The CQFA Meeting was last Saturday. As I already mentioned BAMQG was on the same day. For me, it was a lot of driving and time away from home for one day. Not sure I can continue to make it to both meetings.
This was our end of the year long, organizational type meeting. While long, it was a good one.The end of the year means we needed to plan for 2012. Now we have the start of a plan.
Belly Dancing Belt
Show and Tell was great as usual. I love seeing what other people make. Bron brought a gorgeous belly dancing belt to show us, which she bought at the FabMo sale. It was made by an artist who used FabMo materials.
Marie, the President of the San Jose Museum Quilt & Textiles Board, talked about the various events coming up on the SJMQT calendar. We decided to donate some money to the Museum to support the upcoming Quilt National 2011 exhibit, which will be held in 2011.
Gingko Monoprint
Marie brought monoprints she worked on in a class.
Marie's Monoprint Quilt
Of course, I liked this one with all the turquoise.
Squares Monoprint
I purport not to like grey that much, especially the grey and yellow combination that seems to be so popular with the modern quiltmakers right now, but I really liked this monoprint.
Diane's City
I know that Diane calls this series something different, but I think it has the look of a city center from overhead. Diane is a silk painter and has been using FabMo fabrics to mount and as mats for her pieces.
Rhonda's Habitat Challenge
I know Rhonda from BAMQG. She brought this piece to CQFA as well. I hope she will join CQFA.
Carolyn's Notebook CoverCarolyn's Notebook Cover
Caroline found an interesting piece of fabric that looked like an Edward Gorey painting. She wanted to use the entire piece of fabric, the back of which had some interesting characters knitting, which is why she made her journal cover the size it is. I really admire Caroline’s finishing skills. Her products look professional..
The cool thing about this cover is that it holds an artists sketchbook. I don’t know how she did the edging (a regular binding?), but I think it looks really nice.
We had a nice ATC exchange. People do such creative work. I would like to start on my ATCs for the next meeting right now, so that my pieces are as great as other people’s. It has been a week and I haven’t started in yet.
I really would like to make some ATCs using the Tsukineko inks. I think it would be a good way to practice with the inks. Sonja did some great paintings when she came to her first meeting where she painted on a piece of fabric and then cut the piece up into ATC sized works. That is on my mind as a possibility.
I was sad I had to leave early to make BAMQG, because I missed Dolores’ presentation. This is what made me start thinking about just attending one meeting or going to BAMQG late on days where CQFA also meets. We’ll have to see. I can’t do everything and I just can’t exhaust myself. Last week was particularly difficult, because I was single parenting and, while I have a wonderful, helpful Young Man, I still have double the chores and no backup. I’ll have to play it my ear in January.
Nota bene: my camera battery died and I forgot to bring the spare, so all the photos are taken with my phone. Sorry about that!
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
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 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
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 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.
I have mixed feelings about 12″ blocks. They are big. I don’t like making them, because they take up so much fabric. I can’t use scraps, in general for them. However, I seem to be making a lot of them lately. I can use up a lot of fabric making 12″ blocks. I can also use these large expanses of patchwork to showcase the luscious large prints that I adore.
The latest batch of 12″ squares are 9 patch blocks for BAMQG. Not only are the 12″ finished, but they are also Halloween colors. Not my favorite, but not brown and beige either. I was kind of hoping I didn’t win the blocks (I didn’t), but then I remembered the Disappearing 9 Patch. I thought that this group wouldn’t be as controlled as the Food Quilt, but using the Disappearing 9 Patch pattern would also alleviate the large expanse of fabric problem.
Any size 9 Patches are so easy to make that they are like candy. I don’t seem to be able to make just one.
2 9 PatchesAdrianne's Lozenge 9 Patch
It turned out that we were able to use any 9 patch grid pattern not just the regular simple 9 patch. I am not sure why I didn’t know that.
I had a problem with my camera and didn’t take many photos, but people did some really great blocks and wonderful color combinations. I have that lozenge shape on my mind, so Adrianne’s block (left) really appealed to me. I think that it is more Fall than Halloweenish, but still a very nice block, and one I might want to try sometime. My blocks looked a little sad in comparison.
Angela's Rose
Local quilt work is really good and the BAMQGers work is no exception. Angela, in particular, is really taking off in terms of work. Kathleen asked me to write down the names and descriptions of the quilts as she took photos, so I didn’t hear all the details about this quilt. I do know that she took a class in reverse applique and that this technique was different from traditional reverse applique’. I really am excited that Angela is trying new things and really pushing herself in her quilt work.
Her Kona Challenge quilt was accepted into the New Quilts for Northern California along with the Zig Zaggy quilt.
The next challenge will be with a line called Heirloom. I am not familiar with it, but what I saw of it I liked. This is a guild sponsored challenge. Adrianne was going to hand out fabric, but the block the group voted on required some solids, which people wanted to coordinate, so there was a little back and forth about that. The Board decided to decide what to do about the solid and hand out fabric next month. I am not going to do that challenge, because I don’t want to do a challenge where the fabric and block are dictated to me. I like the Roman strip block, but not enough to take time away from my own projects.
