QuiltCon 2018--Part I

I am late with my post on our QuiltCon visit two weeks ago, but have to share some favorites.  My sister Kathy and I went down Friday afternoon, traffic was pretty heavy so it took awhile, but we found the convention center in Pasadena and parked no problem.  We got our badges and checked out the MQG Charity Quilt Challenge display in the main lobby. I was particularly taken by a few of them.

The fabric colors were set by the MQG as well as the size, but from there it was each guild's decision as to design and quilting.   I really liked the quilting on this simple layout.

Lots of movement with this computerized design.

Imagination and precision were the hallmarks of many of the quilts.  Here is another favorite of mine.

The quilted ripple was so effective with the large scale stars. I loved the pieced blocks in the the stars and the background.

Our guild's quilt was not in the lobby but one of the lecture halls and I thought I took a photo of it, but apparently not at the show.  I don't see a shot of it on our website either! That will need to be remedied (we made improv log cabin blocks).  We then went into the exhibition  hall and met up with fellow guild members manning our Thomas Fire booth space, donated by QuiltCon.  Sooo many generous folks donated blocks, batting, completed quilts, thread, fabric, and money to our efforts, just amazing, and we are so grateful.  We wandered around looking at quilts, I took a turn through an aisle or two of the vendor area, and then we learned that the exhibition halls closed at 6 pm!  Yikes.  I hurried across to take pics of the Carolyn Friedlander exhibit and the rest of the quilts in the last half hour.  So disappointed I didn't get to study them all more closely.  My sister was in a class from 6-9 and I spent the time with another guild member.  Here are a few favorites: 

Cats, of course!  So bright and fun, loved the colors and prints, Warhol style.

Aura.  Gorgeous soft colors in solids.  

My favorites tended to be in the piecing and Modern Traditionalism categories, but there were other surprises.

This improv-pieced quilt is called Alabama Cityscape.  I liked the subtle bright color pops.

 Surprisingly, it was hand quilted in an imaginative way with ellipses.  Loved that.

The maker was an individual member.  If you don't have a local modern guild near you, the MQG encourages you to sign up as an individual member to get all the benefits of belonging. There were lots of modern quilts with hand quilting.  I particularly loved this one that was TIED, surprisingly.

Off center improv log cabin blocks in a cornstalk setting.  Loved it.  The ties were on both sides of the quilt, yellow in the orange sections. The quilt was big, blocks were probably 10-12". 

Great to see a Bee quilt in the mix of guild entries.   Very hard to pick a favorite but the next two I really enjoyed.

 This is Sewology, so creative and fun with all the tools of the quilters' trade.

The next quilt is faced, not bound, as were many of the quilts on display. 

 I really liked all the "negative space" quilting contrasting with the colorful spools.

 The maker constructed the "thread" jelly roll race style, per her description.  Oh, now I want to try that with the abundance of 1.5" scraps I have!

Well, this post is getting very long so I will break it up into a second part so I can share more from QuiltCon.

Design Wall Monday--UFO #5 Progress

On my design floor is the #5 pick of the month for the UFO 2017 Challenge.  After struggling with MATH when I found there was not enough background material to do what I wanted, I pressed on with my new layout design and got many more Metro Twist pieces made (Pattern from Sew Kind of Wonderful, with the Quick Curve Ruler). 

Additional prints were added to the mix in the same colors.  For my 3x3 layout, I had just barely enough of the orange solid background.  After completely confusing myself with one go at laying out all the completed and half-done parts, I pulled them all back up and started over, separating the rows.  Finally I was able to work out what additional prints and parts were necessary and get them all cut and pieced.

I used Kona Silver for the outer edge and am considering insetting the whole thing into a larger Silver background negative space.  It would be appropriate, since this whole project started with my modern quilt guild's challenge to use a neon color.  There are only 12 days left of the month and I aimed for a completed quilt for this project pick. While this project is not large, the blocks are about 11" when completely sewn--I have that yet to do! Sketching and MATH are in my future.  See more design walls on Judy's Patchwork Times. 

March UFO Update 'n Stuff

The month is half over and I've not gotten very far with my project #5 from Judy's UFO challenge over at Patchwork Times. There was some MATH that needed to be figured out since I don't have any more of the background fabric but wanted to maximize all I had.  My poor brain was all twisted, like the Metro Twist blocks I'm making.  I sketched and erased, added and subtracted, counted and recounted.  Finally I resorted to laying out all the pieces I've sewn so far. 

Well someone's big fluffy duff is covering up a lot of the layout!

That's better!  The plan for this small wall quilt is a 3x3 setting of the Metro Twist Blocks.  I have enough orange background to complete the remaining 20+ sections I have sketched out.  For the left and right edges I will add a different background, probably a solid light gray, but that's to be decided once I have all the orange sections done.  I've got many more prints to throw into this color mix, and a bit of green because it's my favorite color.  Green and white have been under my needle a lot lately making the some of the Modern Quilt Guild's December Block of the Month, the ModZ Block. 

The pattern downloads are only available to MQG members.  I liked this one a lot because of the oversized simple to piece shapes--it makes a 12.5" block.

When pressing the Tri-Recs blocks, I found myself saying a mnemonic to help me with neatly pressing to one side: Toward on Top.  I lay the block I'm pressing with the side that I will pressing TOWARD on TOP.  In this case I wanted to press toward the white triangle so it is on top.  (Sometimes I don't listen and have to do it over :)

 It's a fun block to move around into different layouts.

I couldn't bring myself to donate them to our Guild philanthropy table this month but am sure I'll be making more of the MQG blocks.

Meanwhile, cross-stitching is also progressing on the Lizzie Kate May Stamp project.

