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, Block 8

Posted on August 23, 2015 by zippyquilts

Here’s a picture of the blocks made to date for my modern sampler. Links to the posts about each one are at the bottom of this post. Some are designed by me, some not.

These are the sampler blocks I’ve made so far

It’s time to look at all the blocks together and think about what this quilt needs next.

So far I’ve made 7 blocks; it needs 7 or 8 more.
The blocks will fit together in multiples of 3″, with some solid strips to fill in spaces. The blocks are generally “busy”, so I think those solid strips will be important.
There are a variety of colors and a lot of white and bright. I like the bright, but I want some more black backgrounds.
All of the blocks except one have some text fabric. I need to either save the one block with no text for another purpose or make 2 more without text. I can use some text fabric as background strips.
That orange and turquoise block with all the random trapezoids doesn’t fit with the others, so I either need to make more like it or modify it in some way. I may cut it up and re-make it altogether. Suggestions?

Meanwhile, here’s one new block to add to the sampler.

The Modern Scrap Block will finish 12 inches square

And here are the steps for making it. I just sewed together my scraps and then framed them with triangles.

I made sets of strips left from other blocks.

These strips varied in width, and some were uneven widths.

Strips of tiny blocks cut from the strip sets.

I joined the strips of little blocks (which varied in width from 1 inch to 1-1/2 inches) and then added black triangles. The center “square” is NOT square–it is improvised without much measuring!

There, now I have another one with a black background! Here are the links to the other quilt blocks in my sampler:

My Own Modern Sampler–It May Take a Year!

Retreat!

Posted on August 16, 2015 by zippyquilts

There was a BIG finish at our last retreat:

Quilt of 3392 Pieces!!!

Here is Jerri’s quilt of 3392 pieces, made from a pattern in one of Bonnie Hunter’s books. Jerri made this for a Little Sisters of the Poor fundraiser, and it certainly should raise a lot of funds! It is beautiful. And she had the sense not to count the number of pieces until she was FINISHED with the project! Even so, it took almost a year to complete. I am VERY impressed that there is not even ONE block is turned wrong!.

This is a HUGE quilt!

And here is the latest stack of donation quilts from our group.

So far everyone is keeping up with the commitment to make a donation quilt each month, and one over-achiever is several months ahead of the rest of us!!! As you probably can see in the photo, another over-achiever quilts hers by hand! I am always amazed by my very accomplished friends!

As soon as Jerri finished the BIG quilt, she started this beauty!

Our latest block swab is monochromatic slabs. Each of us chose a color we wanted, and as soon as we swapped one group member turned her blocks into a donation quilt. Talk about quick work!

Donation quilt from green slabs

When I got the slabs, I immediately started cutting them up and adding accent strips of blue. So far I really like the result. More on this later.

Slabs with accent strips.

So, what’s new with you?

7 Quilts

Posted on August 2, 2015 by zippyquilts

The Modern Quilt Guild of Asheville had a show at the Handmade in America gallery this summer. Here are a few of the quilts. Unfortunately, there were difficulties with photography so the pictures aren’t as good as I’d like, but these quilts are just too good to pass up.

Grumpy Cat. by Diana Cantor

Through the Open Window, by Amy Anderson

Dreamsicle, by Kelly Wood

This, That, and the Other, by Miriam Coffey

Fantastical Astronomy, by Erica Kilgo

Karla Made Me Do It, by Mary Puckett

Migration, by Emily Coffey

The Modern Quilt Guild of Asheville continues to grow and thrive, so look for more news in the future!

Modern Sampler: Painter’s Tape Block

Posted on July 26, 2015 by zippyquilts

For the next block in my modern sampler, I used an improvisational technique that first occurred to me several years ago: I outline the size I want my final piece to be with painter’s tape and then fill it with whatever shape I’ve decided to use.

My first exploration of this technique was a T shirt quilt. The motifs from the shirts were many different sizes but could all be cut as rectangles or squares. I outlined a rectangle about 55″ x 68″ on one of my carpets and stated filling it with shirt pieces. I selected a modern fabric to fill in the holes, and here it is:

Improvised T shirt quilt

The shirts were all cut into rectangles and squares, and the fill-ins therefore were rectangles and squares as well. I’m not saying this is easy, but it sure was more fun than just making a bunch of blocks the same size and lining them up.

