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 😉

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.

Tessellations! By Jean Larson

Posted on February 15, 2015 by zippyquilts

As promised, my friend Jean Larson has written a tutorial on tessellation quilts. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did! –MJP

Tessellating designs make me happy. Tweaking those designs is even more fun. I want to share the joy of starting with a very, very simple design and watching it blossom. My inspiration comes from this web site: http://gwydir.demon.co.uk/jo/tess/

Start with a simple gridded block and create a light/dark design. Here, I’ve started with a 3 x 3 grid. Then re-color the same block with the lights and darks reversed

.The grid lines are only for design purposes, and each block can be constructed with a single square block with 2 corner triangles attached using any method you prefer.

Here are some design possibilities…A simple “cat head” quilt using only 2 colors.

Different looks can be achieved with variations in the color placement.

Blocks can be inverted and turned for even more quilt designs.

Just imagine all the possibilities with color in these!!!!!

It’s even more complex when you design with a 6×6 grid. Here are the positive and negative versions of another block.

These blocks can be constructed using half-square triangles integrated with larger fabric pieces. If these blocks were to finish at 6 inches by 6 inches. The center column on each block would be a single 3.5 inch wide by 6.5 in long piece of fabric. The side strips would include some half-square triangles.

A couple of the quilts that can be made:

Looks like spools, some gray, some white, all standing up. Same quilt with alternate blocks turned a quarter turn yields a different clearly recognizable tessellation. Reminds me of tessellating doggie rawhide chews 😉

Now back to the spool quilt from above. The “thread” areas have been colored in. No blocks have been turned.

This shows the power of color and value (lightness and darkness). The colored part, being next to the gray and being closer in value to the gray, unites those parts of the block, and gives the illusion that we have all gray spools on a white background, some standing up, some lying down.

I hope these examples can be the seeds to sprout some design experimentation with tessellating shapes.

Start with 2 square grids
Create a positive design, and its negative design
Alternate them in a quilt layout
PLAY!
And play more with color!

Happy Quilting (and Designing)!! –Jean Larson

Year End Review

Posted on December 28, 2014 by zippyquilts

For better or worse, I published goals at the beginning of the year, so here’s the review of my progress:
I met all the goals! (Does that mean I didn’t set them high enough?) I retreated with my buddies THREE times instead of just two! I attended 3 big national shows as well as 2 local ones (all were excellent). I took a couple of fun and useful classes, one of which I still need to write up here so you’ll know about it. I submitted several quilts to shows/contests and 3 were accepted. The one I donated to the Quilt Alliance even won something, and sold for $300 to benefit the Quilt Alliance! And I had lots of fun, which was really the point of it all.

Here are pictures of a few of my projects from the second half of the year. The pix of projects from the first half of the year are in this post.

Spring Sun, a design by me, using blocks paper pieced from a totally different Judy Niemeyer pattern! It took about 2 years, but it’s now DONE.

Zippy Star Quilt and Pillow as shown in Modern Quilts Unlimited, Summer 2014

Packet of Posy Seeds, done for the Michael Miller spring challenge

Zippy Star I, which sold at the Asheville Quilt Show in September. This was my “practice piece” for the MQU quilt shown above.

Donation quilt for Ronald McDonald House. I’m going to work more on using up orphan blocks next year.

And, despite the risk, here’s what I plan for the coming year:

1. I’ll retreat with my buddies at least twice, probably 3 times again!

2. I’ll attend one big national quilt show, maybe two. I’ll attend at least one local show.

3. I will limit much more strictly the shows and challenges I enter. It takes too much time and effort that could be spent on making what I want to make 🙂

4. I’ll continue to make donation quilts, including one for the Quilt Alliance. Please consider making one for the Quilt Alliance yourself. You can read about their mission here. Click on “2015 Quilt Contest” to learn about this year’s challenge.

5. I’ll continue my blog, and I think I’ll put up instructions for a few easy donation quilts just in case somebody is looking for ideas.

What’s coming up for you?

Around the World Blog Hop

Posted on November 3, 2014 by zippyquilts

I’m happy to be part of the Around the World Blog Hop, a chain-letter type project in which bloggers tag each other to keep it going! Here are my answers to the four questions:

What am I working on? My current project is the Michael Miller Challenge for QuiltCon. It is challenging in several ways that I’ll elaborate on in a future post. Meanwhile, here’s a picture of the progress so far.

Pieced quilt, Michael Miller Cotton Couture fabrics

Quilt in progress for the Michael Miller Challenge

How does my work differ from others of its genre? I enjoy making quilts with bold colors (one of the reasons the MM quilt above is a challenge with its pastels). I value good design over intricate workmanship and believe difficult quilts should be re-designed to make them easier. I focus first on the visual impact of the overall quilt, then on the details. Which is probably how I have more than once committed to making a quilt before I’ve quite worked out the details on how to do it.

