MQG Mini swap

 I can't believe this is the sixth year I've participated in the MQG Miniquilt Swap! It's fun to swap at Quiltcon each year and make a new quilty friend. That was the plan this year but again (still?) Covid got in the way and my partner is choosing not to make the trip. I get that! Did we let that stop us from fun? Heck no! Betty and I decided to FaceTime and swap our quilts live as soon as they both arrived. We were able to do that this week. 

My quilt got to Betty in California right on schedule. I made her a variation on my Welcome to my neighborhood quilt.

She seemed really happy with it.... whew! And here's the incredible improv quilt I received from Betty...

I love EVERYTHING about it! The beautiful colors, the improv, the incredible curves.... Betty nailed it! She also sent me this amazing mister which I immediately filled with water and put to use!

How do I always get the most amazing swap partners? Seriously, I am the luckiest person on the planet. Betty I'll miss you next week..... hopefully we will get to meet in Atlanta next year!

Quiltcon fabric challenge - Tumbling Triangles

 I'll be honest, I haven't participated in the Modern Quilt Guild's fabric challenges in recent years. Often the fabrics they use just don't speak to me. This year was a different story. When I saw the Wyndham Artisan Cottons they were offering up I hurried to sign up. In addition to the fat eighth bundle I received from the MQG, I ordered 2 yards of one of the "neutrals" allowed, the black gray. I had no plan. So, I started making an assortment of triangle blocks, using the neutral as the background. 

After mulling them over and moving them around on the design wall, I came up with a plan. Since I had controlled the block sizes, no real puzzling was required and the blocks fit together nicely.

I added a skinny silver border to contain my triangles and then added some big stitch triangles just for fun. Quilted it on my domestic machine with my walking foot. 

Big stitched binding seemed like the perfect finishing touch. Now fingers crossed it gets to hang at Quiltcon next year!

Mod Tree

The MQG just completed a challenge called the Make-a-difference challenge. Entrants made a "tree" quilt and submission fees were all donated to Trees for the Future. It was a worthy cause and a fun challenge, so I jumped in and made a tree quilt. 

Winners, chosen by member vote,  were announced today, so I can finally share mine with you. While it didn't win, it was very fun to make. As usual, the design came to me in the early morning hours one day. I hurried to get it into my sketchbook, then pieced it together. I really love the bold, graphic nature... you'll see more of that in days to come. I quilted it with my walking foot on my domestic machine and especially loved the echo quilting I did on the left side of the tree.

Though not part of my Through Ellyn's Eyes project due to colors used, I can see how it fits into my aesthetic. Maybe I'll make another in my project colors? We'll see! 

Congrats to those who won prizes. The quilts were all awesome, and all very different. I loved seeing them all.

Mod Tree 24" square

Quiltcon Miniquilt swap

Hello Friends! Here I am fresh out of the car from Quiltcon..... laundry going and ready for a nap. Seriously. This was the most exhausting, crazy fun weekend I've spent in a long long time. There is much to process and share, but today I thought I'd talk a bit about the mini quilt swap, which I entered for the fourth time this year. And look at this incredible beauty I brought home with me....

Tish from Toronto made this for me and boy did she hit the nail on the head! I love it so much. And.... she gave me a huge bag of treats from Canada; a Starbucks mug, some adorable fabric, a jug of maple syrup and more! Thank you Tish! Here's the mini I made for her...

It was wonderful to meet up with her and swap in person...

Wouldn't this be a great day to reflect on previous quilt con swaps? Last year I was paired with Julie....

Julie's amazing improv mini hangs right over my ironing station and I think of her often when I see it! The year before I was matched up with TziTzi ....

clearly we love the same colors! TziTzi was a newish quilter when we swapped and it's been fun to watch her evolve into a very accomplished quilter. 

The first year I swapped, I did not go to Quiltcon, but swapped in the mail. Back then they were not pairing us off. I made this for Sandi....

And received this gorgeous quilt from Jane...

This one hangs right by my front door. Jane and I have since met and become dear friends. I was delighted to spend a good bit of time with her this year in Austin.

Have I been a lucky girl or what? I can't wait to swap in Atlanta next year.

fun with Sherri Lynn Wood

Last week the Dallas Modern Quilt Guild invited Sherri Lynn Wood to speak and teach for their guild members. Lucky for me, visitors were also welcome! Thursday night, a friend & I visited their guild meeting to hear Sherri speak.

If you don't know Sherri, she literally wrote the book on improv quilting. Her thought process is fascinating and her speaking style is engaging! If you ever get the chance to hear her speak, I recommend it (hint: she's the keynote speaker for Quiltcon 2019 in Nashville. Will I see you there?)

On Friday, my friends Bonnie, Anne & I attended her workshop on strip piecing and color theory.

It was a fun and interesting day. We did several "rounds" of strip piecing, each one based on different color parameters. 

Look how different all of our sets came out, even though we all used the same "rules". 

Here are my four strip sets:

I haven't figured out what I'll do with them yet! I do have a few ideas. 

Thanks Dallas Modern Quilt Guild for inviting us to play along with you!

