The 6-Quilt Stashbuster Challenge

Hey, how about a new challenge?

My good friend Koleen has already drafted her list of quilts for 2011 and 2012 that she wants to make. Each list contains about 25 quilts. She made a list for this year too, and she's just about halfway through it. She's very ambitious and very determined; and trust me, she'll get it done. In fact she'll probably have them all finished before the end of the year.

So wouldn't you think that's enough quilts for the year? No! In April Koleen told me she was challenging herself to make six nickel quilts, from the book Nickel Quilts by Pat Speth. The plan is to choose six quilts and then make one block a month for each quilt for 12 months. If the quilt has more than 12 blocks, then you divide the total number of blocks by 12 and make that many each month. So for example, if a quilt had 36 blocks, you'd make 3 every month for a year.

Koleen is the one that came up with the September Sun challenge, and I enjoyed it; so I said, I'll do this with you! Then we challenged Barb and Sherry to do it with us, and poof! a new Challenge was born. Now a few more girls in our quilt group might do it too but on a smaller scale.

The 6Q Stashbuster Challenge was scheduled to start June 1, so I spent most of May choosing the quilts and cutting as much fabric ahead of time as I could. All my quilts are scrappy, so most of the fabrics I'll pick and choose as I go along. Here are the six quilts I chose.

The first one, above, is "Dutchman's Puzzle", from More Nickel Quilts by Pat Speth. These are 8" blocks, and I'll need 61 blocks to complete a queen-sized quilt, so I'll make 5 blocks a month.

This one is "King's Crown", also from More Nickel Quilts. These are also 8" blocks, and I want a queen-sized quilt, so I'll make 5 blocks a month for this one too.

Next is "Conestoga Star", from an old issue of Fons and Porter's Love of Quilts. Several years ago I bought this gorgeous kit for it, all batiks, and it's been sitting around ever since. Time to do it! These are 12" blocks, and I'll need 25 full sized blocks and 20 half blocks for the borders for a queen-sized quilt. So I'll make 2 full blocks and 2 half blocks each month. I like big quilts.

The foundations for these blocks were not included in the kit, and I wasn't about to trace them all out from the magazine, so I'm using a block called Dusty Miller from the EQ6 block library. The proportions are slightly different, but the block is the same. I printed out my foundations on freezer paper, so they'll be reusable too.

I like this pattern a lot, so I might make another scrappy one for next year's Challenge, only not in batiks.

I've wanted to make "Bali Sea Star" from the cover of Kim Brackett's Scrap-Basket Surprises since I got the book. More of the quilts from this book are already on my list for next year. These are 12" blocks and I need 20 blocks, so I'll make 1 block a month, and some months I'll have to make 2.

The Crazy Log Cabin blocks were part of a block exchange from about 10 years ago. Four of us from across the country exchanged one block a month. See how the logs are crooked? It's a foundation pattern we printed out from EQ's Sew Precise program.

I want to make this as a queen-sized quilt and set the blocks together like the quilt on this postcard. These are 6" blocks, so I need a total of 225 blocks for my quilt. I already had about 40 blocks done, so I'll need to make 16 blocks a month to get them all finished in a year.

The last one is a mystery quilt that McCall's did last year. It was presented in 6 parts, so the number of blocks required every month is variable. It finishes to something like 86" x 101", probably a king-sized quilt. If you have the magazines, then you already know what it looks like. For everybody else, I guess you'll have to wait and see.

Part 1 of the mystery is comprised of 20 Friendship Star blocks and 12 Diamond blocks. I had planned to make the 12 diamond blocks for June, but I got a late start and haven't got any of them done yet.

All together I should have made 43 blocks for the month of June, and here's what I actually finished. And I still have the Star Crazy BOM blocks to do every month. Am I nuts? Probably. Think I can do it? Maybe. I might have to scale back a little, maybe drop a quilt or something, but I'll make a valiant effort. Am I having fun? You bet!

Imagine how much stash I'll bust when they're all done. Heck, maybe I should make all my quilts this way. Start your own 6-Quilt Stashbuster Challenge today!