Category: Challenge Quilts

Another challenge…

The next project that I need to work on is the MQG (Modern Quilt Guild) Fabric Challenge. I have shown you these fabrics before……

….and I was really excited about using them in a quilt.

I knew that I wouldn’t have much time to work on this quilt before the entry deadline of October 31st, so I decided to keep it reasonably small.

As I looked at the colors, I kept thinking about Seminole patchwork, so I immediately grabbed my book…..

I once made men’s ties for Christmas gifts and used a Seminole strip at an angle across each one. I sure wish that I had photos of those!!!!

I also called my friend Phyllis and asked for her resources. She had lived in Florida (where the Seminole Indians lived) for many years and she KNEW her Seminole Patchwork. She showed up with a slew of other resources……

….. and I happily started looking for designs.

Of course, now I can’t find the block that inspired this design…..I know that it is in one of those books, but this is what I started playing with……

And yes, I took photos of the fabric and scanned them into Electric Quilt 8 so that I could get a better idea of how it would look.

I put it on point and added another block with some strips and came up with this quilt……

Ignore the color gradation in the background blocks. That was from the photo that I used!!

I knew that I didn’t want to make THAT many blocks so I needed another way to test my design.

Come back tomorrow and I will show you my super-quick, no-sew drafting idea.

.

.

If you enjoy this blog, please share it with your friends!!!

Thank you…….

I bet you forgot about the BQL

This time last year I started posting about a twelve-month challenge that I had participated in WAY back in the early 2000’s.

My intention had been to post one block each month thru the end of the year, but…..

So now, over a year later we will take up this tale!!!

The parameters of the challenge were this…..

Each month we were presented with a certain style of quilt and were challenged to make our own version. Oh did I forget to mention that these quilts were only 12-inches in size!!

It was a perfect challenge as it didn’t take forever to make but still gave me a chance to try new things.

So, the June offering was using twisted pleats……

Back in this time period, this particular style of quilting was very popular and I was excited to be “forced” to give it a try!!

I don’t remember much about how it was made, but I BELIEVE that we sewed the two sides of the pleat together first and then pieced them into the backing fabric.

Because of the size of the quilt, it was hard to get much “twist” to it, but I really do like this quilt and it is happily displayed during the summer months!!

Have you ever tried a pleated quilt?? If so, I would love to see photos!!!

If you enjoy this blog, please share it with your friends!!!

Thank you…….

FINISHED…..REALLY!!

Yesterday I fooled you and said that it was finished, but really, I needed to redo the binding so that the bottom-right corner looked better.

Don’t EVER do this unless you absolutely can’t stand it the way it is.

One of the hardest things that I have ever done was to rip that binding off…..

I knew that I was going to need to add a bit more binding so that I would have room to finish it off when it met up on the other side.

The problem was that I didn’t have much fabric left and this was the longest strip that I could make!!

Then….when I sat down to re-attach it…..THIS HAPPENED…..

Remember also, that this was the day that I was packing for our 3-week trip to Africa so there were LOTS of things on my To-Do list. I didn’t have time for this particular problem!!

Once I had worked around both corners, I folded and check the errant corner before I connected the binding…..

That is definitely an improvement.

When I rounded the corner to attach the two bindings together, I ended up with three connects really close together. I don’t particularly like it, but I can’t change it now.

SO….. after an evening of handwork, I can call this quilt officially finished!!!

Now I am taking photos (including a ruler to show that it is exactly 20-inches)…..

…..and filling out the registration form. And of course….paying my $30.

I hope that this quilt is accepted into the Cherrywood Challenge but regardless, I have had a BLAST working on it.

I guess that means that I can take down the “Monarch Challenge” sticker that has resided on my design wall since I came back from Houston with the fabrics!!

Thanks to all of you who have sewed along with me, offering encouragement and suggestions. I couldn’t have done it without you.

Does this mean that it needs to go into a “group” category????

Until next time…..

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

One of my favorite things about quilting is motivating others and helping them in their quilting journey. As part of this endeavor, I LOVE to present programs and workshops to groups and guilds around the world. All of my programs work well with Zoom meetings, and I would love to speak to your group.

You can find out more at this link…..

EXACTLY 20-inch square

Yesterday I promised that I would finish the Monarch Challenge Quilt and, for the most part, I will…..

When I left you yesterday, everything was finished except for the binding.

But, before I could add binding, I needed to ensure that the quilt was going to be 20 inches square…..EXACTLY!!!

One of the big challenges of the Cherry Wood Challenge is that they have to be the EXACT size. You can understand that when you see the way that they are displayed…..

Now I had to figure out how I was going to finish the quilt…..if I used a facing, then the quilt would need to be cut at 20-1/2 inch because turning the facing will take away the 1/2 -inch.

However, IF I am going to bind the quilt, I need to trim it to 20-inches because once the binding is folded back over itself, it doesn’t take up any of the size.

Does that explanation make ANY sense???

Anyway….. I decided that a facing wouldn’t work well because of the bulk along the bottom where the leaves were. They would not have turned under well!!

So, after a lot of measuring, I carefully trimmed the quilt top, starting with squaring-up the bottom portion.

Then I measured up to the top-right corner and squared it further…..

Happily, it measured exactly 20-inches!!

I added the binding and set out to take photos so that I can enter it into the challenge.

What do you see when you look at this photo?

Does the bottom right corner stick out to you??

It certainly does to me and I feel sure that having such a bad (un-square) corner would immediately take me out of contention for acceptance.

So that means that there is ONE more thing to do before I can call this quilt finished…..

Come back on Tuesday and I PROMISE that it will be finished!!!

Michael and I love to travel and see new parts of the world and then I love to take those memories and turn them into quilts!!! I hope that you enjoy traveling along with us!!

Be sure to subscribe to the blog so you don’t miss a single trip!!

Isn’t it finished yet??

For all of you who have toiled thru the Monarch challenge quilt process…..THANK YOU!!!

When I left you yesterday, I only had a small piece of fabric and needed to make as many flowers as possible out of it…..

I pulled out my wonder-under and started carefully fusing it to various shaped pieces of fabric…..

When I had crammed as many flowers and buds in as possible, I had 18 new flowers and almost as many buds…..

I carefully cut them out…..

……not wanting to lose ANY of the fabric!!

There wasn’t much left when I was thru…..

I decided that some of the smaller circle buds weren’t needed. Instead, I turned a lot of them into larger ovals!!

I fused them to the flower and started stitching them down. Now I had another supply problem as I was running out of thread…..

Will the problems EVER end??

I sewed down the new flowers and then added the double-sided ones……

I LOVED how it looked…..

OKAY….come back tomorrow and I PROMISE that the Monarch Challenge quilt will be finished!!!

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

In this blog, I post stories about creativity, techniques, tools of the trade, and lots more about the wonderful art of quilting. If you are enjoying these posts, please subscribe to be notified of each new blog as it becomes available.