I have been adding some stitches during my lunch hour and am really enjoying that.  I've nearly completed the outline and can't wait to stitch the cute birdies next to the birdhouse.  There are a whole series of Lizzie Kate month stamps and I may just have to order a few...

Design Wall Monday--1/16/17

My Design Wall this MLK day is cleared of the UFO #3 pick--the Row Robin top is complete!

Here the blocks are laid out as a trial. I needed to trim the far left block a bit and managed to cut off the wrong side so had to add on to the bottom of the block, but that is the joy of Improv, no mistakes, just design opportunities ;)

It is a very bright quilt but I really like everything that is going on.  I added the bottom row of 1/2 log cabin blocks to show what I learned from my fellow Row Robin participants with their color play.  I also wanted the quilt to be a little longer.  It is approximately 50 x 65".

I pressed on yesterday with cutting and assembly of the backing. 

The backing fabric came from JoAnn's, naturally NOT on sale and NOT eligible for use with coupon, grrr.  I hunted all over the store for a Hera marker but despite their website showing my local store carried them, none were found.  Hobby Lobby didn't have them either, nor do any stores in town.  Sadly, we lost the other quilt shop in December, though the owner is still carrying on in her longarm quilting business, so that is a good thing.

For quilting inspiration, I spent some time yesterday with this book.  The author is large in the modern quilting world with her blog, tallgrass prairie studio and on the Board of Directors for the MQG.  A lot of her walking foot techniques involve use of painter's tape and intensive marking, but I'm inspired by her ideas and working out all the details to follow.  I have two weeks to get this sandwiched, quilted and bound.  Wish me luck!

See more design walls on Judy's Patchwork Times. 

QuiltCon 2016

QuiltCon, the Modern Quilt Guild quilt show and conference, was in Pasadena, CA a few weeks ago.  My sister and I, and many members of our local Modern Quilt Guild, took advantage of the nearby event and classes.  I showed the photos from my class with Heather Jones, Improv Half Log Cabin, on my last post.  There is much about the Modern Quilt movement to admire, one of which is the inspiration modern quilt designers and quilters draw from traditional sources.  That section of the quilt show was most attractive to me and nearly all my photo taking occurred in the Modern Traditionalism area.  Here are a few of my favorites, and why.  All photos were taken at QuiltCon 2016.  Each photo below the quilt has the artist name and backstory.

Blue Spiderwebs:  The freeform spiderwebs were fun and I loved the black around the webs separating them from that deep luscious blue background.

Focal Point:  The offset setting and multiple prints mixed with a few solids was eye-catching.  This was not a large quilt, perhaps 40-45" square.  The spiral quilting was so well done and is something I must try sometime. 

Handcrafted Triangles:  All those deep saturated colors were completely juicy and beautiful to look at.  I've done some improvisational piecing and it can be fun.   It can also be frustrating when you cut off points when you didn't mean to! 

Octagon Shimmer:  I thought this quilt, which was large in size, had such a sophisticated look with the grays and muted solids throughout.  The small improv triangles gave a quirky touch.  The quilting was gorgeous too.

Picnic Petals:  Another large size quilt with a wonderful mix of solids and prints.  I liked the overlay look with some colored solid backgrounds and lots of white. 

Forest Abstraction:   These animals were so sweet and charming.  I'm not sure how she did the final application onto the backgrounds, but they were full of life and joy.

Melon Wedding Ring:  This was my absolute favorite of the Modern Traditional group.  Again, the deeply saturated colors felt very rich and captivating.  The quilting was beautiful and I liked the different background print choices.  Completely unboring!

 My sister and I didn't get to spend too much time in the vendor section, but I must say the fabric company booths were so inviting,with samples and things to make and stitch, places to sit and chat with other quilters, and plenty of inspiration, as well as freebie buttons, pins, and giveaways.  It was a completely different vibe from any other quilt show vendor floor.  I wished we had had more time to spend there.  QuiltCon East is in Savannah, GA next year.  I'd encourage anyone who loves fabric, thread, and design to see the show and take classes.  I'm hoping QuiltCon returns to Southern California again in the not too distant future. 

My iPhone took a swim a couple of weeks after this event and one thing the restoration from backup to my replacement phone taught me is that I need to upload photos and videos regularly to my PC.  Do it now, people!

Keeping Busy

Besides increasing to full time at one job, I've been training two people at my other job, took on the secretary board position for my guild, and got a recent surprise to spend time with--our second grandson arrived 2.5 weeks early and crashed his brother's 2nd birthday. We happily welcome Hunter Grant!

He's been doing well and big brother likes to hold him and talk to him. So cute!   We never expected a shared birthday to happen this way, least of all their parents!

I'm finishing curtains for Hunter's room and am getting started on a quilt for him. Mama picked a black and white theme. I found an easy pattern on Pinterest she liked. It's called Adam's Rib, from Fons and Porter Easy Quilts magazine, Summer 2013. 

Two sizes of squares and a couple of rectangles. The monkey fabric is for the backing, mostly, though I bought a little extra for blocks too. 

Besides the new little man to visit, life has been really busy and good. I have been sewing  some and took a class at QuiltCon last month. These blocks will be the basis of a Round Robin row by row in our guild that starts tomorrow. 

This was Heather Jones' Improv Half Log Cabin. My blocks are the smaller red, light gray and teal on the far left. It was a fun class. The loot MQG members was

pretty great too.  

My sister Kathy and I had a good  time and saw lots of exquisite work. The show and vendors had a totally different vibe from the Road to California show that we attended earlier, though we enjoyed both. There's nothing like spending time with other people who share your interests!  I'll post some pics from both shows soon. And now, back to those curtains for Baby Hunter...