Tag Archives: quilt alliance

Leaders and Enders–Have You Heard?

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One of the best things about the blogosphere is that I get tips all the time from other quilters.

I recently learned from Melissa at Happy Quilting how I can be piecing two projects at once!  What could be better?

I’ve always used scraps for starting and ending a series of chain piecing because that gives me all the pieces at once, still without having to cut off thread tails.

The scraps used to start and end sections of chain piecing end up looking like this--pretty ratty!

The scraps used to start and end sections of chain piecing end up looking like this–pretty ratty!

Here’s an explanation of chain piecing in case you aren’t familiar with it.

To piece a second top as “leaders and enders” instead of using scraps to chain piece, I figured it had to be a SIMPLE top or I’d end up confusing things for sure!  So when one of my quilt groups decided to exchange improvised blocks (sometimes called slabs if they’re all one color), it seemed like a perfect opportunity to make the slabs while working on something else.

Improvisational piecing

This is a pile of scraps..

I’m piecing slabs from scraps and they’re improvisational, so there ARE no mistakes, only opportunities for further improvisation!  Woo-hoo!

Improvised quilt block

And this is a block improvised from scraps and cut to size!

SO, while piecing the tops I wanted to consider for the Quilt Alliance challenge…

Cat Circus, my quilt for the 2015 Quilt Alliance challenge

I also pieced several improvisational slabs for friends.

Improvised blocks

Blocks improvised from scraps

Win-win!  And most importantly, it was FUN 🙂

4 Quilt Tops–Help Me Choose!

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The theme of the Quilt Alliance challenge this year is “Animals We Love”.  It gave me a hard time–I tried for weeks to think of something–then all of a sudden I had more ideas than I knew what to do with!  So here are 4 tops I’ve made, and I need to decide which one to submit.  Please tell me which you think is best!  It may help if you’ll tell me why you like it as well (or why you hate it).  All are 16 inches square, which is a requirement of the challenge.

#1: Cat Circus was designed using EQ7 and made using templates.modern quilt block

#2: Barnyard Whirl was cut freehand.  The black fabric is printed with animal sounds.  (Why do we teach little children to make animal sounds, anyway?  Oops, a digression!)Modern quilt block

#3: We Love Clams will have a thread-sketched cartoon clam (presumably looking worried about all that love) as a focal point when I quilt it.Modern Clamshell Quilt

#4: Untitled (feel free to suggest a title) again with the animal-sounds black fabric.Modern QuiltAnd that’s it!  Yes, I made 4 quilt tops!  Please help me choose one.

 

Stick your neck out with me!

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New-Sue-2OK, folks, you may recall that I made a donation quilt for the Quilt Alliance last year BEFORE I realized that most of the other quilters were WAY better known than I am!  It turned out pretty well, because the ladies who won first place were local and not all that famous (at least until they won)!  And my quilt did sell in the auction, so it’s all good.

IT’S THAT TIME AGAIN!  The Quilt Alliance has just announced the 2014 contest, and I hope you’ll consider making a quilt for them.  You can see the contest announcement and a link to the rules on the Quilt Alliance website. (You can see last year’s donation quilts here–mine is #29 if you’re interested.)  The theme this year is “Inspired by” and your entry must be inspired by one of the quilts in the Alliance’s Quilt Index or their Quilters’ S.O.S.- Save Our Stories (Q.S.O.S.) project.

I already have my project in mind and here’s a hint:  it’s based on Sunbonnet Sue.  I searched the QSOS project files for Asheville, since that’s the nearest town of any size, and one of the first quilts I saw was a Sunbonnet Sue–you can see it if you click the link but I think it would be a copyright violation for me to reproduce it here.  I was immediately drawn to it because I have a Sunbonnet Sue quilt made by my Grandmother (Mary Lee Ownbey Kimsey, who lived in Asheville) and it hangs in my studio much of the time.

I also made Eleanor Burns’ Sunbonnet Sue and Overall Sam a few years ago; that is the quilt at the top of this post.  The contest quilt is going to be “inspired by” Sunbonnet Sue, but you’d have to know Sue to “get it”.  You’ll see later!

Sunbonnet Sue

Sunbonnet Sue by my Grandmother

Meanwhile, come on:  STICK OUT YOUR NECK WITH ME!  Even if you’ve never entered a contest, I’m pretty sure you regularly make donation quilts.  Design a donation quilt and send it in to the Quilt Alliance Contest. Here are the TOP 3 REASONS to make a quilt for this contest:

1.  DO SOMETHING NEW!  TAKE A RISK!  If I can do it, you can do it.

2.  You’ll have to spend time browsing the Quilt Index or the Q.S.O.S.–either could be hours of fun!

3.  It’s just a LITTLE quilt–16 x 16 this year!  Just do it!  Here’s the link again: Quilt Alliance