Quilts for Boston - Boston Modern Quilt Guild

The Boston Modern Quilt Guild needs your help!

They're hoping to create quilts to share and support those who could benefit from a show of support.  If you have time, they are looking for quilt blocks to be donated by a May deadline.  They could also use any donations of material for borders, backings, bindings, etc. See more here. 

I'm putting in three blocks:

Thanks everyone!

HST Sampler: Block 4 Star Flower

Here she is in all her brightness! Loved how this star flower block turned out.

If you haven't been following along, you can check out block one, two, or three.

At first I made each block for each meeting.  Then this weekend I got a wild hair and decided to work on a few of the sampler blocks.  You'll be seeing them in a post coming soon.

April Quilt Group Meeting

Last week we held our April Quilt Group meeting.  After a quick demonstration on cutting long borders we jumped into working on our half square triangle (HST) project. "A," who provided the fabric, is undecided on how to use the HSTs.  She's not quite sure if she would like to do the sampler or if she wants to do something else with the HSTs.  For now we're cutting, sewing, pressing, and trimming each of the squares.

Each meeting is wonderful as we gather together to chat and quilt. Hopefully next month will be a little more productive and a little less conversation... or not!

Happy Quilting,
Kate

Sweet Contrary: A Mosaic Contest from Stitched in Color

I took a few (or ahem many) minutes of my lunch break today to play around with colors at Lark Cottons.  Stitched in Color is hosting a contest where each person can choose 12 fabrics and create a mosaic.  The fabrics need to be in contrary colors, where warm meets cool, in a modern, beautiful way.  Next week all of the entries will be open for voting and the top two entries will receive a fat quarter bundle of their fabric selection.  Yes, PLEASE.

This contest posed an interesting challenge for me.  I tend to keep to the same colors and don't often use "contrary" colors.  I LOVE blue and green, but knew I needed to branch out of my comfort zone. Pinks, oranges, teals and grays?  Why not?!?

I quickly made this first entry, which is linked to my flickr account (I was too excited to get my entry in I couldn't even take the time to write a quick blog post!).  I'm pleasantly surprised with the results.

You are allowed to make a second entry and I think I'll let it simmer for a bit before making my selections.  I'm enjoying the creative process and how this contest is allowing me to see how different colors work beautifully together, even when I don't expect them to!

Also, did you know you can make these fun mosaics for free?  Stitched in Color recommended this tool, Mosaic Maker Tool.  I may need to play with this more later.  I could see how this would be useful when pulling different fabrics together from various online sites.  I think this has great potential.

Go join in the fun here!  As I said with the last contest, I don't mind a little competition :)

Kate

HST Sampler: Block 3

Our quilt group is working on a half square triangle sampler quilt and here is the next block, No. 3.  Is there a name for this block?

But may favorite part is the...

So happy that I could incorporate a pocket into one of the blocks.

If you want to see some of the other blocks, I've linked block one here and block two here.

Our Quilt Group met last week and I'll post some pictures soon!

Vintage Lovelies

For my last birthday, my mother gave me a bundle of vintage fabric scraps.  Each around 4" x 3", these rectangles cover a broad spectrum of colors and patterns.

She originally picked up these vintage lovelies while fabric shopping with some friends in Globe, Arizona back in the '80s.   How awesome is that?

I think this one is my favorite.  There is something about that tangerine color that makes me happy.  What do you think?

 There are so many wonderful options for these lovelies, but it's so hard to decide.  I'm tempted to sit on them for a little bit while I brainstorm the perfect project.  

Do you have any fabric that you're saving for the perfect project? 

Strip - Piecing Quilts Progress

We've been pretty quiet this week... well quiet as in my sewing machine may be getting a little lonely.  My fingers have kept busy this week hand-quilting two lap-sized quilts.  I had nearly forgotten how wonderful and time-intensive hand-quilting can be.  Anyone recognize the prints below?

I couldn't resist using some of the prints from Sea Glass again for a gift I'm working on.  

(Typically, I use a local quilt shop for my quilting needs. Partly because I like the idea of supporting local businesses when I can.  More importantly, for a good price, I can save myself some time and get a great quality finish.  Plus I get to focus on piecing another project!)

Luckily my sewing machine is not getting jealous of the quilt frame.  We were on the best of terms as I cranked out a few blocks this morning.

I'm using the quick and easy strip piecing technique I posted a few weeks ago.  

On another note, anyone else thinking about going to the Sewing Summit in SLC this year?  Registration opens on Tuesday and I'm hoping I'll be able to snag a ticket!