Challenge Entries

For some reason, I've lately felt compelled to participate in challenges. Maybe it's because two different challenge quilts I made in 2018 were juried into QuiltCon. Perhaps I need the push of a challenge to force some creativity?

I recently submitted these two items.

This quilt block is made using an eight-piece 5" charm pack of Painter's Palette Solids. We were challenged to design, make, and photograph a block (no size requirements) to upload to social media.

I designed this 6-1/2" X 6-1/2" block in EQ8, printed templates, and then cut and hand-pieced it using Painter's Palette colors abyss, marine, aquarius, clementine, amber, and burnt orange. I really like it, but not enough to piece more of them! By the way, the winner of this contest receives 25 yards of Painter's Palette Solids.

My second submission was this project, my 16" X 16" entry in Curated Quilts (magazine) mini challenge: "Well Said." Using the assigned fabric colors, we were to make a mini that evokes a thought or emotion.

Nothing says "quilt" to me more than quilting stitches. Or rather in this case, the quilting behind the word makes the word stand out. The lovely puffiness of wool batting really helped make the word stand out. Then after free motion quilting, I added hand quilting with DMC orange pearl cotton. 

The winners of this challenge have the honor of having their quilt published in the next "Well Said" issue of Curated Quilts. 

Now to wait for outcomes.

I moved on to catch up on my temperature quilt, since I hadn't made daily blocks since before QuiltCon (February 17). Happily, it doesn't take too long to choose and cut fabrics to make these.

To make real progress, I needed to decide how I wanted to label each month. I thought I wanted a special "marker" for each month, and went ahead and hand embroidered extra blocks for January, February and March. But when I placed them among the other daily blocks, I didn't like that they stood out so much.

So instead, I'll embroider a little number on the first day of each month.

The numbers are small. Simple. And unobtrusive. I'm all caught up to March 11, even to chain-piecing together the columns. I won't join the rows until the year is done. I'm sure loving this look!

Since I frequently listen to an audiobook while sewing, or walking, or doing laundry, I often have books to suggest to friends. One of those friends, Karen, asked me to share titles here, along with a little review. Here's the latest book that I'm giving 4.5 out of 5 stars. 

"Three Things About Elsie," by Joanna Cannon, resonated because it's about elderly people living in a semi-dependent living community. (Not quite me yet!) The main character, Florence, is in her 80s, and her best friend is Elsie. Flo's observations, her activities, her forgetfulness - typical senior moments and remarks - along with an old mystery, kept me guessing and giggling through the story. The narrator did a great job giving voice to each character. I bet you'll like this book too. 

Linda