C&T Goodies
The awesome, Lisa, at C&T sent us a prize pack. We did a giveaway and I handed out all the postcards. I asked her for the Studio Color Wheel postcards to hand out and she sent me a giant box of goodies, including a copy of the Studio Color Wheel, which Deborah won, and an Ultimate Color Tool.
There was a lot of business and I felt the generational gap hit me. I like to have some privacy online (I know I am walking the line having a blog and a big online presence) and that view isn’t shared by some of the younger crowd at the meeting. I felt old.
I like having the meetings at the beginning of the month. It always feels like the month starts out on a positive note when I go to the Bay Area Modern Meetings. I stopped in at Starbuck’s to get a drink before going to a meeting and met a college friend. We only see each other on FB, so it was fun to have a minute to catch up. Both of our sons have started high school so we were comparing notes. I enjoyed the interlude, but the BAMQG meeting had started by the time I got there.
Adrianne Quilt for Japan
Show and Tell is my favorite part. I love seeing what other people are doing. I love the variety of levels of work and the variety of fabrics. Most of the work is very bright and cheerful, which is great.
Adrianne has been working on this quilt for awhile and is done with the top. It is gorgeous! I really like the way it came out. I have those fabrics and was having some buyers remorse, but this gives me some ideas. I love the way the dots turned out. There is a lot of movement in the various blocks.
We also displayed blocks from the A-B-C Challenge and various other works. There were a lot of new people at the meeting, so there was a wide variety of blocks to show — not just the challenge blocks.
BAMQG Blocks
As you know, my block is the Cake Stand block. Angela is also working on the A-B-C Challenge and she did a Courthouse Step block (middle top). Adrianne is working on a different project and she did a Ribbon Star (might also be called Odd Fellow’s Cross, Jinny Beyer, The Quilter’s Album of Patchwork Patterns, pg.64 #4). A new member (or, perhaps, visitor did the X block and the raw edge applique French Roses).
Joy-Lily work
Joy-Lily has a lot of irons in the fire. She is now teaching at a new place on Bayshore called the Sewing and Quilting Collaborative. Apparently, they have longarms they will let people use and the owner buys up stock from quilt stores going out of business and has the stock for discount prices in one part of the place.
Joy-Lily’s blocks are really interesting. The top one, as you can see, is knitting needles and yarn. The yarn looked like it was made from bias tubes. I didn’t get to look at it closely, but the fabric had a slight shimmery look to it. The bottom block/mini quilt was made from fabric printed on fabric sheets, cut up and then sewed together again.
A number of members who usually participate in the block challenge were absent (long weekend and all) so they weren’t as many this time as last. I was helping Adrianne with notetaking, so I didn’t have to hold the quilts, but I also didn’t get photos of any.
Intrepid Thread Fabrics
Julie brought my order of a couple of dots, some aqua and the Terrain charm squares. I really like the Terrain. Something about it is very appealing. The colors together aren’t as bright as I normally like, but they aren’t really muted either except for a bit of the green, I think. This pack makes me think of Chinese Coins. I may cut the charms in half and make a Chinese Coins quilt. I need to look through some ideas for quilts using charms. Again, I ask you how many Chubby Charmers does a girl need? 😉
Christmas BagsChristmas Bags #2
I had no quilts to show this time, so I showed the bags I have been working on. They are all bags for Christmas, except one. Nobody thought I was a lunatic for making the same bag over and over. I passed them all around and was pleased that people commented on the decorative stitches I used around the top of the bag. One of the new women asked about the pattern. It felt good to have people ask for my advice.
I was also thrilled to find out that Angela is saving selvedges for a selvedge quilt. YAY! I have that bag of selvedges I have been saving for something. I am really pleased I can give them to her.
During sewing time, I cut out two more bags – the outside pieces only and cut apart some more t-shirts for The Young Man’s t-shirt quilt. That chore is done except for one sweatshirt and I am not sure how I am going to work that.
I went to the Bay Area Modern Quilt Guild Meeting on Saturday. I really like that group. Do I say that every time I go? Everyone is really, genuinely nice and I don’t feel like people are judgmental. Also, everyone seems to have a good time. I don’t feel like I make particularly modern quilts, but everyone seems to like the quilts I bring to show and tell.
I brought the Stars for San Bruno #1 quilt, which is almost finished (stay tuned for the unveiling). I have about a foot of binding left to sew before it is finished. I usually like to only show finished quilts, though I do show finished tops sometimes, but this quilt might be off to Tim and Rose before the next meeting. I hope so anyway.
The Board is doing such a great job with the meetings. We talked about the retreat. People showed their Farmer’s Wife and Alphabet Guild Challenge blocks. I made neither, but would like to catch up and try to do the Alphabet Guild Challenge blocks.
Queen Street
It occurred to me on Sunday morning while I was doing my morning exercises (great time to think) that I could use the Queen Street fabrics for that project. I was looking for a project for that fabric. Not sure as the prints are quite large. I could also use Sugar and Spice. That would be cheerful where Queen Street would be elegant.
