Presenting ... "Connections"

Connections - 34" x 43"

 

It's Done!  The last binding stitch was put in on Thanksgiving night, while watching a movie with the DH, surrounded by our cats & dogs - most fitting I think.  And just in time to be my entry into the NYC Mod Quilt Guild DWR Challenge, and in celebration of our 10th Anniversary coming up in January.

center rings up close and personal

 This quilt was fun to design and make, blending the old and new.  While there are great acrylic templates available out there (and I even bought one), using it/them would have made this quilt fairly large - not what I was looking to do. We are planning on hanging this quilt over the front door so size was a consideration, not to mention I wanted the background to only be one piece. So, all of the applique pieces were cut by hand using cereal box cardboard templates (with special 'help' from a cat who tried to eat the arc template - ARGH!) and hand appliqued. The arrangement is modern/arty, the machine quilting was marked with silver pencil by drawing around the cardboard applique templates and the binding was the background fabric, wrapped to the back and hand stitched down.  The fabric is all hand dyed Cherrywood cotton, in the Renaissance colorway, which has been in my stash for several years waiting for the right project to come along.

Yes - you are not imagining things - the rounded corners are of two different sizes and follow the curve of the quilted rings.  Deciding on how to quilt this was the hardest part.  I wanted to try so many different patterns - free form flames, hard right angle paths and boxes with different textures, sunrays, etc. - all sketched on paper, all of which ended up wadded up in the garbage can.  Overthinking to the max!! I drove the DH to distraction with my frustrated drawings.  Finally, I made myself go down the sewing area, set the sketchbook aside and listen to what the quilt was telling me. DUH!!  I truly cannot imagine it being quilted any other way and me liking it any more. 

Here's the back, blowing in today's wind. There's nothing like having beautiful sunshine - thank you - and a quilt flapping in the stiff breeze, except when you are trying to take a picture of it.  The dogs were outside helping me but thankfully stayed out of my way.

The machine quilting was done on my trusty Singer workhorse, with the feed dogs up, using YLI machine quilting cotton thread.  
This next picture is not the best (taken into the sunlight) but I liked the way you can see the colored arcs ghosting through the back.

Just need to add the label later today.  I am very happy with this finish!

 

Iowa Trip Part 1

 

The trip to the AQS Des Moines QuiltWeek started early & dark but by the time I crossed the Mississippi, the day was bright & warming up.  And just in case I thought I was lost in the fog, this rest stop confirmed my location.

The downtown part of Des Moines where the show was had some great scenery though I didn't have a lot of time to explore.  That's the capitol in the distance.

And a look at a nearby bridge over the Des Moines River

 Love this sculpted fountain.

The show was at HyVee Hall at the Iowa Event Center located in the heart of downtown Des Moines, which was decked out, welcoming quilters to the city.

 

 

The facility is good but not quite as nice and open and light as the DeVos center in Grand Rapids.  However, the show sprawled on and on as over 1600 quilts were on exhibit.

 

Shameless plug - one of those quilts was mine.  Quietude was juried into the first ever Modern Quilt Challenge. And while it didn't win a prize, seeing it hung was a total rush!

 

There was so much to see and not a lot of time to see it all. Since I was in hyper-viewing mode, shopping was not a priority at this show - which goes against every fiber of my shopping maven being.  There's more to come so stay tuned!

 

Barn-ette Quilt Revisited and Here I Go Again

I have realized that all this road tripping is cutting into my quilting time - not that I am going to stop my mini trips anytime soon. Just an observation. I wonder if I can reallocate some cleaning time to quilting time...

 

Looking back over my recent posts, I discovered I never shared the barn-ette quilt installed in it's new home after the road trip to deliver it.  So I shamelessly borrowed the picture from Martha's site  Thistle Rose Weaving (check it out - her weaving is awesome) so I could post it here.

 

 

Copyright Thistle Rose Weaving 2013

Martha's Irish Chain variation barn-ette quilt

 

I think it looks good against the barn red barn, but I may be a tiny bit biased.  I still have to design & paint the one for the Michigan shed.  I do have a few ideas percolating on that one, just nothing on paper yet.

 

And YES, I am going on another whirlwind Road Trip this week.

 

I will be trekking west, over the Mississippi River, across the plains of Iowa to......Des Moines!!   I am fortunate to be able to head out to the AQS QuiltWeek in Des Moines to see my quilt hanging with 111 others in the first Modern Quilt Challenge.  I already packed spare camera batteries.

