Colorful quilts

I love making quilts.
It's a fact, simple and short and very very true.

But how many quilts can one household truly need?  Especially when their home is located in a never-snows-here climate?  What's a quilter to do?

I have found an easy answer -- I make quilts for charity!  In fact I make lots and lots of quilt tops that I donate to various causes (most are given to my traditional quilt guild and someone there finishes them).  Basically, I love to piece blocks and to piece together quilt-tops.

After this spring's severe flooding in Texas on Memorial Day, I joined a group formed on InstaGram (#FloodTexaswithLove) making many many quilts to give to the many flooded families.  Originally I planned to make a few blocks and send them in, but somehow I became the Houston coordinator and received many blocks, tops and quilts to finish and label before dispersing.  A few friends even dropped off their colorful scraps which I used to piece more blocks.  Below are a few of the completed quilts.

All the quilts above were all pieced using the Just One Slab pattern found in Cheryl Arkison's book Sunday Morning Quilts.  Many different people from across the country, and possibly Canada as well have made blocks and sent them to Sara.  Click here for my earlier blog post about how this drive started and for further information on how to make the scrappy-one-color block or click here for Sara's original blog post about this.  Many thanks to Sara (@supersara20 on IG) for initiating this quilt drive and also to Cheryl (@cheryl_arkison on IG) for granting us the permission to use her pattern for these colorful quilts.

Many quilters also donated quilts made using different patterns and techniques, as seen below.

A Trio of Scrappy Striped Columns

an Around the World pattern

A Modern Graphic Color-Study

A Texas-themed Split Nine-Patch

A Batik of Abstract Stars

An original design was used to make the labels for these quilts.  Thank you the gracious Instagrammer for the colorful logo which appears below.

Thank you also to Karri (@karriofberries on IG) for printing numerous labels for me.  Photos below show the label stitched onto a few of the quilts.

I confess that I have lost track of how many of these quilts have passed through my hands, but it is well over a dozen perhaps close to two dozen.  I have personally handed out some to dear friends that suffered from the flooding and must thank Marna M. and Jamie B. for helping to deliver more of these quilts.  There are still a few being quilted by other volunteers (so many have donated fabric, thread, time, and their talent and skill!), so I haven't quite closed up shop yet ... but I plan to end the drive as this year draws to a close ... any new blocks or scraps that may find their way to my home will be used for new quilts that will be given away to someone who in need of extra hugs from the world at large. 

Thank yous must be extended to the great InstaGram community of quilters including all those named above and many many more.  We love to sew and to comfort others, especially in their times of stress and discomfort.  Hugs to all who received one of these quilts and more hugs to the quilters who helped to make the amazing gifts of so many quilts happen.

Flood Texas with Love

The week-end of Memorial Day 2015 brought massive quantities of water flooding through several Texas towns.  The photos on the news that week-end and the days following were amazingly awful to look at and the news of the amount of loss, both the loss of life and the loss of property was heart-wrenching.

When I saw this logo posted on InstaGram by "supersara20", Sara,  I immediately wanted to join in and help with this great drive. 

credit to Brenna (IG - beknitpicky) for this great logo!

Quoting Sara  from her blog Southern Transplant:
The state of Texas is many things to many people.  To millions it is home.  Texas has recently dealt with severe weather including flooding and tornados in many areas, the worst of which was in Hays County and the city of Houston.  I am a resident of Hays County, I have had to deal with flooded roads, rain, high winds and losing a few shingles on my house.  I am one of the lucky ones.  Many others have had to deal with flooding of their homes and the loss of loved ones.  To date there have been 28 deaths associated with the flooding and several of these people are still missing.  There have been hundreds of houses flooded and many completely washed away.  As the flood waters recede people are returning home, to find mud, mold, venomous snakes, fire ants and rodents in their homes making the clean up that much more difficult.

The idea is for the community of quilters to Flood Texas with Love (and with Quilts).

Sara obtained permission from Cheryl Arkison, who has graciously given permission for us use her Just One Slab block from her book Sunday Morning Quilts which is a fabulous book (I own a digital copy).  

 The directions for the color-slab blocks can be found on pages 48-49.  

Cheryl gives directions on her blog, Dining Room Empire.  Click here for the specific post or keep on reading as the following is quoted directly from her post:

If you don't have the book (Sunday Morning Quilts), let me summarize how to make a slab:
Take two pieces of fabric and sew them together. Do that a few more times. Then start sewing more pieces to those first pairs. Sew groups together. Add additional pieces of fabric as necessary to get up to your finished size. Start with small bits or big ones, it doesn't matter. Raid your scrap bins and go with what you've got.

