QuiltCon Charity Challenge: the process.

November 1, 2014November 1, 2014Leave a comment

Awhile back I agreed to work with individual members of the Modern Quilt Guild to create a quilt for charity. The challenge was to use their color palette and to use alternative grid design. The color palette they suggested we use: white, light gray, chartreuse, burnt orange, sky blue, cerise, and deep turquoise.

A MQG member organized the bees and assigned individual members to a regional “bee”. I’m in Southeast Region 4 which includes quilters from Delaware to Florida. Around the first of October we received an email from MQG with everyone’s emails. One of the group members, Jennifer Price, set up an account with doodle.com and a poll to determine what date and time we could all meet in a teleconference. We got together on the phone on October 10. There are 8 of us in this quilting bee.

One of the quilters, Paige Alexander, suggested a design using a post about Jackie Gehring’s guide to Variable Framing. Five of the quilters agreed to make four blocks each with one of the blocks having a “star” design. We would use white as the frame/background for the blocks. Cheryl Brickey created a flickr group for us to post photos and discuss our progress.

I agreed to assemble the blocks, which measure 18″ by 18″ finished, and they have started to arrive:

Shelly Recicar from Boca Raton, Florida created these blocks:

Paige Alexander from Easley, South Carolina created these blocks:

Cheryl Brickey from Greer, South Carolina created these blocks:

When I have the quilt top assembled, I’m going to create a quilt sandwich and send it to Pam Chamberlain in Miami, Florida to quilt. She’s then going to send it to Jennifer in Delaware to bind and finish, mailing it to MQG for display at the upcoming QuiltCon convention in Texas. The deadline for submission is the first of January 2015.

We will then give the quilt to a charity. We haven’t decided yet on which charity. The process continues.

Sew Elbow

October 2, 20145 Comments

I’m suffering from lateral epicondylitis, also known as “tennis elbow.” My doctor says I have “sew-itis.” So, no sewing or cleaning or sweeping for at least three weeks. I can type, though.

I thought I’d share some photos I took at the Richmond Quilt Guild‘s recent show. The first two are by ladies I know.

Annette Lemon designed this fabulous quilt, “Liberated My Way”:

Joyce Brown created this stunning quilt, “Dancing Batiks”:

I really liked this appliqued quilt:

And, the subtle mix of fabrics in this quilt caught my eye:

Take care,

Wanda

Row by Row Experience: Sew a Season

September 14, 2014August 26, 20257 Comments

The theme for the Row by Row Experience was “Sew a Season.” Each quilt shop chose a “season” and created a pattern which you could pick up for free at each of the shops. My intention was to make a project from each of the quilt shops I visited, so 8 shops 8 projects. So far I had made a tote bag using the pattern from Blue Crab Quilt Co., and a pillow cover from The New River Fiber Co. Next up on my list was Creative Quilting Connection, located in Roanoke, Virginia. Their block was called, “Autumn in the Star City”.

The fabrics reminded me of the quilt pattern, The Grove, by Carolyn Friedlander. I purchased it some time ago:

I made four trees with the batiks, and of course they look like “Autumn.” Now I needed the other seasons: Summer, Winter and Spring and maybe Football Season because it’s always Football Season at my house.

During my Row by Row by Experience, I traveled across almost all of Virginia from the city to the valley to the mountains and to the sea. We visited Chincoteague, Virginia, an island on the Atlantic Ocean, and I got the kit from Quilts by the Sea. The fabric was perfect for my “Summer” row of trees:

After making a few “Summer” row trees, I didn’t like having to add a border in between the blocks so I flipped them. The blocks are mirror images left to right anyway, so up and down seemed like the perfect solution: