I finished my first set of the year in my 2008 mini quilts last week, so I thought I would write a bit about them. I do one a week so I end up with 52 in a series, which gets divided into 4 – 13 week groups, and they usually have a seasonal feel to them. I mentioned earlier that I started them as kind of a personal challenge to see if I could do it, but it has turned into a really beneficial creative exercise.

My quilts measure 5 1/2″ by 7 1/2″ and are always vertical. They have become a place for me to play and experiment. I try out color themes I feel like working with, try a new method I might have seen in a magazine, or if I am working on a bigger piece I may use my quilt of the week to work a part of it. My friend Janet gave me a little bag of fabric scraps from her last sewing project and one week I challenged myself to use only the scraps from that bag. It turned into trees in a snowy woods and its one of my favorites. By the way, I still haven’t mastered the art of putting good photos on this blog, but once I do I promise I will show any quilts I talk about first!

Do you ever challenge yourself in your art? I think it’s a great creative exercise to set up limits for yourself, and then make art. Because you know what? You can. It makes you think, it gets you out of your comfort zone. And most of the time you will come up with something that works. I’m not saying all of my mini quilts are little works of art; some are DEFINITELY better than others. But even if some are not so hot, I did something and learned something.

Once I finished my first series of 52, I started a new series but in a smallest format-4″ by 6″ think I it was. That felt too small and I stopped for awhile. I was surprised to find that I really missed doing them so I started up again in my original size. You know what? I think they are getting better. You really should give this fun exercise a try–these little quilts are quite addictive!