Monday, January 31, 2022

January Monthly Mini and The Baggie Challenge Conclusion

Barbara recently mentioned that she was the recipient of a boatload of scraps (maybe she didn't say boatload) from Carol Y.  I was also blessed by Carol with a good sized box of her scraps. As I spent a pleasant hour or so sorting through them, I ended up with a nice little pile of some vintage scraps. Those scraps, along with a few little pieces from my Mom's scraps, became my monthly mini. Thank you, Carol!


This finished at 11 1/2" x 14". I am thinking about calling it "Half a Century". I am no expert, but the scraps seemed to include a couple of mourning prints from the early 20th century, along with a piece of indigo. There was a piece or two that appeared to be from the 30s or 40s, and a piece from my Mom's scraps seemed to be more 1950s to me. I did have to fill in the blanks a bit with a couple of little repro scraps, and the border print is definitely a repro. I don't think the binding is a repro--it was just a piece of leftover binding from an old project. But the red matched the color of the red in the blocks, and I liked the diagonal pattern in it.

The quilting was kept very simple. Straight lines all the way, and only neutral grey and navy blue threads were needed.

Linking here with Wendy (The Constant Quilter). Check her out for the list of other monthly mini-acs.

After making a monthly mini for the past 4 years, and making minis for a few years before we started the monthly gathering, I am running out of room for all of these little quilts. I have given away many of them, but there are still dozens of them here. They are rolled up and stuffed in baskets, folded on shelves, covering tabletops, and hung on walls. I realized tonight that I have not changed my yardstick gallery in years. So I hung my new little quilt there. Okay, so it was only one change--but it was a change. 

So let's get down to business. I had issued a baggie challenge to Wendy's monthly mini makers during the last quarter of 2021. It is time to wrap it up and choose winners of prizes! There were twelve of us who participated, and it was so fun to see your creations. I marveled at the creativity. Participants were as follows, and are linked to their post with their baggie challenge mini:

Amity Quilter

Barrister's Block

Busy Thimble

Gladiquilts

JulieK Quilts

My Material Creations

Quilts, Gravestones and Elusive Ancestors

Rogue Quilter (me) I wasn't included in the drawing, of course.

The Constant Quilter

The Joyful Quilter

Timeless Reflections

Wabi Sabi Quilts

There were a couple of others that started baggie projects, but I couldn't see that they were completed. 

The winner of the drawing is Sandy at My Material Creations. Congratulations, Sandy! Your prize is one of the quilts shown below (with a few other goodies). Let me know via email which one you would like. I was just going to send the winner my December baggie challenge creation, but it is a little bigger than most of my minis. If it is larger than you would like, I have included a couple of the smaller minis I have made from bags of scraps. It is your choice.

I drew three other names, and they will receive a small surprise package. They are The Joyful Quilter, Gladiquilts, and JulieK Quilts. I will be in touch with you if I don't already have your address. Congrats to all the winners, and my sincere thanks to all who participated. It was really a treat to see the wonderful things you all made from a container of scraps!

One final thing, while we are speaking of challenges. I grew up with a puzzle for the family to work on during the holidays. After my father passed at Christmastime 5 years ago, my Mom kept a puzzle going year round, until she had to move from her home because of health issues. I have wanted to put up a puzzle in my home, but I could never figure out where it wouldn't be in the way.

Well, this year, after we took down the Christmas tree, I decided not to move the furniture back, and we put up a puzzle in the place where the tree had been. We started out with an easier, 500 piece puzzle, and we had it done pretty quickly.

Now for the challenging part. Hubby was going to town and asked if I needed anything. I had seen this puzzle at Natural Grocers earlier in the week and had resisted (even though I am fascinated by sea turtles). So I caved and asked him to pick it up. It took all the time I could afford Saturday just to turn all the pieces over and find the straight edges. Haven't connected any of them yet. The entire border is solid black. Won't that be fun? But I love this puzzle! Enlarge the photo to get a good look at the intricate stained glass effect. Wanna come help?


I'll leave you with this photo of the sun breaking through the frosty branches the other morning, after it crested the mountaintop. It has been a deep freeze here lately, but we haven't had the snow our friends in New England and surrounding areas are experiencing.

Stay safe and warm, and be gentle with each other.

Until next time,

Janet O. 

31 comments:

  1. I loved looking at the variety of little quilts each participant created! Thank you for sharing this great challenge. I love puzzles too and received 2 new ones for Xmas. You have motivated me to get one out!

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  2. That was a fun post! I looked at all the minis from the baggie challenge. I had so many favorites!! They were all so creative and tiny. I’ve seen some pretty quilt inspired puzzles, but I’ve never been a puzzle person. What will you do with the completed puzzle?

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  3. What a beautiful lot of miniature quilts! It was great fun to participate...Janet, yours are so accurate and just delightful!

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  4. It was a fun challenge for sure and your vintage scrappy "Half a Century" mini is so pretty. I'm taking a bit of a forced break from making minis but might be at it again later in the year! Your yardstick gallery is as charming as can be! I have never gotten into doing jigsaw puzzles but I can appreciate how others do! It's nice that you found a good spot for yours. Your last photo is so beautiful with the sunshine.

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  5. Another sweet mini to add to your ever-growing collection. The light gray seems perfect for January and the gray skies we've seen for much of the month. I was just wondering if you could do something like Wendy's Community Supper quilt and arrange the minis not displayed into a larger potholder style quilt. And congratulations to the winners of your baggie challenge!

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  6. Wow! Lucky winner of the baggie challenge. I love your hallway display.
    Oh that puzzle! It is lovely!

