Project QUILTING - Season 12 - Challenge 6

Ab Intra

This week's Project QUILTING challenge is the sixth for the season and the sixth that I've come up with a way to participate.  The challenge was released on Sunday afternoon.

I was on it, today!!  I checked the prompt within 15 minutes of its posting.  That's more like me.  I was anxious to see that was in store for our final challenge of the season.

Will you come alongside me in this creative journey?  It's a wild ride, but oh SEW rewarding!  I'm dragging my friend LeeAnna @ Not Afraid of Color along this season.  She ROCKED the fifth challenge!  You can see it HERE.

Challenges are given and start to finish you have ONE WEEK to complete your project.  PQ 12.6 can be found at this LINK.

Step One...

Read the instructions to see what is required of the sixth challenge.  Here's what Trish had to say:

This week for your project I’m asking you to look within.

Ab intra is a Latin phrase (therefore. also used in modern legal terms) that means “from within.” Its opposite, ab extra, is “from outside.”

Show us what it’s like inside to live in your unique body. What boundaries do you stay within? Who are you inside your social bubble (family, career, society)?

How about a wearable art piece – any clothes you’d like to make where you’ll end up literally inside the finished project?

Or, show us the internal spark that fires your creativity! What’s in your sketchbook or rolling around in your head?

Step Two...

When I read the rules for this challenge, I groaned.

Why, Joyful???

Well, I not a introspective person.  What it's like to be me or who I am inside my bubble wasn't going to help me make a quilt for this week's prompt.  Quilted clothing? A week is not long enough to make the type of quilted jackets that I make. What's rolling around in my head?  Rocks!  Seriously, I don't think of myself as very artistic and I don't keep a sketchbook.  Again...

I had NO IDEA what I might make!!!

Step Three...

FOCUS!!! I zeroed on two things that Trish @ Quilt Chicken said:

1.  ... Show us the internal spark that fires your creativity!

2.  ... Favorite kind of challenge: the inspirational, aspirational wordplay kind.

Then, it came to me and I...

Raced upstairs to gather my supplies.  Scraps of fabric from my friend Diane (plus a few others) will be added to a chunk of background fabric and layered with a batting off-cut to create this project.  She has fed my scrap addiction for years.  I am SEW pleased to be putting these scraps to good use:

Photo credit Diane @ Stitch Studio

Step Four...

Review the rules:

RULE 1:

Use the inspiration of ab intra – from within.

RULE 2:

You have one week to meet the challenge. Every challenge piece must be a FINISHED project seen through from INCEPTION to COMPLETION during the challenge timeline – that is, started on or after March 14th, 2021, and posted by noon Central March 21st, 2021. Please only link up ONE completed project. It’s awesome if you make more than one but choose just ONE to link up below.

RULE 3:

Each piece must stand alone as DONE to count toward prizes.

RULE 4:

Your project does not need to be a traditional quilt, but must meet at least one of these requirements: include patchwork, include appliqué, have 3 layers stitched together by hand or machine.

RULE 5:

Incomplete or unfinished does not qualify. Every challenge piece must be a FINISHED project seen through from INCEPTION to COMPLETION during the challenge timeline.

RULE 6:

To qualify to win prizes, link up at the bottom of THIS PAGE by Sunday, March 21 at noon CDT (here’s a link to time zone converter to calculate for Central Daylight Time: www.thetimezoneconverter.com)

• Add to the linky the URL of your project’s blog post, public instagram picture, or public facebook posting.  This post – How to Link Up a Link Up may help  you. Please only link up ONE time!
• Alternately, by 11:45 am on Sunday, March 21st you may email a picture and description to {lapaceksorchard@gmail.com} with PROJECT QUILTING in the subject line.

Good luck, and remember to HAVE FUN! Don’t forget to post progress pictures because that’s part of the fun.

Step Five... PLAY!!!

It's in the rules. Trish said that we are supposed to HAVE FUN!  I'm a stickler for rules that way.  I'm ALL ABOUT having fun with my fabric scraps!  It's one of the great joys in my life.

Here is an in-depth look at the construction process...

(Scroll down to the bottom of the post NOW, if you don't have time to basically watch me make my quilt.)

On Monday night, I grabbed a piece of freezer paper and wrote out the letters that I wanted use:

Tuesday morning found me pressing those onto my fabrics selections, but opted for using a fusible product this time.  Rare, I know, but I thought I'd try it:

Cue LeeAnna, spouting off in the back of my mind...

Miss Color Theory pointed out that the pale aqua solid didn't fit in the line up.  An alternate fabric was chosen and we were both happy.  After that, it was time to cut out the fabric letters:

This is where I departed from my usual procedure...

Thursday, the letters were arranged and pressed onto my background:

Followed by choosing a thread (or threads, as the case may be.)  I thought of using black thread for all, but Needleb suggested using the color of each of the letters before:

I opted to include the black in the color rotation, as that meant there was a dark color at the beginning and end of the word:

With needle and thread, it was time to secure the letters to the background:

Once the letters had been outlined, I was ready for the next step!!

On Friday, I wrote out my phrase and auditioned it on a sample quilt sandwich... several times:

I wasn't ready to stitch out the phrase, so I continued with the "something different" theme, adding some matchstick quilting between my word and the area where my phrase would be placed:

Then, I could avoid it no longer.  It was time to stitch the phrase on my "real" quilt sandwich (and recalled why I do that part prior to applying the letters of my chosen word):

 

Ultimately...

The top was squared up:

Binding was applied and sewn down:

A full 36 hours before the deadline...

I present my completed entry for PQ 12.6, displayed on the Gallery Wire in my studio:

There is usually a reason that I participate in these challenges...

... And this time, it's because I couldn't NOT finish out Season 12 with a sixth and final quilt.  Who am I in my circle of friends?  I am the group leader, a project instigator, and most of all...

Hello.  My name is Joy and I'm a scrapaholic!!!

Fabric scraps feed my creativity.  They make me SEW happy.  Using bits and pieces that others might throw in the trash satisfies my desire to waste less and recyle/upcycle more.  I thought you might like to know me the way my quilting friends know me.  To them, I'm the Scrap Queen!  :o))

There you have it...

Process, product, and the REAL reason for accepting this Challenge.

Follow THIS LINK to the Season 12 overview.  Check back on the Challenge release days (or sign-up to be notified automatically) and there may be one that YOU just can't resist.

It's a SHORT turnaround time!

Depending on the size and complexity of your project, that doesn't HAVE to be insurmountable.  With a little creativity and a couple of evenings, you really CAN do this!  My project was begun 1 day after the prompt was released and was finished with a full day and half to go before the deadline.  I linked up 18 hours ahead of the deadline.

Sharing with Cynthia

for

Oh Scrap!

and

(Once Thursday rolls around again...)

Sharing with Kelly

for

Needle and Thread Thursday

Until next time...

Challenge accepted!!!

Remember:  If I can do this, YOU can do it, too!

(Plus, there's a spot to post your completed Project QUILTING inspired projects AFTER the deadline for any of the challenges.)