This is 60!

When you celebrate a milestone birthday during a global pandemic, what do you do to celebrate? Well, if you are me, you recruit your friends to help you make a joyful quilt!

This is 60 is my last quilt with the Solid Seven bee. I asked my beemates to make me blocks that included at least one triangle (I love triangles, weird, I know) in my prescribed color palette of bright, bright, bright! As always, they did not disappoint!

I added the black/neon borders on two sides and finished off my quilt with faux piped binding (I wrote a tutorial for it a long time ago! you can find it here). My friend Diann at Happy Quilts longarm quilted it in a terrific modern triangle panto which I love so much. 

A day at the park with my quilting buddies (stay tuned for more about that in my next post) was the perfect photo opportunity. A cloudy day was just right to capture the bright colors of my quilt.

I'm three months into 60 and I have to say, it's agreeing with me so far! 

 

 

Quiltcon Together 2021

 I had so much fun going through the Quiltcon Together virtual quilt show this weekend. As always, there was a huge array of stunning quilts in all of the categories. I found the community service quilts to be especially beautiful this year, and I was so proud of my guild, the McKinney Modern Quilt Guild for our contribution. Together in Turbulence was spearheaded by my friend Chris and many many quilters had a hand in the assembly. I was thrilled to contribute some blocks to the quilt.

I had no idea that receiving a first place ribbon for my Urban Emergence quilt was only the beginning of the weekend's fun. I received invites to visit with different guilds throughout the weekend and even did an interview with Steph and Isabelle, the hosts of Scant Quarter Hour in Instagram TV. It was fun to chat with lots of other quilters about my quilt and about their experiences with the online format. All in all, Quiltcon Together was really well done and lots of fun, despite the challenges. I missed the hugs and can't wait to gather with friends in Phoenix next year. Urban Emergence will get to hang at Quiltcon 2022 in Phoenix with the other winners from this year!

Quiltcon Together awards ceremony

 Well Quiltcon sure does look different this year. In my continued effort to create community during the virtual event. I organized a zoom party for several friends last night during the awards. Of course, Texas being the mess that it is, our power was in and out all day yesterday. A friend who had steady power and internet invited us to bring our technology to her house and watch from there, so we did (we being hubby and I).

Don't you love my fancy setup? One laptop for zoom party. A second laptop for the awards ceremony. Phone for texting friends, oh and fancy mask for safe social distancing. All set.

It was so much fun to chat with friends before the presentation and then watch together. Several friends could not attend due to power outages and the like (seriously Texas, get your act together!) and we missed them. Partway into the awards this happened.....

My quilt, Urban Emergence, won first place in the group/bee category! Most of the girls on the call had contributed blocks to the quilt. You can see their delighted faces on the screen when they heard the news. So much fun! Since they called the winners ahead to video our reactions for the show, I already knew. That was a hard secret to keep!!! 

Another fun thing that happened is that Urban Emergence was featured in the gallery section of the new Quiltcon magazine! So, also, my first published quilt....

You can order a copy of the magazine here.

So that's the exciting news from here! Life has been a whirlwind, celebrating a big birthday, a big quilt show win, a huge winter storm and failed utilities, and, oh yeah, there's still a pandemic, isn't there? 

Here's a bit of sunshine that will be coming my way soon....

Bee blocks

 Here's an update on bee blocks I've sent out to my Solid Seven beemates in recent months. If you're not familiar with our bee, you can follow our shenanigans on instagram at #thesolidseven. We work only in solids.

In July, we made these awesome paper pieced blocks for E.A. She sent us the fabrics she wanted and we could place them in the block however we wanted.

In August, Sarah requested these tic tac toe blocks. She provided us with her desired color palette.

I had so much fun making them, I decided to make a whole baby quilt with them for yet another great niece who arrived this month.

Laura was queen bee in September and her paper strip pieced blocks were so fun and cheerful...

And finally, Nicole requested these blocks for October (yes, they are done and ready to mail. don't hate me). They are improve curves based on Maria Derse's Palette print...

This group inspires me so much! I can't wait to see what we get to do next.

Urban Emergence

I am just now beginning to be able to tell a story with my quilts. Until recently, often my story was "I wanted to play with triangles" or "these are the colors in my bedroom". Sometimes my story would come to me after a quilt was finished (or someone else would tell a story from my quilt!) This latest finish definitely has a story to tell!

It started months ago when I decided to ask my Solid Seven beemates to make me small, improv minimalist blocks with the prompts urban and architecture. I requested that they use any medium to dark blue for the background and kona white for the details, with a tiny bit of yellow if they wished.  If you know me, you know that I love cities! Love to visit them, explore them, even make quilts about them apparently.

Just as my bee blocks began to roll in, I started seeing pictures on the news and online of major cities around the world emerging from the smog. Because of the pandemic, fewer cars were on the road and the air quality was improving. Cities like New York, Los Angeles, Paris, Rome, and many others had clear blue skies above them. An idea began to take shape in my head.

I started making gray on gray blocks that fit my theme, to represent the cities before the quarantine. A couple of friends (Debbie and Chris) chimed in and made me some gray blocks too. As I played with the blocks on my design wall, I began to see the cities emerging from the smog! Thus Urban Emergence was born.

The finished quilt top measured 40"x42". It cried out for matchstick quilting and who was I to argue! I used several shades of gray and blue thread for the quilting (and 10 or 11 bobbins.... I lost count).

Today during a zoom sew day with my McKinney Modern Quilt Guild friends I hand sewed down the faced binding. I'm so pleased with the finished quilt!

Do your quilts often tell a story?