I want to get through some of the sewing I have on my immediate to do list before I start more Sampler blocks.
There was some frustration with the Farmer’s Wife Sampler blocks. There seem to be a couple of problems: 1) color selection and 2) lack of rotary cutting directions. I also see a related problem to #2, which is that the author seems to have renamed the blocks, which makes them difficult to find in a standard block dictionary or program. I did see an EQ companion software product with all of the blocks drawn out, but it seems like not many of the members have or know how to use EQ7. Adrianne was particularly discouraged, so I offered to draw the next blocks for her. It will give me the incentive to draw them for myself and help a peep!
There was a lot of discussion of fabrics and I felt a bit out of my element. TFQ has really helped me wrap my head around lines of fabric and I can hold my own, but a lot of the fabrics discussed I had never seen. I only had a vague notion of some of the designers as well. Some more study is required, I guess.
I brought a bunch of my block dictionaries for people to look at. A number of people had bought the 501 Rotary Cut Blocks by Judy Hopkins, which I was pleased to see. A number of people are struggling with the Farmer’s Wife because of the math and I think this book will help. I can see that I had a very good quilt education. I admire the Modern Quiltmakers for learning on their own, but also think that learning in a group has value.
Mug Rug Challenge
There was also a mug rug challenge. I did not participate…mostly, because I didn’t have a spare second this past month to sew.
Fave Mug Rugs
Love the aqua!
I spent some time on Sunday drawing or finding the blocks for the Farmer’s Wife in EQ. I was able to put a project together of about 20 blocks. I sent them on to Adrianne so she could focus on the fun rather than struggling with templates. Don’t get me wrong. Templates have their uses, but most of these blocks are easy to rotary cut. I haven’t done all of them, but will get to it later this week.
The question of the month was: what part of the quiltmaking process do you struggle with?
I went to the Bay Area Modern Quilt Guild meeting yesterday. As usual, it was a great meeting. I forgot to take photos, so this is a wordy post not a photo post. (Foreshadowing of posts to come).
The business meeting part of the meeting was pretty long, but it included show and tell. I forgot to bring my show and tell (Frosted Stars), so I played the role of quilt holder.
People brought their Robert Kaufman Kona challenge quilts and they are awesome! Not everyone was done, but pieces that people showed were wonderful. Angela showed an awesome colorwash type of piece that I really want to get a photo of her piece so you can see it. Patti didn’t want to do a quilt, so she painted a canvas black, made yo-yos and glued them in color order to the canvas. It is really a fabulous piece.
I brought my friend, Carol. It was fun to have someone to chat with on the long drive to and fro. She started a quilt a long time ago. When I saw the pieces at her house, I encouraged her to come. I am pretty sure she had fun, since she picked out another quilt she wants to start on. 😉
Chris made more door prizes. She made a piece that was comprised of some blocks stretched over canvas. The person who won them was over the moon. I didn’t win anything, but she has figured out the dimensions for a composition book journal cover. To save me some time, I asked her to send me the dimensions. I’d like to make some journal covers for composition books to give as gifts as composition books are easier to find than the Miquelrius journals.
I have been wanting to recycle old fabric or clothes that are too worn to donate and Amanda came to the rescue. She is making cat beds and wants to use the trimmings from quiltmaking to stuff them. I couldn’t stop thinking about that the whole time I was trimming blocks today. I have to figure out a temporary storage solution to hold the stuff until the next BAMQG.
Julie told us about Market. It was her first time. She talked about how big Market was, meeting with fabric reps, seeing the famous quilters. She brought back leaflets of new fabrics as well as some actual unreleased fabrics. She brought Ruby! I was so glad to see it in person, because I found that I will not be buying the whole line as planned. The greys are really not my style. I might buy the swirly grey, will probably buy some of the aquas and the reds. We’ll have to see about the others. Julie called them warm greys, but, to me, they have too much beige. There are some true calicoes in the line as well, which makes me wonder if calicoes are coming back?
After the meeting is sewing time. I unsewed some blocks that I had sewed together by accident, but mostly chatted with people. Everyone else did, too. I think many of us were tired. It is a tired time of year with graduations and all.
Saturday a week ago was the CQFA and BAMQG Saturday extravaganza.
Every other month, the meetings fall on the same day, which can be awesome and can be exhausting. I love being immersed in the quilting. I adore both groups, too.
CQFA was really small this time. It is a small group to start with and May always begins the end of school/graduation/nice weather demands on people’s time. Still, it was a great meeting with awesome show and tell. We rehashed the Primal Green outing and panel discussion. I got a lot of kudos for my contribution, which was really nice and made me feel good. Nancy had set up demo, which Sue gave after a brief break.
Sue's Piece
Sue makes fabric paper. She found the recipe in the book Stitch Alchemy and has been making gorgeous cards and gifts ever since. Sue’s piece for Primal Green was made from the fabric paper (above). She also sent me some gifts made from her paper. I especially liked the cards.
My CardsSue's Card - detail
Don’t you love the stitching and how it highlights and adds interest to the flower?
