Finished: A-B-C Challenge

Ta! Da!

A-B-C Challenge Finished
A-B-C Challenge Finished

The A-B-C Challenge is finished. I hope the others in the group will finish theirs so we can enter the County Fair as a group. It was fun to do that last year.

The quilting is magnificent, though I have to say using the Art Gallery Fabric as binding was not magnificent. It is very fine fabric, which I think is why there was a lot of pulling as I stitched the binding down to the back. I found it was very hard to hide the stitches. I love Art Gallery Fabrics, because they are so soft and fine, but will have to remember not to use it for binding.

A-B-C Challenge: Rambler block
A-B-C Challenge: Rambler block

The quilting is extremely magnificent. I was thrilled when I got the quilt back from my quilter. She has had a tough time in the past year or so and when I saw this quilt, I realized that she was back. I have to show you a few details of quilt’s fabulosity.

I wasn’t sure about the thread when I saw the quilted quilt. I don’t like beige, remember?After looking at this quilt for awhile, I think it works. It doesn’t take away anything yet the viewer can see the quilting if s/he walks up and looks closely.

You have to click on the blocks to see the awesomeness.

A-B-C challenge: Lincoln
A-B-C challenge: Lincoln

Lincoln turned from kind of pale, restful, background block into a ‘reward block’. That isn’t a real term; I just made it up. Remember how I talked about quilts that reward you if you look closer? Well, this block is completely like that. It is a nice block with which you could do some great things if you pieced a lot of them. In this quilt, it is the reward block. If you look at it closely you see the really great quilting that my quilter did.

See those great leaves?

The spirals? Sigh. I am over the moon with the quilting of this quilt. As you can see, this is much more than a drive by “Hey, I’m done! See you later post”

A-B-C Challenge
A-B-C Challenge

I decided to take photos of the various corners and sections of the quilt so you see, more closely, how nicely these blocks play together. I am really glad I used a limited palette.

A-B-C Challenge
A-B-C Challenge
A-B-C Challenge
A-B-C Challenge
A-B-C Challenge
A-B-C Challenge
A-B-C Challenge
A-B-C Challenge
A-B-C challenge: Japanese X block
A-B-C challenge: Japanese X block

And I have included a few more blocks for their detail

A-B-C challenge: Eva's Delight
A-B-C challenge: Eva’s Delight
A-B-C Challenge Back
A-B-C Challenge Back

There is also a photo of the back.

A-B-C Challenge Back

A-B-C Challenge back
A-B-C Challenge back

Sunday, I worked on the A-B-C Challenge back. I finished the top on Saturday and got busy with the back on Sunday. It took forever. Well, it seemed like it took forever.

I think I was just tired. I took last week, mostly, off, but with one thing and another, I did a lot.

Another thought is that I have really high expectations of what I can accomplish in a given number of hours. I don’t usually count requests for my chauffeur service, laundry duties, lunch, etc.

For once, I was very careful about pressing the seams open, though Colleen never says anything about that. I am proud of myself.

I am also pleased that I could use another giant piece of Martha Negley fabric. I love her prints, just like I love Philip Jacobs prints. Putting the large flower on the back of the Flowering Snowball was such a great experience that I wanted to repeat it. This particular print has some odd colors, but they go well with the Empire gold that Pat Bravo loves and includes with her collections. Also the green goes well with that border fabric.

I am trying to use larger pieces and make simpler backs. They take less time. Can you tell how simple this back is compared to the Stepping Stones back? I wonder what I was thinking!

A-B-C Challenge Top Finished

A-B-C Challenge Top Finished
A-B-C Challenge Top Finished

I know I should wait until after the BAMQG meeting to crow, but I can’t! I just finished this top yesterday and am THRILLED with the way it came out. The border is much simpler than I originally thought I would make, but I think it brings out all the piecing in the individual blocks. So far, I am in love.

I am planning to work on the back today. I have a large piece of the Martha Negley Mum Toss print (lower right hand corner of photo, below) to put on the back. The main color is the same as the very outer border of the front. Also, that weird gold is included in the Martha Negley print. I have to do a label and a binding, but I think I can do both tomorrow.
New Pieces, October 2012

A-B-C Challenge Sashed

A-B-C Ready to Sash
A-B-C Ready to Sash

You will be pleased to know that the sashing drama is over. The quilt top is double sashed.

“Double sashed” means that I have sashed each block and then added sashing between the blocks.

A-B-C Sashing Complete
A-B-C Sashing Complete

I did not chunk this quilt and I am partially sorry I didn’t.

One of the benefits of chunking is that all of your sashing lines line up. When you put a quilt together in rows, it is possible that your sashing lines will be off from row to row.

I did not sash, because I didn’t want to have the checkerboard problem I had earlier this year with the inside border for  FOTY 2011, which was that the white looked weird because it didn’t line up problem. I wanted to have really long pieces of sashing so that there would be as unbroken a line as possible.

At this point I am not sure it would have mattered. I am pleased with the red and white dot fabric I used. I think it is inspiring me to have a Year of the Dot in 2013. We’ll have to see if I can figure out what that means.

