Quilt Designs 61-100
Whew! All done with The 100 Day Project! It’s been quite an undertaking for me, surprisingly so. I enjoyed making all the little quilt squares, and it was a good exercise thinking of the various quilting designs – but 100 is a lot! I had to take a long hiatus, both life and work kept me busy (all good things actually, but kept me away from my long arm) nevertheless the project was always lurking in the back of my mind. Obviously I didn’t make it within the 100 days, but I did finish it all in 2019, so at least I could use #the100dayproject2019 on Instagram, AND I’m finished before the next 100 Day Project starts in the spring! A little tongue in check self-deprecation there…
I made myself an 8×8 hardback book, with all the photos, from one of the online photography websites – and will keep that in my studio to refer to if I get stumped on a quilting design. Of course I have all the little squares themselves – and I’m still thinking about what I want to do with them. I won’t make a quilt with them for a number of technical/logistical/aesthetic reasons, but one option would be to serge all the edges, put them in page protectors and keep them in a ring-binder notebook. Several notebooks. 100 squares is quite a stack! Maybe I could punch holes in the corners and put rings through them and use them like a swatch book at a furniture store. Anyway, that’s a work in progress!
Below are the last 40 or so designs. Towards the end I guess I got bored and tried to branch out with fabric markers – not particularly happy with any of those. Not so much the idea of adding color to my quilting designs – in fact I think that would be a great technique, particularly for a wall hanging or something not intended for a bed. But I am not happy with the actual colors of the markers – no doubt there’s better markers out there (and if any one reading this knows of any, I would appreciate a heads-up with a brand name) but locally these are all I could find.
The final five are on black fabric with multi-color thread. Now those I like. And they were quite fun to quilt. I used embroidery thread in my long arm, and the colors really pop. Matter of fact, I like the colors on the black so much that I foresee a wall hanging using this combo in the near future!
Overall I would label this a gratifying experience, but I won’t lie, like any long term project, it’s a relief to be finished. I’m glad to have my photo book and the quilt squares, as I know I would’ve never done 100 different quilting designs, particularly in such a uniform fashion, unless pushed to do so. I own a shelf-full of long arm quilting books I have read cover to cover, but something I realized while working on these designs is that some of my quilting is about as good as what’s in those books (some not as good!) But what those quilter/authors have that I don’t, is originality and their own unique style. There are some common designs that everybody does, but some explain it better than others. And many have come up with new twists or entirely new designs – so I need to work on that. In my secret heart of hearts I’d love to make my own little quilting book, but I would need some unique designs, or use common designs in a unique way… just something for me to dream about! I think this project might be a tiny window into what would be needed to make that happen. For now, I’ll just keep that thought in the back of my mind for when I want to dream big dreams!
Thanks for reading, and happy stitching!
Santa hat! Taken from the reindeer in the photo 
Riff on a Zen Tangle 
Graffiti quilting colored in with markers
Graffiti quilting in color 1 
Graffiti quilting in color 2 
Celebratory fireworks finale!
99, This was a really cool project, a bright spot in social media, in my humble opinion! I so enjoyed seeing the pop of creativity on “most” mornings. If you put them on big rings you can use them as a children’s book to tell ever changing exciting adventures to the new young man in your life – my unsolicited 2 cents. Nanny made BJM a similar type book, but each square had a different tactile experience (velvet, chenille, etc). Morning musings, Xx, 29
Thanks you! That’s a fun idea!