We had our holiday guild party the other night and part of the fun was exchanging handmade postcards. We were to send them through the mail either by themselves or in an envelope. I received this one...isn't it the cutest? 

This is the one I made and sent to her. We both used envelopes to send ours, but some members did send them through the mail. It was a fun challenge and really got us thinking "small". 

I'm on the Activities Committee for next year so have been planning a few challenges for our members. We are still working out a plan for the holiday exchange. What have you done for your guild challenges? 

Quilters Quilt the Blues Challenge-- 2nd place Fragments

Fragments

Have you entered any challenges this year? I read about the Quilters Quilt the Blues Challenge on the McCalls Quilting Blog and was intrigued. Blue is definitely a fun color to use, but could become monotonous if the fabrics shades were too similar or if I didn't use the right techniques. There was criteria for size, and you had to get the 16 pk. of blue fat quarters from the sponsors. We wouldn't all get the same fats, but they would all be blue. Then you could choose up to 3 other fabrics to use with them. The finalist quilts would be part of a traveling show with the Original Sewing and Quilt Expos in 2017.

Quilters Quilt the Blues Challenge: Fragments

I did some thinking about what I would do before I ordered the fabric as it had to be an original design. Once they arrived, I spent a lot of time considering if my original idea would work with the fabrics I was sent. I wanted to do something using my circle and spin technique, but had a specific idea of how it would look. I wasn't sure I could accomplish it, but I needed to show chaos, and unity in the same design. Once the fabrics came I lined them up to see how they related to each other and if I could use them as I had originally hoped. Many of them were fabrics I wouldn't have chosen myself, but that is part of the challenge...to use what you are given.





The next decision was which fabrics (up to 3) would I put with them. I wanted to spice things up with another color so decided to use these batiks that were blue, but also introduced the orange, gold and red.



One of them was mostly blue with a little green, so blended well with what they had sent.

It all worked out well in the end, but I had many moments when I wasn't sure the design was shaping up the way I wanted it to. I also had to find someone to do the quilting on the quilt. I can quilt on my midarm, but I wanted quilting that followed the shape I was trying to enhance...showing unity in the chaos of the design.

Fragments

Corinne Mittag agreed to take a look at it and listened carefully to what I wanted to show. She understood that I wanted the organic lines of quilting to enhance and follow the quilt design to show that unity. You can really see the lines of quilting well in these pictures that I took out in the bright sunlight. She suggested some pebbles in a few places for interest ( and to get more of the rust colored thread on a fabric I really didn't like.)

Fragments

I found out around Christmas that my quilt was a finalist, so then I had to get the hanging sleeve sewn on and get it ready to send them for the final judging. Fragments took second place! You can see all of the finalist quilts here on the McCalls Quilting Blog. I loved seeing all of the finalist's designs and wish I could've seen all of the entries. It's fun to see what other people did with the same fabrics!

 I am pretty excited and honored that it will be traveling with the OSQE shows throughout 2017. If you see it at one of the shows, please take a pic for me. I even won a prize...a Sizzix machine, 5 dies and gift card to the Quilt and Sew Shop. The Sizzix has arrived, but I haven't figured out where its new home will be so I haven't tried it out yet.

Fragments closeup. 

Here are some close up pictures of Corinne's beautiful quilting.

Fragments closeup. I love the rust colored thread we picked for the quilting.

It's fun to try a challenge with parameters like this. It makes you really think about your fabrics and what you want them to portray. It's so much different than deciding what you are going to make and getting fabrics to enhance the design. If you haven't tried one yet, I highly recommend it! This is my second quilt that will travel as part of an exhibit with the Original Sewing and Quilt Expos.  Shortcut just returned home in Dec. from the 2016 shows.

Mirages again

 Deb N. recently sent me this picture to show me her finished quilt. She only used four different fabrics, which makes for another interesting design. I'm teaching the techniques for the Mirages quilt tomorrow at Cut Up and Quilt so I'm excited to see what the new students come up with.


I finished the Challenge quilt label last night. I plan to sew it on tonight (or soon). This one has kept me thinking the whole time and at some points I didn't know if I liked it. Does that ever happen to you? I guess it has to go through the ugly stage before Now I can go on to working on the new sampler and finishing the mystery quilt for upcoming classes. 

Just a little challenge among friends....

