November BAMQG

Yesterday was a big quilt day for me. CQFA and BAMQG were both on the same day. All quilts all the time. I didn’t feel like I had much to show, but it turned out that I didn’t have enough time to show everything I brought. I had a good time.

We had a lot of business to do – officers for next year, events for next year, challenges for next year, the Habitat challenge, show and tell, etc.

Eva's Delight
Eva's Delight

For the A-B-C (A-Z) Challenge, this month’s letter was ‘E’. I think I have said that I am really enjoying this challenge and chose a block I found in Around the Block Again. It was also in EQ7, which I used to resize it.

I don’t remember ever seeing this block before, but I liked the vertical lines created by the squares. This block has 37 pieces. I know it is lunacy to make such a small block with so many pieces, but with 26 blocks the size of the quilt will be much more manageable than a quilt with 26 12″ blocks.

Kathleen's A-B-C Challenge Blocks
Kathleen's A-B-C Challenge Blocks

Kathleen brought all of her A-B-C Challenge blocks. As you can see, she is using blacks and whites with a bit of red. I think she has done a lovely job of choosing blocks. The black and white really work well together with the variety of blocks.

Not many people brought their A-B-C blocks this time. I think there were a number of people working on the challenge who couldn’t make the meeting. I am really liking this challenge and the way my blocks are looking together.

There was a big presentation surrounding the Jay McCarroll Habitat Challenge. I did not participate in this challenge. I was, once again, impressed by the talent in this group. There was a lot of frustration surrounding the type and variety of prints, but people came up with wonderful ways to use it. My thought during the entire discussion was that this fabric was a really challenge.

Habitat Challenge Group
Habitat Challenge Group

All of the quilts are so creative. I was pleased to see how much collaboration there was during the meeting on the quilts that weren’t quite finished.

Lynnette’s quilt, ‘Love Beads'(far left, bottom), is one of my favorites.  I thought it was the Chinese Lanterns patterns. It certainly looks like Chinese Lanterns, but the pieces are a slightly different shape – a nice, elongated shape. I also think that the connector between the two is a little different.

Rhonda's Habitat
Rhonda's Habitat

Rhonda’s top from the Habitat Challenge has wonderful vertical lines.

One of the things I noticed was that people said as they cut the pieces of Habitat fabric up, the fabric became easier to work with. I think that some fabric works better in smaller pieces. This thought seems to be adverse to the idea of a Modern Quilt. At least I didn’t think that Modern Quilts used lots of small pieces. I suppose it depends, just like every other type of quilt.

I spent some of the sewing time cutting up another Jane Market tote. Perhaps I’ll make it tomorrow. I had a talk with a longarm quilter who is willing to try and work with me. she seems like she might be a good person to work with and I got the impression that she would try hard. I’ll think about it. I don’t want quilt tops to stack up, but I don’t know how I feel about working with a new quilter.