A-B-C Sashing in process
A-B-C Sashing in process

Next step is to figure out what else I need to do for the borders. I worked on different things last weekend, but didn’t come up with anything that excited me. If I had more of the Sevenberry red dot, I would put a thin line of the grey around the edge and then a fatter strip for the border. I don’t want to go hunting for more fabric. I’ll find something I have to make it work.

BAMQG October Meeting

Saturday was the October meeting of the Bay Area Modern Quilt Guild. I know I am late getting this up, but I had to juggle posts around as I was sewing on Sunday instead of writing.

The meeting was fun as usual! The sad part is that I forgot my camera, so I don’t have any of my own photos. I could have taken them with my phone, but just didn’t. Adrianne, the current photographer got the photos up on Flickr pretty quickly, so you may see some.

There are a lot of upcoming events. If you are a member, you can participate in the FQ swap and the pincushion swap. I haven’t decided if I am going to participate in either. I am leaning towards the FQ swap. I want to look at patterns for pincushions as I haven’t made one and I don’t want to commit to something that will come out crappy.

It is also time for new officers. I don’t think anyone signed up, so I am nervous about what will happen. Adrianne will not continue as president. I can’t really blame her. After 2 years, she needs a break and guild needs some new blood. Adrianne has great ideas, but groups, organizations need new leaders to shake things up a bit periodically. I am not really presidential material, so didn’t sign up either. I am still doing the blog (would love to hear your comments over there, BTW!!!), but if you only have time for one comment, comment here at Artquiltmaker. 😉

Someone emailed me and wants to help out with the blog, so I am excited about that! I hope I am not taking candidates away from the leadership of the guild.

A-B-C Challenge

by Jaye

It was the end of the A-B-C Challenge block-making portion of the challenge. We asked people to finish their tops by December and the whole quilt by the beginning of May. Our goal is to enter them into the county fair as a group.

Rhonda was the only other one who showed blocks, the other participants were absent.

Whole Cloth Challenge

Aurifil Wholecloth Challenge

Here is the big reveal of all of the quilts. I wrote about my quilt earlier this week. I do have a detail that Adrianne took with her nice, fancy camera.
by Jaye (detail)

Charity
I was sad not to see the Charity Girls, Jennifer and Deborah at the meeting. They were both off having lives. I turned in the Froggy Cat Bed, but there weren’t any new cat bed kits to take, so I took some of the Patchwork Wheel block kits and am having some fun with them. I only took two kits, which seem to make a total of 4 blocks. The kits have pretty crazy fabric combinations! Perhaps I will move on from the checkerboard blocks I have been churning out and make some more of these blocks?

Checkerboard Charity Quilt
Checkerboard Charity Quilt

At the last possible moment, I also took a quilt that someone quilted to bind. I put the binding on it on Sunday by machine and am trying to decide if I will test sewing the back to the quilt by machine or if I will hand sew it. It is in the hand sewing area now (down by the couch), but I can always bring it up. I have some Aurifil monofilament to try out and this might be the perfect opportunity to try something new.

A-B-C Challenge Progress

A-B-C Challenge blocks sashed
A-B-C Challenge blocks sashed

I finished sashing all of the blocks over the weekend. I really only had a few hours to sew this weekend and that was one of the things I wanted to accomplish.

My next task is to figure out how big the blocks need to be and to trim them. I am not quite sure how to figure that out, though I am sure it will come to me. I am thinking they will end up about 8″.

I also want to try and put some red sashing in between the grey. TFQ wasn’t so sure about the red, but we didn’t put any up between the blocks and try it out.  she likes the effect of the blocks floating. I think there is too much grey, though that might change when I trim the blocks.

A-B-C Challenge

A-B-C Challenge Blocks, August 2012
A-B-C Challenge Blocks, August 2012

You might be wondering why I am writing about my A-B-C Challenge blocks when the BAMQG meeting was definitely not yesterday.

First, I am sewing pretty slowly lately and I am short on things to write about. Yes, you will see some more book reviews. 😉

More importantly, Rhonda finished all of her blocks. Yes, all of them, through Z. She sent a message to us saying she was done and I thought that I had better get busy. I had been thinking about finishing them all anyway. Finishing all of the blocks will buy me time later. Who knows how long figuring out the &^%$ sashing will take?

Yes, all of my blocks are done.

Yes, there are more than 26, because I made some bonus blocks. What the heck?

A-B-C Challenge: X Quartet
A-B-C Challenge: X Quartet

The first block I sewed over the weekend was the Ninja Throwing Star, according to Sandy of Quilting for the Rest of Us, Darla of Scientific Quilter, and Gretchen (@mafiretones) of 120 Blocks. It is actually my X block and the official name, according to Around the Block is X Quartet. It does look like a Ninja Throwing Star and once I caught up with their Twitter hijinks, I thought their jokes about wrapping myself in black Jelly Rolls and wandering around throwing the X Quartet were pretty funny.

X Quartet was a pretty straightforward block to put together and I like the way the color combination came out. And, I have to admit, it does kind of look like a Ninja Throwing Star.

