McCall's Quilt Design Star... about to roll

Submissions have been closed, and voting begins tomorrow May 1. There were 147 submissions in the amateur category for this contest, and in the voting pages, my quilt is currently listed at #144 (page 24 of the gallery view, I think).

I encourage y'all to go to the main page for the amateur contest and check out all of the entrants and vote for your fave(s). For more information about rules and to view entries in the professional category as well, visit the contest home page.

Fat Quarter Idol at Sew, Mama, Sew!

So, a little respite here. Have you all seen the weekly contests going on over on the Sew, Mama, Sew! blog?? This is one of those contests that is purely FUN. No putting your own creations on the line, no crazy deadlines, just playing with fabric swatches within a stated theme. And isn't that one of the things that drives us quilters to the medium?

This week's theme is "Meet me at the Picnic." I had fun choosing my 12 prints from their fabric selections. All you have to do to participate is create a Pinterest board (according to their specifications) and post to their blog page for that week's theme.

Since I can't seem to figure out how to create a mosaic of my pinterest board, if you're curious about my picks, you can see them here: http://pinterest.com/lindabeth/sew-mama-sew-fatquarteridol-meet-me-at-the-picnic-/. (and if anyone has tips on doing that mosaic, I would much appreciate any help for future use!) But here are a couple sneak peeks

WIP Wed - a little catch-up

As I sit here after a lovely dinner of mac 'n' cheese from a box, watching the last disc of Project Runway Season 1, I am trying to take stock of the activity of the last week or two. And then I'll be linking up with Lee at her blog Freshly Pieced.

I managed to get my tutorial up for the March round of the Friends + Fabric Stash Bee, a wonky diamond log cabin block

Also, along with finishing the quilting on the wall hanging I'm making for the For the Love of Solids swap on Flickr, I whipped up a small set of coasters from some of the scraps

And it has occurred to me that I have somewhat neglected my Etsy shop in the last few weeks. At the small craft bazaar that Saskia (the lovely and creative environmental chemist behind Base Natural) and I attended in December, I was asked if I had a wider selection of pot holders, and since then I've sold a couple of sets, so it's about time I replenish.

And as for continuing projects...
I finally basted and have started quilting the November quilt for the Bliss circle of do. Good Stitches

I've also added another quilt top to my growing pile of quilt tops awaiting quilting (though I suppose we can call it even with the previous project coming off of that pile!) - the Encapsulated quilt that I had started several years ago in a class with Portland quilt artist and teacher Lee Fowler.

And now there's the big sigh of relief. Coming in JUST under the wire is the already too often mentioned Tangerine and Wine quilt! Complete! However, not quite finished... I have it posted to the Flickr group for the Tangerine Tango Challenge but have been struggling with the photos for the MQG call for entries for the 2012 Fall Quilt Festival in Houston. Their photo requirements are strict! And I'm sure I'm overthinking it, but that's my nature. So, I have Wednesday and Thursday to get a couple of good photos of this quilt, with the perfect lighting and not needing any color correction (I've already taken dozens of photos, both full shots and details) in order to make that deadline.

So the final tally (and this actually spans a bit more than a week, since I missed last week...)
New - 3
Completed - 3
In Progress - 4 or 5
Unquilted tops - 14

Thanks again for showing interest! And if you haven't already, it's time to check out the other bloggers linking up for WIP Wednesday!

WIP Wednesday - is it already??

Well, kind of like Lee stated in her post, I don't have a whole lot to report, mainly because I have spent the last week concentrating on one particular project - and I'm not ready to show it just yet (though I do have a sneak peek!)

The focus of the last week for me has been this curved piecing project about which I've posted a couple of times, here and here. I'm hoping to have this completed in time to submit both for the Tangerine Tango Challenge that Ali and Erin are hosting on Flickr, as well as the MQG show at the 2012 International Quilt Festival in Houston. I now have (24) 15 1/2" blocks completed, though I only plan to use 20. I'm in the process of playing with arrangements on my design wall, and might actually work on a couple of other things over the next day or two while I contemplate overall layout. But here's a peek at a couple of the blocks together:

I also managed to sneak in a bee block this week for Design Camp [Think Outside the Block] Swap. February is Leona's month in our group, and she chose a fabulous concept based on a piece she made for the first round of the For the Love of Solids swap! For a photo of her amazing original piece, click here. Here's my block, using the fabrics she provided, plus just a couple strips from my own stash:

I also started cutting fabrics for another bee block - the February round of Friends + Fabric for Maria... gotta love that aqua and orange!

My one last WIP that I actually worked on this week is of the knitty variety. Working on that hood by Lee Meredith, fellow Portlander. I first posted about it here.

(You can see a hint of my pink circular needles just above my shoulder there...)

And that pretty much sums it up. Anything else that was on my to-do list is STILL on my to-do list. Oh, and just to give you an idea, here's a shot of the piles of finished tops that need quilting:

New - 2 (bee blocks only)
Completed - 1 (bee block only)
In progress - 8
unquilted tops - 16

I'm linking up to Lee at Freshly Pieced, so hop on over and get the skinny on everyone else's creative pursuits!

pulling fabrics

I've started pulling fabrics for that second version of the curved-pieced quilt. And I am going to try and keep it within the parameters of the Tangerine Tango Challenge, though not sure if I'll be entering that (though, since they have the same deadline as the quilt show call for entries, I might as well, right??)

I'm feeling a little gun-shy about cutting up the blocks before I can envision the various combinations, so earlier today I was playing around with the stacks until I came up with 4 groupings that I think I like together.

