In mid-January I had discovered a 52-week challenge on Instagram to create one mini quilt each week.
I just so happened to have made two and, completely unaware, I was participating. LOL! Below is a display of one through ten...
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| God's mercy is new every morning ~ 5"x 7" |
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| The battle belongs to the Lord ~ 5"x 7" |
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| Orphan with big stitch and dimple quilting ~ 4"x 6" |
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| Orphan dimple quilting (Dream, Believe, Hope & Trust) ~ 5"x 7" |
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| Let the SON shine in ~ 4"x 6" |
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| God Loves even ME ~ 5" x 7" |
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| Blue Dimpled Orphan ~ 4" x 6" |
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| Breast piece Gems ~ 5" x 7" |
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| Beach Memories ~ 5" x 7" |
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| Angel on the Shore ~ 5" x 7" |
And this week's mini, #11/52, is another orphan block that I recently acquired from another quilter's stash. I do love all of the orphans I have!
This little guy is 6" square and a little wonky. It is just something that happens easily when working with small or narrow pieces. I don't mind... it adds to the character and uniqueness of the piece. I used a variety of thread colors for the quilting stitches and a red embroidered chain on one log. On the mauve pieces near the middle of the piece I did a larger running stitch and then wove back through the top stitches.
It is a bit of an echo from Scripture and the many instructions to use blue, purple and scarlet as the tabernacle was being built... “Make the tabernacle with ten curtains of finely twisted linen and blue, purple and scarlet yarn,"
I think I have mentioned before that these mini quilts tend to push me to think outside the box and explore new-to-me techniques and ideas.
Creativity is an endless pool of ideas... if you allow yourself to "go there". And the more you explore and open your mind, you find that there are even more creative ideas that spring to mind.
A few years ago, before I started hosting my sew alongs, the way that I would stretch my creativity was to participate in blog hops. Designing and coming up with new ideas and projects to fit into a particular theme was always fun.
How do you stretch your creative muscles?
Do you "exercise" on a regular basis?
Leave a comment... I would love to hear from you.
Keep Piecing,
Melva
Linking with:
Put Your Foot Down at For the Love of Geese
Needle & Thread Thursday at My Quilt Infatuation
Free-Motion Mavericks at Quilting & Learning
Little Things Thursday at Good Random Fun
Can I Get A Whoop Whoop at Confessions of a Fabric Addict
Off The Wall Friday with Nina Marie
Brag About Your Beauties at From Bolt to Beauty
Peacock Party at Wendy’s Quilts and More
Friday Foto Fun at Powered by Quilting
Finished or Not Friday at Alycia Quilts
Scrap Happy Saturday at Super Scrappy
Patchwork & Quilts at The Quilting Patch
Slow Stitching Sunday at Kathy’s Quilts
Mini quilts are so fun!!
ReplyDeleteThey are all so pretty and really unique too!
ReplyDeleteI'm amazed at all your minis! The latest is a perfect echo of the building of the tabernacle! How clever!
ReplyDeleteThanks for linking to TGIFF!
quilting gail
Hi Melva, it's the only exercise that I get! lol That creativity muscle is so busy that I have more ideas than I'll ever be able to do. I also love combining those ideas and learning new techniques - that also keeps me going. Thanks for linking up to Free Motion Mavericks. I love your minis - happy creating!
ReplyDeleteLots of pretty minis,great job on all your accomplishes
ReplyDeleteYour mini quilts are very pretty, and I'm so in love with your Beach Memories! Trying new techniques can lead to creativity, and making mistakes too! Finding a way to use the mistake and turn it into something intentional can be quite a creative exercice for me ;)
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing, and linking up!
What lovely mini quilts you have! The shell ones are so unique and lovely. For me, stretching creative muscles is just stepping away from trying to find ideas on the laptop or in a book (someone else's ideas) and letting my mind come up with something original. I don't do that very often!
ReplyDeleteWhat a fun challenge!! your minis are amazing!!
ReplyDelete