Giving Quilt

I've held off sharing this quilt hoping I'd find out more about the maker and design, but several weeks have gone by and I've learned nothing, so since it was something I used stashed fabric on, and counted in May's Fabric Usage, I figured I might as well go ahead and share it. 

The quilt top was rescued off the Seattle MQG retreat free table by Amber @greenamberdawn, then longarm quilted by Jana @janalroyal. Besides to these two guild members, credit also goes to guild Giving Quilt chair Linda Teri, who passed the quilt off to me for binding, suggesting "contrast would be good."

Perfect! I was free to choose binding fabric from my own stash, and used a fun pink on pink dot to finish the quilt, which measured 60" x 72". I'll return the quilt to Linda at our June meeting for labeling and donating. This year, the guild is donating to Kenmore Senior Women’s Shelter, YWCA Pathways for Women, and Westside Baby, so the quilt will go to one of those organizations. Glad I could help make it happen.

ETA: THANK YOU to Wanda @exuberantcolor for identifying the quilt pattern for me! It's Pixie Stix from Strip Your Stash by Gudrun Erla @gedesignsgudrun. Whew. One piece of the puzzle solved.

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.

Rainbow Love

In late November, I saw Paul/@evildemondevildog post some very sad news - that he had been diagnosed with a brain tumor. Ugh. It wasn't long before Jessica/@jessicaquilter began gathering a group together to make a quilt for Paul. For quilters, it's the most obvious thing to do in times like this.

We were asked to make solid rainbow blocks using Bonnie Hunter's Strip Twist pattern. As an option, Nicole/@saphre1964 designed a foundation paper-pieced version of the block, which is what I made.

Jessica sewed the blocks into a top, and quilting was done by Kela/@quilterssquare, who added a beautiful layer to the rainbow twists, don't you think? The quilt finished at 76" x 80" and once again, it amazed me how blocks from a wide mix of people came together to make a really beautiful whole.

Word is, Paul has received the quilt, and I just hope he can find some comfort and healing in it. As the makers post, you can see more at #fortheloveofpaulquilt.

QuiltCon 2019 :: The Charity Quilts

When arriving at QuiltCon, the first thing I wanted to see was Seattle MQG's charity quilt, The Last Hurrah. And excuse me, but it looked mighty good!

Unfortunately, my giving committee co-chair, Louise/@imfeelincrafty wasn't able to travel to QuiltCon this year, so we did the best we could to include her in a photo with the quilt.

We totally wish there was a book made with all the quilts from the charity quilt challenge, they're that good! I'm not even sure I saw them all, but here are some I especially liked.

  

See what I mean? Beautiful, and such a variety of interpretations on the theme.

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!