskets, 3-D objects and a key chain, but never a quilt big enough to sit under.  Well, this seemed as good a time as any.

This is probably from Thursday.  I love watching a quilt come together on the design wall!

On Sunday, it felt like I'd have a TON of time to work on it.  By Tuesday, when our school district rolled out our plan for "Continuous Learning" for our students, I was starting to realize that wasn't quite true.  Teaching from home is tough!  There is a lot to learn, and I'm gong to be knee deep in it for quite some time!  But, evenings free and three other people who can make meals and kids old enough to be self sufficient and stolen moments here and there all helped me get this Vibrant and Vivacious little baby quilt done on time!

The pattern is Doughnuts the Size of Your Head from Crazy Mom Quilts' (Amanda Jean Nyberg) book No Scrap Left Behind.  I was lucky to be able to hear and take class with Amanda Jean a few years ago at the quilt museum in Cedarburg, shortly before she stopped teaching and blogging.  I pieced a few of the squares in this quilt that day, but they'd been tucked inside the book on a shelf ever since.  I'm so glad this week's challenge pushed me to get them out and make this quilt!

Netflix and tea and pretty scraps...

Scrappy quilting is my absolute favorite!  Did you ever notice how sometimes when you open up a strip set you gasp a little at the combination of colors that you hadn't intentionally created?  Is that just me?!?    I had lots of ooh and ahhh moments as these strippy squares and triangles came together.  Some color combinations just make me so happy. 

I will DEFINITELY  be making a quilt in this aqua/coral color way.  It makes me smile every time I look at that corner of this quilt!

To colors in this quilt truly took care of arranging themselves.  I did a little editing, of course, and tried get some variation of lights and darks, but for the most part, all the scraps played nicely together.  I think the overall effect is pretty stunning!

And now I just want to sew all the remaining strips and make a whole string quilt like this!!  SO pretty!

I would like to have created a larger quilt in this pattern because it would be a great bed quilt for a little girl.  But it was a bit of a Herculean effort to get just this size done this week for PQ.  I spent most of Saturday in the sewing room!  But, it's not like I could have gone anywhere anyway, and it WAS National Quilting day.   Maybe some day I will make a this size version.  There will always be scraps, after all. 

I may or may not have squealed a little when I put all of the aqua pieces in.  It just makes this quilt, doesn't it??

I'm proud to have, once again, had everything I needed on hand, even the PERFECT size "scrap" of batting.  I got goosebumps when I laid the top out on a piece of batting I"d cut off another project and stashed in the closet.  I wish I had taken a picture.  It was spot on the right size.  That's gotta mean something!!  I had nothing large enough for a back.  Well, nothing that felt right for this quilt, anyway.  Lots of icky old calicoes, but that wouldn't do.  So I spent some time piecing a back.  I rather like it! 

I am really looking forward to seeing what everyone else made this week.  The weather here has been cold and dreary.  I'd like to get out for a hike in the woods.  But its much cozier here under this pretty lap, umm, I mean baby quilt.  So, maybe I'll stay here on the couch for a bit, and engage in some more color therapy looking at everyone else's Vibrant and Vivacious projects.  Be sure to visit blogs, and Instagram pages to say hi to the makers.  We ALL need all the virtual connections we can get right now, to off set the isolation. 

No babies in this house, but our three living room pets, Joe, Root Beer and Al will enjoy the quilt.  These guys have their own personalities and get into all kinds of situations.  They keep us connected happy through tough times.

Kim and Trish if  you're reading, THANK YOU for Project Quilting.  Thank you for the community, the outlet for creative energy and the positive distraction that you provide.  You guys are awesome and I'd LOVE to quilt with you in real life some day!

Be well and Stay Safe everyone! 

This quilt measures approximately 42" x 42" and was created by me in Slinger, Wi.

Project Quilting 11.5 - Give It Away

Whew!  This is the lastest minute last minute finish ever!  A crazy week that involved tech week, costume alterations, flower table prep, dinner with a friend, LOTS of end of trimester tasks at school and well, just life, meant that I did not work on the challenge...or SEW for fun...ALL WEEK!  UUUGGGGGHHH!   But, I really want to finish each challenge in Project Quilting this year. 

So, even with one less hour in my weekend thanks to Daylight Savings I got up this morning and make my challenge piece.  This week's challenge is to make something with the intention of giving it away.

I am in the process of making a T-shirt quilt for the friend of a friend who lost her young adult son.  There is no time line to finish the quilt...I'm just doing bits and pieces when I have time.  When I was cutting apart the shirts a few weeks ago, I could not help to pause and wonder at all the indications of LIFE in those shirts.  The paint stains, the stretched out hems, the favorite brands and teams and the holes.  One hole, in particular caught my eye.  It was a perfect heart shape.

I thought about that for days.  A heart shaped hole.  A mother who certainly has an empty spot in her heart, missing her son.  I didn't know what I would do with that hole, but I knew it would be something. 

This morning I took the bit of shirt that contained the hole, a bit of the sleeve from another of the shirts and a scrap of denim that I had in the sewing room, and made this quick, rather rough looking key chain. 

It isn't quilted.  It meets the challenge on the basis that it's three layers.  It measures less than 2 inches "square."  It's wonky and imperfect.  It will find its way to a broken hearted mom well before the quilt is finished.  I want her to have something to hold on to while I work.

It is a small thing, made with great love.

Linking up with Kim just minutes before the deadline...