"I Heard It On the Radio" PNQFAM Artist Reception

 I Heard It On the Radio

Seattle Modern Quilt Guild

June 11 - August 3, 2025

Back in December, I shared about the Seattle MQG "I Heard It On the Radio" challenge exhibit being displayed at the KEXP Gathering Space in Seattle. Well, it was our good fortune to have the exhibit shown again at the local (about an hour from my home)  Pacific Northwest Quilt & Fiber Arts Museum in La Connor, WA. The Artist Reception was last Saturday, and happily my husband and I were able to attend.

The quilt shown above is Golden Blunders, inspired by Golden Blunders by The Posies, created by Christa Poel. I wasn't able to get photos of the entire exhibit, but have several of the quilts shared below. If you want to see more, be sure and look back at my post from December.

And finally, here is my entry on the left, Surrounds, inspired by Seattle by Perry Como. 

I guess I got a little distracted, and didn't get close-ups of the two quilts hanging next to mine, but here are the cards hanging next to them, Major Tom in the center, and The Neon Lights Are Bright on the right. Hopefully you can zoom in a bit and see them better. Totally missed getting a photo of my card, darn.

Anyway, that was very fun! Surrounds will be coming home in August, but it was really a joy to participate in this challenge with nearly 40 of my guild mates. Thankfully Beth @goolaffgirl got good shots of the entire exhibit, so check out her post if you'd like to see more.

Seattle MQG Giving Blocks

Seattle MQG has a long history of making giving quilts, and I very nearly missed out on making blocks for the latest one. Thankfully, I was reminded at our meeting last week and the deadline was extended! Our new Giving Quilts co-chairs, Ann Marchand & Marion Lisko, asked for Sawtooth Stars in solids or prints that read as solids. The stars could have traditional star points or wonky points, either way with an improv center. 8 1/2" unfinished, I confess I enjoyed making these scrappy blocks way more than I expected, and I could have just kept going. All the centers began with pieced scraps from the scrap basket, which added to the fun.

This first 2022 giving quilt will go to Treehouse for Kids – a local program for foster kids. I'm glad I was able to contribute some blocks!

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.

Some Like It Medium

This year's Seattle MQG block of the month, Salsa Medallion, has been a very enjoyable one, though I started late and am ending early. That wasn't intentional, but it is how it's worked out, and I think that's ok. I have no excuse for my late start, but I do know that I chose to finish now because I have a long list of TO DOs, and this one was the smallest thing on my list. Plus it suited my mood and time this last weekend. Made perfect sense to me at least.

One additional thing of note with this project, is that I chose to make it my personal Pantone Color of the Year challenge. So in focusing on Illuminating and Ultimate Gray, my key fabrics have been Kona Highlight and Cotton Couture Pewter, with Kona Punch added in as an accent. I also added in some stripes, a couple of other grays and yellows, and a few random scraps, including one lone piece of a  print by Yoshiko Jinzenji.

The monthly BOM blog posts themselves have been a wealth of information, each focusing on a specific element, while offering mild, medium, or spicy options every month, to go along with the salsa theme. These posts are available to anyone, so if you're interested in medallion quilts, or any of the techniques I've used, you might check them out. 

So once some general Planning was done, we focused on Lines, Triangles, our Focal Block, a Text Message, the overall Design Framework, Curves, and finally, Diamonds. September was to be the month to actually sew all your blocks into a quilt top, but I had decided early on to do that as I went. Considering my quilt top was small (26.5" x 31.5"), quilting and binding didn't take long, thus I was able to finish mine pretty quickly, and am now free to move on to the next project on the list.

One quick glance and you can see that mine is not a typical medallion quilt. Though I did begin with an improvisational Rocky Mountain Puzzle block as my center, most rounds after consisted of at least two, if not more, of the monthly techniques. Not sure why I decided to do that, but it became my own little challenge, and I knew it would help keep my finish on the smaller side. As I worked on the curves prompt, I made some New York Beauty blocks using a tutorial by Matt Macomber, that we had used for giving quilts last year. And in placing them up on the design wall, I realized that I liked them on the side with the "2021" better than I did my original cornerstones. Nothing a little time with the seam ripper couldn't fix. That didn't leave much room for diamonds; in fact I made the two I did out of scraps from earlier in the process. 

