A FUN SATURDAY

I spent yesterday with my Modern Quilt Guild buddies at our monthly meeting.  We had such a good time!!

I thought I would show you a few things that they had for Show and Tell.  Please note that the projects lying on the floor are resting on top of a beautiful rug that is part of the shop decor.  It does create some competition with our quilt showings, though.  Just adjust your vision as needed.  :-)

Sharon shared her Spring Table Runner!!  Love those colors!  And the design is original.

Gerry shared another of her beautiful Convergence quilts with the leaves made from ultra suede fabric.  It goes to her son-in-law's office to hang.  Lovely!

Jean shared a design she originated using the Kaleidoscope ruler.  The construction is unique and un-traditional.  She hasn't decided how she wants to use this component/technique.

This is Gayle's beautiful neutral palette quilt.  It is so soothing.  I am   sorry I do not remember whose pattern she used.

These are some of Melody's selections.  Some are pieced and others were fused.  Her fabrics are hand dyed cottons and silks.  Lovely, aren't they?

BJ shared this cute little album piece that she designed.  It has an overlay of black net to give it the night time feel.  She told us about a tip she uses on some of her work.  On the back she made notes to herself of things to do differently or things not to do when using these materials and techniques the next time.  I thought that was just so smart!  And, of course, she signed and dated her work.

I shared my completed Modern Mystery Quilt that was designed by Weeks Ringle and Bill Kerr and offered by AQS on their website.

Melissa introduced us to some fabrics that she just purchased.  These were the newest Batiks to arrive at Sew Bee It, our quilt shop where we meet for our guild each month.

Gayle has started a Block Lottery project for us and each month she will introduce us to a different block to make.  Here are the finished blocks for the Mod Mosaic that we did for the month of February.  Here is where you have to concentrate to separate the blocks from the rug.

The new block for us to have ready for the April meeting is the Celtic Twist.  Requirements are to use white/black print as the background and scrappy greens throughout.

We have a drawing of the participants and declare someone the winner of the blocks.  In order for her to win again, she must bring a completed top using the blocks back to the meeting.

Six of us have just returned from attending Quilt Con in Austin, TX.  This was the first Quilt Conference for the National Modern Quilt Guild.  It was entertaining, informative, and educational for all of us.  We had so many goodies given to us by vendors at the show that we made up goodie bags to share with the members.  Here is Jean passing out some of the bags and you can see the gals opening the brown paper bags to see what they got!!  Don't quilters just love more stuff?

We had so much conversation, sharing, and fun!!  I am so glad I did not miss this meeting!

Lil Bit is telling me that she likes to quilt!!  "Why do I have to stay home?"


                                                


                                    -   sandi

CREATIVITY IS . . .

I am not a perfectionist, but I am very disciplined to good use of my time and resources.  This principle in the above poster is nagging at me.  So, I am trying to go this way in my quilting.

This year I have become more involved in my Art Quilt Guild and in my Modern Quilt Guild.  Both of these guilds really challenge me to use that "other side" of my brain. They also require me to "let the ideas flow" rather than having everything so overly planned.

I should tell you that I majored in math and foreign language in college and spent a number of years teaching all the different levels of each of those disciplines on the high school and college levels.

I believe that all of us have an artistic side to our nature.  I am very creative when it comes to quilt making, I think.  It is not really difficult for me to use a color wheel and choose fabrics for a quilt design.  Sometimes I just take a look around me and choose a palette for a quilt.

I absolutely love this picture.  I am pulling fabrics for a quilt in this palette.  No, I don't think it will be a bird quilt, but the color palette is what has my attention.

Once in a while I choose to do an original quilt design, but when it comes to picking up a pencil to make a drawing or a paint brush to paint a picture, I freeze.  Well, that might be a strong word.  It is more like I go blank and cannot think of the way to approach the drawing.  What I see in my mind's eye does not come out on the paper.  I have never had an art drawing lesson.  I am finding that it is more difficult "to teach myself" how to draw than it was to teach myself how to quilt.  I have been trying to put a little time into sketching something almost daily.  I guess it will eventually come, but at the present it isn't looking too promising.

My Modern Quilt Guild is having a monthly blog lottery.  You make a number of blocks using the pattern or idea offered by the coordinator.  This month the inspiration was mosaic blocks and you can enter up to three blocks.  At the meeting you will put your name in the basket for the number of blocks you made and then the coordinator will draw the winner of all the blocks.  I am rarely, if ever, a winner, but it is fun to learn the technique.

Today I worked on some Mod Mosaic Blocks by following Elizabeth Hartman's tutorial over on Oh, Fransson blog   http://www.ohfransson.com/oh_fransson/2012/01/mod-mosaic-tutorials.html.  This was a very freeing experience.

The first one I did I pulled some mostly traditional fabrics from my stash and made it.

The inspiration piece was the Kaffe Fassett piece in the lower right corner.  Then I began to look for other things to add to it.

Trying to use up my stash that consists of a lot of traditional style fabrics and mixing them with more modern fabrics is fun.

