Monday 6 October 2014

A confession

So back when I described my Year 30 quilt project (here), I talked about a few of the things I was planning to incorporate into the process to really get the most creative benefit out of it.  Of those things, I knew that community would be the most challenging for me.

That is why, nearly three weeks after I started my Year 30 quilt challenge, I'm only just blogging about it now.  Oops.


These are the first 16 blocks all together.  In order to incorporate all 365 blocks into my quilt, I'm making a quilt that is 19 blocks by 20, so these won't even fill the first row.  For the first week or so, I just made random blocks based on the mood that struck me on the day.  In the second week, I moved onto half square triangles and really enjoyed making seven different blocks consisting mainly of half square triangles.  By the end of the week I didn't feel like I'd finished exploring HSTs, but I was pretty sick of trimming, so I decided to move onto something different and re-visit HSTs later.


This week I'm working with improv curves.  They're something I've been exploring in another quilt which I can't share at the moment (nothing too exciting, I'm just planning to exhibit it in a show where the rules require quilts not to have previously been published, including online).  Improv curves are definitely testing me, especially on this scale (my blocks are 4.5" square).  I think I'll have a really fun week and learn a lot, which is one of the main aims of this project.


I've been sharing my blocks as I make them on instagram, under the #year30quilt hashtag.  I'm going to go back and tag my photos with #yearroundquilt as well, in case anyone wants to join me on this project.  You're welcome to pop in and out on a schedule that suits you.  I'll be continuing with improv curves until Thursday, and then my next weekly theme will be four patch variations.

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7 comments:

Anne said...

Yay!! It's so fun to see this start to come together. It's going to grow so quickly (yet slowly, somehow I bet). Don't feel that you have to publish it all the time, but I look forward to the sneak peeks. :) (And I really should get better at lurking on IG... I miss so much!)

Yvonne @ Quilting Jetgirl said...

So glad to see your progress - I will definitely go check in on IG from time to time. HSTs are great, but I can definitely understand giving them a break and coming back to them. Your improv curves are looking lovely so far, too. I like how you are trying new things with this challenge.

Charlotte said...

they are so colourful and gorgeous - it's going to be amazing!

Wonky Patchwork said...

It's looking beautiful already, lovely and colourful. Hard to quite appreciate that you're such a tiny proportion through the blocks so far! And I really like that you're trying out new techniques with them, what a great way to improve - not that your curves look like they need much improving in the first place!

Hettie's Mum said...

I love that raccoon face peering beneath the gentle orange wave! Great improv curve. :-)

Unknown said...

I love this idea of just making something at a slow pace and at the end of the year you'll have this amazing collection of memories. I also really love the idea of creativity under pressure (I snuck away and read your starting post) and I think it's something I do really well (probably to my detriment) and would like to just be creative with out the pressure. Can't wait to see where the rest of the year takes you - it's looking fab now!

NickiJ said...

What an awesome idea, where did you originally get the idea from? Happy blocking!