And though it was difficult to find a fabric to tie together the tangerine/orange with that deep wine color, when I found it I knew, and that Denyse Schmidt Hope Valley print on the bottom is just the link!

Hope to begin cutting into these guys by Thursday or Friday.

new design

Have you all heard about the 2012 Fall Market and Festival having a section of the quilt show dedicated to quilts by members of the Modern Quilt Guild? I had seen something in passing and really didn't take it into consideration, but then at our meeting last week Jen, who is now involved with publicity and networking for the national MQG if I got that correctly, filled us in a bit and encouraged members to submit. If you're curious about the opportunity for submissions, you can find information on it here. The deadline for submissions is March 2nd and each individual may submit up to 2 quilts.

So, last weekend I got back into my sketchbook with a couple of new ideas, but know if anything I can only get one quilt started and finished in time for that deadline. The one that keeps intriguing me looks like this:

I played around with the fabrics in that stack and think it's got potential, but might try in different fabrics for a more dynamic/effective look. But here's a sneak peek at the blocks I made this week:

one set of blocks after slicing and rearranging fabrics

block before piecing

stack of all 12 blocks.

I might try to put together the next version in concert with the Tangerine Tango Challenge hosted by Ali and Erin on Flickr.

I've also been looking at some of the other pieces I did over the last year or two to decide if I think there's one I have enough confidence in to try and enter... These are the ones that I'm considering – any thoughts??

My Fiesta Squares quilt... an original design that I also plan to play with in time, but have gotten a pretty positive response to this version.

Nothing earth shattering, nor all that original, but a quilt I love and am very pleased with the end result (plus, it's backed with a shot cotton and the quilting shows through beautifully!)

Originally made for the second Project Modern Challenge.

And there is one more, but it is no longer in my possession (was a wedding gift from about a year and a half ago). J thinks it would be tacky for me to ask to borrow it back for the show, if I were to be accepted. I'd have to agree, sadly, but that doesn't make me think about it less. Stupid time constraints!

I'm sure there will be more musings in the upcoming weeks, but welcome any input, truly!

Monochromatic project, next installment

As promised, I'm going to fill in a few more details on my journey through this challenge, which I have since learned I did not place in, but one of my fellow Portland Modern Quilt Guild members, Jill, did! See her fabulous entry here and here.

The design process began, as most do for me, with a piece of graph paper and a pencil - oh, and the original theme of the challenge, of course. The first design was in my awesome graph paper composition notebook, but as I was playing with ideas I realized this quilt wanted to be based on 60 degree triangles, which meant switching the type of graph paper I was using. Thank goodness for the options we have!


I've talked about the fabric selection process a bit in previous posts, so I won't go too much in depth here. Plus, there's nothing too complex about it. Bluntly, this challenge came about at a time when I was making a concerted effort to limit my fabric purchases to specific projects, and knowing I was going scrappy for this, I started out in my stash. Choosing from a color that I seemed to have a fair amount of fabrics in a variety of values made the most sense to me, and so that's where I began.

And then I just started making strip sets, selecting sub-sets of gradients within the full "spectrum" of values with which I was working. Those strip sets got cut down at 60 degree triangles and from the dozens and dozens of such triangles I started laying them out and sewing them back together according to the layout in the sketch.


Now, one of the new techniques this project introduced me to was binding the serrated edge. When I have a bit more concentration (admittedly, we are watching "Dangeroud Liasons" while I am doing this - an excellent film that neither J nor I has seen in YEARS) I'll try to put together a tutorial on the binding process, but for now I'll just load several of my photos from the experience.








and like my little "binding cozy"? Just a swatch from an old knitting project and a safety pin, and it keeps the long bias binding roll in check, while allowing it to unroll as I use it. Yay for scraps of all kinds!

Monochromatic challenge

So, I guess I've been holding out on sharing much about my first major entry to a quilt contest. Some might say I play by the rules, and those same folks would also say that I take thing rather literally. And both are more or less true.

I did, once before, enter a quilt into a contest, or rather a juried exhibition. It was only a couple of years after I had started quilting, and though I still stand by the inspiration and theme of the quilt, I acknowledge that the technical aspects were not exactly museum worthy. I was looking for ways to combine my relatively newly discovered love of quilting with my more steady, consistent love for photography. It is a black and white "Trip Around the World," both literally and figuratively.



I designed this quilt using photographs I had taken while traveling. I printed the photos onto ink jet printer fabric (NOT Printed Treasures... in fact I don't even remember the brand) which ultimately discolored and became more charcoal and mauve than black and white,

plus I hand quilted the piece, with little to no experience. (Experience now tells me that my hand quilting will NEVER be jury-worthy!)

And enough with the tangent... Back to the matter at hand - the Modern Quilt Guild's Project Modern 2 Challenge. The theme, as you most likely know, was "monochromatic" with a bit of discussion about how stringently they would be sticking to that definition. I tried to do my best, though I battled with WHITE and the family of TEAL just a bit. However, I was happy with what I came up with. I started out with these guys
and started building out from there.



My first step was playing around in the sketchbook, and the first design I came up with, I figured was both more complex than I wanted to try for this, and would perhaps not be best realized as a monochromatic quilt. So I played some more and came up with a quilt based primarily on scrappy, string-pieced patches. After much playing around and adding to the fabric pool, I landed on what worked best for me.


Over all, this process took about 2 and half months, a few pieces of paper, and a fair amount of fabric. The quilting and binding of the quilt are something else entirely, and I shall devote another post to them, but for now I will stick with the overall picture and just say that I am glad to be in the game (even though I don't know the results just yet...)