With the end of January coming to a close, I thought it was time to share my new quilting project with you. Last year I stumbled across a blog that was hosting this Calendar Quilt Challenge. I loved the idea of doing this, adding a strip of fabric for every day of the year. I thought it would be an excellent way to document a year, document the quilts I’m working on, use up some fabric stash, and get myself sewing regularly. Lofty goals, I know. So, I determined 2010 would be the year for me to make my Calendar Quilt, and I even put it on my 101 Things in 1001 Days list. A few weekends ago, I decided to get cracking on my January block. The finished size of my strips are 1 inch by 10 inches. Each strip represents a day of the month. And I decided to embroider the month on the first day. I’m also going to be embroidering significant events throughout the year, so that looking at the quilt I’ll be able to see all the things that happened in 2010.
So, here are my January strips. I ended up getting on a roll and did the whole month at one time. But, all the fabrics came from my stash. I thought I’d walk you through them…
This is the top of the block (obviously, with the embroidered strip being January 1).
1- white feather fabric is from my wedding quilt
2- navy fabric with snowflakes is from Eric’s Christmas stocking
3- blue and silver fabric (actually called Frost Fairy) is the backing fabric from my Pigwidgeon quilt
4- blue with black branches is from my Partridges & Pears quilt
5 – swirly fabric was used on a needlebook exchange piece
6- partridges fabric, obviously from my Partridges & Pears quilt, I put this in here to represent Jan 6th, Epiphany
7- bubble fabric was purchased for finishing
8- blue batik came from my Batiks BOM
9- white stars is the background fabric for my A Tisket A Tasket applique BOM
10-blue speckled fabric was from Pigwidgeon
11-blue and green batik is from my Bahamas Lucky Quilt
12- the second variation of the black branch on blue is actually a finishing fabric I used here
First fabric in this middle section photo is a repeat from the top section photo.
13- blue & gold is an Egyptian print I got my mom to help me make a tote bag out of for my belly dance accessories
14- white with silver snowflakes is the backing fabric for my 2000 Years Ago wallhanging that I’ll finish someday
15- dragon fabric from my Kimono quilt
16- blue batik from Bahamas quilt
17- Temari fabric also from Kimono quilt
18- white stars again
19- pink flowers from Kimono quilt
20- “baseballs” from Cole’s quilt (yay, a quilt I worked on in January!)
21- feathers are meant for an I Spy quilt
22- silver snowflakes again
And here we are at the bottom section. The feathers and silver snowflakes are overlap from the middle section photo.
23- blue and white dots from Cole’s quilt (yay!)
24- dragon fabric from Kimono quilt 25- blue with gold speckles from Kimono quilt
26- cloud fabric for I Spy quilt
27- white stars again
28- leaves from Kimono quilt
29- blue and white polka dots from Cole’s quilt
30- dark blue and black batik from Bahamas quilt
31- navy with gold speckles is from Bahamas quilt also
So, I’m really happy to have used not only fabrics from my stash, but fabrics that I’ve used in my previous quilts. I really wanted to make sure I got fabrics in there from Cole’s quilt because I did finish it in January. And for January, I wanted to stick with kind of a color theme. So, I chose blues and whites because January reminds me of the cold crisp air, ice, and also the tranquility and peacefulness that comes after the holiday hubbub. And with rain and possibly ice tonight, the chilly day reminded me to share my sewing on the blog.
I had a lot of fun with this and I am already thinking about fabrics to pull for February.
I am grateful for time in my sewing room.
Wow! What a wonderful idea! I think I’ll have to go and check out the link to that site. I’m really looking forward to watching your progress and seeing your quilt grow 🙂
Very beautiful, and what wonderful memories it will hold! I look forward to seeing your block for February. Sounds like a fun project!
Cool project! It’s going to be so special.
What a GREAT project!!!!
That is such a cool idea Nicole. It’s a great way to use up some fabrics and it will be a great memory quilt!! I’m going to have a look at that site – it will be fun to see your monthly updates.
So cool! This is going to be such a meaningful quilt when it’s all done. And pretty too!
Super idea Michelle… and I love the way you’ve included how each strip of fabric was used. Can’t wait to see what you do for February.
What a great project! I especially love that you are using fabrics from your prior quilts in it. Very cool!
Wow Michelle! You have been a busy girl – I just love this idea and those blues are wonderful together. Can’t wait to see what February looks like.
Enjoy your weekend.
What a fantastic idea! This is going to be just lovely and will hold so many memories. Looking forward to seeing what February brings!
A very interesting project that can give you so many ideas for the monthly block. I love your first month and am looking forward to seeing the next month’s block.
Michelle, those fabric strips just look amazing together. What a neat idea. You have done quite a bit of quilting! So does Icy refer to the weather or the colors? It is quite snowy here & cold! Our street was very icy this morning, but now is a bit better after the snowplow/sander came by. We bought a big ole wallunit (used) for the living room today, and disassembled it at the sellers, got half of it into the van, and are about to unload it and reassemeble it, then back to the seller to pick up the other half…. whew. At least when the household goods arrive we have some storage b/c there are not closets or built-ins here in Germany. See you so very soon!
What a lovely idea, and now you’ve got a written record of what all the stripes “mean”!
What a fantastic project! I really love your January fabrics… the blues make me thing of the very same things! A note on your blog in general – I love how you put something your grateful for at the end of each post. 🙂
I love this idea–it makes me wish I quilted. I can’t wait to watch it progress and see the finished piece at the end of the year.
Thanks for sharing!
That is such a cool idea – I just love how your quilt is going to have so many memories … just awesome 🙂 I look forward to seeing the months blocks unfold 🙂
What a neat idea, Michelle! I love the documentation of your lives along with each strip, too. Very neat! What memories it will hold for you in future years.
What a wonderful idea!! I am so impressed. Would you mind if I share this with my quilt group! I think they would take it as a real challenge. How wide and long are your strips?
What a beautiful project, and I look forward to seeing it as you go along.
Just responding to your comment. Nanowrimo is in November and I didn’t participate last year but in the years that I have I write paranormal fantasy pieces. Thanks for asking 🙂