The backing was pieced with a few lone blocks and other leftovers from the front, featuring only the pair of Pantone colors. For quilting, I did an angled grid using Aurifil 50wt 2625 [Arctic Ice], which matched that Cotton Couture Pewter quite well. I wasn't too sure about that dark gray going over the punch and white fabrics; but in the end, I really like the effect, and the angles really seem to suit the graphic nature of the quilt's many shapes and angles.

Sincere thanks to our guild president, Katie/@sadiesews, for the comprehensive resources she's provided as we've worked our way through the block of the month this year. I know she's working on a post now for the assembly step, and though I skipped ahead, I'm really looking forward to seeing more of my guild mates' finished quilts. You can too at hashtag #SeaMQGSalsaBom.

Linking up with Meadow Mist Designs' Favorite Finish Linky!

Friendship Mini-Mini Quilt Swap

Kudos to Seattle MQG leadership for keeping our guild strong throughout the last many months of meeting virtually. Our monthly meetings have been great, with all the features we've come to love, along with great presentations by talented makers. There have been some 'extras' along the way, too, and the latest was the Friendship Mini-Mini Quilt swap. The whole purpose of the swap was to make a new friend! We have had so many new members join the guild during the pandemic, that long-time members were paired with a newer member, which I think was a great idea!

So now I'm regretting not prepping this post back in June when I actually made my mini-mini, but such is life. Soon after being assigned as partners, Janet Darcher and I connected and chatted it up some. We fully intended to get together to exchange our swap projects, but unfortunately, that didn't work out.

So early on, Janet and I agreed to give free reign on what we made for each other - no color or design preferences, just make something we enjoyed. I was in the mood for improv courthouse steps, and after rummaging though the scrap basket, found a fun motif for the center. Sadly, I don't even remember how the rest of my fabric pull came about, but I clearly remember enjoying the mix I settled on and creating the mini quilt. The fabric that the motif came from also made a perfect backing. The quilting - a dense improv diagonal grid - created the best texture! My mini-mini finished at just under 7" square (50 square inches was the maximum allowed in the swap) and I confess I love it so much. 

So I sent off my mini-mini to Janet and a day or so later, I received what she made me! Surprise, surprise, she sent two minis. I love them both, for different reasons. I'm especially drawn to the hand-stitching on the one, and the different circles on the other. I asked Janet to tell me about them both, and here is what she said:

"I got a circle attachment for my Bernina and it is a lot of fun and I can use so many of the built in stitches." I think Janet's quilting pairs nicely with the background fabric, and the fun placement of the circles.

"The blue one has some hand stitching which I'm beginning to do more of in smaller pieces. And there are samples of my initial efforts at Eco Printing, the leaf and circle. There is a small piece of rust dye (not a new technique but one I love to do)." Cool. The leaf motif is awesome - reminds me of leaf prints I made as a child - and as I mentioned before, gotta love than hand-stitching!

So what a great swap. Special thanks to guild-mates Martha Peterson and Jackie Benedetti for hosting!

Salsa Medallion II

I can't tell you how thrilled I am to be all caught up in Seattle MQG's block of the month, the Salsa Medallion. Since sharing my center focal block, I've played around with the other prompts - lines, triangles, and text. 

The improv lines, stripes, or whatever, formed the borders on the top and left, paired with a couple of angled wedge 'cornerstones.' Though I made a different triangle 'border,' it didn't fit style-wise with the HSTs in the focal block, so I set them aside for later use. Instead, I added a few more HSTs along the bottom, as well as larger pieced triangles as bookends for the 'text' (IE. '2021') panel on the right side. Goodness, it's chaotic, isn't it? ha! But it was very fun to finally puzzle together, and that's exactly what I needed.

