Hugs from Texas

While Linda and I perused the vendor aisles at the International Quilt Festival, we came across a charity booth called “Hugs From Texas”. Now, being a died-in-the-wool Texan, I had to check it out.

It is a volunteer quilt drive that provides quilts to those experiencing loss and tragedy. Their current project is to give quilts to the victims of the Hill Country Floods back in July.

As part of their initiative, they were selling pre-cut fabrics to make one block, for $5. The idea was that you purchase the fabric, take it home, make the block, and then send it back to them.

Linda and I were both IN!!

When opening the package, I found 4 large squares of a bright pink fabric, 4 small yellow squares, 8 white squares, and instructions to start sewing….

First step, add one white block to the top left corner. Then sew along the diagonal and trim to “snowball” that corner…..

Step 2…. do the same on the opposite corner of each large square, using the small yellow square….

Step 3…. Add the final white square to the top right corner….

So, now I have four of these….

….ready to sew into a clover block….

Since I was in sewing mode, I pulled some fabrics from my stash…..

….and quickly put together 3 more blocks….

They are now winging their way to Victoria, TX to be included in quilts that will bring HUGS to those in need.

Isn’t that what quilter’s do?

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“Let’s Get Scrappy is about how to decide, not about what to make.”

Let’s Get Scrappy is an on-demand online course that helps quilters overcome decision fatigue and finally make sense of their overflowing scrap bins. With four hours of step-by-step video instruction, you’ll learn simple systems for organizing, piecing, and pressing your scraps—so you can stop overthinking and start sewing beautiful, coordinated quilts with confidence and joy.

One FINISHED Quilt of Valor

I know that you were wondering if it would ever happen, but I have finally finished the Quilt of Valor that my friend, Marnie, and I were making for a mutual friend. And it looks GREAT…..

After I had finished putting the binding on, (Marnie picked out the gold fabric and it is the PERFECT finish!!), I wanted to wash it to get all of the markings out.

BUT, there was an awful lot of red there and I was concerned about bleeding.

I started out by adding a handful of “Color Catchers” to the washing machine….

….and then added extra water once the cycle had started……

I HATE that I can’t control the amount of water in my washer, but I have learned ways to trick it!!

The color catchers came out a little pink, but NO BLEEDING on the fabric!!!

The final step was to add the labels.

Now, our QOV group goes above and beyond when it comes to labels honoring our recipients!!

They embroider the emblem for each individual and also embroider all of the recipient’s information….

It will be a joy to present this, and I will be sure that there are pictures!!

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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…..

Community Quilts from QuiltCon – 4

Yes, we have made it to day four of Community Quilts. I hope that you enjoy the last few.

My husband is a geneticist so I have seen this next design MANY times in my life…..

“Our DNA” by Seattle MGQ

It is an abstraction of a DNA sequencing panel that looks like this….

The question of whether you can do Improvisational Piecing and yet achieve symmetry is both asked and answered by this next quilt….

“Barely Controlled Chaos” by San Diego METRO MQG

This next quilt was based on the historical and architectural aspects of the makers’ city….Greensboro, North Carolina…..

“Shining a Light on Greensboro” by Greensboro MQG

This group from Silicon Valley did an experiment to see if AI could produce blocks similar to human creativity. The prompt read…. “Design a modern square quilt block using lines, angles, curves to depict an abstract or literal representation of the ocean, mountains, sun using Bella solid fabrics in Mauve, Prune, Dovetail, Pond, Teal, Canary, Saffron, Home Town Sky”. I am such a technology nerd that I LOVE THIS!!!

“Artifical Intelligence” by Silicon Valley MQG

If you want to know which ones were designed by AI, check out their blog post…..

Here is an up close photo of some of the designs…..

As my readers know, I love 3-D quilts. Sadly, I don’t know who made this one. If you do, please let me know!!

The quilting also drew the quilt to my attention…..

This guild cut kits for members to complete their blocks…..

“Crystal Lattice” by Lancastser MQG

And last, but certainly not least……

AND….sadly, I missed the maker of this one as well. I apologize!!!