This T Shirt quilt for a friend was not really planned ahead

Why do I write/create what I do? I write to make contact with other people and to promote quilting and quilters. I create for fun and to challenge myself. My idea of a good project is one in which I learn something new. Even if it’s a difficult lesson sometimes. The blocks below were made in a class. I enjoyed the class and learned a lot, but one of the things I learned was that I didn’t want to make any more of them 😉

Yin-Yang blocks from a class

How does my writing/creating process work? I read/observe/learn everything I can and then work on a problem off-and-on until a solution comes to me. Then I make the quilt. I’m sorry to say I can’t really verbalize it any better than that.

Around the World: I was tagged by my friend Melanie. Check out this post about the worst quilt book she owns!. And I’m tagging Ann at Sew Messy, who is a pattern designer; Ann doesn’t yet sell her patterns on her site, but she has some fun pictures, so stay tuned. I’m also tagging Lyric at LyricKinard.com, who is an art quilter and teacher. Check our Lyric’s website and classes for LOTS of new ideas!

12 Bright Quilts from AQS Chattanooga

Posted on September 14, 2014 by zippyquilts

There were lots of good quilts, so I’m choosing to show bright ones! Later this month, I’ll have an interview with a modern quilter from Chattanooga. Meanwhile, I hope you find these quilts as inspiring as I did.

Sherbert at the Beach, by Stacey Day

Art DeCOW, by Connie Donaldson

Winter Jewels, by Michelle Renee Hiatt and Barbara Bregman

Sunset, by Leanne Chahley

Quilt by Gina Abayan, part of a display of beautiful quilts from the Philippines

Freeze Frame in Motion, by Judy Holahan

Delaneyville, by Fran Stinson

Red Rectangle, by Judy Mercer Tescher

Rainbow Bright, by Jennifer Hynes

3 Sisters, by Veronica Hofman-Ortega

Fall Migration, by Tamara Watts-McPhail

A Feather Runs Through It, by Veronica Hofman-Ortega

10 Quilty Secrets

Posted on August 31, 2014 by zippyquilts

Several of the blogs I read have recently revealed “10 Quilty Secrets” and I thought it sounded like fun, so I’m playing along. If you would like to see some other bloggers’ secrets, here are the links: The original post seems to have been at 13Spools.com, and the idea has been picked up by several blogs I follow, including Catbird quilts, wombat quilts, and Christa quilts.

And so, here are my 10 Quilty Secrets:

1. Although I’m participating in Marti’s UFO (unfinished object) finish-a-month this year, I had FAR MORE than 12 UFOs at the beginning of the year. Oops, still do! Here’s the August finish, a quilt for Ronald McDonald House made from orphan blocks:

2. My nearest LQS (Local Quilt Shop) is an hour away, which I take as an excuse to have a good stash at all times 😉

3. If I start a quilt and don’t like it for some reason, I abandon the plan and turn it into something else–another quilt design, a table runner, whatever.

4. And sometimes those I-don’t-like-this projects just become long term UFOs 😦

5. In my world, a good quilt is a fast quilt. I’m not patient enough for the zillions of little hand-pieced hexies, for example.

6. For that matter, I DON’T EVEN LIKE hexies! Yikes!

7. I value good design in quilts and in other useful objects.

8. I LOVE to learn new techniques and try new things, so I take lots of classes Even if they seem like stuff I could do easily without a class I always learn something.

9. We’ve moved a lot, and one of the best ways I’ve found to make new friends is to join a local quilt group.

10. I think every quilt needs a little purple!

So, what are some of YOUR quilty secrets?

6 Orphan Blocks, 1 Donation Quilt

Posted on August 17, 2014 by zippyquilts

I’ve probably mentioned that one of the ways I’m motivating myself to get rid of the excess in the studio is by joining Marti’s UFO finish of the month over at 52 Quilts. As part of my ongoing effort to “clean it up, move it out” I’m making a series of donation quilts out of my orphan blocks.

Orphan blocks from a recent project

I had these 6 blocks that I liked, so I looked for fabric to go with them. The bright turquoise went well, but I had enough to join them only, not to frame them. Searching for something to make it wider, I found a piece of black/white chevron fabric and decided it needed to be used, and FAST.

My daughter recently point out, “When you find chevrons on your mouthwash bottle, they’re on the way out!” 😀

Finally, I had some colorful Michael Miller dots that seemed to fit in:

And WOW! A very “lively” improvised quilt.

I’m going to practice free motion quilting it on my new Bernina, and it will be the August UFO finish of the month. Then off to Ronald McDonald House it goes.

11 Favorites from AQS Charlotte

Posted on August 10, 2014 by zippyquilts

The quilts at AQS in Charlotte were inspiring, and there were more modern ones than at most AQS shows. Here are 11of my favorites. They aren’t necessarily the judges’ favorites; those are available on the AQS website here. I judge mainly on innovative or attractive overall design; the judges have another set of rules. I hope you enjoy my choices!