If I ever send you one of these cards, you had better not throw it out! I’ll have to think who will really appreciate one of them. I may frame one as well.
The thing about Sue is that she is fearless and will try anything. She really does great work and I always look forward to her show and tell.
Sue applying paper to fabric
In the photo above Sue is applying tissue paper to the fabric she has cut. I don’t remember what kind of fabric it is, but something fairly benign and not very expensive, I think.She used a water and glue mixture to apply the paper to the fabric.
Sue is a really good teacher. She was well prepared and as she talked us through the different steps, she also talked about supplies she liked (Starbuck’s tissue and colored tissue paper are the best).
Painting Fabric Paper
After the paper is dry (this was a second piece, because we didn’t have time to let the one she worked on dry), then you paint and embellish it. That stamp in the front is made from bunion foam. Great idea, huh? Again, Sue talked about things she liked and things that didn’t work out as planned for embellishing.
Painting Fabric Paper
We talked about doing this all together in August and then following up with a workshop to embellish it at A Work of Heart. We’ll see how it goes.
BAMQG is always a fun time, too. This time I brought my camera. I still didn’t take any photos except of the blocks I was cutting. DUH! I took the fabric for the Teacher Pillows and used the time I wasn’t chatting to cut pieces. I was able to cut two blocks out during the sewing time, which was great.
The meeting was good, too. It is fun to see what people are making. I had a lot to show – the FOTY 2010 (sans sleeve, so you’ll get to see when it is completely finished), the Frosted Stars Leftovers and the Purple Quilt. People really liked them and it is gratifying to get positive feedback. I was able to show the quilts at both groups and get double the amount of strokes. Thanks, everyone.
A few people finished their Robert Kaufman challenges. I brought mine, which does not have a border. Look out for a post on that coming soon to a blog near you. It was interesting to hear what challenged people about the project.
Front
Chris won the blocks from the February block strip challenge. She made a table runner and she also made some gifts to give away. I won a folder that she made using a manila folder as a pattern and Timtex as the base. Very clever.
BackInside
The outside of the folder is made from blocks. Can you see parts of one of my blocks? The inside has two pockets. Where the green meets the multi-colored print is where the pocket is.
This past weekend, I spent all weekend doing fun quilt stuff,. None of it, really was sewing, but all of it was inspirational.
The Bay Area Modern Guild met on Saturday for a meeting and sew day. Don’t you love the new logo? I do!
The Manteca Quilt Show was all weekend, but I went with Mom on Sunday. Look for a post about the show soon. My camera acted up, so I need to get some of the photos from mom. I’ll also put a Flickr stream.
I really like the Bay Area Modern Quilt Guild people. I really didn’t know what to expect or what I was expecting, but everyone is great: cheerful, fun, easy to talk to and doing fun projects. Even though I missed sewing on my own projects at home, it was worth the effort to go. Although I feel like I have a lot of deadlines (self imposed, of course) and I am not going to meet them, I need some sewing companionship and I am not going to get it at home alone.
The meeting was really fun. We had a bit of a business meeting and then show and tell. Show and tell was great: my favorite part. I love seeing what everyone is doing. I feel like I am getting some fresh ideas. I have been sewing, but I really had nothing to show. I haven’t finished much and need to get to work.
Amanda's Placemats
Amanda got some fabric from Urban Burp and combine the vintage fabric with some modern fabric to create some placemats. Everyone was very enthusiastic.
Kathleen's Square in a Square
Kathleen brought this square in a square piece. She used a pattern. Someone said that there is also a Kaffe Fassett pattern in one of his early books that looks similar. If I have time, I’ll look for it and let you know. I like the color and the different sized blocks used in one quilt. I also enjoy Kathleen’s work, because she uses similar colors to the colors I use.
I brought the Black Jane Market Tote and everyone admired it, but I was busy doing something else while Kathleen was taking photos, so no photo. You have seen it anyway!
Adrianne's Hexagons
Adrianne’s hexagons are quite large. She used a special cutting technique by Kay Wood, which is described on her (Adrianne’s) blog. I tried this and had some problems. Adrianne and I worked together at the meeting to figure out the problem. What we surmise is that you must have a 60 degree triangle with the tip. I was using my new favorite ruler, the Fons and Porter Pyramid ruler. I love that ruler, but the top is blunted and, while, it works great for the Twirling Triangles, but creates oblongs instead of hexagons when using Adrianne’s/Kay’s technique.
Adrianne used Innocent Crush in her piece and machine pieced the hexagons in rows. I am not sure if the Innocent Crush is in a particular colorway. I saw a number of different colors of the various designs.
Julie‘s show and tell was her cool beginner sampler. It is so fresh and fun! I haven’t counted up my requirements for techniques to learn when doing a beginning class, but Julie’s piece hits most of the high points. Her really good news was that she is opening an LQS!!! I was so excited until I heard it will be in San Jose. 🙁 She will have an online store as well, though, so I can buy from there. She is planning to open after Spring Market.
