100-Days of Mini Quilt Collages

I’m diving in again! This will be my 5^th time participating in the 100-day Project and I can’t wait to see what I create throughout the creative challenge in the 100-Days of Mini Quilt Collages!

Life got in the way of me sharing the plan with you here earlier, so I’m bringing you up to speed on what I’ve created to date, what materials I’m working with, and where the inspiration for my #100DaysofsfDMiniCollage project stems from!

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What is the 100-day project?

If you haven’t heard of the 100-day project before, it’s a free challenge where you’re encouraged to explore creative techniques, approaches, and ideas. The concept is that you make something every day based on the topic you want to dive into.

It’s an annual challenge that’s hosted by The Creative Collective.

How do you participate in the 100-day project?

To participate in the 100-day project all you have to do is decide on a creative idea you want to focus on, come up with a custom hashtag for Instagram to make it easy to locate, and share your daily makes so everyone can get in on the fun (more on the sharing below)!

What I plan on making during the 100-days of Mini Quilt Collages

My plan has been to explore mini quilts featuring collage as the technique. You might recall I explored collage on paper for my 100-day project in 2021. I loved that exploration and particularly loved the 3-d effects I could create and the embroidery stitch work I explored.

This time around, I want to explore collage using some fabric scraps and I wanted to up the texture by combining cotton batting with both machine and hand stitch work.

The materials I plan on using during the 100-day project

You know my love for bold colour combinations and one of my favourite that I’ve played with is this pink, red, orange, purple, and lilac combo I first used in the Shattered Star Quilt. I went on to use the scraps in this improv quilted wall hanging and the below Sit ‘n Sew Pincushion. Now, I’m diving into those scraps again to pull together my 100-day project. Well, for at least part of it anyways! I’m going to see how far I can stretch those trimmings 😉

How my improv practice incorporates sustainability

My improv practice started with fabric scraps I volunteered to take home from one of the Montreal Modern Quilt Guild meetings I’d attended early in my quilting journey. They didn’t want to see the scraps go to waste, and neither did I. Especially since the idea was to stitch them up into another charity quilt to be donated to a local woman’s shelter. You can read more about the Mondrian Charity Quilt here.

That’s where my love for improv kicked off and I’ve been using improv as a way to incorporate sustainability into my quilting practice ever since.

So, with that in mind, there are some fabric and colour combinations that I really enjoyed playing with and wouldn’t mind playing with again!

This bold and highly saturated colour combo being one of them!

List of Materials and Notions

The following list will give you an idea of the notions and tools I’ll be using throughout the project, just keep in mind the fabrics will most likely change at least once during the creative challenge.

• Fabrics: the first part of the exploration will focus on these Ruby and Bee Solids: pink, purple, lilac, orange, and red.
• Batting: all 100% cotton batting scraps – most will be Select in white as I have quite a bit of those!
• Thread: I’ve pulled a selection of threads to play with! You know my love for adding Quilty Texture Through Thread Play! I even have an entire lecture I give on the topic in case you and your guild would be interested in that! Here’s what I’m using:
  • 50wt Red
  • 50wt Orange
  • 50wt Purple
  • 50wt Lilac
  • Pearl Cotton Red
  • 8wt Pearl Cotton Orange
  • 8wt Pearl Cotton Pink
  • 8wt Pearl Cotton Purple
  • 8wt Pearl Cotton Lilac
• Embroidery scissors
• Tailor’s shears
• Cutting mat
• Rotary cutter with these blades
• Sewing machine
• Walking foot
• Iron
• Leather Thimble
• Needles
• Sit ‘n Sew Pincushion

What I’ve Already Made

Here’s a round-up of some of the mini quilt collages I’ve already made and how they’ve evolved! Most of these have required a minimum of 3 different sessions to pull them together. It’s been fun to vary the techniques and texture in each of the 100-Days of Mini Quilt Collages.

What I’m Loving So Far in the Creative Challenge

I’ve been loving bringing these little minis with me up to the lake and storing them in my clear vinyl pouches (similar ones here) for easy transport.

You can see all the notions I like to stock in my sewing bag here!

And you can shop my most used notions here!

What I’m hoping to get out of the creative challenge

What I love most about participating in the 100-day project is that it challenges me to show up and try something new. Things get busy and my own creative exploration can take a back seat if I’m not intentional about showing up for my own creativity. This is where I love to try new things and just see where that leads.

This time around, that’s exactly what I’m loving: the freedom to explore and create organically. It’s been bringing me so much joy seeing these minis evolve and seeing the texture emerge. Yummy nummy as I like to say 😉

Where You Can Follow Along

Normally I share this project on Instagram, but for some reason, I’ve been enjoying keeping this one on the down low and just focusing on the actual making. Sometimes I have a hard time juggling the sharing and the making. When I’m fired up and in the zone, it can be tough to pull myself out of that head space to think about capturing and sharing.

I mention this in case you find yourself struggling with this part too! I know it can feel daunting to post daily, so I encourage you to focus on the important part of the creative challenge: showing up for your creative journey. It doesn’t matter whether you share on time or whether you even share at all.

I encourage you to focus on the important part of the creative challenge: showing up for your creative journey.

While sharing is super fun, I also recognize that your creativity is very personal and unique to you. And I would prioritize focusing on the making, Once you have that underway, then you can add on sharing if you feel it’s right for you.

I’ve shared a couple of my 100-day projects in the past:

• The 100-Days of Modern Improv Quilting – the First 50 Days
• The 100-Day Project – A Creative Challenge
• 100-Days of Modern Improv Minis
• #100DaysofsfDFiberCollage (shared only on Instagram)
• #100DaysofsfDshapes (shared only with newsletter subscribers – sign up here!)

Challenges along the creative path

One of the things tripping me up for my own project is the state of my hands. I feel like a broken record here and I’m tired of this issue, but this is life and it’s yet another example of how we can’t control things!

So, I’m reminding myself (daily!) that this is my body’s way of saying “not right now”.

I’m sneaking in those stitches ever so slowly, which means I probably won’t make as many pieces as I’d hoped to. That’s ok. Sometimes it’s about what you learn along the way rather than the actual output. Or, at least that’s how I’m consoling myself – ha!

All this to say, this is your quilting practice and you decide what that looks like for you. I’m reminding myself too and it brings me back to Why I Create and What I Love About Being Creative!

Stay tuned for more in the #100daysofsfDMiniCollage series! I’ll share more on the 100-Days of Mini Quilt Collages I make in the coming weeks!

For more quilty inspiration, check out:

• Improv Cloud Surfing
• The “F” Quilt
• House of Cards

Happy quilting!

xo

Shannon

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