PQ 14.6 - Conquer a Fear

Conquer A Fear

Welcome to The Joyful Quilter!!  And... Welcome to the wonderful world of Project QUILTING hosted by Kim Lapacek @ Persimon Dreams!!  This is my 3rd year of participation in the Challenge.  Trish Frankland @ QuiltChicken is the creator of the crazy challenges that participants will faced during the past 12 weeks.

Sassy @ Farm Quilter got me started at the beginning of Season 11 by inviting her readers to join in the fun.  I accepted her invitation and the rest is history.  As I have for the past two years, I dragged along my friend LeeAnna @ Not Afraid of Color again this season, as she enjoys having a reason to stretch her creative wings.  Thanks for keeping me company, LeeAnna!  It's been fun to bounce ideas off each other when the prompts require another opinion.

FAIR WARNING:  It's a wild ride, but oh SEW rewarding!

Challenges are given and start to finish you have ONE WEEK to complete your project.  PQ 14.6 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:

You see, to grow you must face fears. It’s the way to achieve and succeed. If you only do what’s safe and comfy, you’ll stagnate and grow soft.

 The way forward is always by finding and following a new path. Growth.

 

So this week, you will confront something you fear. Your project must be about growing through exploring the unknown.

 

What?

 

Well, first sit down and ponder your way forward: personally, professionally, creatively, emotionally, or quite literally physically moving forward in time and space. Where are you going? What do you need to overcome on the way?

 

Now, decide: how do I make that a quilt?

Trish goes on to say...

... Here are some ideas:

• Are you thinking about changing careers? Going back to school? Does that feel more like a Delectable Mountain (#ad) to climb or you’re worried it’s just Robbing Peter to Pay Paul?

• Perhaps the holidays (pick one!) have been hard for you, but you’re ready to reclaim them with a fresh tree skirt for next year’s Christmas tree, or a seasonal topper for the table.

• Or perhaps you’ve been avoiding curved piecing or hand sewing or bias edges since you began quilting and it’s finally time to kick that anxiety to the curb?

 

Hopefully this will be a fun, freeing, liberating project in the end – although you may have moments of frustration or emotion along the way. Just remember, you can do it!!

Step Two...

Shake my head in an effort to recover from the fact that I didn't remember that it was time for the final challenge of Season 14.  Stranger still, even though LeeAnna spilled the beans this afternoon, I still didn't check the full details of the prompt until Monday night!

Step Three...

Scratch my head and wonder what on Earth I'm going to do.

Step Four...

Review the rules:

Rule 1 – your project must involve conquering something that scares you.

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 12th, 2023, and posted by noon Central Time March 19th, 2023.

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

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. Incomplete or unfinished does not qualify. Every challenge piece must be a FINISHED project seen through from INCEPTION to COMPLETION during the challenge timeline. Link up at the bottom of THIS POST by Sunday, March 19th at noon CDT

Step Five... Formulate a plan!

I'm not afraid of very much.  Perhaps, there are quilting techniques that I shy away from, but once I really thought about it, the only thing that is scaring me right now is this:

Step Six... I'll explain that later.  Right now, I've got to gather my supplies:

photo!!!

GREEN for grass and trees, red for X's, and random scraps for the focus of my project.

Step Seven... PLAY!!!

Yes.  Even conquering your fears can be fun.  Attitude is EVERYTHING!!

Here is a bit of my construction process...

(Scroll down to the bottom of the post NOW, if you don't care to see a blow by blow of the making of my quilt.)

I began by...

Choosing a background fabric.  I chose the muslin beneath the strip set shown below:

What happened next, Joyful???

I built some houses:

Can YOU guess where this is going???

I have a story to tell, so why NOT make a quilt!

SEW...

I quilted and appliqued the houses down at the same time:

Binding options from the bag of binding that Diane gave me in her last BOJ:

I present my completed entry for PQ 14.6:

10" x 20.5"

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

... And this time, it was because the prompt gave me a reason to explore the ramifications of a new neighborhood going up right next door.  I am SEW not happy!  Instead of an empty lot with woods beyond, there will be a house just outside my studio window.  The working title of this quilt was Fear of the Unknown.

This quilt helped me realize this might not be as bad as I thought.  Who knows?  I might end up with some really good friends out of the arrangement!  I hope you like my quilt, now titled Welcome to the Neighborhood.  For now, we'll just ignore the fact that there will be FIFTEEN (15) more homes than we were led to believe.  The construction noise and mess is temporary - even if it might seem like FOREVER in the interim!

There you have it...

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

Follow THIS LINK to the Season 14 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 few afternoons, you really CAN do this!  My project timeline???  I began this project in earnest on Thursday evening because I had to meter out my time, as I had other deadline sewing to do during the week.  It was completed on Friday afternoon with more than 36 hours to spare and I linked up 4 hours before the noon (CST) deadline.  That felt like a huge win (even if the full photo of my project would come up to be linked to ProjectQUILTING.)

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.)

Linking up with Cynthia

for

Oh, Scrap!

and

Just under the wire, I'm joining Alycia

for

Finished (or not) Friday

Oh, and the pre-construction FUN continues...

This is now the view from our front door.  That Port-a-Potty was deposited directly across the street from our house in the wee hours of the morning on Friday.  Whew!!  It's going to be a L-O-N-G year!!!

When I shared the photo with DS1, he replied with the following response:

"Nice new decoration.  Pretty big bird house!"  :P

Sigh...