So for the next Modern Sampler Block, I outlined an 8-1/2″ square on my cutting mat and started filling it with triangles.

Starting a square that will finish 8″

I added 1/4″ strips between the triangles to give the whole thing definition. Then I just kept addiing triangles (that I cut randomly) until it was done.

Improvised triangles block

No chance of a pattern for this one. To make it, just cut a triangle you want to start with and then keep adding on. I have a couple of deliberate exceptions to my “rules” so that the eye doesn’t just keep saying “yes”, it has to stop occasionally and say, “hey, wait!” The only trick is to keep finishing with a straight edge so you can easily add on the next section.

Try this technique! I hope you enjoy it!

Here are the previous posts in my Modern Sampler series:

Humbug Star

Improv Block I

Pretty Blocks–better look at this one!

My Own Modern Sampler–It May Take a Year!

One Big Improvement

Posted on July 5, 2015 by zippyquilts

Here’s the donation quilt that resulted from following one of Sherri Lynn Wood’s “scores” as it originally turned out. I didn’t much like it. As several friends pointed out, there wasn’t anywhere for the eye to rest!

This came from following one of Sherri Lynn Wood’s “scores”

I got some great suggestions from readers and other friends. I considered them all and finally used EQ7 (the Electric Quilt design program) to draft a layout. I removed the borders and cut the center into 9 equal blocks, each 10″ square. I loved Wanda’s idea to make the blocks different sizes with frames, but I was afraid the design already suffered from too much “creativity” so I didn’t do it.

10″ x 10″ blocks cut from the quilt center

Checking my stash, I came up with these options for sashing. I guess if I’d wanted a “really” modern quilt I’d have chosen the gray 😉

Sashing options for the revised quilt

I chose the marine blue because it calmed things down without making them dull. I’m pleased with the result.

The “New! Improved!” quilt top

Thanks to everyone who provided input about what to do with this!

What To Do x 2?

Posted on June 28, 2015 by zippyquilts

Here are two projects I need to “fix”, and I’m open to suggestions.

“Swim” is about 50′ x 50″

This first one, shown above, is an improvisation I did about 2 years ago. I haven’t finished it because the lines between the layers are more distinct than I intended. I joined the layers with curved seams cut freehand, and I changed the fabrics I used in each layer gradually, but the layers still aren’t blended as well as I’d like.

My “UFO finish” for June is to do SOMETHING with this top. (Mother used to say, “Do something, even if it’s wrong!” when we got stuck on a task.)

My current thought is to cut some freehand diamonds and applique them intermittently along the seams I want to blend. Any other ideas?

And here’s the second one that needs “fixing”:

This is to be the June donation quilt, 40″ x 40″

This is my second attempt to follow a Sherri Lynn Wood “score”. I followed her instructions more closely than last time, and I like it a lot less!

I chose a focus fabric from my novelties because this is a quilt for a child. I followed Sherri Lynn’s directions to make some “rules” and cut up 3 fabrics for the quilt, etc, etc. When I finished, I thought it needed something to “pull it together”, so I added a border of the focus fabric.

BUT, my friend who coordinates our donation quilts looked worried when she saw it. (PLEASE don’t tell me you think that’s a donation quilt?)

So help me out here! What should I do with this?

1. Leave it as it is and quilt it, already!

2. Cut it into blocks to be joined by solid color sashing to calm things down.

Option 2

3. Dye it black and use it to back something else (kidding!)

4. Another idea?

Option X

Hope you have a good week 🙂

My Modern Sampler: Humbug Star

Posted on June 21, 2015 by zippyquilts

I recently read one of Gwen Marston’s books, and she had directions for a sew-and-flip star. Like most of modern quilting, this star has been published by multiple people in multiple places, so it’s not new. However, if you’ve never done sew-and-flip, you can find my tutorial below. It’s a very fun technique.

There’s a major flaw here!

So, HUMBUG! Can you see what I did wrong? I didn’t see it until I took the picture! I rarely rip out seams in my improvised blocks, but this was too much for the perfectionist who whispers in my ear much of the time. So here’s the corrected block:

Humbug Star

This block finishes 12″ X 15″.

Here are the links to my other modern sampler blocks so far.

My Own Modern Sampler–It May Take A Year!

The Modern Sampler Continues

Improv Block I

And here is the tutorial on the sew-and-flip star.

This project was originally developed for Modern Quilts Unlimited magazine. You can read about it here.