I am really hoping that an LQS will open in my neighborhood. I am in an LQS wasteland! I’ll keep you posted on Julie’s store developments.
Kathleen's String Blocks
Kathleen has been busy. She is making string blocks as well as well as the Square in a Square and the Mod Mosaics. They remind me, a bit, of Pineapples. I believe this is also a swap on Flickr. Again, I love her colors. I am so glad someone else is working in brights and dots. Kathleen said that she is working on so many swaps that she hasn’t had a chance to work on her own projects!
It is interesting to see these swaps going on. I remember back in the quiltmaking dark ages when people did swaps and they went awry or people received blocks that were less than stellar in workmanship. I am glad there are people who aren’t as jaded as I am.
February Block Challenge
Everyone brought their blocks from the 2.5″ strip swap. I was amazed at the variety of blocks. I think they will go nicely together. Adrianne and Kathleen put names into a bag to draw for all of the blocks. Chris of Quilt Bits won! I can’t wait to see what she makes.
Block Swap
For this month’s challenge, Adrianne and Kathleen brought Joel Dewberry’s Modern Meadow fat quarters. The idea is that people took the FQs and will bring back blocks to the next meeting. The theme is to make blocks with squares: log cabin, 9patch, 4patch, etc. Like last month, we will either make a quilt and someone who worked on it will win or we will draw for the blocks. Almost everyone wanted to participate, which I thought was great! I guess this is me sticking my toe back into the swap waters.
My fabric: Acorn Chain in a Lake
The photo to the left shows the fabric I chose. The colorway is Pond. It is called Acorn Chain in a Lake, which I find very entertaining. I have been trying to think of what block to make and, especially, how far I can stretch the definition of ‘square.’ 😉 At the moment the top contender is Block # 9 from the Layer Cake Quilt Challenge. I am pretty in love with 4 patches right now, though and am trying to think of something interesting to do with a 4patch (e.g. 9patch with 4patch corners??) . Adrianne posted some fun options from Flickr. I am reserving judgment as I have not yet looked through any of my block dictionaries. I am sure I can make more than one block from the fabric I have. I just hope I find some time to sew!
I chose this fabric because it looks like dots. Also, that lighter blue looks like aqua and I think I might use some of the aqua dandelion fabric I got from FabricWorm/Birch Fabrics. It is called Dandelion by Michael Miller.
Dandelion by Michael Miller
It looks like they would go together. We are also supposed to use Kona white if we plan to use a white in the block. I have Kona Snow, but not Kona White, so I will have to get some or not use white. I keep thinking that a bit of orange would be nice, but I’ll have to see when I lay out the block.
What is your favorite square block?
I only brought projects to cut out: Jane Market Totes from Martha Negley fabric, Multi-tasker Tote from Michael Miller’s Ironwork fabric, another quilt like Michaela’s quilt, but using fabrics from one of the Birch Bundles I got last summer. I thought I would get a lot of cutting done. It turns out that I was Miss Social Butterfly, As I mentioned, I really enjoy the women there and took advantage of the opportunity to talk quilts, guild activities and life. Who knew I wouldn’t just stand in the corner by myself?
Jane Market Totes to be
The left photo shows all I got done; cut out 2 Jane Market totes. That’s it. C’est tout. I am happy I got these pieces cut as the table was nice and big, but I really wish I had gotten more done. I blame Adrianne and Kathleen for doing such a great job organizing the meeting and being such nice people. 😉
Kathleen prepared the demo. The demo was the Mod Mosaic technique by Elizabeth Hartman of Oh Fransson fame. She has a pattern for a floor pillow using the technique. She talks about the blocks here and shows different ideas for settings.
Kathleen is in a swap group and they are swapping these types of blocks so a tutorial/demo on how to make the blocks seemed a good idea. It was a huge success!
Mod Mosaic Tutorial
Kathleen’s blocks are gorgeous! I watched and listened as I did my own stuff. I looked at the pattern later and I get it. I think this would make good use of scraps. Just what I need: another project in process!
Peggy's Mod Mosaic
Peggy got on board right away. She came with fabrics for a bargello quilt and, instead, used them to make Mod Mosaic blocks!
Lisa's Mod Mosaic
Lisa’s blocks (right) looked like circus blocks. I loved their bright cheerfulness. Kathleen also showed some of her blocks in detail.
Kathleen's Mod Mosaic
Looking at the black and red blocks makes me think of my new scrap organization system and how that system would lend itself to be picking scraps out of the drawer and sewing them into these types of blocks.
On my way home from the meeting, I wondered about my interest in the Modern Quilt Movement and it occurred to me that I have been, at least mentally or intellectually, struggling with categorizing my own style of quiltmaking.
What style of quilts do I make?
They aren’t really traditional, though have classic elements and are often block based. I don’t really dye or paint or engage much in surface design, so they aren’t art quilts, really, either. Perhaps I am exploring modern quilts to determine whether these types of designs are that fine line between the art and classic quilts?
I really enjoyed the meeting and can’t wait to go again….even if I don’t get anything done. 😉
Want to come to a meeting or join? Take a look at the:
Thanks to Kathleen for allowing me to use her photos!
