And Yet Another New/Old Project

Years ago, at the first QuiltCon in Pasadena, CA (in 2013!), I saw a quilt that totally grabbed me. It is called Sidewalk Chalk, designed by Meghan Buchanan of Then Came June.  I bought the pattern then and there, but have never made it. Part of the reason was that it called for 1/2 yard cuts, which is not a size I generally buy.  However, on closer re-reading of the pattern, there was a twist!

Meghan included instructions to use scraps to make up the different color groups called for in the quilt. I pulled all these from my fat quarter drawers, choosing mostly tone on tone and small patterns.  I already have the solid background fabric on hand. 

A couple of weeks ago I had ordered a bolt of Kona Snow from Joann's Fabrics.  I had received a great mail offer deal and this 10 yard bolt that was originally $99 only cost me $65.  It was also shipped free to the store for pickup.  I didn't even have to get out of my car, as they brought it out to me.  Nice to have on hand and I will certainly repeat this in the future! Meghan has since written many more great modern patterns and recently opened a studio in Portland, Oregon, finally getting her business out of her house.  She has a great eye for color and design and sells curated fabric bundles. I participated in her Meadowland quiltalong in 2020 using a fabric bundle I won at Sewtopia.  It is still a top....

The fabric line is called "We Whisk You A Merry Christmas". This needs to turn into a quilt before Christmas, don't you think?

QuiltCon 2018--Part 3

More quilts to share! In another gallery across the courtyard were many more quilts, including a special display of Carolyn Friedlander quilts.  While I have bought her fabrics before, I haven't made any of her patterns.  She uses lots of curves and many prints--I'm always a fan of prints!

Her favorite technique is needle turn applique--which is probably the reason I haven't attempted her patterns yet as my curves are not likely to turn out the best.

Look at hers!  I liked the variety of machine quilting and the addition of hand stitching.

 Next Carolyn Friedlander quilt is called Everglade.

 

 Same pattern in different colors and scale, so interesting.

 More exquisite needle turn technique. 

 

The last pic I took of the CF collection, remember I was in a hurry as the exhibit closed in minutes! This one is called Wainwright. 

I'm sorry I didn't get any closeups.  this was hand appliqued and quilted with big stitch quilting and I just loved the shapes and colors.  The blocks were probably 6"

 Another well-known modern quilter, Victoria Findlay-Wolfe, won a ribbon for this quilt.

 

Her latest twist on traditional quilts, all solids in this braid, done in partial seams. 

 

 I found the choice of bright yellow thread fun!

Blogger is being a butt and not letting me load photos in the way I want, so this closeup insisted on going first.

 These are Alison Glass Sun Prints.  I love the intense dye and simple shapes in her Sun Prints.

 As the maker noted, a repeated simple shape has many possibilities.

Sorry for the light bleeding in from an upper window in this pic.  The quilting was varied and imaginative. 

Here's another set in the unintended order....Closeup first.  Loved the colors and mini stripe detail. 

 Hand quilting again.  This is my favorite category, one I feel I belong to!

And the whole quilt: 

The placement of the darks and lights made it look improv, but each HST was the same size.

This final quilt I could have studied much longer.  I loved the offset setting and creative quilting.  Closeup first...

 The quilting must have taken an extraordinary amount of time as this is a large quilt.

 It must have been hard to arrange all the quilted Ohio Star blocks just so. 

I have a GO cutter for the Snowball block and hope to made one someday.  After the huge Winding Ways quilt I made, a break from curves was necessary, but this is a great block I'd like to play with.  

So ends QuiltCon 2018.  The next two are out of state, I think Austin, TX next year and Nashville, TN the year after.  I don't thiink I'll make those but we'll see what my sister talks me into.  She took a bias tape class from Latifa Saafir one night, and a block printing class from another instructor the next day, an all day class, so barely got to see any of the quilts displayed.  I hope QuiltCon returns to CA again!

QuiltCon 2018--Part 2

More quilts to share--and I wish I had taken even more photos!  First up, mini quilts.

I liked all the diagonal lines, appliqued so straight!--and all the quilting.  Another faced quilt.  It was probably 20x24".

The descriptions of all the quilts helpfully included details to answer the most common questions :)  I do wish they had included each quilt's dimensions. 

Improv piecing in my favorite color, green.

This was a pretty big mini, maybe 36-40" square.

Very dynamic design with so much color and personality. I don't work with black and white much but really liked it in this smaller quilt.

Paper piecing is a technique I have not explored much, mostly because it drives me nuts to think upside down and backwards.

 A very colorful quilt with that very interesting tiny black line.  A closer look was necessary.

Wow, look how skinny it really is  pieced there.  And how about the exceeding close quilting?

The maker's description was just as interesting.--the lines are binary code. 

 I was completely charmed by this quilt, the colors and lines, the quilting.  

 

 I thought the quilting motif was a very good choice.

Reading the description, the maker included my favorite Prussian Blue, yummy Caramel and the coral shades I love--no wonder I was drawn to it. If there is a printed pattern, I'd buy it.

 Another fairly large quilt with lots of movement and color, whimsy and charm.

 

Blogger will not let me type below the first photo, but this very interesting HUGE quilt was in a collection of Art Quilts.  Many types of Art Quilts are not considered modern, but apparently there are a select few. The fabrics were different shades of the same tiny print, which was pretty unattractive up close, but added so much texture.

 

The designer and maker of this quilt was a speaker at our guild last year and also worked at Sewtopia so we got to know her a little bit.  Such a vibrant and fun lady--just like her quilts. These blocks were 12", I think. I liked the wave quilting, too.

I used herDrunkard's Path templates to make my big project at Sewtopia, the Lucky word quilt.  Unfortunately she won't be working at the Boston Sewtopia event which my sister and I will be attending this year.

Are you getting bored?  I hope not, because I have more quilts to share--another post will follow, as I am running out of time this morning.

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.