From the beginning of March until the last week I’ve been obsessed.  I participated in my first SAL (Sew A Long).  Alison Glass, creator of the Trinkets pattern, organized a project where each day the assigned block (one of the 40) was posted on Instagram with the hashtag  #trinketsal.

Although the Alison Glass fabrics are absolutely fabulous, I felt I had to use what I have, and those that know me, know I’ve got plenty.  I culled through my stash and decided on my fabrics and had a go at it.  The first week was easy, as the blocks were pretty simple.  I was able to get all of my blocks done and photographed in a couple of days so I just had to post daily.  If  you posted all week you were put in the running for some wonderful prizes by quilt industry sponsors.  I was even able to get a little ahead once in a while so I could work on other projects, and go on vacation.

What I observed.  Several people took wonderful photos of their blocks using creative props.  I figure I need to up my game, as I was merely photographing the completed blocks on my cutting board.  I didn’t get as involved as some who actually gave much thought to what the blocks meant to them or how they were inspired by the blocks.  To see what I mean check out the AG sewalong community on FB, the pictures and stories are very creative.

This is as close as I got to staging.

As the blocks grew into more blocks I got excited.  It was fun to see them all stacked in a pile, or spread out like a deck of cards.  And I was beginning to feel like I was actually accomplishing something.    I learned a little about hashtags.  Which really doesn’t mean much as I knew nothing about this hashtag thing to begin with.

Then the time came where the blocks were complete and the top had to be put together.  The checkerboard (as seen on the cover of the pattern) was nice, but I did not want my quilt to look like hundreds of others made with the same pattern.  So the auditions began.

I was getting nowhere fast.  Too many ideas in my head and I just wasn’t sold on any of them.  Finally I settled on this:

I am satisfied that there is enough negative space for my favorite quilter and sister, Terry Burris to make this special.  If I look closely I can see that technically it may not be perfect, so I won’t look too close.

All in all it was a fun project that allowed me to share the creative process with many other quilters.  I have been inspired and amused and saw a few things differently.

Check out the many other works on Instagram using #trinketsal, you might be inspired too!