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3/10/2011 Update: Kathleen said that Square in a Square pattern to which I referred above is called Outside the Box by Rose Mason of Wilsonville, Oregon.
My retreat project, as you know from all of my preparations, was the Fabric of the Year quilt for 2010. I had high hopes that I would get the whole thing pieced. I enjoy doing the colorwork at the retreat, because I can get a lot of different opinions and I like knowing what other people see. Also, I feel like I have more space to spread out.
FOTY Start
Above is the way I started the FOTY on Friday afternoon.
FOTY 2010 Right Corner detail
Above is the dark corner. Again, I was trying for the a colorwash kind of look across the quilt from right to left.
FOTY 2010 – more of the dark corner
As I laid out the piece, it was interesting to see, visually, the amount of darks and colors.
FOTY 2010 – Dark Corner washing towards Red
This was the first layout. You can see a bit of the red next to the purple. Eventually, I took all the red off of the design board and put blue next to the purple. I did a backwards ROY G BIV working from right to left, though if you look at it when it is finished, the ROY G BIV will read correctly (see below).
FOTY 2010 – Whole Piece in Progress
Above, you can see that I have changed out the red for the blue in the center and put the red on the left edge. Most of the diamonds I have to work with for this project are blue. The design wall was not large enough for me to put up all of the patches, so the reds and pinks only got a representative sampling to begin with. As I worked through Friday afternoon and evening, then Saturday, I came to the realization that this piece was going to take longer than I thought. Putting it together was a lot more of an intellectual exercise than I expected. Part of the reason, I think, was that I wanted to put it together in chunks, which made the spaces created by the sewn seam allowances end up in strange places.
FOTY 2010 – Center detail
Those seam allowance spaces became unexpectedly large as I sewed, which turned out to make keeping track of where pieces went really difficult.
FOTY 2010 – Blue detail
One challenge was the different amounts of colors I had. Another challenge was that the fabrics mostly did not consist of only one color. I tried to block out all but the background or dominant color in my mind in order to place the patches, it wasn’t always possible.
FOTY 2010 – Blues washing to Yellow
Above, which is the upper left hand section, is the least formed part of the quilt, and still, in the photo above, in quite a bit in flux.
FOTY 2010 – Putting the Piece Together
In some ways putting the piece together got easier as I sewed larger chunks together. In other ways, it got to be more of a problem, because the spaces, as I mentioned, between the chunks got larger.
FOTY 2010 – Moving Across from Right to Left
The bottom left corner was really my big problem. I don’t know what happened, but something happened early on and I still haven’t completely resolved the problem in that corner. I am working through it, but as I don’t seem to have a photo of the whole piece after I moved the red, it is proving to be a challenge. I am having to lay out that corner again as I go along. Lots of unsewing is required.
FOTY 2010 – Top Right, Middle
Are you bored yet?
The top right and middle were ok and I was able to sew some large chunks together.
FOTY 2010 – Bottom Right
No matter what I did with that bottom right corner, there still seemed to be large missing chunks of patchwork. Sigh. At this point, in addition to taking big deep breaths, I realized I wasn’t going to get the piece finished. Not what I wanted to face, but I wanted to do a good job and that was the reality.
It was a bit liberating to admit that, because I felt like I could look at the piece and didn’t have to rush straight to sewing.
FOTY 2010 – Moving to Pink
I was able to put a few pinks up as the seam allowances shrank the whole piece, leaving more space. I had faint hope that some miracle would occur and I would finish the piecing.
FOTY 2010 – Adding the Reds
I was also able to add some of the reds that didn’t fit when I started.
FOTY 2010 – details of placement
The large seam allowances seemed to keep moving as well.
FOTY 2010 – Good Behavior
This was the well behaved part of the quilt right before I took the whole thing down so I could go home.
FOTY 2010 – Orange and Yellow
IYellows and oranges were ignored, for the most part.
FOTY 2010 – Virginia’s Picture
Virginia took this picture while she was visiting. It is really helpful to see what other people see in my pieces.
FOTY 2010 back at home
Julie helped me roll up the piece in the flannel of the portable design wall so I could bring it home and set it up again. My plan is to chip away at the rest of the layout and piecing. Not finishing puts me behind in my mind’s quiltmaking schedule, but I am sure there is a reason that I didn’t finish. I certainly didn’t expect the intellectual piecing challenge of this project. I am sure it is good for me.
The CQFA Quilt Retreat was this past weekend. Dolores did a great job organizing it. We went to a new place and it was wonderful. There was a bakery nearby which baked gluten free pastries in addition to regular pastries. That was a really nice treat!
My Creative Mess
Above is my workspace, which I shared with Julie. You can see FOTY 2010 in progress. Sonja and Debbie were in the back. The share table is in the middle.
Terri, Dolores & Sue's Workspaces
Sue set up in a corner and made a whole Moon over the Mountain quilt while Terri worked on a Ricky Tims style quilt.
