After the years of serving as Seattle MQG Giving Quilt Co-chair with Louise/@imfeelincrafty, it was pretty awesome to bring our tenure to a close with a quilt we are extremely proud of. Our QuiltCon Charity quilt, with the theme of 'small piecing', was first inspired by a vintage string-pieced star quilt from the collection of our guild president, Matt Macomber/
@odditease.
The quilt finished at 70" x 90", and yes, it'll be hanging at QuiltCon this year. This was the final quilt Louise and I planned for Seattle MQG.... our last hurrah. What a way to go!
Once we had the string-pieced diamond shape settled, we needed a quilt design, and leave it to Louse to come up with an awesome one! Below is just a corner of the overall design!
We chose to use all seven colors in the challenge palette, cut 18 yards(!) of fabric into 1" x 6" strips, and while our guild-mates were busy piecing strip-pieced blocks, we ordered 5" x 8" custom diamond-shaped templates from MakeATX, owned by a woman we had a class with at last year's QuiltCon!
We chose to use all seven colors in the challenge palette, cut 18 yards(!) of fabric into 1" x 6" strips, and while our guild-mates were busy piecing strip-pieced blocks, we ordered 5" x 8" custom diamond-shaped templates from MakeATX, owned by a woman we had a class with at last year's QuiltCon!
[ETA: fabrics consisted of Kona Snow, White, Bahama Blue, Honey Dew, Pansy, Amethyst, and Noble Purple.]
And then it was back to us, cutting all the diamonds - 309 of them - that were needed for our quilt. In addition to the 185 striped diamonds, we also needed 124 plain diamonds to complete the design.
Then the real fun began! Piecing sets of 12 diamonds into 18" hexagons took some time, while carefully following Louise's complex design block by block. We each pieced half of the top together, then Louise (bless her) connected the two halves.
Of course there was still much to be done! Louise chose a backing and pieced a guild label into it (label made by Dionne/@dinglebobbins!); Matt/@odditease did a mix of machine and hand-quilting. And then Kathleen/@quiltmunnster bound the quilt.
And then it was back to us, cutting all the diamonds - 309 of them - that were needed for our quilt. In addition to the 185 striped diamonds, we also needed 124 plain diamonds to complete the design.
Then the real fun began! Piecing sets of 12 diamonds into 18" hexagons took some time, while carefully following Louise's complex design block by block. We each pieced half of the top together, then Louise (bless her) connected the two halves.
Of course there was still much to be done! Louise chose a backing and pieced a guild label into it (label made by Dionne/@dinglebobbins!); Matt/@odditease did a mix of machine and hand-quilting. And then Kathleen/@quiltmunnster bound the quilt.
The quilt finished at 70" x 90", and yes, it'll be hanging at QuiltCon this year. This was the final quilt Louise and I planned for Seattle MQG.... our last hurrah. What a way to go!
it's fabulous. hope we all get there today, watching flights get cancelled all over the place. sigh
ReplyDeleteSuper job by the WHOLE guild! Beautiful design, too.
ReplyDeleteAn extraordinary beauty. Congratulations to the guild.
ReplyDeleteWow! Beautiful quilt! I wish I could see it in person.
ReplyDeleteIt is absolutely stunning.
ReplyDeleteSo beautiful. You guys did a fabulous job on this one. Your successor has big shoes to fill. I caught a glimpse of it on an IG story because it's hanging right next to the BoulderMQG quilt at the show.
ReplyDeleteSpectacular design!!
ReplyDeleteFinished with a flourish! This is just amazing. My hat is off to the mad fabric cutting involved in every aspect of this, too.
ReplyDeleteThe quilt is really gorgeous! What an amazing "last quilt". Great work from all those how participated.
ReplyDeleteSuch an amazing quilt! I was wondering if you pieced it by hand or by machine?
ReplyDeleteHi! This quilt was entirely machine-pieced, but a combo of machine and hand quilting.
DeleteWow! Thanks for letting me know. Very impressed that you machine pieced the y-seams. I am trying to learn and it is not easy. If you have any tips on the y-seams I am all ears. I managed to piece three together to make a decent looking tumbling block but when I try to sew two rows of tumbling blocks together it was all slightly off...
ReplyDeleteI also want to mention that the colors and design of this quilt are just outstanding! I thought you had used striped fabrics at first and so was blown away that you had created the stipes yourselves with various colored fabrics. What a gorgeous quilt!
Check these out: https://www.freshlemonsquilts.com/journal/y-seams-tutorial and https://www.freshlemonsquilts.com/journal/2019/9/5/summertide-star. I guess I've done them enough now I'm pretty comfortable with them. You will be too! And thanks RE: the colors and design. The quilt was designed by @imfeelincrafty. Piecing all the strips was a good way to involve our whole guild in the piecing of this quilt!
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