Say it 3 Times and Scavenger Hunt - by Miranda Reck

 Today on the blog, we have 2 quilts both made by Miranda Reck.  The first one is Say it 3 Times.  This quilt took Best Joint Artists in the Freshman Category.  It was pieced by Miranda and quilted by Ginny Dominguez.

Scavenger Hunt took first Place in the Charm Challenge Viewers Choice.  I love the story behind this quilt and I am sure you will as well.

Thank you, Miranda for sharing your journey with us.  

Say it 3 Times:

I originally made this for myself--it was never meant to go into a show. It was made to prevent me from stealing my husband's quilt! The inspiration started with little scraps of vegetable people and a girl in a striped dress that reminded me of Lydia from Beetlejuice. Then it devolved into buying matching fabrics, finding vintage and out of prints online, and working with 10-inch squares in some cases for the fussy cuts because that's all the fabric I could find of a particular color/print. 

 

The tag is custom made by me, using some of the fabric featured in the quilt, and I (accidentally) made the stripes around the blocks so that they're almost hypnotizing if you look at them too long. Beetlejuice solo blocks are different from the others--the color palette is changed and the inner border sizing is different from the other blocks. The backing was meticulously pieced so that the patterns line up exactly, and while it appears it should glow in the dark, it sadly does not.

Entering into a show for the first time was nerve wracking--I went in expecting nothing except the judge's sheet! It's been very eye opening and a good way to test my skills as a fourth-generation quilter.

Scavenger Hunt:

Scavenger Hunt was my passion project--around 120+ hours into selecting fabrics and piecing/quilting/binding. I'm notorious for digging scraps out of the bin at The Quilted Beehive, which has earned me the moniker of 'Garbage Gremlin'; I quilt primarily using odd little pieces that no one wants or cast offs from their projects when finished, so when I saw the challenge for 2025 I knew I had to give it a shot. 

Planning involved a lot of counting--how close could I get to 1000, using the guidelines given? Eventually I ended up at 990, and then implemented the other fabrics as required. There are technically 1001 different fabrics used, since the sleeve is included in the final count. Each block is themed, and a lot of them have little hints about my life and the people within, my favorite things, and even a few other Easter eggs. There are a total of 407 hidden words and objects, most of which are around 1/2" to 1/4" in size, and each pineapple block has a total of 45 pieces.

Nearly every piece of fabric in Scavenger Hunt was donated or was from my original stash; I bought very few pieces in retrospect in order to finish it. I've included some of my favorite blocks in the photos so you can see them up close! 'Beetlejuice' is made from my leftovers from 'Say it 3 Times', and 'Ghost Stories' chronicles a lot of grief I experienced earlier this year. Quilting and choosing pieces to help alleviate that grief was therapeutic in a way I can't describe, and it helped me get through a lot of heartache that happened in a very short time. And lastly, 'Monster Mash' has bits in it I've been holding onto forever--the candy bits and candy stripes have been lingering in my stash for almost a year now.

My husband really pushed me to finish this, as did my quilting friends; my husband is currently deployed and this was saving my sanity one stitch at a time, whether I realized it or not. It gave me something to look forward to, and I'm all the more proud of myself because I did this in less than 2 months, from start to finish.