East Side of Room
It never ceases to amaze me how much of a mess I can make when given the opportunity. My workspace is right at the bottom of the photo. I worked hard over the weekend, so it must be ok. Dolores was in the far corner with Maureen and Robin at the table between Dolores and mine.
Bron & Virginia
Bron and Virginia couldn’t stay and work with us for the weekend, but they did come for the group dinner on Saturday. I love this picture. It shows what lovely people they both are.
Julie's Tumbler
At the same time I cut the FOTY patches all year, I have also been cutting Tumbler patches for Julie. I think she mentioned liking that shape and I took it upon myself to cut patches for her. I don’t remember exactly how it all came about, but it sounds like something I would do.
It was fun to see the same fabrics that I was working with on my project. Julie worked on sewing rows of her Tumbler quilt together. She is making it for her bed. At one point she laid it on the floor and we laid down on top of it to test and see if the size was large enough. No cameras were available to catch that moment. I was hoping she would sew all the rows on, but she got tired of it after awhile and worked on some different projects.
Another View of Julie's Tumbler
We declined to have Julie crawl on top of table or chair to show the whole piece. It is quite large and above is a different view.
Nancy's Needle felting
Nancy was making a needle felted scarf. I don’t know if she finished, because I don’t know that much about needle felting. I really liked the design she was working on.
Birthday Gifts
Julie also gave me some birthday gifts! We spent a happy hour looking through the two books and talking about the craziness of some of the piecing. She gave me a really nice card, too. 😉
Saturday was the ATC swap at CQFA. I didn’t really like to make ATCS when the group first started swapping, but lately I have found the creative outlet to be a good one. I really enjoyed making my swap ATCs (lower right picture) this time and may make more of them. I found that I could make something unusual in a small format and not have to make try the idea in a large quilt piece. People really seemed to like them as well. I received a lot of nice comments. Diane’s (upper left) are more of her silk painting and I see intention in these ATCs. I didn’t ask her if she painted the pieces specifically for ATCs or if they were leftovers or what. I really like them and hope she makes more like this. Trudi hadn’t been to the meeting in awhile, so hers were snapped up quickly.
RevaVirginia
The environmental theme that is pervading the group (because of the show) is very evident in Reva and Virginia’s pieces. I have been enamoured with leaves lately and it is very interesting to me to see how many different ways people can depict them. I didn’t ask Virginia if she painted her leaves, but they look painted.
BronJaye
One of the things I love about Bron’s ATCs is that she does something different each time. I was disappointed that I didn’t get an ATC paper doll last time and was hoping that she would make more, but, alas, it was not to be. She did the lovely green abstract that look at bit like leaves. Mine (right), as usual, were nearly impossible to photograph. I made an extra so I could keep one for myself.
My trades-Nov. 2010
Above are the ones for which I swapped, except mine, which I just kept. They will look great in my collection.
The past weekend seems like a zillion years ago. I have been across the country and back for work, had so many meetings, I had to arrange for my mom to attend one of them since I can’t be in two places at once. I know some of you think I can and I hope I haven’t shattered your illusions.
Frances, of the Off Kilter Quilt, talked about the first week of school and how exhausted she was. Our Young Man has been in school since August 25 and I feel like I live there, in addition to my work and quilt life. There isn’t enough of me to go around. Bleah.
CQFA is usually a great break with wonderful women, fabulous show and tell inspiration and, lately, great workshops. We are organizing a quilt show (~March 5-July 7, 2011) and I am the instigator of this endeavor, so how I feel is ALL MY FAULT. I started it. This is a professional event with a curatorial staff, professional signage, artists reception and symposium to go with the show. We spent a good portion of the meeting talking about the various committees, names for the show, copyright, lawyers and all other ephemera associated with a quilt show. I am thankful that everyone is interested and I am not alone in the organization, but the whole presentation sucked what little life there was left in me out.
The meeting didn’t give me the boost that it normally does and it wasn’t because of the show organization. It was me and the crazy schedule I had last weekend: CQFA, soccer, dinner, various school related functions. It was too much and I couldn’t get out of any of it.
My great sadness of CQFA was that the awesome Sonja was signed up to give a class and I had to leave part way through it. 🙁 She had me get out my kid watercolors and paint, which was fun and may have broken some barrier I had about using those watercolors. They are Crayola watercolors for kids, so I should have no hang ups, but I do.
I signed up for Carla Sonheim’s Drawing Silliness class (not sure of the exact name) and was pleased to find out that Sonja signed up for it as well. Perhaps I am not a complete lunatic.
We traded ATCs and mine were the last men standing. I have to admit that I liked the process when I did it at A Work of Heart, but they weren’t very successful in general. Oh well, not every piece can be a masterpiece. I have photos of the others, but I haven’t done anything with them yet, so look for a post on them later.
I volunteered to go and help demonstrate quilting at the deYoung Museum in San Francisco last Friday with the East Bay Heritage Quilters. I took the Chocolate Box with me so I could show how quilts are finished. I had done this “stunt quilting” at the museum before – when the Esprit collection was being displayed at the museum. That experience was wonderful. This experience was MUCH better.
