A Finish! Madrona Road Challenge Quilt

Someday I will take 'artful' photos of quilts on a fence, on the grass, etc.  It was too cold and dark when I finished this to try.

This is my first finish for 2013!  I received seven fat eights of Violet Craft's Madrona Road fabric at the December Meeting of the Kansas City Modern Quilt Guild.  The Michael Miller Fabric Company offered the fabric to participating guilds.

The challenge rules were to create a quilt, at least 18" x 18" using only the Madrona Road fabric issued, other fabric from the line or solids.  The design was to be a modern take on a traditional block, and the traditional block was to appear somewhere on the quilt.  

My first pieced back!  I was glad to see it turned out pretty straight...

I used Elizabeth Hartman's Wonky 9-patch Trellis design and alternated traditional 9-patches with wonky 9-patches on the pieced back.

Quilting detail on the back.

I quilted wavy lines through the 'trellis' and free motion flowers in the white squares.

Quilting detail on front.

The wavy lines did not turn out exactly as I envisioned, but I think they are effective, especially where they cross.  The flowers were inspired by Angela Walters' "Flower Power" from her book, "Free Motion Quilting with Angela Walters"

Before I resolved to sew from my stash last fall, I had purchased some half yard cuts of Madrona Road, but in the other colorway.  The only one that I felt worked in this project was the text print on white.  I also added some Kona solids in purple, blue, mustard and grey.  I pieced the binding with the gray, blue and purple and added some of the blue Haystack print that I mis-cut and couldn't use for the blocks.

I should have cut the binding a little wider, to account for the heavier Kona, especially since I had starched the fabric when pressing.  I realized it was a bit scant, but in my haste to finish I didn't want to take it off and resew it with a smaller seam allowance.  I stitched it down really securely though, so I think it will be fine, just more narrow on the back than the front.

These colors are not ones that I am drawn to, but I think it works.  The finished quilt is about 40" x 50". I think it could be a modem baby quilt.

The reveal will be at the February KCMQG meeting.  I know from looking at our Facebook page there will be lots of interesting quilts. 

 Can't wait to see them!

To see more  Madrona Road Challenge quilt finishes check out today's post at the Modern Quilt Guild or the Flikr group here.

Some Excitement, Some Disappointment

 I hope everyone is enjoying the holiday season!

I am finding the year end clearance sales a challenge this week!  So many tempting bargains!  So far, I am sticking to my plan to sew from my stash though.  I think I will try to track the fabric that I use in 2013.  It might be more hassle than it is worth, but I will try it and see how it goes.  My goal is to use 50 yards of fabric in 2013.  That might prove to be unrealistic,(maybe too low, maybe too high!) but I will revisit it after the first few months and adjust, if I want to.

This week's disappointment:
I was notified today that the two quilts that I finished in November and submitted to the Quilt Con show were not selected.  I really didn't think that they were contenders for any prizes, but I thought they might have a chance to get in.

Silver lining:  I finished them!  I am not sure they would be finished yet, without the deadline.  I surely do get a lot more accomplished under pressure!

The Excitement :
The third quilt that I submitted was selected!  

Las Vegas Modern Quilt Guild 2011 Charity Quilt

This quilt was entered into the "Group or Bee Quilts" category.

It was made by the Las Vegas Modern Quilt Guild as a charity quilt in 2011.  We took the inspiration from a wonky log cabin quilt in the book "Block Party" by Alissa Haight Carlton and Kristen Lejniekes.  

The quilt in the book was designed and put together by Alissa with blocks created by all 12 bee members. 

The guild decided to use a similar color palette and  guild members went to their stashes and brought red, blue and grey fabrics to a meeting along with sewing machines, and we put together most of the blocks in one evening.  A couple of folks took home some strips to make additional blocks and others took the completed blocks home and sewed on the sashing.  We passed on the completed blocks to someone else who sewed the top together and then on to the person who did the quilting and binding.  The blocks finished at 20", which made a nice big quilt!

The finished quilt was donated to the Mesquite Club, a Las Vegas philanthropic organization for their holiday dinner and charity auction.  Since the LVMQG donated an item to the auction, the guild received two tickets to attend.  The Mister and I went to the auction with the intent on bidding on the quilt.

We had made the decision, but had not told anyone, that I would retire in the spring and we would be leaving Las Vegas.  I wanted the quilt as a memento of the guild and the friends who made it.  

The Mister outbid the other interested parties and the quilt came home with us.  (Thankfully, the Mesquite Club membership has a more traditional aesthetic, or the bid might have gone much higher than we were prepared to pay!)

While it is not a quilt that I made, it is a quilt that I helped make. And, since it belongs to me, I think it is fair to say that one of my quilts will be in the show!

Retreat Recap

I spent the weekend at the first annual Las Vegas Modern Quilt Guild retreat!

Nine members and two guests traveled to Southern Utah for the weekend. We stayed at a wonderful vacation home, surrounded by great scenery (we found the house through homeway.com) While we did venture out for various errands, lunch and shopping, mostly we stayed in the basement theatre/billiard room and sewed.

This is the theatre side of the room. The other side accommodated four more sewing tables, two cutting stations and a pressing table. It was perfect!

I worked on these blocks. They are made from Elizabeth Hartman's Octagonal Orb Block tutorial featured at The Modern Quilt Guild Blog (which was originally inspired by Heather Bostic's pillow). They finish at about 17" across, so I plan to make 6 more, if my fabric holds out. I used a fat eighth stack of Flora, by Lauren and Jessi Jung.

It doesn't look like I got very much accomplished, but I feel like each of the completed blocks was eight blocks in one! I also cut pieces for 3 more orbs and I made some progress on embroidering some of Ruby McKim's Roly Poly Circus blocks for a quilt for Dearest Sister's grandbebe number five (another girl!)

