pq 13.1 - all the colors

Happy belated new year!

Project Quilting kicked off season 13 this past Sunday and I was right there, ready to roll!

I knew whole, throw-size or larger quilts was just not a good choice this year.  But I wanted to do more than my parade of pincushions from last year, so what to do?  I decided to shoot for doll-sized quilts and I will figure out where to donate them when I've finished all the challenges.  (I have a few ideas/options, I just need to research them further.)

There seems to always be a color prompt, but usually it is a restrictive one.  This year, we were told to use "all the colors" - including at least five in our project.

I have this drawer where I stash 1.5" squares that I trim from scraps.  It all started with the Unicorn quilt where I needed the squares, and then I couldn't throw out the extras.  And then I just kept cutting and keeping them.  Much like 2.5" squares, they multiplied out of control, so I decided that maybe this year, in addition to making doll quilts, I would try to use some of my littler squares (since the 2.5" variety were pretty well decimated with this project)...

And then it was time to decide how to lay it all out.  How wide?  How many?

I winged it and went through a number of variations, so I put together a little slideshow (that I hope works!) to see the progress - six noteworthy stages.

(It looks a little blurry here, but you get the idea - silly computer...)

Then it was time to choose a background.  I had two good candidates, but I consulted my friend Colette to get her option.

We both thought the lower fabric fought less with the rainbow colors, so off to cut pieces.  (Of course, I chose a directional print...)

That took a while to get it all together...

There were a few seams that needed to be ripped and background pieces cut larger or smaller, but I was working blind here, so it was inevitable!  (Nope, I didn't draw it out.  I just went for it!)

Finally I had a top - but not a finished top!

It needs a cloud!

This is actually the second cloud I cut - the first one seemed too small, so back to the drawing/cutting board.

I have no idea where this chenille-like fabric came from.  I almost got rid of it.  I'm glad I didn't - it makes a perfect cloud and will be a great tactile addition to a quilt for a little one!

I played a little with scraps cut from the edges to decide how to attach it.  I've never done applique using a zig-zag stitch, but this fabric sheds enough it needed more than a straight stitch.  And that trial went so well, I jumped right in.

Success!

But that upper left is looking a little bare.

Wait!

I have an extra cloud!

Oh yeah!

Sew that down, select a back, find the spray baste and get quilting!

All done with my walking foot on my domestic machine.  It seemed like it took forever, but it actually went pretty fast.

It's hard to tell, but I also ditch-quilted in the rainbow.

Next up - binding!  Should I go fancy and piece the edge where the rainbow exits the quilt?  Why not?!

(Maybe I should have gotten even fancier and done white where the clouds exit?)

Finished!

14"x19"

My design, my piecing, my quilting!

It didn't make much of a dent in those little squares, but every little bit counts.

Gabby got to inspect!

Not much else quilty around here this week, but I did get my booster jab on the 31st.  As expected, I felt a bit cruddy in the next day or so, but I planned ahead to be able to take it easy and the cats approved!  This one added a fun swollen armpit (lymph nodes, I'm sure) to the list of symptoms, but compared to others reactions, I'm definitely not complaining.  I DO hope this is the last one we need!

I've had quite a few more stories, photos and videos of kitties enjoying my toys, but they were all from coworkers, so were done in-person and I have no physical evidence to share.  But let me tell you, EVERY story is of a happy kitten and a surprised human!  It has me considering options for next year already...

I cleaned out my machine before starting this project...gross!

It's been worse, but I try to do it on the first of every month.  Or the first day I sew each month.  It always has me grumbling at myself that I have to postpone sewing, but when I get the throat plate off, I see all that nastiness and am glad for my pause.

Next up I will probably start the horse graduation quilt, but I have a few other little squirrels to distract me.  One is an embroidery "journal."  I started seeing these just a few days before the new year and it took me a few days to get a hoop, so I'm behind, but last night I at least got the year embroidered and the divisions marked.

A second project that I'm not entirely sure of is more masks.  The hubby and I needed to get tested right before Christmas (we'll let that ridiculous story fall unheard in the history books) and found a free location not far from home.  We hustled up there and the two gals running the place (it was an empty store front in a strip mall with a folding table and two folding chairs and piles of testing materials!) were so kind and patient and friendly and happy - on Christmas Eve no less - that when one complimented our masks and one gal REALLY liked the Godzilla masks the hubby was wearing, I thought maybe I should make her one?  But if I'm making one, a few more isn't much more trouble...

A third project are the lounge pants I bought flannel for a while back.  Maybe I should make those?

Never mind the scrapbook calendar I plan to make.  (Might be a teensy bit behind on that as well, but yesterday I got needed supplies, so I can move forward there as well.)

Oh, wait.  I have a graduation quilt to make!  (But I did get some temporary spray baste stuff for paper piecing without sewing through the paper...)

If I do all of this, you'll have photos galore.

Who knows?

Here's to hoping for a productive upcoming week!

Happy quilting!

Katie