What are you working on??? Plus the I DO! Quilt Pattern Winners

First of all - thank you to everyone that entered the I Do Quilt Pattern Drawing!  We received some comments from new folks, who kindly introduced themselves; which was great.  We always love new friends from near and far. 

The winners of the I Do Quilt Pattern were Linda from the Netherlands, and Jennifer from Virginia. I Do! is the perfect pattern for a quick weekend project, and I can't wait to see your creations.  One of the most rewarding aspects of being a pattern designer is watching the evolution of a pattern through someone else's eyes.  I've seen it with City Scapes, and now I Do!  It's just the greatest!!!

Does anyone belong to any Yahoo Quilting Groups?  I belong to several, and one of the questions always popping up is "What are you working on?"  So, I thought I'd share what I'm working on...

For the last year or so, I've had a personal quilting challenge that I issued to myself. 

Here was the challenge:

• Use up an entire paper grocery bag of scraps that I had been saving, all the scraps were similar, and had been collected by style/color
• Nothing could be thrown away, nothing could be added with the exception of borders, a white on white fabric, binding if necessary, and quilt backs
• Even thought they would all be scrap quilts, or string pieced quilts, each quilt had to be different (I couldn't make 10 of the same quilt). 
• As much as possible, I should create quilts that were outside of my comfort zone, or a new style to me, such as a Gee's Bend style quilt, etc.
• Make as many quilts as possible from the bag

I've made 10 quilts from one bag of scraps - the name of my project "ONE MOUNTAIN, TEN QUILTS".  When I first began the project, I would dump all of the scraps on my work table, and start sorting, pairing things up, figuring out what to do and where to go.  At the beginning it was a mountain of scraps, now I'm down to a few stray bits of strips that I've turned into applique flowers.

It's been fun, and challenging - which is the best kind of project.  It's kind of like when there is "nothing" in frig, but you've got to feed your family, so you just work with what you have, and sort of accidentally come up with something everybody likes

Jacquie over at Tallgrass Prairie Studio wrote this great post in January about Improv style quilting, Gee's Bend, etc.  I love the Gee's Bend quilts, I love everything about them.  One of my quilts is in the style of Gee's Bend; and I must admit it was much more challenging than I would have thought.  Here's my version of a Gee's Bend Quilt...I never would have considered myself anal, or OCD, but I am; I must admit.  Cutting those wonky strips was really hard.  It's like asking a classical musician to do jazz - it was a stretch, but a good exercise. 

I'll be adding more of my One Mountain quilts over the next few months.  If you have a bag of scraps, just begging to be turned into something, this is a really good way to use them up!

Have a good night,

Cherri

Comments

[jacquie]

it's beautiful. i'm curious, how big is it? i love the fabrics...you made great choices from that bag.

[Cherri House]

Oops - the quilt size is 30" x 36"

[Theresa]

Wow! that's a nice set of scraps you have!

[Ellyn]

what a fun idea. My scraps all find their way into purses & bags lately! Used to be doll clothes.... I go in spurts! One year a friend & I made dozens of scrappy clowns to use up our stash. They were very popular at craft shows!

[jacquie]

thanks! bigger than i thought.
j

[jennifer]

yay! this is the first giveaway i have ever won. :) thank you so much.!

so what am i working on? probably the I DO quilt pretty soon.

[Mary]

I'm doing a series of log cabin quilts to try and beat back my leftover strips and strings this year. I've already finished two tops and I'll be starting on a 3rd set of blocks soon. I plan on lots of different variations to keep from being bored!

[Jackie]

Love the improv block!

[Amanda]

I made an improvisational quilt for my Grand daughter using Hannah Montana fabrics and some other coordinating fabrics.

I, too, never thought that I was anal and had control issues. I felt scared, at times, like I was walking on a tight rope with nothing to cushion my fall! I did have a few anxiety attacks while making the quilt. It was crazy! In the center of the blocks I appliqued photos of my grand daughter dressed as Hannah Montana. I gave it to her at Christmas and she loved it.

Your improv block is beautiful. I'm in Jacquie's "Project Improv" group. I think I've gotten over the initial fear of thinking way outside of the box. Once I realized that it didn't matter what I did in the block as long as it ended up being square, I was okay.

[amandajean]

i really love the quilt! i faved it on flickr and have gone back to look at it several times. :) i just love it!