Finished! In 2016

Posted on January 1, 2017 by zippyquilts

First, the Christmas tree picture with fireplace was at the Grove Park Inn, in Asheville, N.C. That fireplace is big enough for a man to stand up in. Hopefully when there’s no fire.

And now, the 2016 finishes.

Scan Me, a quilt made to promote safer sex.

Cherrywood Toss won a blue ribbon.

Refrigerator quilt inspired by Gwen Marston. Bev Manus came up with the idea for refrigerator quilts.

My Modern Sampler Quilt

“Gwen Visits the Farm” is the quilt I made for the Quilt Alliance contest this year

Roxie bag made as part of Quilted Adventure online retreat

Blouse from a Loes Hinse pattern, in Cherrywood fabrics

Tumbling Blocks placemats, made in class with Karen Combs

These Sweetpea Pod bags were so fun that I made a LOT of them!

And, of course, the quilts for Ronald McDonald House:

Improv orphan blocks

Happy new year, and may you have a great year of quilts in 2017!

Vermont Quilt Festival, Part I

Posted on July 3, 2016 by zippyquilts

I love the Vermont Quilt Festival (VQF) for several reasons: Vermont in June, great exhibits, and the opening reception with champagne and chocolate!!! (I’m showing a few of the beautiful quilts today, and I’ll have more later.)

However, my very favorite part is that each quilt is judged on its own merits. Every quilt is rated with published criteria and may (or may not) be awarded a ribbon, based on its score. I love this idea because, as I’ve said elsewhere, the idea of “competitive quilting” doesn’t compute for me. With the VQF system, your primary competition is yourself. Then, if you just have to try to beat other people in a given category, they do have the usual “best machine quilting”, etc.

This quilt involved extensive work and I think it is very “artistic”. It got a 3rd place for workmanship, but it also got the Best Modern Quilt award.

Here is the way quilts are judged, taken from the VQF website:

Each judge evaluates all entries, scores the quilts using the point system below, and provides a brief written critique. The final score for each entry is the average of the three judges’ scores. Score sheets and critiques are returned to contestants with their quilts.

POINT SYSTEM (100 points total)

Visual Impact: 15 points maximum
Design: 40 points maximum
20 points: use of pattern and design
10 points: effectiveness of color in overall design
5 points: suitability of materials
5 points: border treatment
Workmanship: 45 points maximum
20 points: precision of work, top and back
20 points: quality of quilting and/or needlework
5 points: binding and edges

RIBBON CATEGORIES

Exceptional Merit (purple): 98 -100 points
First (blue): 95-97 points
Second (red): 92-94points
Third (yellow): 88-91point

Modern quilt from Vermont Quilt Festival

Here is a modern sampler that I enjoyed. It got a 3rd place ribbon.

Although I didn’t win any of the “big” categories, I did get a (3rd place) ribbon at VQF this year. As you can see, that amounts to a “B” grade, so I’m pretty happy. The comments were useful, as well, so I know what to do the same and what to do differently next time.

This quilt, made from a pattern, got a 3rd place ribbon as well. The circle is on a black background, so the quilt is square.

I certainly wish other shows would adopt a similar system! I’m sure it is expensive, since VQF has 3 judges for each quilt and they have to make comments and take time to score each one, not just look at it once and move on. But for me, as a quilter, it makes the VQF show much more worth the effort of entering. Here’s my quilt:

Happy Squares, designed and made by me.

Does anyone know of other shows with a similar system? I’d like to consider them when planning next year’s entries!

My Modern Sampler: Using Linen in Quilts

Posted on February 28, 2016 by zippyquilts

After finishing the blocks for my modern sampler, I ordered several shades of Essex linen/cotton blend to consider for the background. I know I said I’d never use linen again after the last struggle, but I’ve learned several things since. So, if you’re thinking of using linen in your quilts for its nice texture, read my tips at the end of this post.

Here I’m trying various layouts on two different potential background fabrics. I hung the ironed fabric and pinned the blocks to it, trying out various layouts and different colors of background fabric.

Here is the Pewter background

Here is the Natural background, with a different attempt at layout

I decided I liked the natural background better than they gray. Then I took it all down and made a rectangle on my design “wall”, outlining the approximate finished size with blue painter’s tape.

Here is the layout I decided to use, with some of the sashing in place

And here are my thoughts on using linen in quilts:
–The linen I used the first time was “real”, 100% linen. Remember that from your childhood, when summer clothes were supposed to be linen? Think wrinkles! And avoid 100% linen for your quilts
–The “linen” of the Essex brand actually is a linen/cotton blend, so it has a nice texture but is less wrinkle-prone and tighter woven than the linen I used previously.
–Pre-wash the linen blend, even if you don’t pre-wash anything else. Wash in warm water and dry on warm so it will get its shrinking done and be more dense and stable.
–Before you pre-wash, serge or zig-zag the raw edges together to prevent fraying! This worked great and “wasted” only about 1/4″ on each raw edge, much less than would have frayed. And there was no mess of threads in the washing machine.

How have you done with using fabrics other than quilting cotton in quilts?

Crunchy Numbers

Posted on January 17, 2016 by zippyquilts

The WordPress people send me two statistical reports a year regarding my blog, and of course I can look at statistics on my administrative page at any time. I don’t stress it or check very often, so I was quite surprised when the recent report from WordPress said people from 61 different countries viewed my blog in 2015!

This picture of Iceland is from NordicFoodFestival.org

Most of the countries were predictable: the U.S., Canada, U.K., Australia, and New Zealand. But there were views from every continent except Antarctica! The place I got the biggest kick out of was Iceland 🙂

This improvised log cabin block, which was made into a pillow, appears to have been the most viewed picture on the site.

improvised log cabin block

Jo Glover

And my most popular post was about Jo Glover, who first developed Big Stitch quilting but doesn’t always get enough credit now that everybody does it. You can find that post HERE if you missed it.