Sara adds to make each block using one color per "slab".  Any color.  Each block should measure 15.5" square.  The hope and plan is to make quilts 60" x 75" in size, in a rainbow of colors.   Sara is collecting blocks through the month of June, then the piecing, quilting and binding will be completed in July.  

So far I have made four slabs....

 an orange one came first...

 then a green one ...

 then not one, but two blue ones!

I discovered that piecing two slabs at a time is very time efficient.  I love this creative way of using up the fabric scraps that I can never toss into the trash.  This is a fun block to piece, perhaps because there are no specific rules. The directions are to improvise as you go, ending up with a block that measures 15.5" square.  I believe improv piecing is quite freeing! 


Thank you to Sara and to Cheryl for this wonderful project.  I have so many friends who lost so much in the flooding, specifically here in Houston, but also all across our mighty state.  The time to heal is now and sadly it is moving forward ever so slowly.  I know it is still hard for many.  I hope that these quilts, when presented to their new owners, will provide them with much love and with new-found strength.

Here is Cheryl's update on the Canadian floods from 2013, with photos of the quilts made then.  Click here.  She also acknowledges the drive we are currently holding in Texas to help flood fellow Texans with love and quilts.  How awesome is that!  Besides piecing slab blocks, I am also helping to quilt and bind the finished quilts too.  An amazing project that I am very proud to be a part of.... truly.


If you would like to join us, it is not too late.  Make a slab or two -- in your favorite color or in whatever color is most predominant in your scrap bins.  If you can't make a block(s) you can donate through Paypal to sara_stetson@yahoo.com in any amount.  All money will be used for quilt materials (batting/backings/thread/binding), shipping and long arm services. Any excess money collected will be donated to the Red Cross of Central Texas.  (Sara is happy to provide documentation if requested to show the donations are used correctly!)

Please email Sara at sara_stetson@yahoo.com or send her a private message on Instagram @supersara20 when you have blocks that are ready to send to Sara in Austin, or contact me in Houston.


Thank you all in advance!


#floodtexaswithlove

QuiltCon Group Quilts

I have always enjoyed the camaraderie and creativity that shines through with successful group-produced quilts.  Much to my delight, I found five group quilts from QuiltCon 2015 that are new favorite.  Here they are:

 Faraway Fields - Full Circle by Jules McMahon

inset circle blocks pieced by: Cheryl Arkison

quilted by: Heidi Bruce of @goneaussiequilting

Sutton, New South Wales, Australia

Canberra MQG

Jules began this quilt by piecing the improvised blocks in a Denyse Schmidt class at QuiltCon 2013, then added the inset surprise circle blocks pieced by Cheryl Arkison.  

 detail view of Faraway Fields - Full Circle

The creative free-style quilting by Heidi Bruce add the finishing touches to this modern quilt.  Faraway Fields - Full Circle was started in Austin at the first QuiltCon in 2013 and returned to Austin to be on display in the second QuiltCon in 2015.   Jules holds the title of "QuiltCon attendee who traveled the farthest!" and here is her letter to MQG members, as she is currently on the board.

 Improv Pods by Jessica Levitt

pieced by: Robin Buscemi and one other Central Jersey MQG member

Bridgewater, New Jersey

Central Jersey MQG

Jessica states that the three main blocks were made by members of the guild as they practiced Denyse Schmidt's improvisational piecing technique.  These blocks were donated to the guild's charity efforts.  Jessica designed this original composition to be simple yet quirky so as to calm the complexity of the pieced blocks.  Proceeds from this sale of this quilt (I am guessing it may be a raffle quilt, unless it was successfully sold during QuiltCon?) will all go to charity.  The quilting is spectacular on this quilt too, an additional touch of beauty.

 Percolate by Emily Cier

pieced by: Kathy Del Beccaro

quilted by: Angela Walters

Seattle, Washington

Seattle MQG

Directly from the description on display at QuiltCon:  These look like triangles, but they're really ripples on a pond.  Or a rainstorm.  Or drops streaming down a window.  Or a shattered ice sheet.  Something to do with water.  Definitely water.  Or maybe glass?  Well, your call.  We just make the shapes, you get to interpret.   This is an original design, machine pieced and machine quilted.  Simply lovely, whatever aspect of water or shattered glass it may represent.  This pattern is available for purchase here.

