March News x 3

Posted on March 29, 2015 by zippyquilts

First, here’s the stack of quilts my group made for Ronald McDonald House:

Second, here are some other projects along the way:

Gwen Marston Style Improvisational Blocks (made by me)

One of the blocks from our group block swap (24 inches square!)

Jerri’s start on a BIG Bonnie Hunter quilt

Improvised “slabs” for our next group block swap!

Finally, the March finish (as in, I am DONE with this one!)

Paper Piecing Gone WAY Wrong!

I bought this paper-piecing pattern for Storm at Sea in 2006 and cut the pieces over a (long) period of time with the intention of making it of scraps from other quilts. What I FAILED to do was to make a sample block before cutting the whole thing!!!

I wanted to paper piece this design so the points would be perfect. Instead, carefully piecing along the lines on the paper produced what you see above. The pattern and paper went into the trash, and the thousands of pieces I cut will be re-purposed!

I almost always make a test block, and now I expect it will be always-always instead of almost-always 😉

The Modern Sampler Continues

Posted on March 22, 2015 by zippyquilts

These next two blocks were made from inspirations I found on Pinterest (yes, I love Pinterest!) The first I simply copied because I loved the colors and their arrangement in the original artwork by Richard Paul Lohse.

Quilt block based on the work of artist Richard Paul Lohse

Here’s a drawing of how I constructed this block, with measurements, if you want to copy him, too. There are 4 units, each 4″ finished (4-1/2 inches for each unit before joining) so that the entire block is 8″ finished. I’ve marked the size to cut each piece on one of the 4 units, assuming you can take it from there 🙂

Layout for block based on art of Richard Paul Lohse

If you look up the artist Richard Paul Lohse, you’ll see that a lot of his designs would make terrific blocks or whole quilts. Great sense of color!

The second block was made from a tutorial I found at a website called Piece By Number and you can find the free pattern on her site here.

Circle of Geese block made from a pattern at PieceByNumber

This block was easier than it looks thanks to paper piecing. I enjoyed making it, though I feel no need to make another right away!

I think these two blocks have a lot of ZIP for the relatively little amount of effort they required. The Lohse block depends very much on choice of color, so be sure to lay out the fabrics and look at them a while before cutting. Have fun!

My Own Modern Sampler: It may take a year!

Posted on March 15, 2015 by zippyquilts

I’ve had some beautiful solids and black/white text prints in a box waiting for me to have time for them, and I’ve been studying all my favorite inspirations trying to decide how to use this stash.

Quilt-in-Waiting

Then it came to me: I don’t have to choose! I’ve been wanting to make my own modern sampler quilt for some time, and this is it. I’m going to make lots of different blocks, JUST BECAUSE I WANT TO MAKE THEM and then combine them into this quilt.

Here’s how it will go: I’ll make a block whenever it strikes my fancy and will post about it here in case you want to make it, too. Some will be original, some traditional or designed by other quilters. I’ll make a quilt when I have enough blocks, but I’m giving myself a year. Blocks will range in size from 3″ to 12″ and they won’t all be square!

Here are the first couple:

Two 9-patch blocks cut freehand; these finish 6 inches square

Obviously the 9-patch isn’t a new block, and there are “modern crosses” all over the web, like this one from Allison at CluckCluckSew, so my idea isn’t unusual.

Quilt by Allison at CluckCluckSew.com

The point is, I enjoyed doing it! These blocks are just for fun.

I figure these are too easy to require instructions, but I blogged about how to insert those narrow yellow bands, so check it out here if you want to know how I did it. And, since they are cut freehand and end up a little wonky, I started with 8 inch squares to get 6 inch finished-size blocks.

I hope you’ll follow along with my sampler even if you don’t make the blocks. I’ve already made the next two (which are far fancier than these), and I’ll blog about them next week!

Perspective on Quiltcon

Posted on March 8, 2015 by zippyquilts

There are numerous blogs showing pictures of the winning quilts from QuiltCon, so if you want to see them go to Houzz or the MQG blog here and here. Lots of interesting quilts to see. Here are some of my thoughts:

Fill the Void by Cinzia Allocca

First, I was very happy to see that Fill the Void, by Cinzia Allocca, won a prize in the handwork category. This was one of my favorite quilts at the Vermont Quilt Festival last year, and the hand quilting really is beautiful.

I was happy to see some of my friends’ quilts in the show. Here is Jean with hers:

Jean Larson with “Floating”, her QuiltCon show entry

And here is Amy’s entry in the Michael Miller spring challenge.

The New New, by Amy Anderson

That really WAS a challenge for most of us who don’t often use pastels, but Amy met the challenge with a nice design, so I was glad to see it at the show.

There were several quilts that obviously drew from mid century modern art, though that was not referenced in the show notes. Here are two designs that were especially striking. They are Ethos by Natasa McFadyen and Amazonia by Nathalie Bearden.

To me, these look like mid-20th Century art, especially Mark Rothko.

There were several quilts that drew on common forms from mid-century graphic design. I thought this one was fun:

Bowls and Balls #2, by Rachel Kerley

Finally, I loved this quilt by Luke Haynes, which he frankly states is a re-working of the Andrew Wyeth painting “Christina’s World”. It’s a great example of how good design is good design, regardless of the medium. I particularly like that, although he has changed a number of details to make it his own, the reference is immediately recognizable to anyone who knows the original painting.

{The American Context #16} Christina’s World, by Luke Haynes

In view of a lot of this, I was interested to see in the newsletter from one of the modern guilds that they want to focus on “modern quilts, not art quilts”. Obviously the definition of “modern quilt” isn’t yet settled despite much discussion.

QuiltCon Fashionistas!

Posted on March 1, 2015 by zippyquilts

I go to a fair number of quilt shows, and most of them are attended by women (and a few men) in casual but unspectacular fashions. At QuiltCon, however, I saw so many women dressed in fancy outfits. Here are just a few:

Miriam, from the Modern Quilt Guild of Asheville

Miriam and her sister, who collaborate on most of their projects, had a great quilt in the show. (Her sister wasn’t this much of a fashion statement though–sorry Emily!)

Since QuiltCon was in Austin, lots of people brought out their boots. I love the look of boots with dresses:

Linda, an independent member of the MQG (Modern Quilt Guild)

Many of the women had dresses in prints that looked like modern quilts, including this one:

Emily of the Ann Arbor MQG

And a number of women had dresses and skirts they had made themselves. This woman had a dress to match her hair!

Julia of the Houston MQG

Check out how she even matched the pattern where she put in the zipper! If you’ve ever sewn garments, you know that’s an accomplishment. And the pockets were made from a cute safety pin print.

My friend and I loved this blouse, worn by Kelly of the Ventura MQG:

And finally, here is a different type of fashion statement–I’m riding a giant sewing machine! Why do you suppose my friend wouldn’t let me take a picture of HER riding it???

Pictures of my favorite quilts next week!

Zippy Quilts

Modern Quilts With A Twist

Monthly Archives: March 2015

The Modern Sampler Continues

My Own Modern Sampler: It may take a year!

Perspective on Quiltcon

QuiltCon Fashionistas!

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