Not too bad for a first try!  I do like using the small pieces.  The orientation of this block is fun.  If I turn it around then it looks like this.

Maybe I like this orientation better.

 

I picked another set of fabrics for this palette:

 

 

The second block I made looks like this. . .

Again, the center block is from Kaffe Fassett and these sections are much larger than the first one I did.  I guess the challenge for the winner will be to put all these very different mosaics together into one piece.  The only requirement was that the sashing had to be white.

My two blocks together . . .

Ummm, I think they will play well together in a scrappy layout.

This is how I am artistic or creative.  Still haven't made a drawing.  Okay, I will keep practicing.

 

The Bit is still in charge of the computer cord . . .


                                              -sandi



 

 

MADRONA ROAD CHALLENGE BLOCKS

These were the fabrics in my packet for the Madrona Road Challenge Blocks that my Modern Quilt  Guild is participating in.

Fabrics were provided by Michael Miller Fabrics.

 

Our challenge was to use these fabrics in as many blocks as possible made in a wonky log cabin style that was introduced in our program book,  Quilting Modern, written by Jacquie Gering and Katie Pedersen.

 I made two blocks.

We will turn these in to the chairman of the Challenge at the February meeting. 

TIP OF THE DAY:

A little tip I have when you make blocks that you will be sharing with a group and blocks that will be handled several times before use is to back them with Freezer Paper.  This keeps the edges from fraying and the Freezer Paper can be peeled away when it is time to sew the blocks together.

 

 

 

I had enough fabric left over to make these little "pods".  These are great little fillers or they can be used in a border for accent.

I offered a tutorial on how to make the pod blocks on this site.

http://www.frogpondstudio.blogspot.com 

January 18, 2013

 

 

Our Modern Quilt Guild is so much fun!!!  We are growing in membership and having lots of good sharing of ideas in our meetings.

 

-sandi 

LOGO CHALLENGE BLOCKS

The Chattanooga Modern Quilt Guild is only a little over a year old and we have just now established our logo.   One of our members, Pam McCallie, designed this for us and another member, Debra Nance, stitched our badges for us.

Pam decided that it would be fun if each member designed an "alternate" logo that could be swapped around as our profile picture on our blog site each month.

http://www.chattmqg.blogspot.com

So she designed a challenge for us and gave each of us a packet of fabrics to use to design our blocks.  We turned these in at our January meeting.

These are my two blocks:

Do you see where these will be inserted?  I think it will be fun to watch as each person's blocks show up.

 

The other purpose for these blocks is to make a Door Banner to hang while we are meeting.  Our group meets in the classroom at Sew Bee It Quilt Shop and there is always traffic in the store while we are meeting and hanging our banner will let others learn about us.  Maybe they will want to become part of our membership.

 

                                -sandi

 

MONDAY MUSINGS

My Modern Quilt Guild is participating in a challenge sponsored by Michael Miller fabrics.  It is called the Madrona Road Challenge and was offered to us by the national Modern Quilt Guild.  We submitted our request and we were accepted to participate.

Michael Miller Fabrics has provided us with fabric from their new line called "Madrona Road".  Each guild sets up its own guidelines for the challenge.

Our challenge is due at our next meeting in February.  The challenge leader distributed 3 fat eighths of fabric with a fat quarter of Kona snow fabric and gave us the rules for the challenge.  Since we are turning these in at the next meeting, I will have to wait until then to show you the finished blocks.  However, I will show you the three fabrics that were in my packet.

I have designed my two blocks as well as the "extra"  that our leader suggested we do.

We must use all three of these as well as the Kona Snow.  We cannot add any extra fabrics.

We are using the book  Quilting Modern  this year as our guide for all of our programs.  The leader chose the Log Cabin unit for us to use to design our blocks.

So this Monday will be my challenge work day.  LilBit is keeping me company.

                                                       -sandi 

MODERN QUILT GUILD

On the Second Saturday of each month our local Modern Quilt Guild meets at Sew-Bee-It Quilt Shop in Ringgold, Georgia.  We are a small group and some months we are fewer in number than other months.

Today we had a wonderful Show and Tell from our members.

Martha, Joan, Debra, and JoAnn shared their Mini Bow Tucks Purses they have made.

JoAnn modeled her crocheted poncho for our newest member, Catherine Price.

Gayle shared her "Hot Stuff" Pillow and her beautiful Batik Table Runner.

Joan had a "Linus" charity quilt that she made from fabric that was donated by Gloria Black, owner of Sew-Bee-It quilt shop.

We have been choosing a focus project each month from the book Modern Mix by Jessica Levitt.

This month's project was a small pillow using two colorways.

My version of this month's focus project.

I also showed my Locker Hooked Rug in Monochromatic Beiges to Browns.

The last Show and Tell was my "Whirly Gigs" an original design using some pink components set into a burgundy background and quilted in a variegated pink/burgundy thread. 

Until next month  -- 

I will be sewing all month to have something to share with my quilting friends.

-sandi