Check out #thesolidseven on Instagram to see more of our shenanigans.

again with the houses...

I'm having great fun making houses! I'm up to seventeen for a swap (only swapping 15, but I can't stop making!)

These are all 6 inches finished. I got to thinking.... what if I went smaller? So I made a 3 inch house and that didn't feel tiny enough, so I did one that finishes just under 2 inches....

what exactly does one do with such tiny houses, you ask?

why, you make teeny tiny pin cushions of course! yes, I may be going a little crazy around here.

Just when I thought maybe I was nearing the end of my house making phase, I received the June prompt from Jessica for the Solid Seven..... guess what she wanted? HOUSES! woohoo, I've gotten quite good at those..... I got right on it and whipped up three houses and a tree, black/gray/white per her request, with print (GASP!) thrown in for fun. I absolutely cannot wait to see her finished quilt!

you haven't seen the last of houses from me, but I promise to bring you something else next time. 

feelin' groovy

Hello friends! I hope this week finds you well. I am pleased to share a couple of finishes with you today. First up, my feelin' groovy quilt made with blocks from my Solid Seven friends...

Blocks for this quilt began arriving last November and I finally put the last borders on last month. As we were just beginning to shelter in place, I turned to my stash to build a back for this good sized quilt. I had some extra blocks and pieces that had been sent to me that I used on the back too.

I dropped it off for my friend Diann of Happy Quilts to quilt for me (no contact, handed through her door. Normally our exchanges involve Dairy Queen. I look forward to returning to that tradition!) Diann found some awesome groovy flowers to quilt it with.

Another finish is my God With Us quilt. I had shared the quilt top with you before. I quilted this one myself on my domestic machine. Simple linear quilting with my walking foot. It works!

So two quilt finishes, two things checked off my UFO list!

Solid Seven Update

Every month I look forward to the latest Solid Seven prompt in my mailbox. These gals never fail to come up with fun and challenging blocks. In February, Sarah challenged us to use "improv maximalism" to make monochromatic blocks. I had to do some serious research to understand what she was going for! Turns out improv maximalism is basically an intense use of saturated color. Got it! My first block was very oddly shaped. When I asked Sarah if she wanted me to square it up she said "no way!" so this is what I sent her....

Block number two used my favorite aquas & teals with some triangle and curves....

And block number three was pink pink pink! lots of quarter circles and a pieced stripe.... 

I can't wait to see how these play with the blocks my beemates sent to Sarah!

March was Nicole's turn. She reminded us of the loopy flowers we all drew all over our notebooks in middle school.... remember those? Nicole really put me to the test. She asked us to needle-turn appliqué large versions of those doodly flowers. Yikes! I persevered and she seems happy with the two blocks I sent her...

What a happy garden her quilt promises to be!

For April, Laura asked us to make churn dash blocks in bright, saturated colors. Can do! I know it's still March, but today I started pulling colors to audition for her blocks. Next thing I knew, I had them all made!

I'm not sure when I'll be allowed to head to the post office to mail them off to her, but as soon as the coast is clear, they are ready to go!

Guess who is up for May? Me! I have an idea in mind, now I need to make some sample blocks and get my prompt ready. I have plenty of time..... Meanwhile my Feeling Groovy quilt from last fall's 70s prompt is at the quilter and as soon as it arrives home I'll be putting the binding on it! Fun Fun!

What are you working on these days?

Solid Seven catchup

I haven't updated you on the antics of the Solid Seven Bee in a while. We've been busy bees as usual, making pretty solid blocks for each other. A couple of months ago, EA gave us a pretty color palette and asked us to make "our favorite blocks". Her finished quilt promises to be interesting! Here are the blocks I made......

a woven block

an x & + block 

and an arrow

 Linda wanted a bit of sunshine in her winter so she requested these awesome blocks....

And then Jessica asked us to make these blocks in blues, teals, greens and purples.....

I had already assembled my strip pieced blocks from last year into a quilt top before the holidays. My friend Diann from Happy Quilts had worked her longarm magic on it and it was just waiting for binding. This week I got that done and now I present to you, Fruity Lemonade!

finished quilt is 48x60

I had to show you the awesome swirly quilting!

I still have my 70's Feeling Groovy blocks from the gals waiting to be puzzled into a quilt top.... I'm thinking they will be taking over my design wall this coming week. Hopefully I'll have some progress to share with you soon. 

Meanwhile, if you want to follow along and see what the Solid Seven gals are up to, you can follow us on Instagram at #thesolidseven.

Bee Blocks

It's been a while since I caught you up on bee blocks! I'm in two bees now, The Solid Seven instagram bee and a McKinney Modern Quilt Guild bee. Love them both!

In fact, this month I am the queen bee for BOTH bees! I don't know how that happened. I debated having both bees make the same block, but in the end went with 2 completely different themes. The Solid Seven are making me Groovy 70s blocks! They are starting to roll in and I can't wait to share them with you down the road! Meanwhile here are a couple of blocks I made to inspire them:

the blue squares represent the Brady Bunch intro

I plan to make a bunch of extra groovy flowers to use as filler blocks

Meanwhile, the MCKMQG girls are busy making me Japanese X&+ blocks in monochromatic pinks and oranges....

Earlier in the year, the Solid Seven girls made me these improv citrus string pieced blocks...

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As you can see, I have these all pieced together. It needs something! I have a couple of ideas, I just haven't gotten around to it yet. Soon, I promise.

Some more been blocks I've made in recent months...

black & white with a splash of color improv for Nicole

these fun blocks for Loide

and improv face blocks (super challenging!) for Ailish

There are lots more that I've made, but this will give you a taste.