finishes quilting events and conferences
Blogger Bundle With Needle & Foot Fabrics and a Giveaway!
Posted on July 16, 2018
Browsing Tag
finishes
finishes portfolio
twenty-twelve: a quilt with RJR fabrics and GIVEAWAY!
Posted on September 29, 2017
By the hair of my chinny chin chin, I submitted an entry to the Modern Quilt Guild’s Riley Blake Fabric Challenge. If you’re not familiar, MQG provided a 3/4 yard cut of Riley Blake’s Sashing Stash fabric and we had to make something quilted using that print mixed with Riley Blake solids. I chose to work with the HST sashing print as well as the checkerboard pattern, which I incorporated into my binding.
Happy Panic is the ultimate quilt resulting from one “happy accident” after another. My initial design for the quilt would have taken me far past the deadline, so, while I may still make that quilt some day, I had to change my thinking if I was going to get this one done in time.
As I worked, I realized I was dangerously close to running out of white fabric. I officially ran out of white thread (yup, it’s actually quilted with cream–and it totally works!!). At one point, I was afraid that the spool of cream would run out, too, so I added some quilting in blue, to save the cream if I needed it at a later point! I decided to use the checkered print from the Sashing Stash collection as my binding — but guess what? There was not enough of that either! So again, I added some blue to pick up the blue in the quilting and get the job done.
In the end, I am happy with the result! But the process was not without anxiety. Hence the name, Happy Panic!
I must admit I was hesitant to participate, but I really feel like working within the parameters of the challenge forced me to come up with solutions I would otherwise not have settled for. And in the end, I think it made the quilt more interesting!
So now, tell me: did you submit something for the challenge? I’d love to hear about your process and how you thought about using the prints in the collection if you did!
This week my local guild had a secret santa swap. Here’s how it worked: at last month’s meeting we anonymously chose a paper bag containing a fat quarter and the name of the person who provided the fabric. We then had to use that fat quarter to create a small gift for that member. I went into the meeting knowing that I wanted to make something inspired by the amazingly talented artist Lisa Congdon, in particular, her Sami Girl. I am a huge fan of her work, and have been ever since I was first introduced to her through The Jealous Curator’s blog. So once I knew who I was making my Secret Santa gift for, I snapped her photo at the end of the meeting under the pretense that I needed it for the guild’s blog.
Here’s what I did: I used an app to turn her photo into a sketch and printed the image on fabric. I improv pieced around the photo to get the pillow to 16×16 using assorted neutrals and pieces of the fat quarter from the brown bag. I glue-basted scraps of Liberty fabric mixed again with snippets of the fat quarter to build the “dress”. Finally, I straight line quilted the entire top to hold the whole thing together.
The pillow-back was made using this tutorial and then the entire pillow was bound using the rest of the fat quarter from the brown bag.
The entire project took me way out of my normal comfort zone — and I loved it! I wish we hadn’t been in the middle of a Nor’easter when I finished it, because the photos do not do it justice. But it really was a fun and unique present for our gift exchange.
Lately I have been thinking a lot about art, sources of inspiration, and how I want to expand my skills in other areas — in particular drawing and painting — because I think in the end it will make me a better quilter. I feel that line-drawing skills would easily translate into FMQ, and an understanding of basic painting skills would translate into a better appreciation for color value, help me with fabric pulls for new projects, and give me a new way to think about form and negative space.
To bring this whole post full circle, I recently found out that my Long Island Modern Sampler was accepted to Quilt Con 2015.
But my Diamonds in the Deep quilt was not.
Facing both acceptance and rejection, it has been bittersweet. I am thrilled and terrified that I have a quilt that will be on exhibit at Quilt Con. I don’t think I have even processed it yet. And part of the reason for that, is, I am bummed about the rejection; but in no way am I letting it take away from all of the pride that I have in my quilt’s completion. The quilt didn’t match the needs of this particular competition. But it is still a damn good quilt!
In a serendipitous occurrence, Lisa Congdon published this post about rejection — today. I think it’s an excellent reminder to us all that art (including quilts) is subjective. Rejection is part of the process of being an artist. And if we love what we do, and continue to challenge ourselves, then our own opinion is the only one that matters.
Hope you are all having a beautiful holiday season! Congratulations to all of us who entered the competition — #winners, #rejects alike – we are #risktakers. And that’s what it’s all about!
Linking up with Needle and Thread Thursday and Finish it up Friday.
I am so excited and proud to share with you my finished orange-version of the Bonjour Quilts pattern Diamonds in the Deep. This quilt has taken up the better part of 2014, and it has been a huge learning experience for me. It was my first time working on a queen-sized quilt, my first time testing a pattern, my first time experimenting with value, and my first time collaborating with a long-arm quilter. And I can say, I am a better quilter for having been through the experience!
I plan to elaborate on my experience working with a long-arm quilter in the future, but for now, I just want to emphasize how amazing Shelly Pagliai of Prairie Moon Quilts is to work with, and, as the pictures clearly show, how amazingly talented she is! I feel so lucky to have *met* her and to have had the stars align so that we could work together on this quilt. Shelly custom quilted the entire quilt using hand-guided free-motion. Each block is quilted with a total of five separate patterns, to complement and highlight the piecing.
The binding on the quilt is Denyse Schmidt’s Voltage Dot in black, and the design of the fabric is echoed in the outermost layer of each block.
I could not be happier with the end result. As hard as it was to make a quilt of this size, I also feel a queen-sized sense of accomplishment and pride for having tackled this challenge. So many hours and so much love went into the making of this quilt (both mine and Shelly’s!) — I think it’s the perfect embodiment of our efforts!
Thanks for hanging out with me while I bask in the glory of this finish! I hope that everyone in the states had a wonderful holiday weekend!
Linking up (later this week) with Needle and Thread Thursday, Finish it Up Friday, and, as this is one of my Q4 Finish Along goals, The Littlest Thistle.
Another finish to report, all this one required was a binding. Like my scrappy picnic quilt, I started this masculine-looking lap quilt ages ago. I was so inspired by a picture I saw on Design*Sponge (which I pinned to Pinterest) years ago, that I just had to recreate it.
However, I gave up on it, due to its imperfections. But it weighed on me. It wasn’t that bad. Certainly someone could use it, even if I donated it.
So I ordered some of the quilter’s linen in charcoal and finished it up. Now that it’s done, I’m not nearly as hard on it. It has a warm houndstooth flannel back and could really keep someone warm when the temperatures drop.
Linking up happily to The Littlest Thistle, as I am just squeezing this one in before the deadline!