Salsa Medallion I

So I'll tell you right off that I'm behind. In fact, until now, I hadn't even started in on this year's Seattle MQG block of the month. Other things just seemed to take priority. But (hopefully) I'm ready to catch up now and stay on board.

This year's Block of the Month is super clever! It's called the "Salsa Medallion," obviously a medallion quilt; and offers mild, medium, or spicy options every month. SO many options, all around a central theme each month. In fact, it's very much like a 'choose your own adventure' BOM!

Deciding on a palette was a quandary as is often the case, but I finally settled on making this project the first where I dabble with the Pantone Colors of the Year, Illuminating and Ultimate Gray. So Kona Highlight and Cotton Couture Pewter will be my main focus; and already in this one block I've added in bits of Kona Punch, some stripes, and a couple of other random scraps, including one lone piece of a  print by Yoshiko Jinzenji.

So for now at least, I've created my center focal block. I really debated what to do, but when I saw what Laura Loewen/@quiltfortco was doing with her Rocky Mountain Puzzle blocks, I was drawn in that direction. My block measures 13..5" x 17". I thought it might be interesting to begin with a rectangular block as the center focus rather than square. We'll see how that works out!

If you're interested in following along or just want to explore a great resource, do feel free to check it out. There's so much good information there.

Traditional Variations

Last weekend, I had the pleasure of taking a Zoom class with Seattle MQG. As with so many of you, it's been a year now that we've been able to meet in person, though our monthly virtual meetings are still a highlight. Anyway, the class was "Traditional Variations" with Cheryl Arkison.

There were several traditional blocks we could work with, and I chose the classic and familiar log cabin. Maybe I could have challenged myself more, but familiar felt good in the moment.

For fabric, scraps also felt good and comfy, and I selected various green and purple strips, along with pulling my low-volume bin close to grab from as I sewed.

The whole point was to play with variations Cheryl suggested - exercises in size, shape, minimalism, etc. etc. I made several blocks in class, and have continued on - at least until the scraps run out. We'll see.

Obviously I need to finish that QuiltCon Together project and remove my 'Zoom background' before I can really fill up the design wall. So stay tuned. It'll happen.

Seattle MQG Virtual Holiday Swap

It's been nearly a year that Seattle MQG has had to meet virtually. And while our meetings and sew-ins have continued to be a good time, it really hit hard when our holiday party, a traditional sew-in, handmade item swap, and all around good time, had to be held on Zoom too. But it was good to 'see' and hang out with so many guild buddies, and the swap did go on!

So the swap was a little different in that we were assigned partners weeks ago and then mailed our gifts to our partners ahead of the reveal at the party today.

Among other suggestions, my assigned partner, Noelle/@noeleandria, had quilted storage buckets on her wish list. I made the trio known as the Tub Family using the pattern by Rosie Taylor Crafts. I started with the large tub (7'' wide by 5 ¼ '' tall), making the exterior with scrappy rows in Noelle's chosen palette. For the medium (5 ¾'' wide by 4 ¼'' tall), I made each row out of a different fabric; and the smallest (4 ½'' wide by 3 ¼'' tall) was made with one exterior fabric only. 

The interiors were all the same - Spectrastatic in Wintermint from Giucy Giuce's Prism collection. The bucket bottoms were all made of Essex linen, and the bindings were all a stashed Quirky Pin Stripe. So those were a fun sew, and Noelle seemed to like them so yay!

And then, of course, I received a gift too! My friend Aline/@augustdreamsquilts made me a Book & Tool Folio and a coordinating Fold-Up Sewing Folio from patterns in Aneela Hoey's Stitched Sewing Organizers. Both were made in the beautiful "The Blue One" fabric from Marcia Derse/@marciaderse paired with Essex Yarn Dyed Homespun in Limestone, and for the record, they look terrific together! Both folios are so practical, and I can't wait to use them.

Oh! And notice the gorgeous handstitching on the front of the larger folio. It's absolutely beautifully done and it's a little nod to the Stitch Club we've both participated in these last months.

