Winnings and Updates

Have you ever entered those contests on social media and wondered if anyone actually wins? Especially when no winner is announced after the contest ends. Or if they "win", do they really receive the prize? Well, several years ago, when Google+ was still a thing (I really liked Google+ and I'm sorry Google retired it), I won this thread collection. 

And yes, I actually received it! And have since put it to good use.
Then a few years back, on Instagram, I "won" a gift card from a quilt shop in California. I never heard from them after I supposedly won. And when I contacted the coordinator of the contest to ask her about it, I never heard from her again either. Very disappointing!
But this year, I've had a little more success in my online winnings. Probably because I was dealing with more reputable organizations. 
First there was an Alberta Quilt Shop, Crafty Creations Quilt Gallery, that ran a contest on Facebook asking for designs to use some fabric that they got into their store. The fabric looked like tweed, but was a quilting cotton, and it came in three different colours. The winner would receive 2 metres of the fabric. Because it looked like tweed, I chose the bowtie block to use in my quilt design and called it Tweed Suit and Bowtie. And I won! I chose to receive 2 metres of the grey fabric. 

I origally planned on making the bowtie quilt using fabric scraps from my stash. 

But then I thought about the book, The Secret Lives of Colour. 

One of the quilters I follow on Instagram participated in Pat Sloan's The Secret Lives of Color Quilt Along, where she made a churn dash quilt block in each colour in the book, 75 colours in all. And I thought that I could do that with the bowtie block. 

Top left: Fluorescent Pink; top right: Shocking Pink; middle right: Blonde; bottom left: Indian Yellow; bottom middle: Minium; bottom right: Avocado

Initially, I was just doing the blocks as I found the colours in my stash. But I found that jumping around in the book was just too disorganized, and it would make it difficult to keep track of which colours I had done and which I still needed to do. Instead, I chose to complete them in order, one section at a time. 

Left: Isabelline; middle top: Silver; top right: Lead White; middle centre: Whitewash; middle right: Beige; bottom middle: Ivory; bottom right: chalk

These are the blocks from the white section. 
Interestingly, the author of the book did not choose the same number of colours from each family. Or the prettiest or brightest. Rather, she chose "individual shades with particularly fascinating, important or disturbing histories." p. 11. I'm not going to share the histories of the various shades. That would be too exhausting. You'll just have to buy the book, if you're interested. Or borrow it from your library. 
I had hoped to use mostly fabric from my stash, but trying to match as closely as possible to the colours in the book is making that very challenging. So, I will be buying fabrics as I see fit. Most of the fabrics in the white section were purchased for this quilt. 
My goal is to make a quilt to fit a twin-sized bed, so I plan on making 96 blocks, not just the 75 colours in the book. I calculated that if I make 10 of each colour family, not including white and black, I will end up with 96 blocks including the 7 whites and the 9 blacks. That will give me the opportunity to include some of the prettier shades not included in the book (but often found in my stash). 
The next winning up is the Hobb's Batting prize that I won on Instagram. And yes, it's an awesome prize. 

Not only did I receive various types and sizes of batting, plus a couple of pillow forms, but a batting information card. 

That was definitely a prize worth winning. 
Finally, I receved this prize from Ladybug Threads, also on Instagram. 

A cone of Omni thread in a nice neutral colour, a journal, a poster that says, "Sewing Forever, Housework Whenever", a lens cloth and a retractable measuring tape. Another lovely prize. 
Now for quilting updates: it seems that lately I'm only able to finish small projects. I've started numerous quilts, but then I run out of steam and start a different one. There's always excitement in a new project, but then the endorphin rush rushes on and it's easy to lose motivation. I do have a couple of smaller quilt tops done that just need quilting. I still have to order the right colour of thread...
I did get a few blocks done on the Log Canada quilt for my middle sister. 

I got another block done on the Tales of Ireland quilt, but then set that aside as not a priority.

I tried my hand at Fair Isle crochet and got one pocket finished for the Poet Shawl. (still need to work in all the ends).

I designed and started a quilt in honour of the coronation of King Charles III. 

This is the King's Crown block, originally designed as a 6" block, I made it 24" and it will be the centre of the quilt.

Just look at the difference in size for the templates for a 6" block versus a 24" block. 

This is the Coronation Block. There will be a border of the gold fabric around the King's Crown block, surrounded by a square of 16 Coronation Blocks, and then I think a border of the purple fabric. I think the fabrics I chose are awesome and just as rich and opulent as the coronation itself. But also not a priority. 
I finished a commission quilt, Face Off, which I will blog about later. 
Finally, as I realized that fair season is getting closer, I decided I'd better get some projects finished so that I have some articles to enter. I pulled out the Kimono Rose quilt, finished the applique and the piecing and it is currently on my longarm.

Another UFO on its way to being finished. 
When thunderstorms in the forecast prevented me from working on the longarm, I pulled out the biscuit quilt and determined to finish that as well. 

I think I only had 3 rows finished. I'm now up to 10 out of a total of 19. It's tedious and challenging to stitch the rows together, trying to push that bulk under the presser foot. But I am determined to finish it.
I've got a few other UFOs that I'm hoping to finish in time to enter in the local fairs, plus a few that will be start to finish. We'll see how much I can accomplish. The bowtie quilt may or may not be a fair entry. As it's for me, it's not a huge priority. And finding all of the colours is somewhat of a scavenger hunt.