 Playing with Little Bits by Rose Daley

pieced by: Anna Levengood, Jill Safford, Jessica Skultety, Jessica Levitt, Robin Tillsworth, Rachel Singh, and Elizabeth Timmons

Columbia, Maryland

Baltimore MQG

This playful quilt was created during the Mid-Atlantic MOD 2014.  Each of the quilters created their section prior to the weekend, using low volume fabrics then adding pops of color.  During the retreat, the participants added their individual sections and pieced additional elements to create the finished quilt top.  The design was a true collaboration of the quilters listed above, and the quilting was inspired by Jackie Gering's Creative Quilting with Your Walking Foot.  Techniques used include machine piecing, paper piecing, improvisational piecing and machine quilting.  This quilt won First Prize in the Group or Bee Quilts category at QuiltCon 2015.

UFO Challenge by Heather Grant

pieced by: Corinne Sovey, Beth Chinderle, Jill Ivie, Emily Thompson, Christi Carew, Mary Anne Williams, Angela Milliman, Gina Pina, Kim Place (Austin MQG Executive Board 2013-14)

Austin, Texas

Austin MQG

This quilt was pieced by the 2013-14 Executive Board of the Austin Modern Quilt Guild to be a prize for the guild member who completed the most number of UFO's in the year 2014.  What an excellent reward for some lucky member!  I love the different sewing elements in each block from the spool of thread to the zipper, but my favorites are the three different sewing machine blocks. 

This quilt is inspiring me to make my own quilt,

featuring the different sewing machines I have sewn with ... dare I admit...

... perhaps even a different block for each of sewing machines I own?

This UFO Challenge quilt is an original design which used these techniques: hand appliqued, paper pieced, machine appliqued, improvisational piecing, machine piecing, machine embroidered, and machine quilted.  

I can't believe I just found this blog post (click here) about the very quilt that is already germinating in my head.  No worries, mine won't look like Cheryl Arkison's here!

Day 2: FB Art Challenge

This is more information about my 2nd Day of the Art Challenge currently circulating on FaceBook. I was nominated by Pam Biswas - Thank-you Pam. For this second day of the five day challenge, I am sharing three of my quilts made for challenges with the Beyond the Borders Art Quilt Group, affiliated with the Quilt Guild of Greater Houston (QGGH).  Each of these challenges resulted with the individual quilts being assembled together into a larger group quilt which we then entered in the QGGH quilt shows.

This first piece featured is a challenge designed by Bethany Carter for the BTB about 5 long years ago (or longer? as many aspects of this challenge were discussed and debated which resulted with the "deadline" being pushed back repeatedly).  This group quilt is titled "Alice's Odyssey".

Bethany drew out the puzzle pieces in different sizes and shapes first.   We 'claimed' our puzzle piece as well as our section from the classic story "Alice in Wonderland" by Lewis Carroll.  As you can see, our efforts won a few awards in our 2011 local quilt show, including the coveted Best of Show.  Click here to read more about this group effort.

I made the vertical puzzle piece of Alice growing tall before shrinking to slip into the magical garden.  My piece features several 3-d effects: a wooden door into the garden secured with a tiny brass lock, tags on the bottle on the table and on the candy on the floor, a buckle on the 'patent leather shoe' and a loose-free-swinging skirt and apron on Alice.  Here is a view of my puzzle piece while in the construction stage.  Notice that the skirt is entirely different, the 3-dimensional pieces haven't been added and more ... clearly the piece is still evolving and growing.

I named this piece "My Big Foot Alice" and often think of it as the last piece in my series of big foot quilts.  Click here to see two close-up views of details on my tiny quilt puzzle piece.

 

The puzzle quilt had its own special exhibit during the 2011 International Quilt Festival. Here is a photo of some of our group.  Left to right they are: Connie Fahrion, Hannah Mallon, Sara Sissenwein Norris, Elaine Connelly and myself.  Elaine was our leader at the time and she has since passed away.  Elaine, you are missed very much still.   

Click here to find out more about "Alice's Odyssey".  It was great fun to complete this excruciating group effort.

In this next challenge, we each had to make a quilt block that measured 8"x10" using the color "Honeysuckle" (the Pantone 2011 Color of the Year) and some dupioni silk.  The quilts were all meant to have a whimsical bird theme.  Click here to read my original blog post about this challenge.

