Project Modern

I'm pretty excited to get to work on Project Modern.  I don't have anything in mind, but I have time to figure it out... Challenge 1 isn't due until November 30th.  

Challenge #1 was released recently.  The challenge is to create a quilt a minimum of 45"x45" based on an inspiration of the quilter's choice. 

One of the fabulous prizes up for grabs is Cherri House's book, City Quilts: 12 Dramatic Projects Inspired By Urban Views. 

Valori Wells is the judge for this challenge.  Have you seen her work?  I love the Urban Baby Quilt!

So, I'm on the hunt for some inspiration.  I love these contests... I think they're so much fun!

KMQG September Meeting

The September meeting of the Kansas City Modern Quilt Guild was fabulous.  We had a ten-minute-tip on hexagons.  I learned a few fun tips.  I learned how to tack down the corners without going through the paper.  I learned how to make little stitches on both sides of the fold in the corner.  It comes out looking so neat and pretty!

Another of the secrets shared... instead of using pins, use paperclips!  This is a great traveling project, but pins can get a little tricky in the car.  Paperclips keep the fabric in place and don't draw blood!

Another hot tip... use YLI silk thread to stitch the hexies together.  The silk thread is very strong, so you can tug on it pretty hard without it breaking.  It is also thinner than other threads so it buries itself nicely in the seams. 

Also, do you know what a between needle is?  I didn't either.  A between needle is a needle that is between sharp and dull.  Duh!  Why can't all things be that obvious? 

The presentation was fabulous.  At the very end, there was a bag passed around the room and everybody got to take one of these:





It's a little packet of the papers for hexagon piecing and some scraps of fabric to try it out on.  I love free stuff!  How cool is that?  Thanks Paper Pieces for the free gift!

Our meeting was wrapped up with a presentation by Jacquie, our president.  She brought some of her beautiful quilts to share and discuss with us.  She talked about her journey through different quilting styles.  It was really interesting.  She also talked about coming from an Mennonite family and the necessity of the handmade.  I couldn't believe that she and her dad built their house!  How cool is that?  She can wire a house and move a gas line!  I'm totally impressed!

I also received the next assignment for the KC Scrappy Bee at the meeting.  I am going to LOVE this month's project.  Paula is our leader this month and she picked a really fun project for us!  She gave us each a fat quarter of some "Bluebird of Happiness" fabric (her name for this adorable print).  We're each going to be making a liberated or wonky star like this.  I can't wait to see how her quilt turns out.  I'm excited to be a part of it!

I came home after the meeting excited about quilting and inspired to try new things.  I always love leaving the guild meetings because I'm always inspired.  Thanks KCMQG for everything I've gotten from you so far!

Art x Architects

I mentioned last week that I had a piece in the Art x Architects show at the AIAKC Office.  Well, more than a week has gone by and I'm just now getting to posting photos from the show. 


The AIA has moved recently.  If you get to check out their office, you definitely should.  It's located down in the Crossroads district and I think they usually have something going on there for the First Friday Art Walks. 


This is how the show was arranged in the space.


Here I am next to my piece, The DOG. 


And here is a close up shot of my piece, just in case you wanted to see it again.

How cool is that?  I had a piece of work in an art show.  An art show where lots of people got to see it!

"THE GRASS IS ALWAYS GREENER..."

Yesterday about lunchtime I saw my mailman pull up next to my mailbox.  I could see he was putting a squishy in my box, so I ran out the door to see what it held.  It was as I suspected.  I ran back inside to rip it open and was delighted with the contents!  Inside was my doll quilt for the Doll Quilt Swap 9.  It turns out that Isaacsmama was my secret partner for this swap; she knew who I was, I didn't know who she was.  She made me this beauty titled "THE GRASS IS ALWAYS GREENER..."


It's very bright and fun!



I think this purple guy is my favorite bird.  He's so cheerful!


Isn't this fish awesome?  He's got a fun fin and polka-dotted skin.  What's not to love?



I think these little guys are my favorite in the whole quilt.  The are just hangin' out swimmin' around through the polka-dotted kelp.  Love!


The back of the quilt is very pretty, too!  The quilting really sings on the back. 



See what I mean?  Love his feet & tail!



The quilted waves at the bottom are fun!


The little fishes!  :)




Thanks for the doll quilt Sudi-Laura.  It really made me smile and brightened my day!

Orange Elixir

It's over.  :(  The Doll Quilt Swap - Round 9 has come to an end.  The doll quilts had to be in the mail by September 8th.  When did I drop mine at the post office?  September 8th.  I really had planned to have it in the mail before we moved, but then I ended up doing the Astral Summer, Flower Power, and Gifts from the Garden quilts for Fabri-Quilt.  Oh, well!  I still made the deadline!

Would you like to see it?  It has a name, now.  I've titled it Orange Elixir. 






I couldn't decide which way this quilt needed to be oriented.  What's my solution to that problem?  I added a pocket in each corner so my partner can decide which way to hang it (if they so choose). 


I did applique for the first time on these tags.  I thought a few bubbles of the fabric made sense.  The name of my partner is blurred out because (s)he doesn't know who I am yet. 


I used 365 Days of Quilting Filler Designs to come up with the quilting patterns.  The two I used were: Pointy Paisley and Paisley Division.

I also used this tutorial to make the faux piping binding.  Cute, eh?  I like the hint of blue to blend in with the piping I made to separate the wedges in the quilt. 



I tried trapunto for the first time.  The bubbles are all a little bit puffy.  I do think I should have done more than one layer of batting though; maybe three layers would have been better.

So, that's the doll quilt I made for DQS9.  I hope my partner likes it!  I sure had a lot of fun making it.

