Stash Jazz

Unfortunately, I haven't been able to attend any Seattle MQG giving quilt sew-ins, and finally I decided to just go ahead and make a quilt for them to donate. Some time before her passing last year, Carole Lyles Shaw gave permission for the guild to use her Stash Jazz pattern for giving quilts. I opted to make the 55" x 62" Small Lap Quilt version, though mine actually came out 55" x 58" due to the amount of border fabrics I had. 

The pieced blocks were made totally of scraps; then the solid blocks and borders were from stash.

Honestly, piecing the scrappy slabs was time consuming! I had grabbed my blue and yellow/orange scrap baskets, thinking the quilt top would be primarily blues and oranges. Come to find out, I had more yellow than orange, so that's what ended up happening.

Still, when it was time to cut the solid slabs for each block, I still went with blue and orange - Kona Riviera and Orangeade. Except I didn't have quite what I needed, so the blue corners are actually Kona Ocean, and the orange corner is obviously a print. I think it works, especially since the quilt top is definitely focused on the scraps.

For the back, I started by piecing the leftovers, and added stash prints and solids to bring it up to size.

Early on I knew I wanted to do a grid for quilting, and when I remembered I had a cone of Aurifil 50wt 2225 [Salmon] - thank you Aurifil! - it felt like kismet. And gotta say, quilting went so nicely with my new machine. It gave me a lot of joy to have the quilting go so smoothly.

I had originally planned for a scrappy binding, but once I was trimming the quilt, scrappy didn't feel right. Or at least not with the scraps I had left. Happily, I happened across random pieces of original Cotton + Steel Mesa by Alexa Marcelle Abegg from back in 2014(!!). And I think it's a fun addition.

So thanks to perfect timing, our guild meeting is tonight, and I'll be able to deliver both the Pixie Stix quilt I bound and this Stash Jazz to the Giving Committee for donation. Pretty sure it will go to either Kenmore Senior Women’s Shelter or YWCA Pathways for Women. Perfect.

Linking up with Quilting Jetgirl's Favorite Finish {June 2025}.

Linking up with Quilting & Learning, What a Combo's Free Motion Mavericks.

Seattle MQG Giving Quilt

When the call went out that there were some Seattle MQG giving quilts that needed quilted and bound, I stepped right up to finish the smallest of the bunch. I didn't even know what it looked like, but the size (46" square) felt manageable to fit in amongst my other projects.

It just so happened to be a rail fence quilt top, with blocks made by my guildmates in 2019. [Random: The rail fence giving blocks I made at that time were actually used in another quilt which has already been donated.] I was given batting, backing, and binding fabric along with the quilt top, so it was easy to baste it up and get right to quilting. I did a simple three-way grid, and then on to binding.

For years, our Seattle MQG quilt labels have been screen-printed by Dionne Matthies-Buban, and I think they add the perfect finishing touch.

Seattle MQG QuiltCon Charity Quilt: The Last Hurrah!

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.

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!

[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.

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!

Seattle MQG Giving

It's been bittersweet closing the door on three years of co-chairing the Seattle MQG Giving Committee with my friend Louise/@imfeelincrafty. We worked really hard offering interesting designs and opportunities for our guild-mates to join us in making quilts we could share with good causes. And truth is, we have alot of fun together, and we both enjoyed brain-storming ideas for quilts, and orchestrating all the steps needed to bring them to completion. Sadly, I shared very few of them here, so grab a beverage, sit down with your feet up, and enjoy the quilt show!

[Note that I'll link to the guild blog post when available, where you can find more details and photos, and credits for everyone who had a hand in each quilt.]

