A New Modern Quilt

I finished a quilt this weekend.

This is an idea that has been rattling around in my head for months.  What would happen if I stacked four fabrics, then rough cut them into a free-form churn dash block?

No pattern - no measuring - just cut them by eye.

Mix them up and sew them back together.

What would it look like?

I squared up each block, adding a little more "wonkiness" to each block, then sewed the four blocks together to make this nice little wall hanging.

I just love the freestyle look it gives to this traditional block.

I quilted each block with a slight curved line to start, then echoed it all the way to the edge.  Then went back and added matchstick quilting to just the first arc in each block, emphasizing the pinwheel effect in the center.

I also deviated from my normal binding on this quilt, and decided to try a facing instead.  I followed this tutorial from Terry Aske Quilts and found it very easy to follow.

I am very happy with how it turned out, and actually prefer this type of edge for a wall quilt.  Now I have lots of ideas for more quilts like this!

Edit:  I'm having a hard time photographing this quilt.  The colors just aren't true and I'm not having much luck with edits.  I just tried another angle in another location and it's a little closer to the actual colors, which are softer and more muted than the first three pictures.  I wish I was a better photographer...

Cheers!

Tasting Table Tuesday - Flying Geese & Quilt Show Results

I finished quilting the first of two quilts yesterday.  I don't want to reveal too much, because I'm sure the recipients are watching my progress, and I want to leave a little bit of a surprise for them when it's done.

Now I just have to finish piecing the second top, quilt it, then bind them both.  These geese will be flying south before too long...

***Quilt Show Update***

And on another note, a while ago, I mentioned that I had entered three quilts into the Modern Quilt Show at the Gmeiner Arts & Cultural Center in Wellsboro PA during the month of September.  I was shocked and thrilled to find that one of my quilts was awarded a First Place Viewer's Choice ribbon!

Thank you to those of you who attended this show, and voted, regardless of whose quilt you voted for.  It was an awesome show, and it was the first of it's kind at the Gmeiner.  We are all looking forward to many more shows like this in the future!

Here are the three quilts that I submitted to the show...

"Modern Churn Dash"

Made with Kaffe Fassett Shot Cottons for Westminster

 "Shadows"

Made with Color Collection by Modern Quilt Studio for Andover

"Sunrise"

made with Dimples by Gail Kessler for Andover

and the winning quilt is... "Shadows"

All three quilts are for sale and I plan on listing them in my Etsy Shop soon, as time allows.

Inquiries are welcome!

Cheers!

Tasting Table Tuesday - Tips for Making Quilts from Shirts

Have you ever made a quilt using flannel shirts?

I have made several quilts from oxford cloth shirts (cotton), but this is my first experience using other fabrics, like flannel.  The shirts I was given are a mix of fibers, including heavy chamois-weight flannel, medium weight flannel, and lightweight acrylic/polyester.  For someone who has always used cottons, this is quite a diverse range of fibers, and they create their own set of challenges, requiring a totally different approach.

So I thought I would share what I've learned, for those of you who might want to try making a quilt from these types of fabrics.

The lightweight acrylics proved to be the most difficult.  They are very fluid, loosely woven, fray very easily, and don't play well with the others.

So I resorted to some tools to help them behave.

The first is spray starch.  It makes a huge difference in the amount of control you have over your fabric.  It took two cans to starch all of the shirts, but it made the cutting so much easier.  (Tip - spray one side of the fabric, then flip it over and press on the other side to avoid flaking.)

But the bias edges of the triangles were still very stretchy and hard to control.  So I used Sharon Schamber's method of basting each seam with Elmer's School Glue, then pressed to dry the glue, and that really helped to stabilize those bias edges and reduce the fraying.  (The acrylics fray like crazy!)

Click here for a video by Sharon's daughter, Christy, demonstrating the basting technique and the special tip for the glue bottle.  (If you use the tip that comes with the glue bottle you'll get way too much glue.  You only need a hair-line to do the job.)

Once all the Flying Geese blocks were finished, it was time to start pairing them up... glue-basting and pressing every seam.

Once they were all glued, I chain-pieced them into pairs.  No pins!  Yay!  That glue works like a charm!

Since many of the fabrics were very heavy-weight flannel, the next hurdle was the bulk in the seam allowances.  My solution was to clip two notches out of the seam allowance at the tip of each goose, allowing the seam allowance to go one way in the center, and the other way at the sides, minimizing the bulk in the side seams when I sew all the rows together.

Of course, all this clipping makes for lots of Quilter's Confetti!!!

It is definitely a lot more work to starch, glue, press, clip, etc...  but the end result is so much neater and precise than I could have ever accomplished without these extra steps.

And when it comes to a job like this, precision is not an option.

These Geese will be flying in perfect formation soon.

I hope these tips help, for anyone contemplating making a quilt like this.  I love to share with other quilters, so please feel free to ask questions if you'd like more information.

Cheers!

Tasting Table Tuesday - Geese

The Geese are Flying... 

Cheers!

Tasting Table Tuesday - Quilts from Shirts

I have a new project on my "Tasting Table" this week.  Two quilts from clothing - mainly flannel shirts, plus some coveralls.  After presenting the clients with several options, the winning vote was for Flying Geese.

Flocks and flocks of scrappy geese, something like this drawing I did on EQ7.

There are many different methods of making flying geese blocks, but the one I normally use involves starting with two squares of slightly different sizes, then sewing, cutting, and sewing some more until you end up with four geese from the two squares.

Another method uses rectangles and squares.

But both of those methods create some waste and complicate the cutting by requiring different sizes and shapes.  That's fine if you're using yardage, but it's a different ball game when you're working with shirts.

I wanted to make the most efficient use of all the clothing fabrics, with minimal waste, and opted for Bonnie Hunter's method because it uses one consistent strip width for all of the components.  I my case, I needed 3 1/2" strips to make the 3" x 6" Flying Geese.

After "de-boning" the shirts (as Bonnie calls it), I was left with this pile of fabric panels.

I cut them all down into 3 1/2" strips of varying lengths...

Then cut the strips into the triangles needed to make two quilts.  (A total of 1,188 triangles, but who's counting...)

Now it's time for some serious assembly-line sewing with Pandora radio to keep me company.

Cheers!

Another Quilt Show

If you are in the Wellsboro area in September, you need to stop at the Gmeiner Arts Center and see the Modern Quilt Show, on exhibit there through September 27th.

I have three quilts in this show and I stopped in today to take in the whole experience.  The display is awesome!  It's called "Expect The Unexpected" and it's the first show of it's kind at the Gmeiner.

The Gmeiner is open daily, from 2pm-5pm and admission is free.  Several of our quilts are for sale, and when you're there, be sure to fill out your ballet for your favorite quilt!

This is just part of the exhibit.  There are 33 quilts in all.  Check it out!

Cheers!

Quilts at the Deane Center

This year, The Mountain Laurel Quilt Guild hosted a Mystery Quilt Challenge.  We each started with only a list of fabric required, (based on value - light/medium/dark) not knowing what the quilt looked like.  Each month, we were given instructions for another step in the process and the "mystery" slowly revealed itself.

It is so interesting to see the variation in quilts now that they are all finished.

We hung the quilts yesterday so they are now on display at the Deane Center in Wellsboro until Sept. 21st.

If you are in the area this month, please stop and see our quilts.  The Deane Center is a great backdrop and the show looks wonderful!

Cheers!