BackStage Pass
Renee and her staff treated us like glitterati. I was greeted at the door and immediately given the above pass. There was a performer’s area away from the hubbub of the event where we could rest, partake of food and drink, and chat.
Children's Quilt Project Quilt detail
One of the things some of the ladies did was work on the CQP quilts. This one was tied with the help of some interested visitors. CQP is project where the guild makes quilts to donate to children in need.
Sewing CQP Blocks
A couple of the ladies worked with visitors to lay out blocks and then sew them. Some of the children were very interested in this aspect of the work and helped quite a bit.
Cutting
We demonstrated all aspects of the quilting process, including cutting. Many, many people had never seen a rotary cutter and were quite fascinated.
Hand quilting
Two ladies brought their hand quilting projects. Jean, working on the attic window quilt, brought several of her quilts. Many of them were a lovely combination of purples, blues and greens.
Tie quilt
This is another of Jean’s quilts in a lovely group of purples, blues and greens. She made this quilt from ties. I think it is one of the best uses of tie fabric I have ever seen. I like the combination of colors and patterns. I also like the block layout.
Godzilla & Mothra
Edi does gorgeous applique’. She had several in progress pieces with animals, which intrigued the children. The Godzilla quilt was a birthday gift for her husband, Jay (we were both a bit confused when we met!). He designed the quilt, Edi appliqued and then it was quilted with different Tokyo motifs by Laura Lee Fritz. This quilt drew in a lot of people in. Edi and Jay told the story of the quilt dozens of times. It was definitely a lot more interesting than my binding!
Hand quilting
This evening was one of the most fun experiences I have had in a long time. My mouth hurt from smiling when I got home. Two readers/friends stopped by: Kathy from Everyday Bliss and Lisa from LisaLizaLou. Some people who talked with me wanted to buy quilts, others wanted to commission quilts. Some were genuinely interested in the process. I even told someone my process for washing a quilt (toss in washer with Dreft and then toss in dryer on very low setting). There were a few people who were really interested in my quilt and the binding. Chocolate Box was, actually, a good quilt to bring with me. It is a pretty modern looking quilt and lots of young people were interested in the fabric and the design.
The CQFA meeting was Saturday. We had two new people and that was GREAT. The whole meeting, actually, was great. There was LOTS of laughter. People who came late said that they could hear the laughter out in the parking lot. I need to attend more meetings where everyone is laughing.
As usual, show and tell was excellent. Everyone is really churning out the work and being inspired by each other. It was great. I showed Passionate Purple, the Chocolate Box and FOTY 2009. I also showed some books, talked about the Dale Fleming class and traded ATCs.
My ATCs
ATCs
People did really nice work for this round of ATCs. I was really pleased with the ATCs I chose. My score were the pears! I love them all though.
NancyBron
Bron used FabMo fabrics for her ATCs. She is on the board and finds all the good stuff there!
Maureen
Maureen has a new blog, Flies in a Cathedral. She only promises to post once a week. I look forward to hearing about the flies.
DebbieAmy
I wasn’t fortunate enough to get one of Amy’s cards, but I loved the texture.
JulieDiane
Diane is a very accomplished silk painter. When I saw those pears I knew I had to have them. I wasn’t the first person to choose either, so I feel very lucky to get that card.
My ATCs were really fun to make. I haven’t had much fun making them in the past. I am working on a series of ATCs and I may have to rethink that as it seems like a chore — until this go ’round.
QA Article by Cindi Huss, Apr/May 2010
I was reading Quilting Arts magazine last Thursday night and saw a picture of a leaf in an article about wool felting or something I wasn’t interested in. The article was by Cindi Huss I was interested in the image and the technique.
April ATCs in Progress
From what I could see in the picture, the author stitched zigzag lines three times with different threads. I did that in the picture above. One of the great things about my machine is that it has a very precise stitch. I can stitch over the same line and the needle will land in the same hole. That wasn’t what I wanted to for this. I wanted the zigzag to be a bit messy. I wanted the colors to blend. I had to readjust the needle to get it out of sync with the previous line of stitching.
Because of the Dale Fleming class, I was no longer hampered by changing the foot. I know it sounds silly, but sometimes taking off the foot holder is just too much of a hassle. I think I am over it now. I put on the darning/free motion foot and created the circles. I drew them lightly with a white pencil first so I had something to follow. I also slowed down the machine and that helped make the stitches show. After doing all of the circles. I went over some of them with two different colors of thread. Using Aurifil means that the stitched area does not get too bulky.
My idea was to make one piece and then cut it up. I had planned to try this technique in paper, but was inspired by the QA picture that I decided to go for it. I did make the background larger, but if I do this again, I would make it even larger and the ATCs were a bit small this time.
April ATCs cut
I have never made one piece and cut it up. I didn’t think people would like the right and left bottoms, but those were the first to go, actually. After cutting, I took apart a necklace Lil Sissy brought me from the Carribean and used the hearts for embellishment.
April ATCs finished
Here is the piece (minus the middle) embellished and finished and ready to be distributed. I was really pleased that they were so popular this time.