 

Departure is set for T minus 21 hours. 

 

YIKES!  I better go pack something!

 

Something Old, Something New...

After a decade of use with hard water, at least two house moves and apparently one too many dives off the ironing board, my little, old generic iron died.   As in - ain't going to heat up for you no more - EVER.
Drat.  It had to be replaced. And it was - with this. 

I neat, new Black & Decker steam model - not very fancy but man, does it heat & steam to beat the band.  Ask me how I know?  Because I just about steamed my fingerprints off working on the newest project.

I'm taking the old Double Wedding Ring pattern and making it new.  The NYC Mod Quilt Guild is having a DWR Challenge, with 3 categories (small, traditional & modern), open to all quilters worldwide and the deadline is Dec. 1st.

I'm cutting and pressing the pieces using a cardboard (cereal box) and graph paper template - a rather old method but tried and true!  Thank Goodness for 'Best Press'!  I think my color choices are rather new & different. Here's a sneak peek.  I'm using Cherrywood hand dyed fabric in the Renaissance colorway.  The cornerstones will introduce a pop of another color so stay tuned.

More progress on basting the arcs has been made since I shot this but I've had to squeeze it in between working on the flooring.

It's vinyl, easy to work with and almost done. This is just the upstairs hallway and you can just see Drake (Chinese Shar Pei) photo-bombing on the right side.

SQUEEEE!!!! It's in...

My entry for the AQS Modern Quilt Challenge has been juried in!!! 

 

 I got the official notification letter via email yesterday.  My quilt will be joining 112 others hanging at AQS QuiltWeek Des Moines, October 2-5, 2013.  Not only will they be judged, a number of them will be selected to travel as an exhibit for a year.  I'm excited that I even made the cut!!

 

Why, you might ask  - not because I'm that good but because this was my first concentrated effort to do a 'Modern' on purpose. 

 

I'm a quilter, I do a wide range of styles.  I don't usually define myself with a particular group or trend.  I do traditional, traditional with a twist, art, contemporary, modern, pieced, applique, mixed, etc.  I use batiks, novelty prints, hand dyes, classical prints, civil war reproductions (this one is very new to me as part of a challenge), solids, florals, etc.  I design on graph paper with colored pencils.  I don't follow patterns as they can make me twitchy.  I have to do it 'my way' or 'make it better/me'. 

 

Oh now wait, I'm not saying that my way is better, as on occasion as a result of my decisions, I have ended up:

1. trying to re-invent the wheel which we all know is stupid, or

2. short of an impossible to find, out of print, desperately needed to finish this design fabric, or

3. tearing my hair out, muttering unprintable words causing DH, dogs and cats to nervously tiptoe around the house.

 

It's just the way my mind works. And believe me, it's pretty scary in there! Like right now, the design wall is blank,

 

 the 'Summer Stripes' blocks are hanging out in piles (and messy ones at that) on the cutting table. 

 

 Because I am struggling to get a layout that I like, because I couldn't just follow the inspiration quilt & I *had* to make over 200 blocks to do it my way.

 

I need to get back to the design wall later today.  I got myself into this mess and I'll have to arrange myself out of the mess and on to a quilt I like.

And I'm rambling, because it's Juried In and I can't help myself, so I think I'll go touch some fabric and try to calm down.
Besides, I need to make a hanging sleeve...

In between projects...

Well, here I am - in between projects and so I decided it was a fine time to start a blog. We'll see.

It has been a rather hectic 2 week stretch. The deadline for the AQS Modern Quilt Challenge was yesterday, August 2nd, I think by 5 p.m. Central Time.  I made it with about 4 hours to spare.

Nothing like seeing the challenge notice, hemming and hawing about it, finding perfect fabric at the IQF at Rosemont in late June, thinking about it, doodling around with the colored pencils and graph paper, thinking some more about it, finalizing the design, and then realizing I had 2 weeks to piece and quilt it. Oh and it turned out that my final design required more background fabric than I had and of course, it's hand dyed fabric and  just to prove I can be stubborn, I refused to resize the quilt smaller to make it work. AAACCKKK!!!

But with some luck (Thanks to Cherrywood Fabrics for some excellent customer service and fast shipping) and a very understanding husband, Quietude was completed and entered.  I'm please with it but of course there are a few things I would do differently - usually are - but overall it's okay.  The new background fabric is a few shades darker but the placement worked with the design. This is technically my first attempt at a 'Modern Quilt'.  For my next attempt I will be buying at least three yards of the neutral fabric...maybe four yards.