Sharon brought a tiny pieced block as challenge/gift for each person. The pieced block was about two inches square made of tiny half inch squares.

These were some of the challenge projects. Clockwise from the top left: Andrea's beer pong cozy, Cindy's pot holder, Bev's coaster, my pin cushion, Maria's tiny cushion to protect the bed of her featherweight when it is folded up, Tracie's tissue cover and Darlene's iPhone purse.

We all had a great time and by Sunday morning, the discussion had turned to how many days we should add to next year's retreat! We drove home under rainy, overcast skies, but that was kind of a nice change, as well.

I am looking forward to seeing some finishes at show and tell next month!

Just a catch up -

My camera is on vacation without me, so just a note to fill in the latest gap.

June has been quite the whirlwind! After enjoying the family reunion/birthday celebration for my Dear Aunt, The Mister and I headed down the road with Ms A to Kansas City. Ms A and I visited with her Grandmother and her dad and the three of us ate our way around the area, visiting our favorite restaurants.

After Ms A left to return to her life in the big apple, The Mister and I headed North for the Great Lakes Navel Training Center. Number one Granddaughter was on track to graduate from Basic Training there, the following week. (Her graduation was postponed, after she developed shin splints from over training.) The original date would have allowed me to attend, but as it was pushed back, I had to return to my life in the desert.

The Mister hung out on the shores of Lake Michigan for a few days in Illinois and I was home alone! I took my sewing machine with me on vacation to finish the gift for Dear Aunt, so I found myself with a weekend to sew with no machine. And, I have a project that I need to take on my next vacation - the wedding in Mexico, which is now 6 days away. (I leave in four days - the hectic continues!)

I am making a camera bag insert for my purse. I was coveting one of these, but I decided to try to make one myself, after seeing some great bags at Nordstrom's Rack on screaming deal clearance. I searched for a tutorial and came up with this one but I made it smaller to accommodate my purse dimensions. I don't have extra lenses or other camera stuff, so the smaller one will work for my camera, I think.

I looked on Craigslist to see if I could find a used sewing machine, but I didn't find any that I thought were worth fooling with, so I ended up buying an old used Singer that had been a trade in at a sewing machine shop. It is not as old as my other old Singers. This one is vintage 1975, and I have added zigzag to my stitch capabilities! It may go to charity after the featherweight returns, but, if I can find a corner to store it in, I may hold onto it. You just never know when you might need to zigzag...

I am almost finished with the main part of the camera insert, I just have to make the adjustable dividers which won't take long.

Since the Las Vegas Modern Quilt Guild meeting will be the week after I return, I also want to get my 'inspiration block' for our bee finished this weekend. I was hoping to follow Cola's inspiration to make a swell passport sleeve (she used this tutorial). I am thinking that will have to be given up on in the interest of time.

The Mister is on his way home - he stopped in Henderson (Nebraska, dang it!) last night, so I still have two days of leaving my sewing things strewn about the place without being in anyone's way.

We will only have a couple of days to catch up with each other before I leave again. I hope July holds a bit less activity!

Finally, a Quilty Finish!

Some weeks ago, I saw a flyer advertising an organizing meeting of the Las Vegas Modern Quilt Guild. Although I am a girl that loves vintage fabric and traditional quilts, it seems to me that the modern quilt designs are not quite as exacting as the traditional quilts. And more suited to my skill level at this time.

I went to the meeting at the lqs and there was a very cool mix of women of diverse backgrounds, ages and experience. We talked a little about the business of starting a local 'chapter' of the Modern Quilt Guild, and got to know a bit about each other.

One of our group volunteered to do a demo at our next meeting of a wonky block and we decided to do a Mug Rug Swap.

When I heard 'mug rug', I immediately had a flashback to 1985 and some coasters made of plastic canvas and polyester yarn in dusty pink, that outlasted their charm by many years due to the fact that they were made by a lost sister. Today's mug rugs are different, it seems.

Big enough to hold a beverage and a snack, they are more of a small placemat, than a coaster. Six inches by nine inches was the recommendation and mine is just a bit larger by half an inch.

The yellow and green are Kona solids and the embroidery designs are from "Sublime Stitching", Jenny Hart's first book. (I put the initials "LVMQG" on the tea bag tag, but the quilting made it a bit hard to see.)

This is the back, a fussy-cut piece from a fat quarter from the same stack that most of the other fabrics came from. It's a Moda design called Hideaway.

This is the first quilted project that I have finished completely. First machine quilting and first binding.

The quilting went very smoothly, although I assumed symmetry in the new walking foot that I was trying for the first time. I stitched from the top down, then from the bottom up and notice after a few rows that the distance between rows was not the same. So, (and this is what I love about modern quilting!) I just varied the distance between the rows some more, so they were not a consistent 'thick and thin'. And of course, there are other inconsistencies, but overall, I think it turned out well.

I did a pieced binding, mainly because I had cut a bunch of small pieces that I didn't use and didn't want to waste. Also, I thought that a pieced binding would camouflage my errors a bit. A wider binding would have allowed me to stitch it down with the machine. I ended up finishing it by hand, which took no time, since it was such a small project.

Our next meeting is more than a week away, so I am also giving myself 'points' for not waiting until the last minute!

I suppose it was only a matter of time until I took over the 'livingdiningofficegymfamily' room for sewing. Oh - and the kitchen for ironing. I don't feel too badly, though. The Mister finally has a shop where he can work on cars. It is a storage place about a mile away, so not as convenient as in the back yard, but it is bigger that the garage we used to have, so he is able to spread out and see what he has and where.

We are both back to our favorite hobbies! (and trying to keep the other in the dark about how much we spend on 'parts'!)