Fade to Black

Using black and white fabrics donated by guild members, we used my Improv Quarter Log Cabin tutorial for the blocks. (72" x 72")

Blue Trimmed Cabin

A bonus baby-sized quilt made with extra Improv Quarter Log Cabin blocks. (36" x 48")

eXmark 

We were ready for some color after all that black and white, and made blocks for this quilt using my X Marks the Improv block tutorial. (72" x 72")

Little Blue Tents

Inspired by "Little Tents" made by Daisy/Ants to Sugar, guild members made their blocks totally from stash. (44" x 63")

Finding Home

Truly improvisational, unique blocks were made by each member using the logo colors of
Homeward Pet Adoption Center, with the finished quilt being donated for their annual auction. American Made Brand Cotton Solids were gifted to us by Clothworks, here in Seattle. (58" x 70")

Sunset Strips

Inspired by my first Bacon Quilt, this one had nice simple improv stripes. (60" x 72")

Doing the {Pink} Flamingo

One of my absolute favorites, this one used the Kona Color of the Year for 2017, Pink Flamingo. Circa15 fabric studio donated the peach-pink fabric to us, and each participant was given a 9" x 11" swatch to work with. Again, guild members could do whatever improv they wanted, combining their Pink Flamingo with gray and/or white solids or prints that read as solids. This was one where I got to puzzle the resultant blocks together, and I arranged them from light to dark. (72" x 72")

Cyan

For this quilt we actually used a block with a pattern(!), Robbing Pete, a MQG block-of-the-month designed by Rebecca Burnett of the Toronto MQG. For some folks, they were trying curves for the first time! (48" x 48")

Play It Cool

Inspired by Anne/Play Crafts’ Crayola Sunset I provided a simple improv tutorial. All in solid cool blues, greens, and purples, working from stash was a total success. (48" x 60")

Frannie’s Flashy Fans 

This was our 2018 QuiltCon Charity Quilt entry. We actually held a little design contest, which was won by Cecelia Lehmann, then I wrote an improv Dresdan tutorial, and Louise came up with the awesome design. (68" x 87")

Icebound 

This quilt was created used the Berry Icy Ice Bar block from Jodie of Persimmon + Pear - call it structured improv. (48" x 60")

Tic Tac Tigerlily 

Of course we had to make a quilt (or two) featuing Kona's 2018 Color of the Year, Tigerlily, which we distributed to participants. Then they were asked to make a red-centered log cabin block with a spin, using Louise's tutorial. Just 16 of the blocks received back were used to make this first quilt. (66" x 66")

ScatterLilies 

A second quilt was comprised of the remaining blocks. I kinda love them both! (48" x 66")

Bein' Green 

This was one of those I loved way more than I expected to! Cuts of green American Made Brand solids given to us by Clothworks were mixed with members’ stash solids. Using the green as the dominant color in our blocks, we made improv squares… and more squares, until we made 14 ½” blocks, following a rough guideline by Louise. (56" x 72")

GreenSquare 

Using several blocks that didn't quite 'fit' in the first quilt due to their use of brown, and an off-white linen, we created another.... a little less busy than Bein' Green, but equally interesting, I think. (42" x 51")

And lastly, there's this year's QuiltCon charity quilt which will be hanging at QuiltCon. I'll give you a sneak peek at the finished quilt, which I'll share more about soon in its own post!

Seattle MQG QuiltCon Charity Quilt: Progress

Since I showed you the beginning of our QuiltCon Charity quilt, I thought you might enjoy seeing where I ended up. Don't get me wrong, the quilt is far from done. But I've pieced the parts I was assigned and I'll be taking it all to my co-chair Louise/@imfeelincrafty at our meeting next week.

Our design has five columns, so I pieced two and a half of them, making hexagon 'blocks' out of the striped slabs our guild-mates made. Louise is piecing the others and will finish up the quilt top before handing it off for quilting.

So it'll be a while before I have more to share, but I have a very strong feeling it will be worth the wait!

Pink Flamingo En Masse

Thought you might like to see the latest giving quilt finish from the Seattle MQG, which was totally inspired by Pink Flamingo, the Kona Color of the Year! Swatches measuring 9″ x 11″ were given to all members interested in participating, and then they were asked to create 12 1/2″ improv blocks using the Pink Flamingo plus gray and/or white solids or prints that read as solids. Don't they do amazing improv?! I love that improv isn't a first language for many of them, but they gave it a go with terrific results.



I got the task of putting all the blocks together into a top, and arranged them roughly from light to dark. I kind of did the same thing with our "Fade to Black" last year, but I love the look! Then Pam/pamjcole quilted it with a wonderfully fun design that enhanced all that improv so nicely.

