Exploring Collaboration: part 4

Today is the fourth installment of Exploring Collaboration, a series of blog posts offered up twice a month by Karen Bolan and me. We've really enjoyed sharing our thoughts with you and look forward to future conversations about collaboration with many fellow quilters.

For this week's exploration of collaboration, I have a specific idea that you might try with a group of friends.  Hopefully the world will soon begin to open up again and we will be more able to join with fellow quilters on retreats, for quilting days, workshops and other in person activities. Here's a collaborative activity you and your group might like to try! A friend and I came up with this idea a couple of years ago (pre-pandemic). It will work best with a group of 4-8, if you have more just split into two groups!

To begin this activity, each participant arrives with an already completed 24" block. For my example, we each start with an improv log cabin. They can be wonky (or not), symmetrical (or not), prints, solids, you name it. The important thing (for ease) is that all of the beginning blocks are 24" square. Each person also needs to bring a 2 1/2" strip of their "signature fabric" cut into 4 6" rectangles.  

Participants should be seated in a circle of sorts so that projects can easily be passed from one to the next. First up, everyone passes their block to the person next to them (clockwise passing works well!) Now take the block you have received and cut it into 16 equal 6" squares. If you have a 6"x24" ruler this will be easy to do!

Now gather up the squares you have cut and pass them to the next person in line.

Mix up the squares you have received. Randomly choose four of the squares, add one of your signature rectangles to the mix and sew them into a strip (you can insert your rectangle anywhere you want. In this example, the orange strip between blocks 3 & 4 is the signature strip).

Now pass your strip and the remaining squares to the next person. Repeat the strip sewing activity until each block is in four strips. Can you find the four different signature strips in the photo below?

The next person gets to rearrange the strips into a pleasing arrangement of their choice and sew them all together.

Return the completed, reconstructed block to it's original owner to be quilted and bound. 

It would be fun to try this activity with other kinds of blocks too! If you try it, I hope you'll share your process and results with me on Instagram @ellynz.

Color of the Year 2021

 I always look forward to the announcement of Pantone's color of the year. This year's colors really resonated with me...

Illuminating and Ultimate Gray. Both beautiful, separately and together. In fact, I have decorated my guest bedroom and bath in these colors. So it felt good to dive in and use them together in a small quilt. Small because the McKinney Modern Quilt Guild will be displaying them in the display case at the library again this year, as we did in 2019.

I actually made my quilt several months ago. After I pattern tested my friend Jane (Twiggy and Opal)'s Sparkle quilt, I decided to make a much tinier, two color version as a personal challenge. I used Kona Bright Idea (Illuminating) and Kona Overcast (Ultimate Gray) and made this 12" version of Sparkle...

Today it heads off to the library display. I hope to get up there sometime this month to see all of the quilts from our guild.

Have you made anything with this year's colors of the year?

In Tandem Art

 Several months ago,  I was listening to an episode of Danielle Krysa's podcast, Art for your Ear (do you listen? I find it very inspiring.) and she talked about an idea she and a friend had called In Tandem Art. I encourage you to read her blog post here to better understand what it is all about. Basically, to participate, you find yourself a pARTner to come along side you, encouraging you and you doing the same for them. The idea intrigued me so much that I couldn't get it out of my head!

That night I was texting with Sarah Goer, a newish quilty friend, and told her all about it. I asked if she wanted to give it a try and she was all in! We decided to meet via zoom every other week (Sarah lives in Northern California and I am in Texas. While it would be great fun to meet twice a month in person, it simply wasn't practical) and held our first meeting the end of February. Since then we have met faithfully every two weeks (allowing flexibility when we had a conflict) and we've enjoyed it very much.

my pARTner, Sarah

A little more about Sarah, she is a modern quilter, quilt teacher and lecturer, a wife and mom to two great kids who occasionally pop their heads into our zoom meetings. She and I have participated in a bee together for a while and recently organized a new modern improv bee.... more on that another day.

We decided to set a general topic for each meeting, and have found that doing that helps us focus and to each gain something from our time together. Some of the things we've talked about include Creative Goals, Creative Block, our Childhood Creativity and what inspires our work. This last week we talked about how we track our works in progress. It occurred to me that some of the things we talk about might benefit others, so, with Sarah's permission, I am going to begin sharing some of that here. I promised her I wouldn't share anything personal or juicy, sorry folks! Some things are just not intended for internet publication!