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  7. Well, you know how I love all your minis, but this one really speaks to me. I do love that era. What a treasure. I am still working on the scraps Carol sent to me and hope to get something assembled SOON. You are such an inspiration. And yes, I would LOVE to come and help you put your puzzle together. Enjoy it!!

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  8. all the minis are marvelous! and lucky winners indeed....i did a puzzle after christmas too...sometimes a break from sewing is just the ticket!

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  9. What a sweet new mini. It would look great in my living room. It's red, white, and blue but it doesn't shout 'Patriotic". So nice! Hope we can all get some snow soon.

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  10. Your mini display is awesome and even better with the addition of Half a Century. Sewing with someone else scraps seems more fun than sewing with your own. Congrats to the lucky winners. You challenged me and the others to see what we could come up with using a baggie of scraps.

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  11. Wonderful, amazing mini quilts. Pretty puzzles - have fun.

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  12. Oh my, your gallery of your finished minis is sublime. I am amazed at all that lovely piecing in each quilt. Your beautiful January mini looks as if it was just meant to be hanging out with all the other lovelies. Truly, you fashion astonishing little quilts!

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  13. Love your gallery of minis and your new one is beautiful. Great puzzles, the turtle one is really interesting.

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  14. That's a sweet mini you've made for January. I'm not used to seeing you use grey very often.
    I love the feathered star puzzle! And what a beautiful last photo!

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  15. Your new mini is lovely. And i love the yard stick gallery, what a cool idea.

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  16. YA, I failed at the baggie Challenge, as far as making a bunch of blocks and quiting before the time to get it done. Those fun pinkie blocks are so fun. it was fun just to see what I had stashed away. Congrats to the winners. have a great month of February. maybe the pink blocks will be something valentine-y. We used to do puzzles. I gave puzzles to our families for Christmas.

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  17. Oh my gosh … I won the challenge?? and I really get to pick one of your quilts?!? Wow, how lucky am I! And grateful! Janet, I can’t tell you how fun it’s been participating in this. You know how much I love making little quilts, especially out of a handful (or baggie full) of scraps. Not to mention seeing everyone’s minis, so wonderful and inspiring. Thank you so much for hosting this, and for your generosity. This SO made my day! 😁

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  18. Your baggie challenge looks like it was fun. I checked out all the project through the links. Loved GladiQuilts and Timless Reflections (the border is amazing!) projects. Everyone did an awesome job! As for your prizes, I remember the mini on the bottom left. Think it came from some scraps I sent you, but I certainly couldn't be sure. Puzzles are a constant in my parents home. My Dad spends hours sitting at the dining room table where one is always in progress. They like White Mountain brand 1000 pieces usually. I'm sure my parents would entertain puzzle swaps if you are interested. Take care Janet, Sandi

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  19. Yay! I just caught up with your blog and saw that I was a winner - not the top prize, but still nice to win ANYTHING!😊. Not sure you have my address so here it is: Gladi Porsche 7 Granger Drive, Lee, NH 03861. Thanks again for suggesting the baggie challenge as I really enjoyed it!!! And, by the way, your January piece is lovely!

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  20. Another lovely mini to add to your collection, Janet. Thanks for hosting the Baggie Challenge and congratulations to Sandy! Excited to find that I will be one of the lucky ones to receive a small surprise package. Yay!!

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  21. Your mini for this month is so beautiful! I really seeing your lovely, scrappy work. Such fun! Love your puzzles! That's a such fun activity! Your photo of the frosty trees in the sunlight is stunning!!! Hugs! :)

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  22. What a fabulous wall of minis! Lots to look at there. Thanks for the snow pic (we don’t get snow here so I love seeing them)

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  23. Oh I miss doing puzzles! I used to do them all the time, then when Ava got old enough to get into the pieces I stopped. I might have to start again. I do love that quilt puzzle...I've been a huge fan of Rebecca Barker for years! :0)

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  24. Your little baggie Challenge had resulted is such a lovely assortment of mini quilts. It must give you a nice warm feeling to see them all. My Mum also always had a jigsaw on the go at this time of year, although it was something to do inside, out of the heat, while watching the cricket and tennis during our summer. I have some if her puzzles here, but haven’t got around to doing any. I may in the winter.

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  25. Your latest mini is lovely, and a great use of the scraps you inherited! I do love you wall of minis....are those special clips that hook over the wooden ruler? I'll have to start looking for something similar. Jigsaws can be very addictive and good to find a spot where one can be set up permanently - hope you enjoy your latest!

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  26. What a sweet January mini in that gray/blue color palette, not to mention the touch of red! I bet you could make 'hundreds' of minis from Carol's scraps. Congratulations to all the winners of your Baggie Challenge. I really enjoyed making mine with your baggie of scraps :) I never could get into doing puzzles but it looks like you have found the perfect spot for your ongoing puzzle project. Love your photo!

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  27. Everyone made fantastic little quilts. Maybe next year I'll work up the courage to join in, if you do this again.

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  28. That another great mini
    ..... Great idea with the puzzle.....

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  29. Marvellous finishes! I can't wait to scroll through all the links to enjoy all the mini quilts!
    Mine is close to finishing but I didn't make the deadline (insert sad face emogi here).
    I adore your display of minis!

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  30. Great to see you on Zoom yesterday...Lovely January mini...really like that border fabric with the red binding, frames the centre perfectly...oh how I wish I could come and have a go at your jigsaw puzzle, no wonder it called out to you, lovely picture but definitely a challenge...

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  31. What a great finish...another one! And what a beautiful wall of minis you have there!

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