Butterfly Blocks for Toni

This month it was Toni's turn to direct us in the KC Scrappy Bee.  She decided to have us each make butterfly blocks.  We were each given a different color of hand dyed fabric to play with.  I chose the purples to use in my blocks.  I was able to make two blocks before I ran out of the black fabric I had. 





I made one skinny and one fat.  I think it gives the personality!  I roughly used this tutorial to make these guys.  I thought it would be even more "scrappy" if I just eye-balled it, so that's just what I did!

Toni didn't specify a size for the blocks, so I just trimmed mine to a rectangle so Toni can slice them to whatever the quilt dictates. 

Here's links to the blocks that Hannah, Paula, Nikki, and Carla.  Nikki did this extra block, too!

I hope you enjoy your butterfly blocks, Toni!

Gifts from the Garden

This is the third quilt I made for Fabri-Quilt.  This is from their fabric line, Urban Garden.  I've titled this quilt "Gifts from the Garden" because it reminds me of little presents. 

I love how the yellow fabric in this really pops.


I think the block is kind of fun.  This is the more complex of the two blocks I have in the quilt. 


I love the colors of this line. 


You can really see how I quilted this on on the back.  I used yellow thread and traced the ribbons of the presents. 

This quilt will be joining Astral Summer and Flower Power in Las Vegas very soon.  The project sheet will be available here before too long. 

Flower Power!

The Flower Power Quilt is made from the Flower Power! fabric line by Fabri-Quilt.  It's not out yet, but look for it soon.  It's absolutely adorable.  I think the main print would make a very pretty skirt. 

Once again, I recommend wearing winter gloves with the grippy fingers and palms while quilting.  Makes it so great to move fabric around!


What do ya think?  It's about 5'x5'.  I think it turned out pretty fun.  This one is pretty easy to do.  I used fusible web for the applique and zig-zagged around all the edges to keep them down. 


The back is a nice pink paisley from another of Fabri-Quilt's fabric lines.  I love paisley.

This one will be joining the Astral Summer quilt in the show in Las Vegas.  The project sheet for this design will be up here soon.

Favorite Things - September 5, 2010

This week my favorite thing is my new house.  :)  I love our neighborhood.  I love our house.  I love living here way more than I thought I would.  It's become very obvious to us since we've moved in that this is the right house for us.  A few of you have been asking for photos, so here they are...


Yep, you did hear me correctly. Yes, our address is just #5.


We live on a bit of a hill...


Kind of cute isn't it?  I have big plans for it that I'm sure I'll share with you at some point.


My new neighbor, Sunny, told me she had been coming over and watering my flowers so they'd still be pretty when we moved in.  Isn't that sweet of her?


Something that's falling off this tree is attracting deer.  We've been here a little under two weeks and have seen 2 does and 3 fawns right in this spot. 


See my clothesline?  I'm totally excited to have one I can leave up all the time.

I'm not going to show you much of the inside of our house because it is still a little messy. I've been VERY busy since we moved in, so the majority of my studio is still in the living room. Anybody have any suggestions for shelves that have doors to protect my fabric, but isn't too expensive? I've decided it's going in the basement, so I'd like it to be covered. I'm also going to be making some of these puppies... It will be like going fabric shopping in my own mini store!


Jason found this trio for us for $45 at a garage sale up the street.  They're a little worn, but very comfortable.  I think they have a lot of potential and could be easily recovered.  I do kind of like the fabric they are now, though.


Lily likes them, too.  She hangs out here a lot.


What do you think?  I like this; Jason says it's growing on him, but hated it in the beginning.  It's something that seems to be either a stern "Yes!  I love it!" or "Oh my gosh why do you still have that hanging there?"  What do you think?


Our pretty much original 1956 kitchen.  No dishwasher, but we'll most likely be buying one this weekend to "ghetto-rig" in. 


This is a new addition to the kitchen.  The pantry is on the left, broom closet on the right.  I love our fridge, too.  I just wish it had an ice maker, because Jason has already figured out my strategy for not making ice.  The strategy goes like this: 2 ice cubes left in the box.  If I only take 1, that means I didn't take the last one and he'll have to do it.  How did he already figure me out?!  I thought I had him tricked. 

So, that's our new place.  We like it quite a bit. 

Astral Summer

I mentioned recently in my post Hello.  Goodbye. that I was super busy.  Remember when I told you that I was working on a few different projects for Fabri-Quilt?  Well... they're all done and ready to head to a show in Las Vegas very soon.  I thought you'd probably like to see a few photos of what I've been working on. 


You know how you can buy quilting gloves?  Well, I raided my closet and pulled out these gloves with rubbery snowflakes on the bottom.  They worked beautifully for gripping the fabric as I quilted.  I'm not sure which is dorkier... have specific quilting gloves or wearing my red winter gloves when I quilt. 

Also, that's my new studio I'm working in.  I'm hoping to find some different furniture for in there this weekend.  The old stuff I've been using doesn't work the best in the new room.


This is the quilt that I finished up after somebody else had started it.  It's from a pattern by Jame Crow called "Daisies Do Tell".  I would totally make this pattern again.  It was easy to do.  The most time consuming part was cutting out all the petals. 

All of the fabric with the exception of the backing is from Fabri-Quilt's "Astral Summer" line.  The colors are rich and the patterns are gorgeous.


You can see how I quilted this one.  I used my walking foot and guide to follow different parts of the green background.


And just because I love quilt photos from fun angles...


The back is really simple.  Kind of a khaki color with a brown binding from the fabric line.

This quilt will be shown in Las Vegas pretty soon. 

Check back over the next few days to see photos of the other two quilts I did for them as well as photos of our new house!