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.

Be Creative Quilt Challenge Finalist

Shortcut

Last spring I read about the Be Creative Quilt Challenge on the McCalls Quilting Blog. I was intrigued as I like doing challenges, but with my class schedule, plus creating new quilts, I don't always have a lot of extra time. So I followed the link to the challenge guidelines to see what I needed to do to enter this challenge. It was actually a design challenge so I was really curious then! I saw right away that some of the fabrics from the Lotta Jansdotter collections were involved. I have to admit, I wasn't familiar with her fabrics before this, but fell in love with them when I saw them.

Challenge Lotta Jansdotter fabric bundle 

The 4.5 yd. fabric bundle included twelve prints of varying sizes, and was available to purchase from the Quilt and Sew Shop.  One of the requirements was to use 8 of the 12 prints. You could add 3 fabrics of your own choice. 

Shortcut after quilting, relaxing on the bars. I didn't want it to get wrinkled !

After much time debating the issue...should I or shouldn't I...I decided to order the fabric bundle. Meanwhile, I played with ideas I had for designs using EQ6. It was difficult to think about using so many fabrics in established amounts. ( I have no problem using lots of fabrics in a quilt, but having a pre-determined amount of fabric caused much planning and head scratching!) I finally figured out a design I thought would work, and planned the fabric placement. I ordered 2 other Jansdotter prints to coordinate with what I had and decided on a white background. Aren't they gorgeous?  

 

 Once the fabrics came, I plotted and planned some more. After seeing the actual fabrics, I changed my mind on which fabrics I would use where. Plus the size requirement of the finished quilts was fairly stringent, measuring 56” to 60” x 68” to 72". I think this was the hardest part to accomplish for me as I reworked my design many times as I tried to make a design I liked within those boundaries. I'm used to making quilts designed to fit twin or queen beds, but the sizes can be somewhat variable, so it's not that difficult.

I ordered backing fabric, also Jansdotter

 Finally I was ready to cut and sew! Since I didn't decide and order the fabric bundle until late summer, it was almost time to go back to school by the time I started working on it.  With a submission deadline of Nov. 1, 2015, I couldn't waste time either. Once it was finished, I ordered another Jansdotter fabric to use for the backing, though that wasn't a requirement. It was one of the fabrics that was in the original bundle. I had used it on the front and really like it! I thought about taking it to someone else to quilt, but ended up quilting it myself with an all over pattern.

Naming the quilt...sometimes that's the hardest part. To find a name that "fits" the quilt for whatever reason, is an interesting journey. Sometimes it's evident to others, sometimes it only has meaning for me. I decided on Shortcut as it described for me the path the diverse sets of fabrics were taking

Shortcut in the sand....beachy!

One sunny day,I took the finished quilt on a field trip and took some pictures of it in different locations and at different angles. The submission included an artist statement and a photo of the quilt. I sent the one at the top of this post to them. About a week later, I learned that I was a finalist and needed to send Shortcut to them. I knew from the guidelines that all of the finalist quilts would travel to the Original Sewing and Quilt Expos in 2016, so I was excited! I bundled it off to them quickly!

Shortcut

The judging commenced and in December I learned that my quilt was not one of the three winners, but would be traveling with all 12 finalist quilts to the OSQE shows plus the America Quilts Expo in Des Moines (which is about 2 hours from me), so I will get to go see the exhibit.

Shortcut

I have been waiting  for them to post pictures of all of the finalist quilts as I was curious to see what other designers had done with those same fabrics. They were posted online last week, so take a look for yourself! They are all interesting with many different techniques used. I'm really glad that I decided to take the challenge. I feel like I learned a lot about adapting to size and design elements that I don't always worry about. Plus using fabrics with so many interesting prints made things interesting as well. I would love to chat with the other challenge participants to see how they felt about the challenge.

Shortcut hanging out after the quilting.

If you go to any of the Original Sewing and Quilt Expos in 2016, please take a picture of yourself with my quilt! I'd love to see you with it! 

Miss Tess published and a giveaway!

I am excited to tell you that my design, Miss Tess, is appearing in the winter issue of McCalls America Loves Scrap Quilts! I'm intriqued by tessellations... identical pieces fitting together without any gaps or overlapping. I love scrap quilts...so much fun choosing as many fabrics as you can to make a quilt. So this was a really fun and interesting design to make.

Like their Facebook Page!

After figuring out the design itself, I had to figure out how to make it happen. That meant taking the shape to its basic form and figuring out what pieces I needed to cut so that I could sew it together in rows. I decided to use lots of bright fabrics with the same centers, a small black and white dotted fabric.  Once I started cutting the pieces, I couldn't wait to try them out on my design wall to see if it worked. 

I loved it, but my design wall isn't large enough for a queen size quilt, so I had to move to the floor. I could only lay out about half of it at a time, so once I had the first half sewn into rows, I laid out more rows. I had a few glitches along the way as my helpers decided it looked like a playground.

No one fessed up, but I have my suspicions....

I numbered all of the rows so that I wouldn't make any mistakes when sewing them together. It's a lot of rows, but they are easy to piece. The hard part with this many fabrics is where to place them!

I took it along to my family sewing day last December so that I could attach the borders.

I had chosen a deep blue border so that the colors would shine and the outside edges of the shape would show up when they came out into the border.

I chose this multi-striped fabric for the binding as I loved that it was scrappy too, and striped bindings are my favorite!

I used a larger black and white dotted fabric for the back. You can see, my helpers love every aspect of quiltmaking, even attaching the binding! 

I made a second, smaller version of the quilt that is being displayed at Cut Up and Quilt now. They will also have the magazine for sale after their Christmas holiday break. They would be happy to hold one for you...just give them a call today!

Now for the giveaway! I'm excited to host a giveaway with these great prizes:

A $25 Gift Card to Fat Quarter Shop!

Two copies of the magazine, America Loves Scrap Quilts, for two lucky winners!

Your choice of one of my patterns available on Craftsy to each of three lucky winners!

I'm going to make it easy this time, and have one Rafflecopter tto be eligible for all of the prizes. The giveaway will be open until midnight, Dec. 27. Thanks for celebrating with me! 

a Rafflecopter giveaway