central virginia modern quilt guild – Page 4

In January 2021 we were hopeful about COVID-19 vaccines and excitedly awaiting for our appointments. At that time I joined a mystery quilt along called Parallel Universe, created and led by GEL Design. GEL is Gyleen Fitzgerald, Ebony Love and Latifah Saafir.

Several members of the Central Virginia Modern Quilt Guild joined and we agreed to meet via Zoom each Sunday to make the blocks. We didn’t know until the end of the series what the quilt would look like. It was built in sections with great names: Section Six was Outer Space; section five— Milky Way; section four— Star Cluster; section three— Magnetism; section two— dark matter; section one was Big Bang.

The quilt called for 10 different colors. I chose a spring color palette.

I enjoyed creating with Maria, Phyllis, Ann, Kathy, Cheryl, and Candy (sometimes). We learned new techniques and complained a lot. It was a parallel universe because today it feels like it didn’t happen or happened in some other time and place.

I finished the quilt this year and gave it to my brother and his wife.

It is hand quilted and measures 60” x 72”.

I wish Phyllis was here to celebrate with me.

In her memory,

love Wanda

I made this quilt for the Modern Quilt Guild’s Super Scrappy Challenge, sponsored by American Patchwork and Quilting.

Improvisational work with scraps touches me in a way a planned design does not, but the work also makes me question my intuition. I’m not sure why some things work and others annoy me. In the beginning, I wanted to make lots of small log cabin blocks, but after making about a dozen I stopped because it felt like something I had seen many times before.

I moved onto strips of scraps. I chose them randomly from a large box of solid scraps. I tried not to cut any of the length of the scraps. When I pieced the long strips together, I loved the movement and the color combination.

I used almost exclusively thread from my mother’s sewing cabinet and I felt a connection to the past while creating this piece. I grew up in the mountains of Southwest Virginia, and I’ve often said I grew up “in the sticks.” The wonky sides make it real for me and create that organic feel I wanted.

It was not selected for QuiltCon so I’ll have to find another exhibit.