Quilt Reveal: Open Space to Breathe

 The theme for the first Project Quilting challenge of the year 2026 is "A Clean Slate".  I don't remember other challenges being based on Pantone Color of the Year, but this week's challenge is inspired by Cloud Dancer. I have mixed feelings about this color. It is plain and boring and more of a background color. Also hiding our heads in the clouds doesn't seem like the right thing to do this year.

But as I read on the blog post, it says "the choice is at heart an open place to breathe and let creativity sing ... What do you notice has been whispering for you to listen?" These statements made me get a better attitude about the color of the year.

The week's theme itself is exciting to me because I was looking at some leftover strips I had cut for another quilt, and they reminded me that I had planned to make a low volume quilt way back when I bought the book that had a bunch of low volume quilts in it.

So this was a great motivation for me to do just that. To honor the promise I made, I resisted the urge to make the quilt bigger or complicated. I strip pieced some four fabrics, and subcut them into rows.  

Then I cut a couple in half, flipped them and sewed them together to keep the same fabrics from being in the center. Then I cut another couple and sewed another piece between just so it wouldn't look like a strip pieced quilt.

I added a soft fusible batting and a flannel backing. I resisted the urge to add beads or lace or anything to make it louder, but I did add  hand quilting. Hand quilting makes it more interesting without volume, and if you think about it, it is relaxing and slow, so it adds to "open place to breathe" theme.

Lots of bonuses with this quilt:

A great way to share pieces from another quilt.

This quilt is finished way before the deadline of Sunday!

I wound up with an inadvertent fussy cut with the bird in the gray fabric.

I love how the tiny strips on both the top and the bottom look like pieced binding. I birthed the quilt so it is another bonus.