October 23, 2013

To Market To Market . . .

I'm going to Quilt Market for the very first time later this week and am soooo excited!  Just to be there to see all the new fabrics and quilts and fabrics and quilts . . .  and fabrics is going to be so much fun.

One of the quilts I will get to see is my very own "Rhythm & Blues" which was accepted as part of the Modern Quilt Guild Showcase. I feel very honored that it was chosen to hang along side all the other creative quilts that modern quilters are making all around the world. The whole Modern movement is really making headway into more traditional venues and best of all is introducing many new people to the joy of quilting.

At the last minute I decided to make a market tote bag, a business card holder and a lanyard.

Finished the tote bag today and love how it turned out. I used this tutorial by Monica Solorio-Snow of Happy Zombie. It's a great bag with 6 pockets on the outside. I altered it a little to fit my needs by making it bigger. Figured I would need more space for all the lovelies I hope to fill it with at Sample Spree. Now if only I could fill it with extra $$$ first so I could buy more.  : )



Tonight I plan to make a business card holder for all these. I finally got real, official business cards printed up. They arrived yesterday and I'm pretty happy with how well they turned out although they are very very slick. I splurged and had a photo of my Cascade quilt printed on the back. This pattern is my best seller and still one of my personal favorites.


We'll see if I get the lanyard done. Jennifer at Ellison Lane recently had a nice little tutorial on making a double sided version that prompted me to think about it.

So these are my main WIPs for this week. Linking up with Lee at Freshly Pieced for WIP Wednesday.

While I'm at Market, I plan to soak in all the inspiration. I'm prepared to be totally overwhelmed. And I hope my new comfort shoes will actually be comfortable.  haha . . . I can hope right?

If you're going to Market, I'd love to meet you. I'll be at the Modern Quilt Guild Meet Up Saturday evening. If not, I'll be posting next week about my Market experience. Stay tuned.

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October 16, 2013

Four-in-Art; My Art Quilt Journey

I've been asked to join an art challenge group called Four-in-Art. Elizabeth of OPQuilt was so inspired by seeing the quilts made by the Twelve by Twelve artists that she posted on her blog wondering if anyone would want to make little art quilts with her. The group originally began with four members making four small art quilts a year based on chosen themes. Each quilter creates their own interpretation of the theme and the quilts are shared via blogs and Flickr. After their first year they decided to expand and I jumped at the chance when Elizabeth asked.


I've kept a sketch book of quilt ideas for years. I've poured over art quilting books for years. Have I actually made what I would consider an art quilt?  Nada nope . . .  not yet. But thanks to Elizabeth and Four-in-Art that's about to change.

The overriding theme for the coming year will be Urban. Now that in and of itself will be a stretch for this small town girl. I am most definitely not a city person and have no desire to be. But the first topic within the urban theme is Maps. Maps I can do. I love maps. Have a whole box of old maps. Love aerial views too. Have a book on aerial views from space. So this first topic will be a great place to begin my art journey. The hard part is trying to decide what approach to take.

With aerial views in mind, I started by pulling some fabrics that might work with my idea.


Next I started cutting and ended up with this . . .
Don't we all end up with this somewhere along the way?


Then I started sewing and things began to look like this . . .
Notice the seam ripper. It got put to good use.


I'm linking up with Lee's WIP Wednesdays. Since the reveal for our finished art quilts is quickly approaching, this is a WIP that needs to get done pretty soon. Tune in November 1st and see how my first "art" quilt turned out. I can't wait for the first reveal to see what everyone else did.    : )

WIP Wednesday at Freshly Pieced

Follow along and see what we all create.

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October 9, 2013

WIP Wednesday

This is a first for me . . . getting bee/guild blocks done ahead of time instead of the last week of the month which seems to be my norm. Maybe it's the fact that September was my month to receive blocks from the Mid Century Modern Bee so I didn't have to make any blocks last month.  Maybe it's that I will be gone the end of the month so want to have things done before I leave. Whatever the reasons, I like the feeling of being a little ahead of the game. If only it would last.  sigh.....

One of the first things I tackled was the tomato paper pieced blocks for part of a larger fruit and veggie quilt the Boulder Modern Quilt Guild is making to thank Alfalfas grocery for letting us use their community room to hold our sew days.


We recently had a paper piecing lesson given by Sharon who is one of our members. She did a wonderful job leaving me with a renewed interest in paper piecing and feeling confident for this group project. That confidence quickly collapsed as I attempted these pesky little tomatoes.

On the first two I accidentally trimmed off the part I had just sewn on when I trimmed the seam allowance. Then there was the piece that wasn't big enough and then sewing along the wrong line. I am not a screamer but this had me screaming loud and long. On top of all the problems, I don't really like how the blocks came out but at this point they're done. Done done done! 

I also jumped in to make the Mid Century Modern October block for Elizabeth over at Occasional Piece Quilt. She's already working on her Christmas quilt and asked for green and white blocks. Birds in the Air was the block I chose to make for her. Hope it will work with all the others she'll get.


I don't think I ever posted about the August blocks for this bee either. Mary at Mary on Lake Pulaski asked for pink X&+ blocks to make quilts for her two granddaughters that are on the way. Very fun little blocks to make and so very sweet with all that pink.


I received several wonderful blocks from my Mid Century Modern beehive for my month of September. They whipped up the most wonderful assortment of blocks for what will become a new pattern from SpringLeaf Studios in the next month or so. More on that to come soon.

Here's the fabric selection I sent them as a point of reference. I was looking for strong pastels in sherbet sorbet type colors. Boy did everyone deliver. There were only one or two duplicate fabrics out of 19 blocks and only one or two that are fabrics I have in my stash. Just what I wanted . . . lots of diversity. Can't wait to clear my design wall now and get started on arranging all these fun bee blocks.


Another design has been on the wall for awhile as I've been working on different versions of yet another pattern. I just finished up the second top using this lovely jelly roll of High Street by Lily Ashbury for Moda. Love the colors . . . grays, soft yellows, oranges, pinks and a touch of fushia.


Stay tuned as both these projects get finished up and introduced in the next few months.

I'm linking up to Lee's WIP Wednesday post. Hop over and see what else is going on.

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