A-B-C Challenge: Japanese X
A-B-C Challenge: Japanese X

I really wanted to make the Japanese X block that Kathleen combined to make into a pillow for the Pillow Swap challenge at BAMQG for X. I was nervous that the other participants would call me out since the block doesn’t technically start with X, so I decided to make it as a bonus block. I really like the design and want to explore it a little more in the future.

I have been trying to use more of the Zoe Pearns dots to create some continuity in the blocks. I don’t know if it is working, but the blocks, in general, are looking quite cheerful.

Zipper by Judy Martin
Zipper by Judy Martin

I skipped Y at first and went straight to Z. Y and Z are difficult blocks, mostly because not a lot blocks have names that start with Y or Z. I didn’t see any that I liked that started with Z. I thought about Zanzibar, the block from Weeks Ringle and Bill  Kerr that I resized and used for the FOTY 2009 quilt.

Been there done that, so I looked around to see if there were any other options. I found a printout from the Judy Martin site of a quilt made from a block called Zipper. It has a little different look than the other blocks I have made, namely because of the lack of HSTs, but I made it anyway. I like the way it came out.

Then I got to Y.

Y was a problem.

The first problem was finding a block I wanted to do. The next problem was making it. There are a lot of Yankee something or other quilt blocks. None of them really spoke to me. I had books opened to sections on Y blocks all over my workroom. Finally, I decided on Young Man’s Fancy. It has a nice propeller look in the center and I am not scared by long, thin, pointy triangles.

Young Man's Fancy: Fail
Young Man’s Fancy: Fail

I should have been, because I had no idea what I was doing with this block. No matter what I did, this block would not go together. Remember: I am making 6″ blocks, so I am sure the size had something to do with my problems.

Finally, I gave up.

The thing I did like about this block is the outside row of squares. The colors are grouped so that two pinks are in two corners and two greens are in the two other corners. I like the way that looks and will keep it in mind for future blocks. The suggested coloration had the border squares of this block colored in that way.

Yankee Puzzle
Yankee Puzzle

So, I was back to the Yankees. I just picked one, which turned out to be Yankee Puzzle, made it and moved on.

I have to say that my favorite color combination in all of the blocks is the color combination in Yankee Puzzle. That fun pink (may be called Lipstick) coupled with the dark, but cheerful greenish blue are awesome. You can see, from the photo at the top, that I have used this color combination a lot.

After Yankee Puzzle I had one open spot left in a 5 block x 6 block layout. As an aside, I am not sure why I picked that layout. I put all the blocks up on the design wall and I thought it looked good, so I went with that layout.

A-B-C Challenge: Rambler
A-B-C Challenge: Rambler

The last block I decided to do was the Rambler. The X of Flying Geese stuck in my mind as I looked through block dictionaries. I also liked the way the Flying Geese were sort of backwards.

The layout of the patches reminds me of something (a gift?), but I can’t think what. I especially like the way the first Flying Goose highlights the square-in-a-square in the middle.

This block has a lot of scope for imagination, as Anne Shirley would say, I think. I may make more of the for another project, but larger next time.

I have a vague recollection of a car called Rambler, but I don’t think my parents ever owned one.

A-B-C Challenge: Frosted Star Sashed
A-B-C Challenge: Frosted Star Sashed

I thought I would get a lot farther, but the Young Man’s Fancy and the Rambler took me a long time. I wanted to make some progress on the sashing, but only was able to sash one block.

The grey looks dark in the photos, but it doesn’t look dark in real life. It looks perfect. I am considering buying a whole bolt of that fabric.

You might think the sashing is wide, but I purposefully made it wider than the ratio calls for so I could trim all the blocks to the same size. Most are about 6 1/4″, but there are a couple that are nearing 7″. I think it has to do with me trying to figure out the math for quick piecing HSTs. I am thinking I will trim them all to 8″ and then put one of the red dots from the sashing post in between the grey of the sashed blocks.

I like all the blocks, but some of the fabric choices could be better. There are a couple of blocks that I may remake. I’ll think about it and see.

More Sashing

The first picture in this recent post by Camille Roskelley (I just can’t stay away from her blog! If she posted 10 times a day I would be reading all the time and not going to work, cooking for my family or washing my hair) made my eyes pop out of my head. I know you have gone to look at the photo and are thinking “well, yeah, it is a polka dot, you love polka dots, Jaye, big whoop.” Why my eyes popped out of my head when I saw Camille’s work is because of sashing.

Huh? you think.

Zoe Pearns' Sweet NothingsYes, dear readers, sashing. Remember that I was puzzling over sashing options for the A-B-C Challenge earlier this week? The whole time I have been making these blocks I have been lamenting that Pat Bravo did not include a really good red in the line. I gnashed my teeth further because the Zoe Pearns dot has a wonderful red in it. I have lots of red and white dots. My idea may not work (make visual decisions visually!!!), but right at the moment I feel brilliant.

Big Dots
Big Dots

I love this big dot, but I don’t think it works with the A-B-C Challenge blocks.