Unfinished block size 15″ x 15″

This block finishes 14-1/2 x 14 1/2 inches

Fabric Requirements

Fabrics supplied by Michael Miller Fabrics

Background fabric 16 1/2″ x 16 1/2″

Star center fabric 5 1/2″ x 5 1/2″

Eight solid fabrics for star rays, each 6 1/2″ x 4 1/2″

Piecing Instructions

Note: all seam allowances are 1/4″.

Cut the background fabric into a 9-patch of 5-1/2 inch squares as shown
Remove the center square and replace it with a 5-1/2 inch square of your center fabric
Center square surrounded by background squares
For star rays, build 2 rays on each of 4 background squares as follows:

Lay the one 6 1/2″ x 4 1/2″ piece of solid fabric on a 5 1/2″ x 5 1/2″ square of the background as shown. Place pins approximately where the 1/4″ seam will be along the long edge of the ray and turn along the pins to check placement. Adjust if needed to make a star ray that suits you and to completely cover the foundation piece where the star ray will be. Note that you will need to have your ray end at least 1/4″ from the edge if you want to see the point. However, if you want blunt points there’s nothing wrong with that! Here’s an example:
Reposition the pins and stitch 1/4″ from the edge of the ray as shown below:
Remove pins, turn the ray back into place, and press. Trim the side and bottom edges of the ray even with the foundation fabric. Do not remove the foundation fabric under the ray, as it helps keep everything square and stable.
Place the fabric for the second ray, pin and test position, then stitch, press, and trim as for the first ray. Note that the rays need to overlap at least 1/4″ away from the raw edge where this section will join the star center. It’s fine to overlap more than that.
Press the second ray and trim to match the background block.

After building 4 sets of 2 star rays, re-assemble the 9-patch with the plain corners, printed center, and colored rays.
This block finishes 14-1/2 x 14 1/2 inches

From Orphans to Donation

Posted on June 14, 2015 by zippyquilts

One of my UFO (UnFinished Object) goals for the year is to do something with some of my orphan blocks. (Those are miscellaneous blocks left from various projects; you can read about them here). I’ve already turned a bunch of them into quilts, but I hauled them out again last month to give it another shot.

These star blocks are orphans left over from several projects, so they are different sizes

These are left from various projects, but I just love star blocks so they probably won’t be the last of the breed 🙂 And you can probably see that one of them even has a piece turned wrong, which I did NOT see until just now 😀

After fooling around with various options for them, I selected 5 and made this quilt:

Donation quilt made from orphan star blocks

It actually worked out just fine to simply add a partial border to the smallest one. And the purple fabric is left from yet another project, so win-win!

What do you do with your orphan blocks?

Anniversary!

Posted on June 7, 2015 by zippyquilts

Zippy Quilts is now two years old! I’m still having fun, so I’m signing up for another two years.
Here are a few pictures of projects from the past two years and links to popular posts:

Rising Star, made for the Quilt Alliance TWENTY contest in 2013

This is “Rising Star”, a quilt I made for the Quilt Alliance “Twenty” contest back in 2013. It’s still one of my favorite quilts, which is why it’s still featured on the blog’s header.

Here is a quilt I made for Modern Quilts Unlimited, where they did especially beautiful photos of it.

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

Readers seem especially to have enjoyed posts with pictures from various quilt shows, and I know I appreciate those posts when others do them for shows I can’t attend. Here are links to a few of those:

Here’s a picture from the post on QuiltCon Fashionistas, which was popular:

Julia of the Houston MQG

And here’s one from the post on AQS Charlotte, where I found the talented Jean Larson and her tessellation quilts:

This quilt by Jean Larson won the Original Design award at AQS-Charlotte

Finally, here’s one from the post on the Vermont Quilt Festival, one of my all-time favorite shows:

Fill the Void by Cinzia Allocca–my FAVORITE!

In the coming year, I’m planning to update the blog, of course. I’ll first revise my “About” page, then get to work on adding a gallery. Please stay tuned! I appreciate your comments.

Zippy Quilts

Modern Quilts With A Twist

Tag Archives: Quilt

6 August Projects!

My Modern Sampler, Block 8

Retreat!

7 Quilts

Modern Sampler: Painter’s Tape Block

One Big Improvement

What To Do x 2?

My Modern Sampler: Humbug Star

From Orphans to Donation

Anniversary!

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