CCQ Challenge 2025 - Give Peace/Piece a Chance

Our local quilt guild, Clark County Quilters, issued a challenge for 2025 called, "Give Peace/Piece a Chance!".  Here where the rules:  

(1) The size of the quilt could be no more than 120" in perimeter.  

(2) The quilt background should be pieced reflecting your idea of peace and you must include a peace sign somewhere on the front of your quilt.  

(3) All steps must be done by you.

I am always up for a challenge!  I remembered that I sketched up an idea for a quilt a few years ago, which was a hippy girl.  I found that sketch and started drawing a full size girl for this quilt, based on that idea from a few years ago.  It really helps to keep a sketchbook of ideas so that you can go back and visit things you saved.

The background was, of course, going to be lime green.  I pulled greens from my stash, including 3 pieces of silk.  These were all improv pieced into small log cabin blocks.  The blocks were put together into rows, using sashing pieces here and there, and trimming others to fit.  I left the background a little wonky, with the top width larger than the bottom width.  Here it is all ready to go.

I placed the drawing of the hippy girl on top to make sure the back was big enough.

Then I made the clothing and the face for the girl.  The pants were quilted with gold thread into peace signs.  The necklace peace sign was made of silver lame.  The necklace chain was silver trimming that was couched down.  And the glasses were made of copper lame.   I didn't take any pictures of the process, though.  Its a mystery to me why I remember to do this sometimes, and at other times, I get so caught up in the making of the pieces that I totally forget to take pictures.  When the creative juices are flowing, I'm in the groove, I guess.

The girl was appliquéd to the background and the face was highlighted by a little bit of colored pencil and inking.  Then,  I quilted the background with peace signs all throughout and lightly quilted the clothing and face.  It was faced.

It turned out to be 18" W at the top and 29" long.  I titled it "Peace Out".  

I hope you like it!

Crisscross quilt

I watched an episode on The Quilt Show that introduced me to an improv way to make a crisscross quilt.  I think the quilter used smaller blocks than I did.  I made it with some of my hand dyed and ice-dyed fabrics and a wonderful Marcia Derse fabric called "Spotted Graffiti". Anyway, here's the quilt and the instructions.

CRISSCROSS QUILT

51” w X 59.5” h

Made in improv style, this quilt uses large and small scraps to make a striking colorful quilt.

Materials
10 to 12 different fabrics, at least large enough to cut several 10” squares

Instructions
Cut 4 different fabrics @ 10” square
Lay them right sides up and cut a diagonal line free hand starting and stopping at 1” from the corner
Cut a second diagonal line parallel to the first one and starting and stopping at 1” from the corners.  Make it slightly curved, but not super curvy.

Take one of the center pieces and rotate it from the top to the bottom of the stack
Sew the triangular pieces to the center pieces, making sure that the triangular pieces are the same fabric
Press away from the center strip

Trim to 9” square

This stack yields 4 blocks
Continue stacking 4 fabrics at a time, making sure they are mixed up and different than the first pile
Make a total of 36 blocks (9 stacks of 4 fabrics)

Cut 4 different fabrics @ 5-3/4” square
Lay them right sides up and cut a diagonal line free hand starting and stopping ¾” from the corner
Cut a second diagonal line parallel to the first one and starting and stopping at ¾” from the corner
Take one of the center pieces and rotate it from the top to the bottom of the stack
Sew the triangular pieces to the center pieces, making sure that the triangular pieces are the same fabric
Press away from the center strip
Trim to 4-3/4” square
This stack yields 4 blocks
Continue stacking 4 fabrics at a time, making sure they are mixed up and different that the first pile.
Make a total of 24 blocks (6 stacks of 4 fabrics)

Sew the top together
Lay out the squares to your liking, leaving 6 spots for the smaller squares
Use 4 of the smaller blocks to fill in the 6 empty spots
Arrange the stripes all in one direction, or in a crisscross way.
Sew the horizontal rows together and press alternating rows in alternating directions
Sew the vertical rows together and press the seams all in one direction
Baste around all of the outside edges to stabilize the seams

I found a picture on Instagram that I thought would be a fun way to use this pattern, with smaller blocks and different fabrics on each side of the center cut.  It's 9 blocks x 11 blocks.

Anyway, have fun using up your larger scraps!