The color is ok, though. It is hard to say, though, because the large dots interfere with the blocks. I think it might be from the Half Moon Street collection, but am not sure.

Small dots
Small dots

I think the smaller dots are better. This fabric is from the Sevenberry (?) collection. I am not sure, though. Not quite right. Why? I don’t know. I do have a large enough piece, though, so perhaps I will go with it just because of that. Bad reason to choose a sashing, though, I know.

Small dot #2
Small dot #2

Still, I liked the smaller dots, so I looked for another. A mini fabric avalanche (fabri-lanche?) gave me another idea.

I thought, perhaps, the problem was that I was trying out the fabrics with a straight set, so i got out a different red and tried the blocks on point. Some of the blocks, like the baskets, look ok, but most of the blocks just look weird. It is probably just that I have been looking at them in a straight set, but I don’t like the on point set.

Small dot #2 straight set
Small dot #2 straight set

Here is the same fabric, but in a straight set. I like it, but the red is very strong.

A lot of what I like is the idea of the red. I like using a strong color for sashing and background. I also like the idea of bringing out that little red in the Zoe Pearns dots I mentioned above. It might be a dumb idea, because you can even tell. I can’t tell even when I standing with my nose next to the design wall.

Small dot #2 straight set - detail
Small dot #2 straight set – detail

More quilt drama. I am glad I am working on this now, because if I had 5 minutes one weekend to sew these blocks together and I was trying to do this, I know I would make a bad choice and have to live with it.

I thought you might like to see a close up of this fabric with the blocks on it. Of course, there are a lot of other factors that will affect the final outcome of this quilt: width of sashing, width of binding, arrangement of blocks (beyond straight or on point set), etc.

Grey squares
Grey squares

As much as I hate to say it, after all of the drama and hand wringing over red above, I think this grey is the winner. The blocks look really good. The grey is not too brown. The blocks stand out and do not blend into the background. All the colors look good. The grey is not as stark as a white.

The problem is that I have to get more. I found some on Quiltshops.com and PayPal wouldn’t let me pay. Even if I decide to go with the red, I can use this grey for something else.

Famous last words.

 

 

A-B-C Challenge Sashing

Light grey sashing
Light grey sashing

This is a fabric I bought at Quiltology. I didn’t have the blocks with me, but I thought it might work. In the end, a person has make visually decisions visually. Looking at it with the blocks on the design wall, I am not so sure. I think the grey has too much beige or brown in it, but it isn’t terrible.

Grey circles sashing
Grey circles sashing

I have to make a few more blocks, but the more important thing I need to figure out is this sashing thing.

I thought the grey Half Moon Dot would work, but looking at in the photo makes me think that the dots are too large and it makes the piece look too busy. It’s too bad. I do like those dots, but not for this piece. I do have to think of something to do with the Half Moon Street Collection, though. Soon.

Large dot sashing
Large dot sashing

The dots were a good idea, though, so I looked at some other dots I had. No shortage of dots, of course.

I have to use a fabric of which I have enough (one of the bad things about stashing fabric is that you might have the perfect fabric, but not have enough of it: design challenge, I think, yes.)

I like the large dot a lot. I like it because it looks cheerful. I also like it because it showcases the blocks better than the grey does. I do worry that the white will run into the white of some of the backgrounds I used. I also worry about the colors of the dots not being the same, but I think the colors of the dots are similar enough, so that is not so much of a worry. I don’t think the Zoe Pearns Sweet Nothings dots don’t conflict too much with these large dots.

Small dot sashing
Small dot sashing

This small dot works, I think, but the dot might be too small.

Click to make the last photo larger to see how the small dots look against the blocks. The small dot works well with the Zoe Pearns Sweet Nothings in the blocks. It is also bright enough, but the white doesn’t seem to suck the life out of this piece.

What do you think?

 

June BAMQG Meeting Notes

I am just back from the meeting and it was a crazy meeting! Crazy in a good, packed and exciting sort of way. Julie of Intrepid Thread brought me a giant (did I really buy that much??) package of fabric. At this writing I haven’t opened it yet. I know the Vintage Modern is in there. I’ll have to get started on that second Stepping Stones quilt soon.

A-B-C Challenge Blocks

Quilt in Light & Dark
Quilt in Light & Dark
Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone

These are my A-B-C Challenge blocks. Both blocks are from the Around the Block series. There was only one block that started with ‘Q’ in the whole series (that I could find). In EQ7, there isn’t really a way that I found to search successfully by the first letter of a block name. Later I went to Quilter’s Cache and the owner has several blocks there as well. None of them are 6″, though, so I would have had to resize one.

Rhonda's Blocks
Rhonda's Blocks

I like this block well enough, especially in the 6″ size, so it worked out. Kathleen did the same block in the 12″ size so you can see the difference. It would make a great exercise in negative space. I will think about making several to demonstrate negative space for the upcoming design series podcast on that topic.

