Stretching

The reason I joined my first virtual quilting bee as well as the subsequent ones was to stretch myself. It's an opportunity to use fabrics that I wouldn't normally choose and to work within someone else's vision. Before I took off for spring break I wanted to finish all of my bee commitments. I came close. First is Lynn's for Common Threads. Lynn gave us carte blanche with her fabrics. She did suggest mini quilts within a block and that's where I took the blocks.
I've never done a whirlygiggle without background fabric. I loved playing with the placement of the fabrics and I really like how the whirlygiggles spin off the edges.
I also did a mini stacked coins for Lynn. Again, it was fun to place her fabrics and play a bit with sizes of the coins. Thanks Lynn. This is going to be one great quilt.
Over the last few weeks I've been playing with piecing circles and arcs and pushing myself into the realm of curved piecing. Just in time too, because Kristen, in my Block Party bee, challenged us to solve her quilty math problem. You can see her challenge here. I drafted a pattern for this oval...I went ahead and added a border to make it into something, though it was simply a first draft from scraps. I do really love this oval block and it's definitely going to be a quilt in the near future.
This is my first solution to Kristen's challenge. I'm not sure if I'm satisfied with how it works. Very different fabrics for me, but I enjoyed giving it my all. Her second block is still on my sewing table half way there. I'm glad I have a second try. It's been a long process, but this is the kind of push I love. Thanks Kristen.

I'm sure I'll have a GIANT stack of blocks in the mail when I get home, so if you've send anything for project improv and haven't seen it posted here...don't fret. I'll be back on Friday!