 I've been meeting with a group of sewing friends for many years. We met last week for our bi-monthly meeting and I challenged them to a new project. I cut up an old calendar and laid out the pictures upside down. Then each of us picked one without looking at it. We had the chance to re-pick if we really didn't like the picture we got. The challenge is to make something using the picture as inspiration. We can use the colors, something in the picture, or recreate the picture if we want. The quilt can be any size.  (I like to keep the guidelines loose so that individual creativity can blossom.) We then talked about ideas that came to mind as we looked at our pictures and each others.  Here they are with their pictures! Mine is the bird below.

mine

 Our friend, Jo, moved to Florida last year, but she was game to play too, so I skyped her over the weekend and blindly chose this one for her. She liked her bird, so we are ready to go. We set a date in July to meet again and have to have at least a start or a plan or something to share by then, with the finished projects to be shown in Sept.  I'm excited about this challenge and think it will be fun to explore some possibilities. What would you do if you got my picture?

Jo

More eye candy!

Cindy finished her quilt from our small group challenge recently. I love how it turned out!  The story of mine, plus Cindy's is here.

Pat is finished with her last Sampler quilt and brought it last night for Cindy to quilt. It's gorgeous and definitely out of her color box....she usually used more muted colors.

Cindy

We had a few people missing last night at Sampler Club, but several put their blocks on the wall for a photo op (or maybe I just took it as one!). Cindy made all of her center blocks a different set of colors for an interesting look. They worked on a paper pieced block last night. It always takes them a bit to get back in the groove of pp when I throw one in the mix, but I like to incorporate them in the samplers for the practice...plus there are some awesome blocks you just can't make any other way!

Dianne

Dianne chose some pinks for her block last night. She has her setting triangles cut too.

Pat

Pat's all caught up on her blocks, with her block from last night almost finished. I forgot to snap a pic, though.

Rose was busy catching up on her multiple blocks last night, and I didn't get a picture of what she does have finished.

I haven't had time to do much sewing lately. I spent Saturday in the garden and cleaning, and then went to my hometown on Sunday and spent Sunday and Monday visiting there. School will be out next Wednesday, so I will catch up then!

Friday randomness

I've taught quite a few classes this past week so I thought I'd share some of the pictures of blocks from these sampler classes. I have one group that chose which sampler they wanted to make and are each making a different quilt. The others are making the same quilt. Sometimes they put their finished blocks up on the design walls to see how the new one fits in. So it's always fun and colorful. 

Some are beginners and some are seasoned quilters. I didn't get pics of everyone in the classes as some didn't finish their blocks so didn't want them taken until next time. One group has to make 10 of these friendship stars, so they definitely have homework.

                                        

 Several brought show and tell also, so I'll share those tomorrow. 

                                  

                                

                                    

I got together with my small but mighty quilt group last night. We had fun chatting and sewing...I attached the binding on my challenge quilt for that group, so it is finished! One of the gals had an accident with her challenge quilt...her dog chewed a hole in it, so she has a new challenge to face before next time! We are all bringing them when we meet in May so that we can take a picture of our challenge quilts together. They are all so different but incorporated fabrics from all of our stashes.

The CB quilt show committee met for the first time Thursday night. We felt we had a productive meeting and have chosen a theme and laid the groundwork for next time. We are going to focus on modern quilts this time, including art quilts. If you live in our area and want to help plan this event please let me know!

Some scraps and some friends...

A few months ago I issued a challenge to the small sewing/quilting group I meet with bimonthly. We all brought a selection of scraps, mixed them up amongst us and took them home to make something...anything out of. I also gave them each a piece that everyone had to use in their project. Last time we met, they had all made some progress on their projects, but when we met last night, Debbie had hers almost finished! She is sewing the binding down now!.

Rose made some nine patches and might make some more. She is uncertain what she will make with them, so it's a work in progress.

Cindy is still working on blocks, but will soon have enough to sew into a quilt.

Mine still looks like it did the night we swapped. I'm not proud of this, but unfortunately it is. I have been working on other projects and will get to this. I have a retreat coming up soon so I might take it along. It would be fun to play with it with lots of people around for advice!

I did get a few more passes quilted on the tessie quilt. I am using the Leafage panto, which is one of my favorites. I am almost half way, so hope to make some progress on it this weekend. I am teaching the class on the Rock Candy topper on Saturday, so will probably quilt on Sunday.

I also worked for a little while on the mystery blocks too and only have a few more blocks to finish. I am anxious to get it on the design wall. I've been putting blocks up, but without all of them the design is incomplete. It's always exciting to get to the next phase of the project!