I am having a very hard time with the Pure Elements Empire Yellow. I used it in the above ‘Q’ block as the background. Pat Bravo says that it goes with everything. I am not so sure. I am using it, because I have a limited number of fabrics to use and it does add an element of interest. Still, I am just not sure I would use it in another project.

Kathleen's Blocks
Kathleen's Blocks

I also brought my blocks for May, which I talked about in the last BAMQG post. There were only a few blocks this time – Leslie, Kathleen, Rhonda and I. Rhonda is catching up so she included her C & D blocks as well.

Leslie & my blocks
Leslie & my blocks

QuiltCon/BAMQG Block Challenge

Blocks for both challenges are due in July. There was just a brief mention at the meeting. I thought they were due in July (BAMQG) and August (QuiltCon). Something must have changed. I have a block or two for the BAMQG challenge done. I think I will just send in my QuiltCon blocks myself. We’ll see. Perhaps I’ll just do them and move on. If you are interested in participating the QuiltCon blocks have to arrive by August 15, 2012. See the QuiltCon Directions/information to get all the info.

Workshop!!!!

I was excited to hear that BAMQG’s first workshop ever is coming up!!! It is a dyeing workshop with Joy-Lily. As you know, I don’t dye, but if you want to participate, check out the BAMQG blog for contact info. Space is limited.

QuiltMarket Report

Adrianne & Julie
Adrianne & Julie

Julie and Adrianne spent 3 bliss-filled days at Quilt Market in Kansas City. They brought back stories, catalogs, fabric to fondle (not for us to buy or take!) and their enthusiasm. Someone asked if they ate BBQ and they said they did.

I didn’t have much of a chance to look at the stuff they brought back, but what I did see what interesting. Not sure what I’ll buy in terms of new fabrics, but we will see.

They talked a little about what was coming and what they saw:

Trends:

  • nautical themes
  • butterflies
  • magazines: GenQ’s new issue came out in a small format (think Ellery Queen Mystery magazine size), because they said they had printing problems. The content reflects what has been showing up on their Facebook page. Amy and David Butler are coming out with a new magazine called Blossom, which will pull in many of their creative friends and include non-quilt related artwork.

Fabric:

  • Michael Miller has new fabric laminated on the inside. I can’t quite picture this, but Julie said it would be good for diaper covers and shopping bags.
  • Amy Butler’s new Cameo line looked amazing to Adrianne and Julie
  • FreeSpirit’s new lines have a very sophisticated look
  • Robert Kaufman had adjunct color cards which have their new colors
  • Moda has Brigitte’s ZenChic

Demos

Today’s demo is the beginning of a 4 part series loosely around the idea of making a quilt. The series includes:

  • Design (June 2012 meeting)
  • Piecing (August 2012 meeting)
  • Quilting (September 2012 meeting)
  • Binding (November 2012 meeting)

I gave a short demo on design. You can see the Design Overview from when Sandy and I did our podcast, but I will post some new notes with some changes on the BAMQG blog soon.

Swap

“A Stud & a Dud” went forth with much hilarity.  I did not participate. I didn’t know that there would be stealing going on and I don’t really like activities where that happens. The reality was that I just didn’t have time to organize myself and get some books together. There was choosing and swapping and stealing that all went on. I think the library where we meet benefited from some donations as well. Thanks to Amanda for organizing the swap. She is really a creative swap organizer.

Show & Tell

Sheetal's quilt
Sheetal's quilt

As usual, Show & Tell was great. There is so much good work happening in this area!

Right is Sheetal’s quilt. I encouraged her to finish out the pluses into the border. I think this is a great pattern for large prints. The question was about the fabrics. They are flannel and she hasn’t washed them. She wasn’t sure if she could get more of the same fabrics again (they are old Anna Maria Horner fabrics), but she liked the idea of continuing the motifs out to the border and will try.

We talked about another quilt of hers that she made from old shirts. I really liked it as it was and she did, too, but her husband complained that it wasn’t large enough. I think we decided that not all of her quilts had to keep his 6’4″ frame warm and toasty.

Jennifer's quilt
Jennifer's quilt

Jennifer made this quilt (left) with 10 fat quarters.  It isn’t very large (large lap or nap quilt, definitely bigger than a baby quilt), but it isn’t tiny either. It makes me think of how much fabric is really in a fat quarter, a half yard, a yard and…. I don’t think I want to go there.

Jennifer’s quilt is really effective. I like the movement, which I think is partly the fabric choices. There is something about the pieces interlocking with each other that I think would be fun to play with.

Jennifer does so much for the Charity project that I was really glad to see that she is able to do her own work as well.

Kathleen's Improvisational Challenge
Kathleen's Improvisational Challenge

Kathleen’s Liberated top is somewhat of a departure for her. She said it was the first piece in this style that she has made.

It is wall sized. She explained the exercise (online) and it sounded like a lot of fun, but also lot of frustration, too. She didn’t know what was coming, so it was hard to make design decisions about the part on which she was working. I think it sounds like a good exercise, but you have to be willing to go back and change elements that would make the design better. It sounds like she is going to do that for a couple of the parts and I look forward to seeing how this turns out.

