Blue on Brown - SMQ 3

You may remember that Kimberly and I are both members of a virtual sewing bee on flickr based on Sunday Morning Quilts.  This is the 3rd round of this bee so I refer to it at SMQ 3. Oddly enough, mom and I were both randomly selected to receive our blocks in the month of March. Kimberly's quilt has been done for weeks since she is definitely the powerhouse quilt producer here at SGQ, but I finally got my quilt finished as well and I LOVE it!  It also happens to be my June UFO for the RMQG challenge and I'm really excited I got it done on time. That puts me at 4/4 for the UFO challenge, woohoo!

The block I chose for my beemates to make me is called "Missing U".  It's basically just a scrappy slab block.  In the book, the block is made out of scraps of one certain color except one white 'missing' part, each block being a different color of the rainbow. Here's a shot of the one in the book:

I put a spin on this when requesting my blocks.  I asked for all blue blocks with the ''missing' piece being brown instead of white.  I ended up making 5 blocks myself and put even more of a spin on the pattern by making one block all brown with a single blue piece.  All blocks were 12.5" unfinished and I used 2.5" unfinished sashing/border strips in a very pretty turquoise solid. I quilted with a gorgeous turquoise Aurifil on top and a taupe Superior Sew Fine on the bottom.  The backing is made of minkee and I also used 100% cotton batting in between.  I quilted on the Innova and the quilting pattern is a larger scale meander/stipple all over.  This quilted finishes at roughly 74" x 64".  I decided to name it "Blue on Brown" since Kenny Wayne Sheppard's song, Blue on Black, was stuck in my head a LOT when I was finishing up this quilt.

Close up of quilting.

Close up of quilting on minkee back.

Francesca

Edit: linked with NTT 

One Woman's Scraps Re-mix

I participated in the same scrap exchange with Francesca.  I pondered for a while on what I would make from my partner's scraps and then decided on a sewing machine cover.  After a sneaky facebook poll of the Guild members about what kind of machines everyone uses, I discovered my partner has a Bernina similar in size to one I own.    With that useful piece of information I was off and running!

The front is a representation of a sewing machine  and on the other side is a replica of a design wall with tiny pinwheels blocks...so stinkin' cute!
  I added a few complimentary scraps but used mostly what my partner had provided.  For the backing I randomly pieced together as many of the scraps as I needed for size.

The quilting was done on my new Juki TL2010Q and for a rookie at FMG on a domestic machine, I think it came out pretty nice!  Practice is key (as well as a healthy dose of patience)!

The partner who received my scraps, Mary Jane, made me some awesome scrappy buckets.  She also did some fun FMQ stitiching (she is much better than I am!).

This was so much fun that I can't wait to do it again.  Our guild is on summer break now so no more formal meetings until September. :( 

One Woman's Scraps...

I think most modern quilter's would agree; one (wo)man's scraps are another's treasure.  This premise inspired a very fun challenge for members of the Rochester Moderm Quilt Guild (RMQG).  Way back in February, each RMQG member brought in a quart size ziploc bags of scraps.  We swapped bags randomly and the challenge is to use the scraps to make something and return it to the scrap owner at the meeting in June.  The "rules" are VERY open ended.  Using as many or as few of the scraps as you desire, mixing in other fabric or notions if you wish, you can make ANYTHING you want. Pretty fun right?!

I received scraps from Nichole and I decided to make her a quilted throw pillow (what else?)  I used her scraps exclusively and did not mix in any fabric of my own.  I had to piece some things together to get big enough pieces for the back but you can barely tell.   I did throw in the batting for the quilted front of the pillow and a pretty purple zipper.  I just love making pillows this way; fully lined with the covered zipper.  I hope she likes it!

Last night's meeting was the big reveal and I was SO tickled with what Beth made me! She used my pink, yellow and light green scraps to make me the cutest insulated beverage sleeve and insulated/portable ironing surface.  I absolutely love them so much!  Thanks again, Beth!

Francesca

SMQ III - Another awesome Bee quilt!

Here is why sewing bees are great:

Let me just say I love this quilt! The design is loosely based on "Nap Like an Egyptian" from the Sunday Morning Quilts book. As I went through the book one more time in advance of my month as queen for round III, I thought I would take a shot at this one since no one has selected it in the past. My Bee Mates came through like champs with triangles, triangles and more triangles!

I started randomly piecing them into large triangles adding a light pink solid and other matching scraps as I went. The came the dilemma once I ran out of triangles. The quilt top was not quite as big as I wanted. I needed to add borders but wanted to keep the modern edge. I decided to add a floral print to either side and I am pleased with the end result both compositionally and in size.

Here are a few glamour shots!

What a finish!

You may recall that I won a quilt design contest earlier this year and was commissioned to make the quilt I designed for the Friends of Letchworth State Park to raffle off for a fundraiser.  I am extremely pleased to announce that this bad boy is completed!

This quilt is called "A Quilt for Mary" and is a sampler quilt featuring a Dresden plate, fan blocks, drunkard's path pieces, tumbling blocks, flying geese, bear paws and log cabins. The quilt top is entirely batik fabrics, the back is a cozy, gold flannel and the batting is 100% cotton.  It was quilted on our Innova long arm and has not been washed yet.  This is a queen size quilt, approximately 96" x 84".

Francesca

Longarm Quilting for Alex

One of my Instabee mates made this delightful heart quilt and asked me to quilt it for her. The back is a deep, rich red minkie. I used a layer of lightweight batting. She requested simple quilting with whatever design I chose. It was easy to decide on continuous curve since I love it so much!

I then decided to dress it up a little with some feathers in the heart shape.

And, the end result was so cute I almost could not bear to send it back to her!

I am pleased to say she loves it!

We have some catching up to do!

I can't believe it has been more than two months since I last blogged! So many projects are in the works and also some have been finished since then. Here is the Bee blocks report: May for do. Good Stitches was aqua plus blocks with low volume background:

Then my ModernInstaBee May block for Mandy:

and last but not least SMQ III blocks (these are mine and Francesca's combined: