Guild color challenge

I have taken on the leadership position of challenge committee at our local quilt guild.  I love a good challenge!  I see it as a means of stretching myself further.  We never know what we can accomplish if we don't try!  Challenge quilts are generally small, and give us a chance to think outside the box, or block!

For our first challenge, I decided we needed to do something with color.  And what better color to use than Pantone's 2014 color of the year: Radiant Orchid!



 

The rules for the challenge are to use Radiant Orchid in a wall hanging, minimum 20", maximum 30".  Any technique (pieced, applique, fabric painting, thread painting) could be used.  There also is no set amount of the color that must be used, it just needs to be obvious that the color was used.  The above picture has the official paint chip, along with fabrics that I found on our recent road trip to Indianapolis to Back Door Quilts and Quilts Plus.

 

I have several different ideas floating around on what I want to do.  The complement of Radiant Orchid is a lime green; now that just sounds awesome!

Celtic Solstice

First blog post for 2014!  Just noted it has been a month since I have posted.  I don't get overly involved with lots of Christmas doings, so my only excuse is that I have been busy working on a mystery!
Bonnie Hunter for the past several years has been presenting a mystery quilt.  I got hooked on Bonnie through several of my guild sisters who have been doing her mystery quilts.  I decided this year to take the plunge, especially after I heard the name and saw her color scheme!  I have never done a mystery quilt as it was going on...the only other one I did I waited until I saw the finished product before starting it.  So I thought, what the hey, just jump in and do it!
We started out by pulling our colors.  Bonnie got paint chips with the colors she was using to give us an idea of colors that she knew would work best.  I played along and pulled from my stash a nice selection of oranges (as an Illini fan, you know I have orange!), yellows, greens, blues, and neutrals.  WOW!  This was like a free quilt!  I had it already in my stash closet!  I failed to take a picture of my project bucket, but it was colorful!   But then, there was the wait!  Three weeks I believe!

Week one we made 188 Tri-rec units!  I love these little units, and they always add such a great spark when they are used in a block design!  Always an unexpected break from the right angle triangle!  And it was such fun to revisit those blues and oranges that I had purchased for various projects! Three pieces to each unit, 564 pieces!

And it is a good thing that I do like to make those Tri-rec units, as I failed to properly read the instructions for week one.  I made all 188 units at first SCRAPPY!  I did have the orange and neutral centers.  I thought the blue in her pictures was just a red herring to throw us off (this is a mystery, after all!), but then I kept seeing other participants with all blue and decided to reread the directions.  ARG! I considered just going with it, but I decided I had best just put on my big girl panties and remake them. Bonus: I have all these scrappy Tri-rec units for a future project!

 

Week two we made 100 chevron units.  By the way, every week we are making 3 1/2" unfinished blocks.  100 chevron units that each contain 6 pieces.  600 pieces this week; running total: 1164! This got me to wondering what the finished quilt was going to be!  I was imagining this as a cool sashing or border design.  All along Bonnie was posting pictures of church floor from her recent trip to Ireland which was her inspiration for this quilt. 

 

Apparently there was some grumbling in the ranks about making the Tri-rec units in week one.  Well, there was some muttering in my studio over having to mark all those flipping units for the chevrons.  I find that a very tedious endeavor, but like Bonnie, I can't seem to sew a straight line from one corner to the next without the line.  But I also have trouble getting the lines marked.  The fabric would shift, and I was always fumbling with picking up the ruler.  That's when the AHA moment came and I thought, why not use that sandboard you bought!  When Becky Goldsmith taught at our guild, she recommended this for drawing applique shapes. Well, it works great for holding your fabric when drawing your straight line.

I also found that if I held my ruler at an angle, I could see both corners, and could then move on to the next square without fumbling to pick up the ruler!  Brilliant!

 

When Susan Cleveland taught at our guild, she showed how she makes quick work of mitering her binding strips.  She places a piece of painters' tape in front of her needle, then draws a line out from her needle.  I used this line to help center my units to make it easier to keep a steady straight line just one thread to the right of the drawn line. 

Week three we made 200 half square triangle units.  We used 100 to make 25 pinwheels.  The leftover 100 were to be used later.  HMMM, where is she going with this mystery! 400 pieces this week; running total: 1564!

Week 4 we made 120 4 patches.  Except I just got in the zone and made 200!  AH, more bonus parts, I can use them with those bonus tri-rec units! 480 pieces this week; running total: 2044!

 

Week 5.  Well, I failed to take a picture of the units we made.  Suffice it to say, we utilized the left over half square triangle units, as this was the last set of blocks to be made!  Each block contained 5 pieces (minus the two from the half square triangle block).  We made 100 blue, neutral, yellow, and orange blocks (that looked a bit like candy corn).  300 new pieces this week; running total 2344!

 

Week 6 we put it all together!  Using the tri-rec units with the neutral center, and the four patch units, we made 54-40 or fight! blocks on the left!  We were cautioned to keep the four patches all oriented the same way, which I diligently did during this process.  On the right we used those chevrons (brilliant!), pinwheels, and the units from week 5 (see them in the corners) to make Birthday Girl, one of Bonnie's designs.  Bonnie gave us pressing instructions, which made sewing the rows together so much easier, as the seams butted together nicely!

So here is the main body of the quilt!  Love it.  Bonnie's directions said to add a neutral border, then using the orange centered tri-recs, make a pieced border that ran like an marquee arrow around the quilt.  Then a final green border. HMM, I don't want my quilt to look like everyone elses, and those circles on the edges look like they want to be completed.....

So I did.  I used some of the orange centered tri-recs and some of those leftover 4 patches, made some blue and neutral half square triangles, added some neutral patches, and made a pieced border that finished those edge circles.  I used orange as an inner border to "stop" the neutral. I didn't have enough of a green in my stash that looked right as the final border, so I used a blue! 

Whew!  It is done.  Now it goes in the "to be quilted" queue!  You can check out the other Celtic Solstice quilts being made at http://quiltville.blogspot.com/2014/01/mystery-monday-link-up-part-6.html.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 





 

 

 

 

Sewing for Christmas

I don't do Pinterest.  I can find enough things to keep me busy without looking for it!  These two projects enticed me enough to work on them.  It also helps that I am not looking to start any big projects until after the first of the year.  Well, that's not true, I am doing Bonnie Hunter's 2013 Mystery Quilt at Quiltville.com.  So I am just looking for a few small projects to hold me over till the next clues come out.

I saw this project on Facebook.  Quiltville had posted a link to the tutorial. I was needing a Christmas table runner, and this certainly fit the bill.  The only special ruler it needed was a 60 degree ruler, which I just happened to have.  Hubby really likes this, which is always a bonus!

I found the tutorial for this modern poinsettia block on The Quilt Show with Alex Anderson and Ricky Tims.  I decided to make a pillow out of my block, which was 20 1/2" unfinished.  It required the Quick Curve Ruler, which I also happened to have.  Yeah, I'm a ruler collector.  Gotta have 'em.  You never know when you are going to need just that one special ruler to get the job done.

The cool thing with both projects, is that I used only stash fabric and batting.  Even the pillow form was in my closet, waiting for me to make a pillow for it.

Red and Cream Quilt, or how to make a quilt in 4 days!

Well, I didn't start out with the intentions of making this a "mystery" quilt.  It just sort of serendipitously ended up that way!  Here's the story.

Several years ago, my local guild did a birthday block swap.  The swap committee chose the pattern, and if you signed up to participate, you chose the colors you wanted.  I have always loved the look of a red and cream quilt, and loved the look of the block, so I signed up.  I received 16 9" blocks.  Not much you can do with  those.  So I put them on a pants hanger (my favorite way of storing blocks while waiting for inspiration) to let them "mellow".

Two years later, we did another birthday block swap.  Again a 9" block.  So I signed up, and again asked for red and cream.  I think I got 11 or 13.  Still not enough.

This year, the Chocolate Chicks, another small group that I belong to, is doing a Churn Dash Stash Buster.  You know where I am going with this, yes, I asked for red and cream!  Surely I would have enough blocks to make this quilt!  I received 21 8" blocks (well, it should have been an even #, but that is all I could find, so either someone made me 1, or 3, or I lost one!)





Working with EQ7, I tried a variety of designs mixing the first two blocks.  But I never really liked the look.  I decided to just let each of the different swaps sing in their own groupings!

 

I LOVE the secondary design that this block creates!  Sixteen different quilters, sixteen different ideas of red and cream.  But what harmony they created when they came together!

I had to make a few more of the double dutch nine patches for the second round.  No problem, as I had plenty of reds and creams in my stash.  I decided onpoint would give more interest.  I used a red Moda Marbles for the setting triangles.  A cream batik from my stash was used for the filler border.

Now, to handle the next border.  To make it totally with the churn dash blocks would require 32, and I didn't feel like making 11 more.  I decided to separate them with 6X8" rectangles of red and cream.  That nicely framed the blocks and let them sing.  I chose to do an hourglass unit for the corners also to frame the churn dash blocks.

 

 

 

On to that final border!  I had to make a field trip to Sew Sassy, my local quilt shop, to buy more of that red! I didn't want to just put a plain border on it, but didn't want anything too fussy, either.  Borrowing from a trick that Debbie Caffrey showed us when she taught at our guild this spring, I put a 1" cream inset into the final red border.  Just the right touch, I think!

So that is how I put together a huge quilt (I think it is 96" square) in just 4 days!



 

Comfort Quilts

Quilters are know for their generosity.  One of the ways that we show it is by making comfort quilts.  I have been involved with many comfort quilts over the years.  Most of the time I simply provided a block to be added into a quilt that someone else would be putting together and quilting.  Often, I wouldn't even personally know the person who would be receiving the quilt.  It doesn't matter. If I can spread love and comfort, and say a prayer for another human being, then it is always a good thing.
My most recent comfort quilt was for a dear friend of my hubby.  They have known each other since 1955!  They have stayed in contact through the years and the miles.  They met in high school.  Hubby grew up in Chicago and attended Loyola Academy. Recently, his friend was diagnosed with cancer.  The nurse in me wanted to know the details; the quilter in me wanted to make a quilt for him.
My friend Mickey Depre recently made a quilt for her brother-in-law using a Bonnie Hunter pattern in Chicago Bears colors (orange and blue, go Illini!). I went to Bonnie's free pattern tab to check out her offerings.  Scrappy Mountains Majesty struck my fancy, so I recreated it in EQ7 using navy blue and orange.  Funny thing, the orange pieces looked like fish to me.  Brain flash!  Our friend lives in Boca Raton, FL and is an avid boater and diver!
So I "dived" into my stash and pulled all my turquoises, teals, aquas, corals, yellows, and fabrics that reminded me of a coral reef.

I renamed it "Oceans Majesty". I quilted it on my friend's Gammill longarm in an allover swirly design.  They received it last week, and I certainly hope and pray it gives him comfort as he is fighting this horrible disease.

Past Heritage, New Traditions: 2013 Illini Country Stitchers Quilt Show

For your viewing enjoyment, here are the Winners of our local quilt show: Past Heritage, New Traditions!
Past Heritage, New Traditions

Past Heritage, New Traditions

That was our theme for Illini Country Stitcher's 2013 Quilt Show!  This was my second time chairing our biennial quilt show.  It is a lot of work, but it is enjoyable to see ideas come to fruition, and to have a chance to display all our guild members' immense talent!  At times it is like herding cats, but you just gotta love it!  I'll blog later about the show itself, but now I am just gonna brag a bit on myself!
I entered 7 quilts into the show, in 6 different categories.  I came home with 7 ribbons, but one quilt didn't win anything.  So I will start with that one!

Resting Amongst the Cone Flowers was a quilt inspired by a class with Ellen Anne Eddy through our guild last summer.  I thread painted the bunny and the dragonfly in class.  The background fabric is some of her hand dyed fabric.  It was entered in the art/innovative class.  The competition was stiff, and I was not surprised that I did not win a ribbon there.

This Double Wedding ring quilt was entered in the Antique class.  It was gifted to me by my Uncle Howie when I got married.  He said it was made by my Greatgrandmother Matilda Bell.  However....she passed away in the late 1920s, and this quilt contains many printed feedsack fabrics which were not manufactured until the 1930s.  So we have a family mystery quilter!  This quilt won third place!

This quilt was from a pattern in Quilter's World magazine last fall.  I fell in love with it.  I donated this quilt to a local charity for their silent auction, then purchased it back.  It placed third in large wall hangings.

This quilt belongs to my hubby, and he insisted that I enter it in the show, as he likes it better than the above quilt.  It was also made and donated to the same charity, and hubby purchased it through the silent auction.  Both quilts were in the same category, Large Wall Hanging, and hung across from each other in the show.  It placed second!  Hubby says, I told you so!  I am proud to say that this quilt (well the top, anyway) has been to Houston!  I took it there when I took a class with Teri Lucas to get her opinion on how to quilt it!  Thanks, Teri!

My small group, Material Girls, had a row swap last year.  I requested a Christmas themed quilt.  I was just overjoyed when I was gifted with my rows!  I had a lot of fun deciding how to place my rows and then quilt it!  It placed second in group wall quilts.

This little gem has won before, at the Midwest Heritage Quilt Show.  This was started in a class with Sally Collins at the Indiana Heritage Quilt Show in 2012. It now has won two first place ribbons!

 

 

This beauty won first place in Mixed/Other (meaning more than one technique was used, ie. a combination of paper piecing, and applique) and Best of Show!  This started life as a Block of the Month through The Quilt Show with Alex Anderson and Ricky Tims. The design was by Sarah Vedeler, although I modified the design starting in month 6!  I call this Sedona Joy, because it was a joy to work with such beautiful colors!

I am still flabbergasted that I won so many ribbons.  The competition was truly marvelous, and people were constantly sighing and saying how hard it was to make a choice!  Counting the ballots took the committee 5 hours because there were many ties!  I am so proud of our guild and the great talent that our members posses!