Woven Quilt
Woven Quilt

I didn’t make a note of who made this quilt (so sorry!), but I really like the design. I can imagine it with fabrics placed a little differently so it would look even more woven than it already does.

I definitely get the feeling that I am looking through some kind of lattice or bamboo screen.

Notice the equilateral triangles? I love those, as you know. 😉

Door Prizes

WOW! There were a ton of door prizes! I won a book, but there were charm packs, fabric, patterns – all kinds of things. Thanks to Angela for her hard work.

Charity Quilts

Jennifer was there with her well prepared table of packets and prepared fabric. There were at least 5 tops and one finished quilt handed in. The guild members are amazingly generous with their time, materials and enthusiasm. These quilts will be filled with good energy when the children receive them.

Amanda's Charity Top
Amanda's Charity Top

Amanda made the top with the circles. It is fabulous. One of the things I like about it is the 4 rows of squares in the middle. There are a lot of possibilities using that element. My mind is swirling around that element.

 

Lincoln

A-B-C Challenge: Lincoln
A-B-C Challenge: Lincoln

As I mentioned, there is no BAMQG meeting for March. We still have blocks to make. I made K, which you know, and L in now done. M and N are April blocks and I will get going on those soon.

In looking at all of the A-B-C challenge blocks on my design wall, I also decided that I needed another block with the same on point symmetry as the Basement Window block.

I don’t know why this block is called Lincoln, but I chose it for my L block, because of the on point symmetry. I, now, only have two of these kinds of blocks and need at least three, so I’ll have to find another one.

I chose the colors, because in looking at the whole group of blocks, I thought that I needed to use more of that light green-y yellow.

There are 33 pieces in this block, in case you were wondering.

King’s Crown

King's Crown
King's Crown

There is no BAMQG meeting for March. We still have blocks to make. K and L are March blocks and M and N are April blocks. I have the K block made and am working on L.

I have all the blocks for the A-B-C challenge on the wall and in looking at them, I decided that I needed a block with another strong diagonal line. I want an uneven number (3 is good) for various elements in the blocks – colors, fabrics, different block elements.

I chose King’s Crown for my K block, because of the strong diagonal line. I am pretty pleased with the colors.

BAMQG February Meeting

The Bay Area Modern Meeting was yesterday and fun as usual. There is much talk of the upcoming retreat and also of the recent Sew Day. 46 people, the most EVER!, attended the meeting and the group had its first ever speaker. Lots of firsts.

A-B-C (A-Z) Challenge

We displayed our A-B-C Challenge blocks. Mine are Jewel Box and Indian.

Jewel Box
Jewel Box
Indian
Indian

There are about 7-8 participants. Diana just joined by doing one block and Jennifer joined, doing a-J (minus I). I really like this challenge. It is great that I have a  reason to make a block every month (not that I really need an excuse).

A-B-C Challenge - All blocks
A-B-C Challenge - All blocks

Angela brought two Hawaiian blocks (far left). I love it that she is doing these blocks in Hawaiian fabrics. Most people don’t use Hawaiian fabrics as regular fabrics for regular blocks.

Michelle is doing her blue and white blocks (also far left). We are getting so far along in the project that not all of us were able to put up all of our blocks and Michelle was one of them. It occurred to me that she might have the hardest job of all since not all possible blocks are suitable for two colors.

Kathleen’s blocks are still the black, white and red ones. She is doing a good job choosing how much print to put into each block.

Jennifer's blocks
Jennifer's blocks

Jennifer is using the Lazy Girl ruler for her blocks (middle with all the points). She has just started the challenge and is catching up.

My blocks
My blocks
Lynnette's blocks
Lynnette's blocks

My blocks are on the top right. Lynette’s are the grey and green on the bottom right. I like the way Lynnette’s blocks have an on point sort of look. Many of them have half square triangles in the corners. She made a Glacier Bay block as well and it is really great to see how different it looks from mine. She uses fussy cutting in her blocks and the technique in Glacier Bay is particularly effective.

Speaker

Joy-Lily Prep
Joy-Lily Prep

Joy-Lily brought books, Carefree Quilts, and quilts to her talk. The quilts she brought were all from her book, so we didn’t get a sense of the evolution of her work. She organized the talk to coincide with sections of the book, which was a good idea, especially if one had the book and could follow along. A clever portion of the book is that if you make all the blocks you end up with an extra block from each of the projects with which  you can make a sampler quilt. Joy-Lily had someone else make the sampler quilt and the maker did a great job. I really like the colors.

Joy-Lily Sampler
Joy-Lily Sampler

All the quilts from the book are all kind of wonky. Joy-Lily doesn’t think that people can do perfect matching seams and has written her book to that end.

Leaf quilt
Leaf quilt
Leaf quilt
Leaf quilt

The Leaf quilts are very inspired and I think that that block is one of my favorites from the book.

