Category: Challenge Quilts

Crossing Hemispheres…..

For most of this week, I have been talking about a 24-inch quilt that I am making If you haven’t figured it out, this is my Modern Quilt Guild Mini Swap quilt that is being sent to Christine in Australia.

I have already talked about the quilt that she made for me……

Click HERE if you want to learn more about this quilt.

Here is the finished quilt that I will be sending…..

Over the last few months, I have spent an inordinate amount of time trying to decide what to make. Christine told me that she loved bright colors and mixing florals and geometrics. I tried to keep to that plan!!

In honor of the distance between the two of us “swap-mates”, I named it

“Crossing Hemispheres”

I was excited with the label…..

Now, before it starts winging its way to The Land Down Under, let’s talk about how it developed.

It started with the Pantone Color of the Year for 2023….

Then followed the fabric pull……

Pantone Fabric Pull

Remember that when I pulled these fabrics, I had NO idea what I was going to use them for!!!

BUT, I did know that I wanted to try some Split-Rectangle blocks.

AND, amazingly, the quilt was born!!!

One of the things that I worried about with my fabric selection was whether there was enough contrast between the background fabric and the other fabrics.

Even though there isn’t much contrast, I think that the background fabric really brought the quilt together and I am happy that I used it. I will say that I wasn’t completely sure about it until the quilt was completed!!

This experience of Swapping Quilts with a stranger has been SO much fun. I have loved meeting Christine and I hope that we stay in contact over the years.

Thank you to the Modern Quilt Guild for giving us this opportunity.

AND….if you EVER have the chance to do this, please jump in with both feet!!!

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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.

Quilting the Swap Quilt

Yesterday I posted about the quilt top that I made using Split Rectangle blocks.

Now it was time to quilt it.

And the old question of…….BUT HOW DO I QUILT IT????

I started out using Procreate on my I-Pad but couldn’t tell much about the designs I was looking at.

So, I covered the top with a piece of clear, plastic shower curtain and used a water-soluble marker to try a bunch of designs.

Did I like straight lines?

They look good, but would be REALLY hard to quilt without breaking my thread a BUNCH of times!!

How about Squiggles…..

I like those but it would mean a LOT of quilting and I am not sure that I want to spend that much time on it.

How about some spirals?

What about curves using an Arc-Ruler?

Either these or the spirals were my favorite so I decided to make a test piece….

At this point, I was thinking Spirals.

BUT, when I started on the quilt, I made the first one and it looked horrible…..

OKAY….pick that out and switch to arcs!!

I found that, if I concentrated, I could easily move from blcok to block without having to stop…..

I ended up having to break thread twice but wouldn’t have if I had planned it better. Oh Well!!

I was racing along to finish the borders when I hit this slight snag…..

Don’t you hate it when the backing fabric gets folded over!!

Here is the finished quilt……

Come back tomorrow and we will do a recap!!!

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If you have an interest in ruler quilting, check out this online course…..

Click HERE for more information

It’s Here….It’s Here

On Monday I went to the mailbox and found a large envelope from Australia and I KNEW what it contained!!!

Well, let me back up a bit….

Back in August, the Modern Quilt Guild issued an invitation to sign up for a “mini swap” and I happily added my name!!

A few weeks later I was introduced to Christine from Moruya in New South Wales, Australia!! I was so excited.

As Christine and I emailed back and forth, I learned that she was a retired teacher who had a machine-quilting business for a number of years. Now she just quilts for herself, family, and friends.

Over the last few months, she and I have been emailing back and forth, each trying to find something that would inspire our quilt for the other one.

Today I received the quilt from Christine……

….MAN did she knock it out of the park!!

I love the asymmetry of the quilt and all of the amazing fabrics. I love the way that she sprinkled bits of yellows and reds in with the blues…..

And, look at the quilting…..

It adds so much texture to the piece……

I even love the backing fabric…..

This is such a wonderful gift and I am so happy with it!!

I have finished her quilt and put it in the mail. Once she receives it, I will post more about its making.

And also I want to give a special thank you to Kaela who was our “swap fairy”…..she was so encouraging and helpful!!!

Thank you Christine…..this has been a wonderful journey!!!

Orange You Glad She’s Wearing A Mask??

Back in 2006, my quilt guild ran a challenge called “ORANGE you glad it’s not pink”.

The rules were that the piece had to be predominantly orange and had to be twice as long as it was wide.

I had just spent some time playing with Colorsticks and rubbing plates but hadn’t been particularly excited bout any of them……

I put them up on my design wall and the idea for the mask just appeared when I was arranging the blocks to try to make it fit the size requirement.

I remember how much fun I had designing the mask!

I started with a basic mask shape that I found online and started adding fabrics.

There was an amazing African stripe fabric that brought it all together and you can see bits of it all thru the piece.

I don’t remember where the shiny fabric came from for the face but it was perfect….

I found these great buttons in some of my Grandmother’s collection and they made wonderful eyes!!!

I remember having SO much fun giving her some jewelry, starting with the feather and bead earrings…..

…..and I painted wooden pony beads for the necklace……

Here she is in all her glory……

I remember that there were SO many great quilts in this challenge and I found this photo from an old newsletter. Aren’t they great!!!!

I think that this was one of my favorite challenges and probably the best participation!!

Do you have a favorite challenge??

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

Thank you…….

Flowers Will Bloom Again!

On Friday I posted about building the Bargello top for my guild challenge which is named “Flowers Will Bloom Again.

Yesterday we took a break as I celebrated my 14th Blogoversary!!!

Today, let’s get the quilting done on this challenge!!

The first step was to follow the ups and downs of the bargello and divide the quilt into three sections…..

Much like the design for the piecing, I wanted to make the darker, bottom portion really austere and then have it become more fun as it moved to the top.

So, I started with 1/2-inch spaced straight lines…….

In the next section, I kept the lines spaced at 1/2-inch but made them wiggly and used a black & white variegated thread….

I wasn’t super happy with how it looked when the white thread had to travel along the already stitched black thread…..

But I quickly fixed that using a Fabrico Marker…..

That looks so much better!!

In the next section, I decided to quilt vines (which are pretty hard to see)….

As I rose further into the “fun” section, I debated about which flower meander to use…..

Of course, the obvious answer was BOTH….

So, I combined the two designs. This photo is actually from the back but you can see better……

I outlined the flowers and added some details to the petals….

….and finished off with a paisley meander between the flowers…..

I had a leftover strata strip and, knowing that I would NEVER use it in another project, I added it to the back…..

Here is the finished quilt……

“Flowers Will Bloom Again”

It definitely reminds me that we have been through some hard times but that, in the end, the flowers will always bloom and life will be good!!!

Thanks for joining me on this bargello journey!!!

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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.