Tonya: Looking for Inspiration?

So fabulous to have you all in this "class." I'm tempted to not give you any suggestions for what to make because I'm already seeing some really great ideas out there. If you know what you want to do, excellent, get sewing.

Now I'm going to just throw some more ideas at you. If one of these grabs you, or inspires something else, go for it.

How about a quilt of a large repeated letter? I've seen some I really love, in particular this P Quilt by Lureca Outland. You could practise different ways of making a letter, with serifs and how do you make it curvier... Or pick two letters that are meaningful to you.

Bug jars is a pattern that would be incredibly easy to free-piece. After all, it's just a rectangle of cool fabric that you add triangles to for a more rounded shape and then add a top.

Instead of filling your jars with bugs, how about making Wish Jars. Do you wish for love (heart fabric, or there are loads these days that actually say love), chocolate, more time (clock fabric). Use your imagination.

Or you could free-piece different bugs and then put them into jars. Or just leave out the jars. I've always thought back to these marvelous ladybugs that Kate made. They're marvelous. Try something like that.

Still not sure what to do?

Okay, how about a variation on my Terms of Endearment? It doesn't have to be obnoxious like mine. Think of a person or pet that you want to make a quilt about. List out all the various nicknames or endearing names you call them. Pick your favorites and start sewing the letters up. That counts as repetition, so don't worry about the "theme" of the class.

Or the names of all the pets you've ever owned. Yes, I'm on a pet kick. You could pick all your favorite authors or literary characters...

Okay, way too many ideas and you still don't know what to choose. For those of you who want more direction:

Pick a four letter word. L-O-V-E or H-O-M-E or someone's name. Whatever. Make each of those letters a minimum of 10 times. Your goal is to make the letters small, so it might take several tries. Aim for a maximum of 4".

Make the letters different ways. Experiment. Having problems making small letters? Well practise making O's. Start with a 1" square - that will get you small.

That would be another quilt for you - just lots and lots of O's. X's and O's (Hugs and Kisses) is a favorite combination of mine. And I love Heidi's idea of playing with binary code: 1's and 0's.

Do you want a scrappier look? Use different reds for the letters and creams for the backgrounds (or whatever). A crumby look? Then make the letters but don't pay any attention to the fabric that you pick.

Just make the letters for now - you don't need to put any background around them or finish them to squares.

You can take a peek over at this old blog post of mine to see some of my quilts using some of these ideas.

Whatever quilt you're making, don't worry about the final result. The first step is to just play and make blocks.

If you ever get stuck or have any questions or need more nudging in any direction, please let me know. I've got the link for the Tonya Tutorials on Quiltville over in the sidebar. The basics or the letters should be what you need to get started.

Now start sewing!