Crayon quilt
Crayon quilt
Wonky disappearing 9 patch
Wonky disappearing 9 patch
Flying Geese
Flying Geese

Sewing Time
Adrianne was a madwoman (in a good way!) on getting us to our sewing time. We were done with show and tell at 3:05 and everyone started moving tables, setting up machines and working away. I sat with Chris and TFQ and worked on the border test I have been wanting to do for a long time. Chris and TFQ were both working on hand projects. TFQ is handquilting a lovely quilt (which I forgot to photograph) with Perl cotton. Chris is working on an art piece where she is couching down some threads that have, what look like, little flowers on them. Again, I was so wrapped in my own project that I didn’t take a photo. Perhaps she will post to her blog.

I wish I had gotten a photo of the little sewing pod in the middle of the room. Ruth, Adrianne, Kathleen and bunches of other people were set up there. Such a buzz of activity! It was wonderful.

Charity Quiltmaking

Deborah and Jennifer collected bunches of more fabric and quilts and other necessities for the charity quilts the group is making for the NICU at Stanford. I can’t be too upset about the lack of a Cal connection, because it feels good to be helping children and their families in need. I posted the 16 patch blocks I made yesterday. The selection of fabric packets wasn’t stellar, but I retrieved 4 more batches of fabric, but I also spoke to Jennifer about the background. She said any white is fine. I have some white-on-whites that I will use with some of my scraps to make my own blocks. I gave them most of the Pineapple blocks that were the wrong size, so I can, now, cross that off the 26 Projects list.

I realized that one reason I enjoy working on this project with the BAMQG people is that Deborah and Jennifer are so kind and serene about the whole endeavor. I am not sure if those are the right words, but I know that they express genuine gratitude with donations and they do not harangue or guilt people into participating. They are also really well organized and the 16 patch block they selected, as I am sure I have said before is a stroke of genius. I have never felt like I am really contributing to a charity project as I do with this one. I also feel like it is fun. All in all a very good experience.

Jennifer and Deborah have a goal of 24 quilts in mind for this year, but they think they will surpass that. They already have 6 quilts, including one that I donated, the Crazy Quilt Test. I meant to send it to Japan after the earthquake, but somehow it never made it.

More on Show and Tell later

January BAMQG Meeting

The BAMQG meeting was yesterday. I was lazy and didn’t blog as much for them over the holidays as I should have. I blame the cold I had. I am having a hard time getting back into the swing.

Thanks for your Service

2011 Officers with Gift Bags
2011 Officers with Gift Bags

The 2011 Officers did a great job. I kind of nudged people to get some gifts together. People really ran with the idea, which was great.

Kathleen's Gift Bag
Kathleen's Gift Bag
Sara's Gift Bag
Sara's Gift Bag

A few people made bags and everyone else added little bibs and bobs to create nice gift bags. It was nice not to make all the bags and I enjoyed seeing the different patterns and fabrics that the bag makers used.

I made the purple bag which ended up with Kathleen. The bits and pieces were nice to look at. Rhonda had put together the parts that we solicited from other members.

Some of the things in the bags were pins, fat quarters, needle cases, the Joen Wolfrom Design ratio tool, disappearing pen, grip dots, scarves, machine sewing needles, Invisigrip and many other fun things.

Ruth and Adrianne were really busy and I wasn’t able to get photos of their gift bags. Check the BAMQG blog and perhaps I will be able to post some photos there.

A-B-C Challenge

We have five participants who brought blocks for the A-B-C Challenge this time. Angela was too busy to make her Hawaiian versions, but I am sure she will bring some next time.  😉

Some people brought both G and H, others brought G, some of us brought all of our blocks. Kathleen and I have done a number of the same blocks and it is fun to see how different they look in the different sizes and fabrics.

January A-B-C Challenge Blocks
January A-B-C Challenge Blocks

 

Glacier Bay
Glacier Bay

This is my G block for the A-B-C Challenge. It is called Glacier Bay and is from Around the Block Again by Judy Hopkins (pg.68). It is also a 6″ block and I cut nearly every piece a little bigger and then trimmed. It still came out a bit wonky, but I like the general effect. I think it would make a really cool secondary pattern if I put many of them together.

I don’t remember ever seeing this block before. Lynette has the 501 Rotary Cutting Blocks version of Around the Block, which I thought had ALL the blocks from the three books, but Glacier Bay was not in it.

Hovering Hawks
Hovering Hawks

I am really like this challenge as it allows me to make one block rather than a whole something every month. Kathleen wants to speed the challenge up a bit, so we will be doing two letters each month for the rest of the year. Next month are I and J.

I am resolved to make the blocks sharpish rather than waiting. I have even thought of making the rest of the alphabet all at once and being done with it. I have a sashing idea that I got from Pam. I am thinking about starting adding the sashing as I go along so that I won’t have to do all the cutting at once. We’ll see.

Question of the Month

Rhonda creates the QotM and this month it was: “What are your quilt resolutions?” Most were normal resolutions about finishing and curbing buying, but some were really interesting. I wrote them out as people said. These aren’t my resolutions, necessarily.

