Some Tiny Blocks

Posted on July 29, 2018 by zippyquilts

My modern guild is making a charity quilt for QuiltCon 2019, and the requirements include a predetermined palate and blocks with pieces no larger than 1″ in at least one dimension. The theme is “small piecing”. Here is the palate:

At the last meeting, our guild had chunks of fabric about 8″ x 10″ cut for us to take home and make little blocks. The blocks are going to be used to construct something else, so the only requirement is that they finish either 2″ or 3″ square. I took these 3 colors:

And here are some little blocks I made.

The quilt has to be twin size, so it’s going to take a LOT of these babies! It will be fun to see what other guilds do when QuiltCon comes around in February.

Thanks to everyone who offered an opinion about my choice of accent color for the shirting quilt. There are two different blocks in the quilt that use the tiny accent squares, and I’ve decided to use orange for this one and rust for the other. Here are a couple of the blocks with orange. Those tiny orange squares finish 3/4″. Eek!

I’ll keep you posted.

Some Favorites from VQF 2018

Posted on July 15, 2018 by zippyquilts

The Vermont Quilt Festival, which I attended in June, was wonderful, as usual. Here are a few of my favorites of the more traditional type.

Maine Coast, by Lynne Rainen

Port Kent Beauty, by Alyce Fradenburg (who is from Port Kent, NY) I like how she put black triangles at the top to give the design a point there.

We Are Stardust, by Gladi Porsche

Twinkle Twinkle Little Tumblers, by Sharon Shea Perry. There are 3328 tumblers in this quilt, and they are tiny! I love how she made the border darker.

Night Sky, by Joan Duffy. This was eye-catching and beautifully pieced.

Barnum & Bailey, by Daisy Dodge. This had many TINY pieces!

Detail of Barnum & Bailey. Those HSTs finish 1/2″ square!

Buzz Saw, by Bonnie Morin. Look at the detail below!

As always, there were several special exhibits, including quilts by the teachers and some modern favorites from the last QuiltCon. More on those later!

Dress Shirt Quilt

Posted on July 8, 2018 by zippyquilts

I have been saving my husband’s worn out dress shirts for years to use the fabric for quilting. They are too worn at the collar and elbows for him to wear to work, but there is plenty of good fabric left for quilts. I made one quilt from them a year or so ago and used the pockets and plackets for interest.
A friend gave me a nice stack of shirt fabric that she had acquired from a custom shirt maker as discarded samples.

The “Trail Mix” quilt from All People Quilt has been on my to-do list for years, and I decided it would be perfect for these shirt fabrics. (The pattern is free; you can click on the name and link to the page.)

I’ve made the first two types of block and have arrived at time to make the blocks that provide the accent rows of tiny blocks. I don’t think I have a shirt bright enough to make these accents stand out, so I’m considering solids from my stash. Any opinions about which would work best?

Rust tone-on-tone

Mottled soft red

Solid red

Solid yellow

Solid Orange

Thanks for your advice!

NC Quilt Symposium–Teachers’ Show

Posted on July 1, 2018 by zippyquilts

Here are some of my favorite quilts displayed by teachers at the recent North Carolina Quilt Symposium. I wish I could have taken classes with all of them!