Project Quilting 12.6 - Ab Intra

The last Project Quilting Challenge for 2021 is Ab Intra.  Yeah, I agree - WHAAA??

The PQ post for this challenge says that it means "from within", as opposed to Ab Extra, which means "from without".  Trisha Frankland, who is the creative mind who comes up with the topics, said 

"For our sixth and final challenge of the season, I want to make sure we go out with a bang and not a whimper. So I’m going waaaay out there in mystical woo-woo territory for this week’s for inspiration, with my favorite kind of challenge: the inspirational, aspirational wordplay kind."

That was enough to warn me that I would probably have trouble coming up with something for this challenge, LOL! 

Further on in the post, she gave some more concrete ideas - 

"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?"

I have to admit that I was still stumped.  I considered making something to wear, but what?  I used to make clothes for myself and for my kids, but it has been a long time.  I do have a partially started quilted sweatshirt jacket, but since it is started, it wouldn't qualify. 

I thought about being very literal and making something that was inside a human body - like a heart!  But since one of the challenges last year involved hearts, I decided against that idea. 

Over the next few days, I kept going back to the website and reading the description, but nothing came to me.  I waited a few days and started checking the entries as they were posted. When in doubt, check out what other people are doing, right?  ;->

I realized that people were making things that represented some of their core values, or things that they loved.  I mused over those pictures and started thinking "What is within me? What is essential to me? What are my talents"? That was it!  I had my theme! 

I have loved singing for as long as I can remember. And I have been blessed to have been given a voice that allows me to indulge in that love. 

One day in second grade, our teacher, Sr. Leonarda (I think?) taught the class a quick little song, then asked us each to come up and sing it to her.  I remember that I got the words wrong, but she was OK with that, and told me that I had a nice voice.  That was my audition for the grade school chorus and the start of my musical journey.

Since that fateful day, one of the constants in my life has been singing.  I sang in the grade school, middle school and high school choruses. I've sung in church choirs, community choirs and have even sung for weddings. 

Some of the most important times and most consistent friendships in my life happened because of singing.

I learned to play the guitar while singing around the campfire at Girl Scout Camp.  Learning the guitar led me to church folk choirs and a folk singing group at the university I attended. Some of the best friends I ever made are were from that camp and from the folk singing group. Even though we don't live in the same area any longer, we still keep in touch.  One of the guys in the folk singing group introduced me to his brother, to whom I have been happily married to for the last forty two years!  

By now, you've probably guessed that he theme for my Ab Intra challenge is singing, or music.  

I have been interested in trying a technique called "Mini Mosaic" quilting, which I found on Cheryl Lynch's website, and figured that this would be the perfect time to try it. She has a website where you can purchase kits (http://www.cheryllynchquilts.com/mini-mosaic-quilts.html) and also has a video on You Tube that shows the technique.  

I used a G-clef as the centerpiece of my mosaic, and used my favorite color, pink, for the tiles. The tiles are mostly 3/8 inch square, although I had to trim some of them to fit the design.  The whole thing is about 11 X 14".  It is my new favorite wall hanging!

Project Quilting 12.5 - You're Crazy

Sometime in the middle of last year, I came across a blog that showed elaborately embroidered, four patch pin cushions.  They looked fascinating, so I bookmarked them for future reference.  If you're interested, the name of the blog is Hummingbird Highway, and here is a link to the article that shows some of the pincushions. Puffy Fours Pincushions

When I saw that the challenge this week was "Crazy", I immediately thought about those pincushions, because of the embroidery.  For me, the defining feature of crazy quilting is the embroidery.  I was thinking that I could piece the top like a crazy quilt and do some lovely hand embroidery on the seams.  I Googled 'embroidery stitches' and saw some really cool stitches that I wanted to try. 

I have done some hand embroidery, but it has been many years.  Mostly, it was very basic outline stitches, chain stitches and satin stitches.   But that didn't stop me from digging out the embroidery floss and perle cotton and planning to have a go at it.

Once I read the blog again, I realized that the pin cushions are a LOT smaller than I originally thought that they were.  They start with a four patch that finishes at 3 1/2 inches.  To tell you the truth, I wasn't in the mood to work with tiny pieces.  First of all, I would have to piece four 2 1/2  inch squares from even tinier pieces to make the 3 1/2 inch four patch. Then, the seams would be so short that it didn't seem like it would be worth embroidering on them. 

So I decided that I would make a pincushion, but start with regularly pieced four patches, much like the ones on Hummingbird Highway. I reasoned that one of the main features of crazy quilting is the embroidery, right?  And I would use all those lovely embroidery stitches along the sides and the middle seams....

After putting together the top and side piece and discovering that I didn't have a small enough embroidery hoop, doubts about the feasibility of this project started to surface.  I put it aside for a day or two while I thought about how to get a 4 inch project into a 6 inch hoop.  I grabbed some fabric strips from my stash and basted them to the sides.  Ah, ha!  That worked!  

I pulled up the site with the cool embroidery stitches, threaded my needle with a variegated blue perle cotton and got to work.  Well, 'got to work' is a bit of an overstatement.  It makes it sound like I actually accomplished something.  What actually happened is that I attempted the first stitch, a feathered chain stitch.  I mean, I've done chain stitches, so how hard could this one be?  Half an hour later, I had tried and ripped out the stitches numerous times.  My feathered chain stitch looked nothing like the diagram.  My brain just wasn't able to interpret all those arrows and numbers in the diagram. Maybe a different stitch would be better to start with?  

My next attempt was the open Cretan stitch, which according to the site, is a simple variation on the feather stitch.  Another half an hour passed, during which I attempted, ripped out, attempted again, ripped out again, etc. etc.  After throwing the embroidery hoop, perle cotton, needle and all across the room, I was seriously questioning my ability to finish this challenge.

Yesterday, I decided that all those fun looking stitches on my sewing machine were put there for a good reason!  I found one that I liked, and embroidered around the edges and finished the pincushion.  I really like it, but I decided that it really wasn't a good interpretation of the challenge.  Even with the embroidery, it is just too 'sane'! So I resolved to start over after a good night's sleep.

This morning, I grabbed my bin of small scraps and started sewing them together.  I ended up with an oddly shaped piece that was about 9 inches on the longest side. 

I've been trying to avoid making another potholder or mug rug for this challenge, since I've made so many of them for Project Quilting in the past.  But I knew that I would have to finish the challenge quickly, so a potholder would fit the bill. 

Using one of my other potholders as a template, I cut out a circle approximately 7 1/2 inches in diameter.  Two pieces of Warm and Natural scraps provided the insulation.  I used up a spool of variegated thread exploring all those fun stitches on my sewing machine.  I added a backing and a bias binding, and finally had a project for this challenge!