  • use more than I buy
  • finish one project before starting another
  • buy less fabric
  • use scraps to make scrap quilts
  • finish virtual swaps and bees projects
  • teach
  • quilt one per month on the longarm
  • take sewing machine to be serviced
  • end year with 5 fewer UFOs than the year started with
  • improvise
  • organize so sewing does not take over house
  • make something from solids
  • stop fearing binding
  • make one charity quilt
  • bring something to show and tell
  • spend more time with real people than with sewing machine
  • trust the experience I am feeling
  • don’t buy fabric I don’t like
  • make husband a quilt
  • documenting quilts (labels and such)
  • be liberated and wonky
  • use orange and yellow
  • start a quilt/craft blog
  • make mom a quilt
  • try curved piecing
  • re-sort/organize fabric
  • finish husband’s quilt
  • plan less and do more

Charity Quilts

Art Gallery Fabrics offers a bag of scraps free for people who will be using the scraps to make charity/donation quilts. Contact Pat Bravo for details. I don’t have her email address, but Art Gallery has a page on FB so, perhaps, you can inquire there.

Deborah made a version of Elizabeth Hartman’s Mod Mosaic quilt with scraps (quite large scraps, actually) from Pat Bravo. What a nice idea.

Postage stamp-type block
Postage stamp-type block

Two quilts were finished. A very large number of the postage stamp kits from the December meeting were turned into blocks and returned. I only took one kit last time, but took several during this meeting.

Schnibbles for Cat Beds

Sadly, Amanda has too many scraps and will hold off taking any more until she has made more cat beds. She said that her garage is being overrun. She really needs help making the actual cat beds.

Angela and I were able to spend a few minutes chatting. I spent a lot of the sewing time chatting and looking at what other people were doing. I couldn’t be bothered putting up a table to work on my own projects, an action I will regret later.

BAMQG Meeting

Flock of Geese
Flock of Geese

This is my ‘F’ block for the A-B-C challenge. There were a number of blocks with names beginning with F that were appealing, so it was hard to choose. I might do another one.

I really like that blue. It comes out a little darker on my screen than in real life, but is a very calming color.

Kathleen did the same block, but in black and white. It it always fun for me to see the same blocks done in different colors and sizes. As I have said many, many times, that is one of my joys in making blocks.

Electric Fan
Electric Fan

I saw Kathleen’s Electric Fan at the last meeting. Even though ‘E’ blocks were due last month, I really liked this block, so I decided to make one. It gave me the opportunity to try and figure out how to use the triangle technique for a block from Around the Block.  I didn’t make the Flower Pot that I posted, but am seriously tempted. You can just have one basket block in a sampler quilt!

I like to use fabrics at least three times in a quilt and preferably in odd numbers, if I use them more than three times. I looked at the total fabrics I had used in the previous blocks and used some I hadn’t yet used as much. I used the Empire Gold in another project so it was out, so I used that. I also had only used the yellow-green in the Basement Window block.

Heirloom Challenge

4 Log Cabin  Blocks
4 Log Cabin Block

These are the log cabin blocks I made for the Heirloom challenge. I added the Empire yellow solid from the Pat Bravo Art Gallery line. I think it goes well with these fabrics. I think the one flower fabric with the pink and burgundy reminds me of the Flea Market Fancy line.

I meant not to do this challenge as I don’t like making log cabin blocks. They are a bit too…fiddly for me. I am not sure if fiddly is the right term, but not a lot of bang for my buck, I guess. Still, I signed up so I stepped up. I tried using the technique that TFQ uses, which is to cut the strips the width they need to be rather than cutting a longer strip and trimming later. That worked ok.

Heirloom Challenge Blocks
Heirloom Challenge Blocks

Zoom in to see the variety of log cabin blocks that people came up with within the log cabin format. Amazing!

Heirloom block detail
Heirloom block detail
Heirloom Doorway
Heirloom Doorway

There were a few blocks that I particularly liked. The wave one (far left) would look great in a quilt with a variety of its fellows. I wouldn’t make it, but I would admire a quilt made with such blocks quite a lot.

The block on the bottom left has lovely graphic quality. The block ont he right looks like a doorway and I really like the fussy cutting.

December Secret Swap

Ribbon detail
Ribbon detail

This is a small detail of one of the ribbons on one of the gifts. I love the idea, but would never make it-at least to put on a package. 😉

Secret Swappers
Secret Swappers

Above are the members who participated in the Secret Swap. I just couldn’t commit to the time to make a gift and boy am I glad I didn’t participate, because these ladies are a hard act to follow! Everyone really did their best work. I was impressed and pleased to see such care.

Kathleen's Secret Swap Pillow 2011
Kathleen’s Secret Swap Pillow 2011

Kathleen received this gorgeous pillow. The thing I like about it was how full it is. No matter how many pillows I make, I feel like they aren’t very full.

Show and Tell

Show & Tell
Show & Tell

There was a lot to tell and many quilts and projects to show. Sewing Time, despite all the other business was quite productive as well.

Elections
The “new” officers are:
President: Adrianne
VP: Kathleen
Secretary: Amanda
Treasurer: Sara

Thank you very much to Ruth, founder and 2011 Secretary, who will be leaving the board and taking over the challenge coordinator position.