Michael Miller fabric challenge

The modern quilt guild issued another fabric challenge and I jumped on board! First of all, free fabric, duh! and second, I really enjoy challenges. We received three colors of the hash dots fabric and peach solid cotton couture, a fat eighth of each. Since it is ok to add other Michael Miller solids, I ordered some of the Marine Cotton Couture, which matched one of the hash dots we received. And, like always, it sat on my cutting table for weeks waiting for me to be inspired.

Finally, I decided to do a variation on my Funky Dresden pattern which I designed and shared here on the blog almost 2 years ago (gasp! where does the time go?).

We were told to use at least 2 of the three hash dots provided and the peach solid. The funny thing is, once I got to designing and sewing, the hash dot I left out is the Marine that matched the solid I had bought! I inserted a narrow piece of the peach into the other hash dot dresden wedges and only used the one background fabric, not two like I had in my previous Funky Dresdens.

My finished mini quilt ended up 13" square. I quilted it on my domestic Janome 6600 and left the wedges and center unquilted so they pop. 

It's fun to see what others have come up with! Check out the #mqgfabricchallenge on instagram to see more!

MQG Riley Blake challenge

I had fun with the latest Modern Quilt Guild fabric challenge from Riley Blake. We received four prints for the challenge and I added Riley Blake solids in Navy and Lime.

I also ordered extra of the navy stripe, one of the prints received, because I love a good bias stripe binding! Here you can see all four prints, the stripe, the navy crosshatch at the star points, the white with rose gold plusses in the center of the block and a white on white print in the outer corners. 

The block is one I designed in one of my Quilt Con classes. Each block is 16 inches square, including the offset border. The whole quilt measures 32 inches square.

I did a simple "straight" line quilting in lime on my domestic machine to finish it off. 

I would love to make my pattern into a much bigger quilt one day! For now, this little version will do.

MQG Mini swap

Today is the day I get to meet my partner in the mini quilt swap at Quilt Con! This year the swap was an open swap, meaning partners were paired off to make for each other, so we knew who was making for us.

I had a great time creating for Tzitzi and I hope she likes what I've come up with. She likes red and aqua (a match made in heaven I think!) so I worked from my stash and made this design with half square triangles. Straight line quilted with some echo quilting on my Janome.

it's easier to see the quilting on the back. Oh, and a splash of red in the binding just for fun. I hope she likes it! Can't wait to see what she's made for me.... I'll share it with you when I get home.

Riley Blake challenge

The spring fabric challenge for the Modern Quilt Guild is wrapping up. Finishes are not due until the 30th of April, but since mine is done, I thought I'd share it with you. I loved the Riley Blake Rockstar fabrics because of the color way. Right up my alley! Truth be told, I had sworn off these challenges because I just wasn't that thrilled with the last couple of fabric bundles. Then I saw these fabrics and totally caved in!

I decided to do a collection of minis with my fabric. I did add in Riley Blake solids in Aqua and Red. The first mini I did is the bottom right mini, a Love All Around block by Lee Monroe (May Chappell) You can read about her block and get the free tutorial here. I had been wanting to try out this block and this seemed to be the perfect time. I really love this block and will surely be making more down the road!

The finished minis are all 14" square. Next up was a mini version of my own Funky Dresden. 

And then, because I have been having so much fun with dresdens, I did two more modern dresden interpretations. First a modern dresden quarter square triangle (inspired by Season 1, episode 4 episode of Fresh Quilting)

And then I used up every last scrap of fabric on this modern dresden sunrise...

So that's my submission for the challenge! I've had so much fun watching others pop up on Instagram (#mqgfabricchallenge). You really must check out all of the submissions! Some of them are truly amazing. I had a great time creating mine.

MQG swap received

It was so much fun stalking my Modern Quilt Guild mini swap group on Instagram, watching the quilts evolve and speculating which one might be for me. Honestly, there were so many beautiful quilts and I would have been happy with any of them. But, MAN OH MAN! When my mini arrived I was over the moon excited!

These beautiful Anna Maria Horner feathers were made for me by Jane (Janequiltsslowly). And not only did she nail my likes (bright colors, Allison Glass Sun Prints, feathers...) but her workmanship is impeccable. She even put hanging corners on all four corners so I could choose which direction I wanted it to hang! Such a great idea, which I will surely copy down the road.

This lovely quilt is now hanging in my front room, right inside the front door, where I see it a million times a day. Thank you Jane! I love this.

MQG Mini Swap

Now that Sandi has received the mini I made her in the Modern Quilt Guild  mini swap, I am happy to share it here with you! This was the MQGs first swap and I was happy to be a part of it.

My graph paper notebook has been getting a real workout lately. As usual, that's where my ideas for Sandi's mini started. She had said she liked alternate gridwork, solids and low volume so that was my jumping off point.

I've been having some fun with wonky churn dashes for a while now, and I decided to explore these a little more. The small churn dashes in this mini are only 3" square!

Once I had it all pieced, I machine quilted with some straight line grids...

Then I added some big stitch triangles here and there...

I had a lot of fun with this one! I hope you enjoy it Sandi!