24 Shades of Everything but Gray

This past week, I received a kind shout-out from the folks at Pink Chalk Studios about a pencil roll I made, and I thought I’d share it with you—because it’s a fun and colorful project.

Back in the day, when I only dreamed of making a quilt, I bought myself a copy of Joelle Hoverson’s Last-Minute Patchwork and Quilted Gifts. Joelle cleverly divides the projects presented, some of which she designed herself and some of which were contributed by others, by how long they take to complete.

The pencil roll, designed by Pink Chalk Studios, is categorized as a 2- to 4-hour project. Whatever! It’s more like a 2- to 4-year project! Back then, I had a humble stash, virtually no scrap collection (an essential for creating a project like this), and zero confidence in selecting fabric. So I started from scratch, and it took a darn long time to come up with the necessary 24 colors to coordinate with the colored pencils. Like, it took so long that a project I intended for my niece and nephew became a project for my own son—by the time I curated the collection of fabrics, my niece and nephew were too old for a pencil-roll gift.

You, of course, would not have that dilemma. I know you’ve got a great stash and a burgeoning scrap pile—so there’s probably no need to cut into your yardage anyway.

If you decide to tackle this project, may I make a suggestion? Crank out four or five of them assembly-line style. That’s how I got mine. I made five of them for my son and his buddies. Recently, when going through my yet-to-be-gifted pile of projects, I came across the fifth one and knew I needed to hold onto it for myself. Glad I did. : )

I’m linking up this post to Finish It Up Friday and TGIFF!

Update: I’m also joining the fun over at Stitch by Stitch’s Anything Goes Monday for the first time!