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.

A fun quilty day in Des Moines....

 Some friends and I went to Des Moines on Saturday for the America Quilts Expo. Not only did we get to see my quilt, Shortcut, as part of the Be Creative!quilt Challenge display, we saw many other beautiful quilts as well. I had seen pictures of the other finalist quilts, but it was fun to see them up close to see the design aspects better as well as the quilting.

 They are all beautiful and different in so many ways. That's what is fun about a design contest with specifications that need to be met. I wrote about that in more detail here, but probably one of the hardest was using 8 of the 12 fabrics in the fabric bundle in the quilt. They were mostly quarter yd. cuts with a couple being a bit larger, so coming up with a design that used that many, plus in those amounts was challenging for me. I thought about it and worked on design ideas for several months before committing by buying the needed fabric bundle. You could add up to 3 other fabrics as well, so more head scratching to figure out what else to use...what, more fabrics? In the end, I'm happy with it and it was fun to see it as part of the exhibit.

 The quilt above and to the right took the top prize and I thought it was too bad they didn't show the back as well as she made a patio and swimming pool on the back to go with her house on the front.

 I don't take as many photos at shows as I used to, as I found that I wasn't looking at them as closely when I did and they never look as good in a photo as in person. But I had to take pictures of this one as the techniques were so unusual.  It had to be taken from a photo, but then the shading was accomplished by using gauze. We got as close to it as we could to try to see exactly what was involved in this stunning quilt. Unfortunately, we only guessed at what we thought was done, and don't know for sure, but it doesn't matter as it truly was a work of art.

 I love this one as well...great illusion. They were both part of an exhibit by the Studio Art Quilts Association titled Celebrating Silver. It was interesting with many different aspects of silver.

 After the show, we stopped at Piece Work Quilt Shop in Winterset, Ia. It is sort of on the way home. It was a nice shop, and we managed to find a few things we needed!

I finished the quilting on the Henry Glass project on Friday night, so spent some time yesterday finishing it. You might remember the darker print border I had added and then taken off because it didn't look right with the scrappy quilt. I trimmed it down, and re-pieced it to use as the binding. I got my pop of color on the edge without overpowering it. I took it on a photo shoot and will post more about it tomorrow when it will be on the Henry Glass and Co. blog as part of the Desire to Inspire Challenge this month.

I got a few things planted in the garden yesterday, but need to mow today. What are you doing for the holiday?

I see my quilt in Maine!

I was excited to see my quilt Shortcut on the Original Sewing and Quilting Expo's Facebook page this morning ( back row, right corner). This is the 4th show that the exhibit has been to, but I hadn't seen any pictures yet. I will get to see the exhibit in May when it comes to the America Quilts Expo in Des Moines.

If you happen to be at the show this weekend, please take a selfie with it...I'd love to see you with it!

Shortcut 

Shortcut at the Original Sewing and Quilt Expo

 My Be Creative! Quilt Challenge quilt, Shortcut, will be at the Original Sewing and Quilt Expo in Atlanta, GA this weekend as part of the Challenge exhibit. If you see it there, please take a picture of yourself with it and send to me at quiltinjeanie@yahoo.com. I would love to see it. The exhibit will travel to OSQE shows in  Lakeland, FL on March 17, Cleveland, OH on March 31, and Worchester, MA on April 7 as well.

You can see all of the quilts here and they will be featured in the April/May issue of Quilters Newsletter Magazine, available on newstands soon.

This picture was taken from the other side of the quilt....I'm still not sure which end should be the top.

Poolside Tote demo...all ready to put together.

I'm off work today because of a built in snow day we didn't have to take, so have a few things I want to take care of...first on the list is picking up my new glasses. Even though my eyes hadn't changed much, the lens were getting pretty scratched, so it was less than ideal to look through. Then home to do some paperwork and maybe get a little sewing in. I'd like to get the class demo bag finished from last Saturday's class and work on the new Circle and Spin series quilt blocks a bit. We'll see how far I get!