In my next blog post I will share some of the thoughts and ideas we had for tracking our projects. Meanwhile, I encourage you to go read Danielle's post and think about who your pARTner might be!

Mod Flower Quilt

 Earth day seems like the perfect day to finish up this quilt and share it with you. Even though it is a small quilt (36"x38") it has been in the works for many months. It all began last September, on National Jelly Roll day. My guild,  McKinney Modern Quilt Guild, was holding a zoom mystery jelly roll sew along day and because I love to "do all the things" I was eager to be a part of it. Mind you, I am not a jelly roll person (not a precut person at all, truth be told) and being on a tight fabric budget I wasn't eager to spend money on a jelly roll. So, I decided to make my own. Due to the generosity of another quilter, I had a large stack of low volume yardage on my shelf. I pulled the needed number of fabrics (20) and cut a 2 1/2" strip from each. 

The day was great fun, with a large number of guild members participating. At the end of the day, I had this finished, and quite boring in my eyes, quilt top. 

Rather than let it go to waste, I decided I wanted to appliqué a large, modern flower to the front. Never mind that hand appliqué was not a skill I had in my current toolbox! I had a vision and was willing to do whatever I needed to do to accomplish it. I set about designing templates for the appliqué I desired, then recruited a friend who is very skilled at needle turn appliqué to teach me. In fact, I also recruited a group of friends to learn alongside me because everything is more fun with friends, right? Martha graciously gave us a free zoom class and I was off and running (with more than a few anxious texts and additional tips and tricks.)

Because I was having fun doing handwork (I usually do), I decided to teach myself big stitch quilting. You Tube to the rescue! I hand stitched the whole quilt using size 8 perle cotton, a neutral variegated in straight rows across and accent stitches on the flower and stem using matching colors.

I even added a few Xs here and there just for fun.

And just for fun, I machine stitched the binding to the back then big stitched it down on the front of the quilt in pink, to match the flower. These stitches don't show on the back of the binding but are firmly stitched through the batting to secure it. Oh, and a few Xs snuck into the binding as well, because, why not?

I'm so happy with this little finish! Very few of my quilts are inspired by nature (weird, I know) and I guess this proves, even when they are, they are modern and not terribly realistic! But it was fun to learn new things.

Everyday Improv

Yesterday was an incredibly fun day. McKinney Modern Quilt Guild welcomed Debbie Jeske from A Quilters Table to lead us in an improv workshop. Debbie is my go to improv guru, so it was fun to learn from her in person. Fourteen of us filled the room with fabric, color, enthusiasm and laughter.

We learned lots of different improv techniques all represented in this quilt that Debbie shared. 

This is the tidiest corner of my workspace! It looked like a tornado had blown through, there were scraps everywhere!

Bonny shared my workspace. Hers was all neat and tidy. hmmm I don't get it!

By the end of the day, we had accumulated an amazing collection of blocks, made by everyone in the room. I can't wait to make some sense out of the ones I made and share them with you.

Thanks for a great day Debbie! It was the most fun I'd had in a very long time. I look forward to Debbie's trunk show & lecture at our guild meeting this coming Tuesday. If you're local, it would be great to have you join us!

Reading People... book review

I've recently become very interested in personality typing. Several podcasters I listen to on a regular basis are obsessed with it, constantly asking their guests "what type are you?". Whether it's Myers Briggs typing, Enneagram, or something else, everyone seems to be classifying  themselves, their friends, their family members. Wanting to know what all of the hoopla was all about, I loaded up on books from the library and Amazon. Then I became totally confused! I had no idea where to start on my quest for information. The more I read, the more questions I had.

Anne Bogel to the rescue! Anne is the voice behind the awesome podcast, What Should I Read Next? and the author of the blog, Modern Mrs. Darcy. I answered a call to participate in the launch team for her new book, Reading People, releasing September 19. I got the email that I had been chosen for the team, loaded the book onto my kindle app and dove in, having no idea what the book was about. Imagine my surprise when I discovered that it is the ultimate guide to personality typing!