To say I'm pleased is an understatement. And all in all our guild afternoon together was quite different, but still a very fun time.

Modern Japanese Rice Bag

One of the ways our guild has tried to stay connected during this stay-home time - in addition to our online meetings and sew-ins, and our group hashtag, #seattlemqgsewathome - is with a swap! The basic rules were to use supplies you had at home, and to make whatever YOU wanted to make. Then, of course, your swap gift would be sent off to your assigned (secret) recipient.

It took me SO long to decide what to make my secret swap partner, David Owen Hasting, our guild president. Talk about pressure! David is a very gifted contemporary print + textile artist, and I must say making something for him was a tad intimidating. And unfortunately, handmade guy gifts aren't my forte. But after a while it came to me that David's passion for all things Japanese might lend a cue and I settled on making him a Modern Japanese Rice Bag using the pattern by @kzstevens.

The bag could be made with one piece of fabric, but I of course, chose to piece the front with a variety of fabrics and substrates, and in looking through my stash for a suitable lining, I happened upon a lovely piece by Yoshiko Jinzenji, Rose Petals - neutrals on gray, and it immediately helped solidify my vision for the project.

 

 

Dare I say, this was really fun - first pulling together fabrics, and then adding two small patches and stitching with #8 perle cotton. I made the original version of the pattern, which basically is a 6" cube. That doesn't sound very big, but it's actually a really nice, practical size.

I used some cording that I had on hand for the handles. I love that the view from each side of the bag is a little different, showing off the various fabrics and stitching details.

So swaps can be a little stressful, with trying to make something your partner will really like, but I think I did ok this time - once I decided what to make! And I'm glad to have finally tried this pattern. I already have some ideas for another.

See #seattlemqgscrappygiftswap for more of the swap happenings!

Begonia

When you work on a quilt bit by bit, month by month, all year long, there is a really big sigh when it's done. That said, my Seattle MQG mystery block-of-the-month quilt is no longer a work-in-progress. sigh....

The pattern is by Stefanie Satterwhite, and the monthly instructions are on the Seattle MQG blog. Good news, Stefanie's Begonia pattern will be out soon also, which has a few bonus features, if you'd like to make your own. It's all about half-square triangles, obviously, and Stefanie is a master with them. Be sure and check out her other designs.

For my own Begonia, I chose mostly solids, with just two Carolyn Friedlander prints. I must say, having a swatch card to reference throughout the year made all the difference in keeping things organized.

The backing was pieced from all the project leftovers, plus just a couple stash finds to bring it up to size. [Note that when we took it out for a photo-shoot yesterday, we tried an idea Zak Foster had posted a while back. Well, our haphazard version of his idea. Where Zak had made canvas pockets and basted them to the top corners of the quilt, we actually used push-pins on the front of the quilt, pushing through to a couple of pieces of wood. It definitely worked - and well - put I'm planning on pockets the next time around.]

The finished quilt is 78" square, with a 3" border all around the main design. For quilting, I did an orange peel design, which worked really well with all of the HSTs and squares... ie. very little marking.

For thread, I struggled, as I didn't [think] I had anything that would suit, and I debated endlessly over dark to match the background, or lighter, though I was worried how that would look on the background. When I happened across my old thread stash (pre-Aurifil days), I found two spools - a Madeira Aerofil #8790 [Midnight Teal Green], which just happened to be 100% polyester. I used it anyway, and it was a perfect match to the Kona Everglade background. BUT, I ran out about three-quarters through. So I switched to the second spool, a Sulky variegated 30wt, #733-4021 [Truly Teal], which was my more normal 100% cotton. So did I do the unthinkable, mixing not only colors of thread, but fiber content? Time will tell, but I'm betting it will all be ok. Both blend in so well, I really doubt anyone will notice.

So, Begonia is done and I'm pleased as can be. 

Here's a list of each month's progress, if you're interested:

January :: February :: March :: April :: May :: June

July :: August :: September :: October :: November

This project is on my #2020FALQ1List.