Some Fresh Ideas

Posted on January 4, 2021 by prairiemoonquilts in Inspiration

Thought I’d pop on today with some links you might like. The start of a new year is always when a lot of new patterns, new quilt-alongs, and new challenges pop up on blogs everywhere, and this year is no exception. And motivation is usually fresh, so it’s a good time to jump in on some challenges and projects, right?

I’m always looking for ways to use up scraps and stash, and keep myself motivated. That’s why I offer so many challenges on here — I need them my ownself, and it’s good to have someone else along for the ride!

Here are a few places you can get challenged or find ways to use up stash and scraps . . .

Sherri, at A Quilting Life (one of my favorite blogs), is going to be offering monthly challenges throughout 2021, and the very first one is a challenge to use up scraps from a previous project. You can find her January Challenge HERE. And you can subscribe to her blog to get notified about all the future challenges.

Deanna, at Wedding Dress Blue, has LOTS of scrap quilt tutorials, and she added several new ones last year. They’re great for using up scraps and/or stash. I have several of hers started, and hope to finish at least one of them this year.

Vanessa, at Lella Boutique, does a $5 pattern each month, and this month, she is featuring her Trinkets pattern. It uses up a bunch of fat quarters, and makes a good-sized quilt. I already caved and bought this one, because I like the size, and I think it will be a quick way to use up some stash and make some comfort quilts to donate, or to gift away.

Temecula Quilt Company is starting their first 2021 sew-along soon, and from the looks of their fabric pull on Instagram, it’s gonna be fabulous! So be sure to check in with them for when that starts. Another good way to use up some scraps. I probably won’t join in on this one because I’m still working on the Down Home Darling quilt-along they had back in the fall.

Elm Street Quilts has a One Monthly Goal challenge with some great prizes each month. That should be good incentive to get some things done!

And I mentioned this one a few posts back, but it bears repeating:
American Patchwork & Quilting’s 2021 UFO Challenge. The chosen number for January is #7, so that means I need to dig through my to-be-quilted pile and find my One-Block Wonder quilt top!

Also, I will once again be hosting The 350 Blocks Project, which we’ll kick off on the 15th, and I’ll still be offering Studio Organizing Challenges. Several of you have emailed me asking for more frequent challenges than the monthly ones, so I’m ruminating on that, and I’ll let you know what we’ll be doing, shortly after I get The Final Countdown wrapped up on the 7th, so stay tuned!

9 responses to “Some Fresh Ideas”

  1. Darlene says:

    Thank you for all the great tips on seeing what is available to challenge me for using up some scraps.
    Happy organizing today!

  2. Paula Mu in NE OH says:

    Thanks for all the great ideas!

  3. Becky Cogan says:

    Shelly you are so inspiring in your emails.I’ve made progress in cleaning my upstairs area. I cleaned off a table and was able to combine some things so I now have less totes stacked around. Got rid of lots of plastic and paper bags. Definitely better but could use some more work. Keep us inspired.

  4. Mary Delia says:

    Love all those great ideas and challenges.
    Can’t wait to check out all of them.

  5. Karen E. says:

    Maybe you could come to my house and hold a gun to my head til I clean off the dining room table, the end of my cutting table, and find a place for the bags of fabrics that are on the floor of my studio. Please!

  6. Angie in SoCal says:

    You temptress!

  7. Kathi B says:

    Thank you for all the great information!

  8. Deanna says:

    Thanks for the mention. And, it was a good reminder to update the TUTORIALS page so people can find it all in one place.

  9. christopher thomas says:

    what i need to get better at is looking at my emails i have not looked at any for over a week….so i need to add that to my goal…..i am looking at some of these to use up scraps as i have a ton of them from doing all the masks last year……so this should be fun…

    today i am working on making houses blocks using scraps from the masks….

    also this year i want to get better at taking pictures so all can see

Leave a Reply to Becky Cogan Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *