#quiltinaday challenge

My #quiltinaday needed a matching cushion. With Bear safely accounted for at preschool, Chubba Bubba and I laid seige to the fabric shop. The pink. Found. The teal. Found. The cream. Bugger. Sold out. I love my fabric shop, but one thing that can be a pain, is once they’ve sold out of a bolt of fabric, that’s it. They don’t get it again. I looked, and pondered. One fabric seemed kind of close. As the design wasn’t an exact match, I went with the close-enough-is-good-enough theory.

We trundled up to the counter, and as we waited our turn, I had a glance over the jelly-rolls. And next to them, a lovely stack of layer-cakes. The top one caught my eye. A soft, dirty blue, some browns and creams. Perfect for two little boys in need of little cuddle quilts.

As I stitched & pressed my way through the afternoon, as small boys woke and chattered at my elbow, as they sat on my lap and helped me sew, the kernel of an idea took root in my mind. It was fun the last time. Why not spread the love?

And so, I propose the inaugural 2010 #quiltinaday stitch-along. The idea:

* to make a small lap quilt (approx 42″) in 24 hours

* preferably a new project, not an in-progress, unfinished WIP (though WIP’s are still welcome)

* any manner of quilt/wallhanging/bed-covering welcome.

* fabric may be either newly purchased (you know you wanted an excuse to buy more!), or from your stash.

* fabric may not be cut, fiddled, laid out, or in anyway manipulated before the challenge aside from washing if desired.

* the design may be finalised before the beggining of the challenge.

* have fun, and twitter/blog progress and/or final result.

Who’s interested? I was thinking the challenge would run from midday next Thursday to midday next Friday. If you want to quilt along with me, leave a comment with a link to your blog and I’ll add a link in this post so we can all see who is joining in. I’ll also be twittering as I sew, so feel free to leave a twitter link too.

The cushion referenced above is just about finished. All it needs is the insert to be altered and then the cover stitched together. The children are sleeping after a morning of trains and lego and books and dancing. Some freshly baked bikkies. Husband is home sick, tucked up in bed, with a tummy full of chicken soup. The house is clean and quite. My fingers itch, and the creative spirit stirs my soul. A long weekend beckons, but for now, just five minutes in my studio will see me through. It’s Friday, it’s cold, it’s perfect hide-in-the-studio-and-sew weather. Happy Friday everyone, let’s do this!