When the deadline arrived, only five quilters turned in completed quilts which were assembled into this simple vertical quilt.  We titled our group piece "Bird-Brained Blocks".  Mine is the pink flamingo watching her egg hatch open.  We won second place in the Art Quilt category at our guild show.

For the curious among you.....

the 2015 Pantone Color of the Year is Marsala.
Hmmm, I am itching to start a new challenge with this color!

This last BTB challenge piece had to comply with only three specifications:

theme - tree

size - 20" long with any width between 6" and 12"; 

color - any but Green  Absolutely NO GREEN may be used!

I thought that using no green at all was the easiest part of this challenge.  My quilt, "Solitude", is a tree at night in the dead of a winter with no snow.  The tree is composed entirely of used coffee filters, generously donated to my project by Liz Broussard.  Thank you Liz!

Here is the full view of "Beyond the Branches",  our green-less tree quilt.  Click here for my original blog post about this quilt, which includes a list of the artists that made each piece.  Click here for an earlier post on how I created "Solitude".

I nominate Janice Daniel McKeehan to join this 5-day Art Challenge by posting three photos a day of her artwork, and nominating another artist to carry the challenge ever forward.  Janice, I look forward to seeing your lovely posts!

2012 IQA Group Quilts

For years I have been fascinated by the wonderful work displayed in the Group Quilts category of the International Quilt Association's show (IQA) which is the mainstay at the International Quilt Festival (IQF).  Below are four of my favorites.  I've included the information displayed with each quilt (Name of quilt; IQA member entering the quilt along with names of others who participated in the making of this particular quilt; their home town, state/country; their description of their quilt; techniques used; materials incorporated; and design source).  Enjoy!  

 

This quilt won Honorable Mention in the Group Quilts category this year.

 The Jennings Homestead

Suzanne Mouton Riggio

and 26 members of the Milwaukee Art Quilters

Wauwatosa, Wisconsin

The Milwaukee Art Quilters, a group of 40 artists, have been meeting for over ten years in the business space at Plank Road Publishing owned by Teresa and Paul Jennings.  In gratitude for the Jennings' generosity, the group made a slice quilt of their Victorian home.

Techniques:  Machine piecing; hand, machine, reverse, and raw-edge applique'; fusing; bleach discharge; inking; machine quilting; machine and hand embroidery

Materials:  Commercial and hand-dyed cottons, cord, paint, fabric markers, ink, thin batting, threads

Design source:  Inspired by a photograph by Teresa Jennings

Guitar Blues

by Julie Poirier-Mathur

and the Beaconsfield Quilter's Guild

Beaconsfield, Quebec, Canada

The puzzle quilt begins with an image divided into pieces.  Each artist is assigned a piece of the puzzle and constructs a quilt block independently, as accurately as possible, following specific instructions.  Once assembled, the blocks divulte the original image.  The rule for this particular quilt was to construct the block in blue.  The guitar strings were added after the quilt was assembled.  

Techniques: Hand, machine, and fused applique'; had and machine piecing; machine quilting, couching, embellishments.

Materials:  Cotton, fusible web, buttons, embroidery thread

Design source: Original design adapted from a photo at MusicRadar.com

This quilt is the First Place Award winner of the Group Quilts category.

 Ms. MacDonald Had a Farm

by Lynn Czaban

and members of the Hanging by a Thread group

Vancouver, Washington

The topic is appropriate for these ladies whose lives are rooted in the colorful farming community in Boisfort Valley, Washington.

Techniques:  Piecing, fusing, machine applique', thread painting, inking, machine quilting

 

Materials:  Tsukineko inks, Quilters Cotton, Thermore batting, Steam-A-Seam 2 

Design source:  Designed by Bonnie Keller

 Balancing Act

Sherri McCauley

Frances Holliday Alford, Barb Forrister, Connie Hudson, Leslie Tucker Jenison, Susan Lewis Story, and Kathy York

Lakeway, Texas

Group dynamics are complicated.  Working together is a balancing act.  With our mutual fascination with cairns and balanced rock sculptures, we independently created our rocks and worked on the rock placement together.  As a group, we were able to form the balanced stacks, and as a group, we balance.

Techniques:  Machine pieced, machine and hand quilted, hand embroidered, applique'd with fusible and by hand; background pieces are individually machine quilted and joined with zigzag; shadows are hand painted.

