SeaMQG Swap!

It's tradition, and I do my very best to make time to participate. Every year at our holiday party, the Seattle MQG has a handmade item swap - either a quilted item, or at least something a quilter would use. This year I made another On-the-Go Project bag from Svetlana Sotak's That Handmade Touch. I'm really enjoying mine - though I've been using it more for errands than an actual project. But still, I think it's a bag any crafty person could make good use of. 

Fabric on this one was Triangles in Red from Kobayashi. It's a Linen Cotton Canvas, which I paired with Essex Linen in Natural, and lined with Freckles in Twinkle Metallic from Cotton + Steel Basics. The leather handles I got from Anna/noodlehead.

Sooooo. What did I bring home? A darling little Boxy Clear Pouch made by @sadiesews. The pattern is by Aneela Hoey, made especially cute by the fabrics Katie chose. Super fun all around!

Begonia :: May

The excitement continues over the Seattle MQG block of the month! This month's row included three types of units: half-square triangles, diamond in a square, and rectangles. Something about it really enhanced the overall design imho.

Our hostess, Stefanie/@satterwhitequilts was really clever in front-loading the HSTs to keep the total workload fairly even each month. I'm glad, because considering the whole quilt will use 312 HSTs, it seems much more manageable to make just a portion of that amount each month, even though we won't be using a bunch until later in the year.

So this round sewed up really quickly, and my Begonia is now 36" square. Back to making more HSTs!

Mystery quilt design by Stefanie/@satterwhitequilts. Check out the #begoniaquilt hashtag to see more!

Begonia :: April

The funny thing about the Seattle MQG block of the month - as soon as we finish one round, everyone is itching to make the next! So when April's post went live, folks were racing to add to their Begonia quilt, me included.

It's now 30" square and I've used all ten of my fabrics, which is exciting. I still have another batch of HSTs to make this month to stay on track, but otherwise, all is as it should be.

Mystery quilt design by Stefanie/@satterwhitequilts. Check out the #begoniaquilt hashtag to see more!

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!

Retreating

The unpacked bags are piled all around me and I am totally wiped out. But going on retreat with Seattle MQG was great fun, as I fully expected it would be!! We stayed at Camp Huston in Gold Bar and though the accommodations were simple, the lodge (aka the sewing room) was spacious and the meals absolutely delicious (think homemade baked goods at every meal, prime rib dip, salmon, etc. etc.). And with 36 guild members attending, the company was excellent!



I made one special item before I went - a pillowcase from the tutorial by The Twiddletails Blog. I had no idea how satisfying this would be to make! With stash fabrics, it took all of 45 minutes, and went terrific with the quilt I chose to take for my bed - my Crossex quilt. It's nice to sleep handmade anytime, but especially at a quilting retreat, right?





The first project I started once I got set up was a new tumbler quilt made with a range of cool RJR Cotton Supreme Solids. I made my own template, based on a Venti Starbucks cup (truth), and cutting out the tumbler shapes was quick work.



Truth be told, piecing this quilt top (about 56" square) was quick to sew too - amazingly so. Within just a few hours I had a flimsy ready for the traditional Camp Huston water tower photo.





Next up was a little secret sewing and believe it or not, a bit of fabric shopping with Island Quilter, who traveled to us! Oh yeah.



Come morning while I was still fresh, I tackled a Devon Pouch, a pattern by Svetlana/Sotak Handmade that I'd been wanting to try. I made the large version which measures 7 ¼” wide x 5” tall x 1 ½” deep. It's marked 'intermediate' and I'd agree with that rating. It took my attention while not being overly challenging. In a perfect world, I'd have two sewing machines set up - one with a 1/4" foot and one with a zipper foot, as there were several times I needed to switch back and forth. But that was just a minor inconvenience, and definitely worth the effort.



My pair of metal zippers came from Zipit, who had the matching zips in the two sizes needed. I used one of my custom leather labels, which I love! Unfortunately when I went to look for a link to share, it looks like the seller, cocosheaven, may have left etsy. (sad face)

Meanwhile, some of my fellow guild members took the retreat as a chance to make their improv Dresden block for the 2018 QuiltCon charity quilt challenge. [Thanks for Louise/@imfeelincrafty and Monica/@monicathequilter for the fun photo!]



So, the other project I worked on was a new one involving improv spikes! I'm pulling from my scrap basket, which explains the eclectic palette. The shortest slabs are 3 1/2" tall, the tallest 8". Where this is headed I'm not sure, but though tedious, I'm really liking the evolving piece.

So, now back to reality! Nuff said.

A Webinar and a W.i.P.

This post is two-fold in that I wanted to tell you about something, yet before I managed that, it inadvertently affected something else, also worth telling.

So Sunday morning, the Seattle MQG experienced a first. Our Vice President of Programs, Allison, somehow managed to arrange a webinar between us and Karen Lewis, screen-printer and fabric designer of Blueberry Park. Now I don't really expect to take up screen-printing anytime soon, but I thoroughly enjoyed the webinar just the same. It's always interesting to hear the story of a crafter's journey, and Karen's was no exception. In fact, she was really inspiring. She talked about her screen-printing process and how hard work pays off ..... the fact that there are no short-cuts to building skills - it takes practice, practice, practice. She talked about how she sometimes minimizes her response when asked what she does by answering simply, "I make things." But what really struck me was her encouragement to "never say never, and don't be afraid to change directions" and most of all, "don't be afraid of getting it wrong."

Which is exactly what I was afraid of that morning. I'd shared a work-in-progress on Instagram the night before, honestly hoping for some clue if my project was headed in a good direction, or totally 'off'. It was met with mixed reviews, and I kept debating with myself where to take it next, or whether to just stop, or at least stop for now.

But after Karen's "don't be afraid of getting it wrong" statement, I think I actually said out loud, "I'm just going to do it." Meaning I was going to keep those improv X blocks I liked so much, sew them onto the improv lines block I was afraid I'd ruin, and see what happened.

So for better or worse, I moved forward with the design that was simmering in my mind. Karen had reminded me that whatever it became didn't need to be perfect. It didn't even need to work at all. With this project, on this day, I just needed to do it.

So I've since added a third 'border' of improv squares and then some, and I hope to start quilting yet this week. It's been an uncertain path. But sometimes you just have to make and see where it takes you.