As the book unfolded, all of my questions were answered. Each chapter introduces a different form of personality typing, from Myers Briggs to love languages, Enneagrams, Highly Sensitive People (a new one for me!) and more. Anne writes in a conversational style. I felt like we were sitting at my kitchen table over a cup of tea. I took many quotes away from the book, like this one, one of my favorites...

Anne gave so many resources and steps to take to learn more. I did reconfirm that I am an INFJ. As for my Enneagram type, that is still up for debate! More reading to be done. Hubby and I had a fun evening reading each other's personality descriptions. Even after 30+ years together, we discovered things about each other and gained insight into why we interact the way we do. Fascinating!

I think everyone would benefit from reading this terrific book. You can preorder yours here, and receive  lots of bonus goodies from Anne. Five stars from this happy reader!

while I did receive an advance copy of this book for free, the opinions I've shared here are totally my own. I really did love it! 

Improv stripes

A few weeks ago, Debbie, over at A Quilter's Table, started an improv stripes sew along. On the first day she gave us a tutorial for how she makes her blocks. This happened to coordinate with my retreat so, after finding some internet when we went into town, I read her post and set to work! I used all black and white prints, along with black, white & a bit of yellow solids.

Once I got home, it was fun to rearrange the blocks, trim them up to make them fit, and assemble them into a finished quilt. Because I don't usually follow the rules (though admittedly, Debbie didn't make any rules, so that was helpful!) I added some appliqué flower petals to my finished top. 

I quilted it on my domestic machine, starting with a yellow spiral in one corner, then adding white lines here and there...

My finished quilt is 25" x 30". I was happy to add this improv method to my toolbox!

Check out all of the beautiful quilts on Instagram at #improvstripesqal 

unplugged

This past weekend I was so lucky to retreat with my sewing sisters at The Retreat at the End of the Road in Athens, TX. Such a beautiful setting where I was able to disconnect (no wifi, limited cell service!) and truly be present in each moment.

this is the spot where I was able to get the best cell service. Pretty sweet!

I'm so lucky to be part of a lovely group of ladies who quilt. We call ourselves Seams Like Sisters. We were only missing one friend this weekend. The six of us who were able to go got lots done! Here are a few of the pretty finishes that came out of our weekend...

Alice's fun mini

Carol's cute modern baby quilt

Diann's house quilt

I'll share my own finishes with you in the next few posts.

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On Monday we took a field trip into town to visit Beverly's awesome quilt shop, the Needle Niche

She was so sweet to open up for us on a Monday when her shop is normally closed.

such a cute shop, and we all found some goodies to take back with us!

Ellen, me, Alice, Joellen, Carol and Diann

Such a fun weekend! I can't wait to go back.

I also realized that yesterday was my nine year blogaversary! Nine years of blogging... I never imagined it would lead me to so many friendships and adventures. Wow!

inspiration day at the Dallas Museum of Art

Ally and her new buddy Malibu were home for a couple of days last weekend....

Malibu is Ally's new service dog. She is a beautiful, gentle dog & is so dedicated to our sweet Ally (and Ally is equally dedicated to her! It's a match made in heaven.) If you want to know more of Ally's story, she blogs over at Teaspoon of Sprinkles.

We decided to take a trip to the art museum while they were here. It was Mali's first museum trip and she did really well.

Ally tends to favor modern art. I enjoy it too!

This painting screamed "make me into a quilt" to me.

This looked like a giant drop cloth. Ha! pretty cool though.

It was a great day, and wore all of us (especially Malibu!) right out.

Luisa Crossbody Bag

Svetlana (sotak handmade) has done it again! Her newest bag pattern, the Luisa Crossbody Bag is my new favorite bag. (I know, I know, I say that EVERY time, but this time I mean it!

I always feel like I've hit the jackpot when I get to pattern test for Svetlana. Her patterns are so well written and easy to follow. Her bags have awesome details and always finish very professionally. This one is no exception!

I find I always learn something new when I make her bags. This one has an adjustable strap, which I assumed would be tricky to do. I shouldn't have worried! As always, the instructions were clear and simple and my strap worked perfectly the very first time.

You can see the bag has a hidden zipper pocket on the front

And two slip pockets on the back (perfect for cell phone and keys)

Open up the recessed zip top

And you'll find another zip pocket in the lining! So many great details

The pattern is available now in Svetlana's shop. She even has a discount deal today! It's a winner.... hop on over there and get yourself one!