Of course, I have to end up with some wonderful straight lined quilting…..

So ends the review of Community Quilts at QuiltCon 2024!! I hope that you have enjoyed the show and are encouraged to make a quilt that “does good”!!

Keep coming back and we will move to yet another category….there are bunch to go!!

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Community Quilts at QuiltCon – #3

Well, we have now looked at about half of my favorites from the Community Quilt division.

Lace up your comfy shoes….we have more to see!!

Twenty five guild members participated in the paper piecing of this design. The designer set out to represent radial and transitional symmetry…..

“Facets in Equilibrium” by Austin MQG

The quilting was quite nice too…..

The photo of this next quilt doesn’t do it justice……

“Striking Strings” by St Louis MQG

They worked with all 8 colors suggested by the rules and almost 100 members pieced the 6-inch string blocks!!

I took SO many photos of this next quilt….

“Good Vibrations” by Edinburgh MQG

Yes the quilt is stunning but the custom quilting is out of this world…..

I love the wonky striped blocks in this one…..

“Symmetricotious” by South Florida MQG

AND….it was HAND quilted….

This next quilt contains 700 individual blocks…..

“Come Together” by Inland Empire MQG

Members were given Kona cottons in the desired colors and were told to dig through their scraps to add interest. It worked!!!

This next quilt was also a favorite….not just with me but with all attendees…..

“Taking Flight: When Improv Meetes Symmetry” by Denver Metro MQG

Do you have any idea what this design was inspired by??

I won’t keep you waiting……HANG GLIDERS!!

The paper piecing designs are wonderful…..

While I like the design of the next quilt…..

“HMQGeese” by Houston MQG

….the quilting (called Imrpov Wonky Spiral Triangles) is what won me over…..

This quilt marked the beginning of the Rhein (Germany) MQG. They brought together over 100 quilerts to work on this quilt……

“Reflections 1” by Rhein MQG

Okay….one more day to go. Come back tomorrow!!

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Community Quilts at QuiltCon – #2

Yesterday we looked a number of Community Quilts from QuiltCon. Let’s keep going…..

Each of 4 Individual MQG members interpreted the word “Reverberate” and this is the quilt that was created….

“Reverberate” by Farrah Briggs, Erin Duane, Alexandria Kinney & Justine Wilson

This next quilt is all about finding that the whole is larger than the sum of its parts…..

“Oh my God, it’s filled with stars” by Central Jersey MQG

This one was a huge favorite of mine…..

“Symmetrical Quilt Wedges” by Brisbane MQG

Apparently, it started out as a Dresden plate that morphed to be wedges placed on a spiral. To keep it symmetrical, each of the wedges was drafted in inkscape and printed out for members to sew the foundation papers.

Some of the designs are phenomenal….

This quilt was a special project with the aim to teach many of their members how to paper piece…..

“Motion of the Ocean” by Jersey Shore MQG

I would say that they were successful!!

From the artist statement for the next quilt….. “Our finished quilt is a testament to our ability to work together, work through differences, and find common ground. In the end, we all loved this quilt”…..

“Plum Blossoms” by Baton Rouge MQG

To me, that attitude is what this challenge is all about!

The makers of the next one described themselves as “Neighbors, but strangers” who met when each heard the rumor that there was another quilter in the neighborhood……

“Bella Flora: A Friendship Blossoms” by Andrea Barrett & Laura Boyd

I love that their friendship blossomed just like this quilt did.

The quilting added a lot to the design…..

This group from India used interesting colors chosen from the ones provided…..

“Jyamiti” by India MQG

The quilting on this next piece was done on a domestic sewing machine…..

“Eye of a Hurricane” by Palmetto MQG

Yes, you heard me right….a DOMESTIC…

This final one for today caught my eye initially, but I loved it even more after I read the quilt name…..

“Sweater Weather” by Pittsburgh MQB

To give you an idea of scale, many of the strips were 1-inch!!

Alright….that is it for today but don’t worry, there are many more to come.

See you tomorrow!!

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