The Program and Workshop chairman of our local guild is a wonderwoman!! She was concerned that more people weren’t taking advantage of our workshop schedule, so she invented a challenge that will run in 2026.
We will meet once or twice each month, and different members will provide instruction for that month’s task.
Yesterday, I told you the parameters of our latest guild challenge (make a quilt using the COLORS of a country or state flag). Today, let’s look at the participants…..
You already know my quilt from Portugal….
Scarlett chose Georgia and made this quilt featuring a Georgia Peach…..
She was excited because it was the first time she had quilted her own work!!
Jan chose the flag of Pennsylvania, aptly picking a Pennsylvania Dutch pattern….
Tracie was born in Hawaii and used the colors of the Hawaiian Kingdom flag….
Diana based her flag on the Italian flag, and it does remind me of the countryside…..
Barb chose Pennsylvania as well and decided to add lists of things from the state.
Sue took a walk in the Main Countryside…..
Barbara was representing Kentucky, and she used a series of old-style quilt blocks such as rail fence and log cabin.
This was a fun challenge and a bit of a “THINKER”!
I can’t wait to hear what our next one will be!
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Do you struggle to decide what to quilt in your blocks? If so, check out my FREE series…..
Yesterday, I shared a YouTube video showing the making of this mosaic quilt…..
If you missed it, check it out HERE!
Today, I want to tell you WHY I made this quilt.
Our guild had a challenge called “FLAGS”. The idea was that we were to pick a flag and then make a quilt using the COLORS of the flag, and preferably something that the state or country was known for.
I chose Portugal as my country flag…..’
You can see here that there is Blue, Green, Red, Yellow and Black.
PERFECT COLORS…..although the proportions in my quilt are a bit different from the flag!
And, Portugal is well know for it’s mosaic tile work….
SO…. I figured that I could put the two together, add in my FAVORITE flower, and meet the challenge with flying colors (PUN INTENDED)!!
Thinking about it, FLYING COLORS would have been the perfect name for the challenge!!
I had so much fun working on the quilt and am very pleased with the result.
I originally had in my mind that I would make it larger and far more complicated, but sense finally kicked in, and I went for smaller and finished!
It was also a great opportunity to try out the Cutterpillar Tempered Glass Mat…..
You can check out my video review of this product HERE
The challenges were presented at our guild meeting. Come back tomorrow and I will show you the results!
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“Let’s Get Scrappy is about how to decide, not about what to make.”
Let’s Get Scrappy is an on-demand online course that helps quilters overcome decision fatigue and finally make sense of their overflowing scrap bins. With four hours of step-by-step video instruction, you’ll learn simple systems for organizing, piecing, and pressing your scraps—so you can stop overthinking and start sewing beautiful, coordinated quilts with confidence and joy.
Back in October, when I bought my fabrics for the Cherrywood Challenge….
I had all sorts of ideas about a pieced background (maybe a Storm At Sea block), and some weird fish taking center stage.
But, as often happens during that time of year, I had no real time to think about it or do much work on it.
So, as I arrived at my Guild Retreat, I was ready to make a start.
EXCEPT….my heart wasn’t in it!!!
The thought of piecing all of those tiny pieces for a S-A-S block was completely overwhelming and trying to figure out some great threadwork for the weird fish was doubly overwhelming!!
So…. I decided to improvisational piece the background and then go from there.
Now….I DONT DO IMPROV PIECING…..PERIOD!!!
I am not sure exactly what got into my mind but not only did I piece it without a plan, but I used CURVES too.
I started out with a practice piece to see if I remembered how to cut and piece curves….
That looked okay so I grabbed my rotary cutter and dived into the precious fabric!!
By the time I left the retreat, I had put together most of the back but still had to finish one corner and figure out exactly how to attach the other corners…..
At some point, I will show you more of this piecing process, but suffice it to say that I finally came up with a background that I could square to 20-inches…..
The next step was to quilt the background….
I saw the center of this as a type of drain so it needed something being sucked into it.
HOW ABOUT CIRCLES?
I spent a lot of time playing with various sizes of circles, but finally decided on an arrangement that I liked….
I was using Wonder Under to fuse the circles in place and was worried that they would “fall into the cracks made by the quilting lines so I added a circle of batting to the back of each circle….
After quilting down all of the circles, it was time to make the harrowing cuts to trim the quilt to an exact 20-inches!!
I took my photos showing the exactly size……
….and hurried to my computer to enter the quilt (an entire TWO hours before the deadline)!!
Then I saw it…..
In the advertisements about the challenge, it specifically says “Creatures from the Deep”
OOPS….. nothing about circles or vortexes or anything that my quilt has!!
SO….. I entered it anyway…..
and named it “DOTS DOWN THE DRAIN”….
….because that is kind of how I feel about it!!
Who knows….maybe it will get in for originality!!
And before you get worried about me, I don’t really feel like it was time wasted. I had fun doing the piecing and I might even try it again!!
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Do you struggle to decide what to quilt in your blocks? If so, check out my FREE series…..