 

Materials:  Hand-dyed cottons, felts, velvet, silk organza, and batiks; metallic foils; fabric paint; ink; commercial fabrics, embroidery floss, batting, fusible 

Design source:  Original design



If you'd like to see more of the award-winning quilts from Festival this year, go to  http://www.quilts.org/winners.html

Betty's quilt and Lynn's books

Reasonably Realistic Structures, 2011

Here is the full view of Betty's quilt, which she calls "Reasonably Realistic Structures."  Betty made her quilts from ten house blocks that were swapped in the QGGH Block Builders Bee many years ago (possibly more than a decade ago? but less than 15 years ...right, Betty?).

The quilters who traded in this ten-block swap begin with Betty Rivers (who is the first to piece her blocks into a finished quilt!), Lynn Roddy Brown (the initiater/organizer/planner of this swap), Rita Carter, Jill Danzer, Denise Goodman, Catherine Purifoy (who has quilts featured in Fons & Porter, click here and here), Barbara Reynolds, Harriet Rhea, Elizabeth Stewart, and myself, Cathy Winter.  Lynn, the organizer of this swap, is our most famous swapper as she has published not one but three books all about making (and trading) scrappy blocks and quilts.

Her books are:

Simple Strategies for Scrap Quilts

This is her first quilting book and features my favorite, "The Texas Two Step".  I have also spied one (or two?) of my blocks on this cover -- but I will not try to point out which one is my block!  Click here to see other quilts featured in this book.

Simple Strategies for Block-Swap Quilts

Lynn's second book has more fun scrappy quilts, including a few more that I have blocks in!  How exciting it is to see blocks I made featured in a quilt that has been photographed and published in one of Lynn's books!  Click here to see more quilts from patterns featured in this book.

Patchwork-Play Quilts

This is her most recent book published.  I ran into Lynn during Quilt Market this year, where she kept busy autographing copies of her newest book.  Stay tuned, I think she may be writing another book already (perhaps one of my quilts will get into one of her future books, eventually .... it never hurts to dream big, right?).  Click here to learn more about my friend Lynn Roddy Brown.

Be sure to check out her website http://www.lynnroddybrown.com any time.  Note: Look for Lynn's books at your local quilt shop.  They are available through Amazon.com as well.

Rita's house

Rita Carter is a member of our Block Builders house-swapping group.  Here she is, next to her house.

Of course, at the moment, I can't recall which of the two story red brick houses is Rita's (apologies to Rita!)  I will correct this post once I've remembered (or been reminded) which is hers, promise!  (hazards of aging -- the forgetful mind, or is it the hazard of holding onto UFOs for far-too-long?).

 

Here are the three of us at the Quilt Show this past summer.  I only wish that more of our group of ten were there that day.

Stay tuned, tomorrow I will post a view of the quilt without smiling quilters blocking it.  As mentioned previously, this is Betty Rivers' quilt made from ten blocks traded many years ago when we were all in the QGGH Block Builders Bee.  I have since switched to another bee, but the Block Builders Bee still meets (on Wednesdays, right?) -- perhaps I will rejoin them!

Betty's house

This is Betty Rivers in front of her house block, the one just above her smile.

With a last name Rivers, naturally Betty incorporated a flowing stream, err, river, in her house block.  Her house is set in the woods, next to a flowing river.  Look to the left to see a narrow sliver of my red Victorian.  Notice that she added a gingerbread man in her doorway, too.

As mentioned in the post before this one, this is Betty's quilt made of blocks we traded in our Block Builders Bee several years ago.  There were ten quilters that made blocks for this building swap.  Mine are still in my collection of UFOs while Betty finished hers in time for this year's QGGH quilt show.  She has finished other award-winning quilts from blocks we traded in our bee.  Click here to see another one of Betty's quilts.

My house

Years ago, I made ten of these two-story red Victorian homes for a small block swap in my Block Builders Bee, one of the many bees in the Quilt Guild of Greater Houston (QGGH). 

 

For this swap, each of the ten swappers were to make ten blocks of a house -- I can't recall now if we had a size restriction, possibly a size range to keep in within (larger than X" and smaller than Y').  I'll check to see if anyone remembers.  Should I mention that my ten blocks are one of my many UFOs?  Then what is this I'm standing in front of, you ask?  Betty Rivers pieced her blocks together and entered it into this year's QGGH quilt show!  She added the gingerbread man standing in my doorway.