For the last few Saturdays, I have been talking about challenges that I have participated in over the years and remembering the things that I learned from them.
The third challenge was set by my local guild and dated back to 1991. It was called “All That Glitters is Not Cold” and the requirements were that the quilt had to include a circular element and something that glittered!!
This was one of those quilts that started out as one thing and ended up as something entirely different!!
Since my last quilt had successfully included Lamé, I knew where my “glitter” was coming from. At that time I was enamored with a feathered star design and took it upon myself to make one from Lamé…..

Since that worked so well, I decided to add a few more stars in a round window…..

Then I decided that someone needed to be looking out of the window so the little girl was added……

Since my daughter Jenny loved teddy bears the little girl had to hold one. AND, Jenny had a gown with a ruffle at the time, so the “window” girl had one too!!
Then she needed some other furniture in the room so the shelf was added, containing a drum (with glittery trim), a doll (with glittery buttons) and the ball (something else round)!!

The final quilt was sweet……

….and hung for several years in my daughter’s bedroom.
Again, this challenge took me to places that I had never been before and helped me to move on to another stage in my quilting journey!!
Is there a challenge that propelled you forward?
2 thoughts on “Challenging myself….”
Back when I was in a quilt guild, I participated in lots of challenges. I still have a pictorial quilt hanging in my den that was the result of a progressive quilt project. Each quilt was started by a quilter and then passed through all the participants’ hands (I think there were 12 of us, and the challenge took a year) until the top returned to the originator “finished.” Mine had a palo verde tree in bloom that I embroidered mostly in the hospital while my son was recuperating from appendicitis surgery.
As a blogger, I participate in all sorts of challenges: blogging, poetry, and photography. And yes, every challenge encourages me to try something I might not have otherwise.
Thanks for the comments Andrea. I love doing them too. Actually, there is one due at the guild in June so I need to get onto it, but I can’t QUITE get my motivation up for it!!!