Matt/odditease used more Pink Flamingo to bind it, and the quilt finished at 72" x 72."



Dubbed "Doing the {Pink} Flamingo", we're going to enter this one in a couple of shows, and then eventually it will be donated to charity. I'm looking forward to seeing where it goes from here!

Try It, You'll Like It!

The last week has been something else. Like full and stressful. And this morning I somehow ended up with half an hour free before I needed to head back to the rat-race, so I did what any creative might do... I distracted myself from reality and sewed for a bit. I'm not sure why, but Stephanie/Spontaneous Thread's "Inset Seaming" tutorial crossed my mind - something I'd been meaning to try for a long while.

Grabbing a couple of scraps like I did allowed me to try it quickly within my time-frame, and goodness, it was easy! The bit peeking through measures just 1/16"! Amazing.

So tonight, when I went to make my guild giving quilt block - Improv in Pink Flamingo - I decided to play with those inset seams again. I tried three sizes, 1/16", 1/8", and 1/4" and they all went together really nicely. Late as it was, I didn't really notice the shadowing that would occur with my white background. I actually kind of like it here, but it may just disqualify the inclusion of the block in our quilt, and for sure it's something to note in the future.

Anyway, discovering the secrets of inset seams was definitely the highlight of this day.

Linking up with Tips and Tutorials Tuesday.

Improv for Good

It's always fun to announce a new giving quilt plan for the Seattle MQG! And this time we are using beautiful American Made Brand solids courtesy of our local Clothworks. The colors chosen are the same as the logo for our intended recipient for this quilt, Homeward Pet Adoption Center. Specifically, they are (top to bottom in photo below) dark blue, brown, dark eggplant, and white. Bundles for those interested in participating consist of 1/16 yard of each of the colors, and 1/8 yard of white. The assignment is to make original improv blocks using two or more of the fabrics in the bundle only, in one of three sizes: 6 1/2" square, 6 1/2" x 12 1/2", or 12 1/2" square.

Fresh from doing improv quarter-circles for my #seaSLABbom, I started off similarly for my giving block, though in true improv fashion, it turned out quite different than the idea I started off with. Fair enough, right?

Though Louise/I'm Feelin' Crafty and I were a little skeptical about the palette at first, these colors really do look great together! Blocks are just beginning to pop up on Instagram under the #seamqggiving hashtag, and I'm really looking forward to seeing more!

Seattle MQG Giving

A while back I mentioned that Louise/I'm Feelin' Crafty and I stepped in as Seattle MQG's Giving Committee co-chairs this year, and we finally have a few finished quilts! We inherited lots of black and white print fabric when we took over, all of which had been donated last year by guild members, so we definitely wanted to use it!

So to start, we chose an Improv Quarter Log Cabin tutorial, and asked for 12 1/2" square blocks made with the black and white prints alternated with a true white solid. We encouraged the makers to give their blocks a little wonk when they squared them up.



With all of the blocks received back, we were able to make two quilts! I sewed the larger top together, which Arlene DeBuck kindly quilted with a delightful variety of quilting motifs and bound it as well. Louise came up with the clever name Fade to Black, and it finished at 72" square.

Then there were enough blocks left to make a baby-sized quilt. I pieced this one also, quilted it up with a diagonal straight-line, and passed it on to Yeechi Chen to bind.

Yeechi even added a sweet aqua flange to this little 36″ x 48″ quilt, which we named Blue Trimmed Cabin.

In addition to all the black and white fabrics, we also inherited some star blocks that were made by guild members a few years ago. Louise pieced this 36" x 48" top, I quilted it with a simple serpentine, then Deborah Christensen bound it. Once complete, it was christened First Star I See.

photos of First Star I See by Louise Wackerman; used by permission

All three of these quilts will be donated to Nurse-Family Partnership, a community health program in Seattle that helps transform the lives of young, low-income mothers pregnant with their first child.

By the way, these epic (and giant!) quilt labels were also inherited - screen-printed by guild members Dionne Matthies-Buban and Kristen Ballou. Aren't they the most perfect finish?