Another popular topic was my ongoing modern sampler quilt, and there’ll be much more about that coming up soon. A few of those blocks are shown below.

This block was made with curves cut freehand

The stats show my readership growing steadily over the 2-1/2 years I’ve been blogging. The growth is slow, but I’m blogging for fun (and I’ve kept my day job!) so that’s just fine. I’ve made some new friends, which is even better.

As always, I’m amazed by the power of the internet. I’ll skip the chance to philosophize about that and just wish anyone who reads this a very happy 2016!

Blocks 11 and 12, Modern Sampler

Posted on September 20, 2015 by zippyquilts

Probably have enough blocks now for my usual size “cuddle quilt”, about 55″ X 70″. I have enough ideas and fabric for at least 2 more quilts, so the project may continue anyway.

Doodle block inspired by Sherri Lynn Wood

Block 11 was inspired by Sherri Lynn Wood’s “Doodle” quilt. I had a couple of scraps and decided to just cut them and see what happened, and this is it. The block is only about 6″ wide. I quit without adding anything else in an attempt not to “overdo” and make it too complex.

The next block is certainly improvised, having turned out rather different from my original idea. It started with equal amounts of these fabrics. I thought I would stack them, cut arcs, and shuffle–Karla Alexander’s quilts are among my favorite inspirations. It all started out as planned…

Arcs cut, colors shuffled

But, as sometimes happens, I felt the need to change it as I went along. The final quarter actually was made using templates (gasp!) because I had a particular look in mind. Now I surely have enough blocks for my sampler. The question is how to arrange them. I’ll be looking for your input in a week or so!

My Modern Sampler, Blocks 9 and 10

Posted on September 6, 2015 by zippyquilts

Channeling Gwen Marston, I made a couple of “liberated” quilt blocks for the sampler. This means they were cut without a ruler and the pieces are deliberately “wonky”.

Liberated Hole in the Barn Door blocks finish about 5″ square

Some current authors are making a big deal of cutting without a ruler, but Gwen Marston has been doing it for years.

I DID use a ruler to make the original background square. Here are the steps:

I cut the big square using a ruler, the subdivided it into a 9-patch freehand

Pin triangle where you plan to sew it

Flip triangle over the pin to be sure it will cover the corner

Sew the triangle in place, then trim triangle to match background

Corners done, time for the sides

Sides done using method similar to the corners: pin, check, then sew and trim

Ready to be sewn together!

For Block 10, I cut my scraps into strips.and lined them up.

Scraps cut into strips and pieced with black and white background

The widths of the colored strips and the white strips between them are semi-random. The sashing between the columns finishes 2″, and the block finishes 12″ square.

A few more blocks and then I’ll have to decide how to set them! Here are the previous posts about My Modern Sampler:

My Own Modern Sampler–It May Take a Year!

6 August Projects!

Posted on August 30, 2015 by zippyquilts

As always, I’m taking part in Aunt Marti’s UFO challenge. The August UFO was actually finished back in February as a donation quilt:

February donation quilt. This started out entirely different, but I failed to take Before and After pictures.

That gave me all of August to work on quilting another UFO, my Swim quilt. It’s completely quilted, but I’m still thinking about whether to add more fish, some beads, or more quilting before I bind it.

“Swim” is about 50′ x 50″. I quilted wavy horizontal lines all over it.

I’m caught up on making quilt tops for donation. My goal is a quilt a month, and I made 3 tops in August. They still need to be quilted, but I’ll have a one-woman quilting party and get it done. They are 40″ x 40″, so not difficult to do on a home machine.

Pseudo Random arrangement starting with Kaffe fabric

This is a leaders-and-enders project

Quilt top made from khaki pants and 2 shirts

Finally, I made several new blocks for My Modern Sampler. You can read about the one below here, and I’ll be blogging about the others in the coming weeks.

The Modern Scrap Block will finish 12 inches square

And a good thing August was so productive, because every weekend in September is scheduled! Yikes!

My Modern Sampler: Improv Block I

Posted on May 24, 2015 by zippyquilts

Sherri Lynn Wood’s book finally arrived, and I’ve been enjoying it. I have NO intention of making a full-size quilt for every exercise in the book! However, an improv block for my sampler quilt seemed just right.

The first exercise in the book involves cutting fabric into squares, then using background fabric as needed to join them improvisationally. I’ll mostly let the pictures speak for themselves here.

I chose 2 fabrics and a background to start–my notes are lying on the background fabric

Then I cut a bunch of squares

About half way through, the design looked too static to me, so I cut a triangle of background fabric to set in the middle and throw the whole thing onto diagonal lines.

I joined some of the pieces, but then…I decided to add a triangle!

The finished block:

The finished block, which will be 12-1/2 inches square

This ended up resembling my previous work much more than it resembles Sherri Lynn’s quilts. I think that may be sort of the point 🙂 Here are some of my previous improv blocks:

Confetti Block, 2014

My entry for the Quilt Alliance Challenge 2014

I’ll probably go on to Improv Block II, etc, as I go through the book. Stay tuned!

The other posts in my modern sampler series can be found here:

My Own Modern Sampler–It May Take A Year!

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!

Zippy Quilts

Modern Quilts With A Twist

Tag Archives: modern sampler

Finished! In 2016

Vermont Quilt Festival, Part I

My Modern Sampler: Using Linen in Quilts

Crunchy Numbers

Blocks 11 and 12, Modern Sampler

My Modern Sampler, Blocks 9 and 10

6 August Projects!

My Modern Sampler: Improv Block I

The Modern Sampler Continues

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