A new bee for me!

Earlier this year my guild, McKinney Modern Quilt Guild, started a new bee. I seem to have trouble saying no, because I quickly signed up. For my first set of blocks, I requested blocks made with this Blossom Heart Quilts tutorial in aqua/white/gray. I really loved the blocks I received! Last week I got the quilt back from Martha who quilted it. I quickly bound it and once I wash it it will be a perfect snuggle quilt.

Isn't it fun? Finished size is 60"x72" a good size for the couch!

Creative Crossroads

Something fun I have begun with my pal Catherine! We are recording a podcast! Introducing Creative Crossroads, available now on all the popular streaming services...

Our first series of interviews is with a variety of wonderful artists, exploring their creative process. It's been fascinating learning how differently we all create.

First up, available now for listening, is a chat with our friend Dusty Allendorf. Dusty is a wonderful modern quilter. Listen now to learn how she uses technology as an important element of her process.

Also available for streaming is our interview with artist Amanda Dunbar. Amanda is primarily an oil painter. She talks about not being afraid to explore new ideas here.

I hope you'll listen and let me know what you think! More episodes are coming your way very soon.

 

Here and There and Back again

Back in the spring, my friend Chris brought me this orphan block and said "let's do something together with this"

And you know I never say no to a fun collaboration, or a challenge! So I added a checkered border to her block and passed it back to her...

And then she added more....

And so on...

Until eventually we had a completed quilt top! I matchstick quilted it on my domestic machine, added some big stitches with 8 weight pearl cotton and bound it in lime green after auditioning many options...

Catherine suggested the name Here and There and Back again and it fit perfectly. The finished quilt is 47"  x 33".
 

Improv Challenge week 2

 Are you ready for a new challenge prompt? Did you find time to play with prompt #1? Here's what I came up with...

Last week's prompt was stripes in pink and purple. I played around in my art journal and after creating a fun painted page I decided to make the blocks above. You can read more about our challenge here. Feel free to jump in any time!

Meanwhile, here's a new challenge to start this week...

Squares in purple and orange! Hmmm I'm going to need to think about this one.... maybe play a little more in my art journal before I sew. Can't wait to see what you all come up with!

Quilt Plano 2024

 Earlier this month I enjoyed seeing the beautiful show put on by the Plano Quilt Guild. I entered four quilts in the show (all quilts hung, this is not a juried show). Both of my quilts in the group quilts category received honorable mention ribbons!

What's for Breakfast, a Quilts Unscripted Bee quilt featuring improv cereal boxes by my incredible bee mates. How many do you recognize? Here's a key so you can check your answers! This quilt was quilted by my friend Diane Poor.

Spot on is a collaboration I completed earlier this year with my good friend Debbie Jeske. It was quilted by my pal Martha Wolf.

Chris's quilt, Shenanigans Between Friends, also received an honorable mention. This quilt was a collaboration between Chris and me.

Deco at Dusk is a beautiful collaborative quilt designed by my friend Ashley Stovall and pieced by a group of my local quilty friends. It will be the raffle quilt for the Plano guild next year. And guess what? It got a second place ribbon!

My friends were nice enough to let me contribute an improv panel for the back! So I had a tiny hand in four of this years group quilts, all of which ribboned!  What fun.

There were so many beautiful quilts in the show. I wish I could share them all.

Improv Challenge

 The other day over lunch my friend Chris and I were celebrating the near completion of a recent collaboration (more on that soon!) and wondering what we should do next. We tossed around lots of ideas and finally landed on a fun improv challenge. It will allow the two of us to make quilts simultaneously following the same biweekly prompts. It will be fun to see how different our quilts end up! Here's the really exciting part.... we'd love for you to play along. 

Every other Monday Chris and I will each be spinning a wheel we've created on the app tiny decisions. My wheel will determine a technique/shape that is to be created. Chris will spin her color wheel twice, giving us two colors to work with. Use one, use both, add another color of your choosing... there really are no rules. During the next two weeks, work with the selected technique and colors. Make a quilt block, ten quilt blocks, add to a previous block, you get to choose.

Are you ready? Here is the first prompt for our challenge:

We can't wait to create stripes in pink/purple! If you join in, post your improv on Instagram using the hashtag #improvchallenge2024 and follow Chris and I at @scarf.mama and@ellynz.

I'll be posting our next prompt here and on my instagram feed in two weeks!

Hippy Dippy Dotty collage

 In May our guild hosted a fun workshop with Carol Morrissey to learn her Hippy Dippy Dotty collage method. I had great fun making my own small version....

This is the pile of fabric and die cut circles that went into my quilt

It was fun to play with color and design for a day and I love my finished project. I straight line quilted it on my domestic machine, added a faced binding and hung it in my dining room. It's 23"x19".  It was fun to see how different everyone's quilts turned out!