QuiltCon 2016 - Michael Miller Fabric Challenge

For all of our members, this is the newest fabric challenge from the MQG.  Please note the dates.  Notifications and sign-ups begin tomorrow, Saturday, May 9th.  Good luck and make beautiful things!  

Michael Miller Fabric Challenge — QuiltCon 2016

Posted on April 29, 2015 by themodernquiltguild

Michael Miller Glitz Fabric Challenge at QuiltCon 2016

Hold on to your sewing machines, because the fabric for the next QuiltCon Michael Miller Fabric Challenge is here!  And we’re excited to unveil these fantastic metallic prints from Michael Miller’s Glitz collection.

This year’s fabrics include 12 glamorous prints from Michael Miller, and each participant will receive six fat eighths at random.  Like previous fabric challenges, we have many more members than available fabric bundles…  We wish everyone could get one, but the bundles are first come, first serve.  That said, we ask that everyone who signs up to please plan to submit the final quilt to the Fabric Challenge category at QuiltCon — like other categories, this category is eligible for judging and awards up to $1,000!

To be eligible, quilts must primarily use the fabrics above, but additional coordinating Michael Miller solids are permitted.  Once completed, these quilts will be entered it into the Michael Miller Fabric Challenge category at QuiltCon.  The top prize for this category is $1,000!

The registration link will be sent to members via email on May 9th at 10 a.m. Eastern time, 7 a.m. Pacific.  To make things easy, here’s a handy time converter so you’ll know exactly when the link will be available to you.  Registration is open until all fabric bundles are gone or until May 23.  Bundles go quickly, so if you’re sure you want to enter, don’t wait! (However, if you’re not ready to commit, remember that you don’t have to get the free fabric to be involved – all you have to do is use the fabrics above in your quilt.)

All fabric will be shipped by mid-July, and the deadline for entries is November 30, 2015 (the same as other QuiltCon quilt show entries).

For more info, visit the Michael Miller Fabric Challenge page at quiltconwest.com.  

October Meeting Recap

It.Never.Fails.

After spending an entire Saturday talking, sewing, seeing, and touching all of the projects everyone has made, I need a few days to decompress and let it all settle.

ECMQG has so many talented, inspiring, creative women.  Our October meeting and Sew-Day was no exception.  

We started normally - energetic and frenzied - as everyone signed in, purchased door prize tickets ($1 each), claimed table space for the Sew-Day portion, introduced their guests, set out potluck dishes on the communal food table, paid a no-name-tag penalty (.25¢) if they'd forgotten theirs, entered blocks in the block lottery ($1 each), or just caught up after being apart.  It's crazy!  It's fun!  It's exhilarating!  It is, so I've been told, what makes us different from some of the other local guilds.

Door prizes this month came from members - Marcy (Halloween mouse) and Gina (Halloween pillows) - as well as Aurifil, Michael Miller, and Robert Kaufman.
  

Our first and most important business item was the discussion of board elections next month - November 9th - for the coming calendar year.  Marcy provided a list of job descriptions for the major positions as well as some of the ancillary positions necessary because of our growth.

Diane, who attended Camp Stitch Alot earlier this summer, was scheduled to present her projects and dish on her experiences, but had a last minute conflict.  Luckily, Kim, having just returned from Sewing Summit agreed to share her experiences.

While public speaking is not to her liking, (but hey, we're all friends here) in our back and forth, question and answer format, Kim told us everything.  From why she chose to attend; the process and excitement of signing-up and selecting classes; her self-described introvert trepidation about traveling (and meeting and talking to all of these people that although you know them online, you don't really know them); the shopping and camaraderie; the keynote speaker; the hospitality (and swag!!) of the Salt Lake MQG; and her Sewing Summit projects made both before traveling and while there. 

Because I was talking and not taking pictures, I'm thankful Kim is active on Instagram.  Her photos tell her story so well.    

I'd say Kim had a fantastic time, wouldn't you? 

Next, Kira who recently volunteered to be our Block Lottery Captain, spent a few moments describing and showing details for November's block.

  

It is a simple snowball.  It is a traditional block, BUT with the use of MODERN fabrics and colors, it fits our aesthetic.  All of the details - color palette, size, types of fabric - can be found here.

These are just some of the 80, (Yes, you read that right!) pinwheel blocks turned in this month.  

The lucky winner?  Me.  Aren't they beautiful, colorful, and cheery?     

After the drawing for the block lottery, came the door prize drawings.  Again, lots of smiling faces and squeals of delight.

The reveal for the Spoo-ky Swap was next.

Nona made these Screamin' Halloween strip-pieced pillows for Kira.

Bobbi,  inspired by an image from Pinterest, made this 12" x 12' HST pillow cover for Melissa L.

I made Amy three small items, including a wonky-pieced Spook-tacular stand-up container, a coffee cozy from Jeni Baker's tutorial, and a tiny Hello, Halloween! ticker tape inspired mini quilt. 

Dee made Faye an Autumn colored pillow with Thimbleberry fabrics.

 Kira made the appliqued Boo Bat mini-quilt for Kasandra. 

Amy made a set of Autumn inspired coasters for Wendi.  Upon signing-up for this swap, Wendi let us all know she preferred Thanksgiving to Halloween.  Amy's coasters were EXACTLY right for Wendi.

Kasandra made this mini-quilt for me.  I love the intricate piecing and jack-o-lantern colors. 

Melissa L, not having any Halloween fabric in her stash, went shopping at our LQS/Pharmacy, A&E, for the fabrics for Dee's trick-or-treat basket.  Check out those pom-poms!  

Wendi, through the swap discussions on Facebook, knew Bobbi preferred Autumn colors.  She pieced a smaller Modern Maple leaf and surrounded it with long strips of saturated color.  What this picture fails to show is the hand quilting.  A beautiful understated table runner Bobbi can use well past October 31st.

Faye made Nona two mug rugs.  The one you can't see is a smiling jack-o-lantern!

Our meeting ran long, because as wrote at the beginning of this post, our group of women are talented, creative, and fun.  We are also enthusiastic prolific quilters. 

Stay tuned for the pictures, and what I can remember, from our Show & Tell, and Sew-Day scenes.

Cindy

ECMQG Secretary

Reveal Squeal! Part 2

This is the second post about our Madrona Road Challenge projects.  The first post with pictures and stories can be found here.


Debra's creativity and practicality were expressed by making these strip pieced placemats.  The week following our meeting, Debra and her husband, began what is supposed to be a year's long journey through the US in their RV.  

Obviously, Debra was drawn to the Memoir print too, as she chose it as her focus fabric.  Have Sewing Machine; Will Travel!  I'm looking forward to Debra's updates from the road.  Now to convince her to blog about her adventures.  The pictures of her condensed (and organized!) RV sewing space prove that it is possible for quilting to be portable.

  

Kristy and Kathleen decided to "pay it forward".  Free fabric.  A family at their church expecting a new baby.  Well, how about a quilt and a matching tote bag?  Kristy and Kathleen, once again, as in they've done six or seven times previously, collaborated and shared their love and talents.

It is so nice to have a bestie, a side kick, a partner in crime, to share creativity with, and then, enrich someone's life.  Well done ladies!  

Although a high school reunion kept her away from our meeting, Kelly shared her finish, and her inspiration, with us via Facebook...

and via Marcy at the meeting. 

In Kelly's words "My husband and I would like to have our own farm someday, so I was really drawn to this Farmstead print (with the truck).  I wasn't sure what to do, but I knew I wanted to feature that print, and turn the other prints into hexagons."

"But I got a little crazy with the hexagons, and just couldn't finish what I originally planned.  So yesterday, I came up with this idea...it's supposed to be a kitchen window looking out over our farm.  I've always wanted a kitchen window, but I've never had one, and I can't think of a more perfect view from the kitchen than our very own farm!"

"I used some of the hexagons I had already pieced, and made them into a curtain/shade.  Because, what quilter wouldn't want to have a hexagon shade?  And the text print is the window sill.  If that wasn't already cheesy enough, to add in a little more cheesiness, I'm calling this "A Window into the Future."

For those of you that know Kelly, this comes from the heart.  Her dream of having a farm "one day" really is "just a dream" at this time because as a military family, until retirement, dreams are put on hold.

Faye gave us an original design with her Bubbles Baby Quilt.  Her inspiration came from this quilt that she's been constructing off and on for several months, which includes appliqued circles as a final design element.

  

This was not a quilt that came together easily, even though she started  immediately after receiving her fat 8th bundle.  She played,  mulled over her design, asked for input, and played some more.  These colors were "just not me" she said on more than one occasion.

Faye's use of negative space highlights the print "bubbles" which are fused and appliqued circles.  Her templates were traced from everyday household objects - paper plates, cans, glasses, etc.  The binding is scrappy and pieced.  It was quilted with a random meandering stipple.

Marcy was another one who began her project almost as soon as she received that little fabric bundle.  Using white as her background and neutral fabric, she constructed Bow Tie blocks to make this table topper.

As always, Marcy's quilting is exquisite.  This time, she quilted her favorite swirly spiral around the perimeter, while the white centers where the four blocks meet is reminiscent of the petals of a zinnia or a chrysanthemum. 

Marcy chose to back her table topper with additional yardage of the blue Sprout print, and her binding is Sprout in graphite.

Madrona Road has now taken us on ten quilt journeys.  We have four more to go.  

Reveal Squeal!

Our Madrona Road Challenge items were revealed during our March meeting.  All I can say is "Wow!".  

For those of you who may not know, this challenge was presented by The Modern Quilt Guild using Michael Miller Fabrics Madrona Road line designed by Violet Craft.  We were tasked with creating something quilty.  Participating chapters of the MQG received the "boy" or blue colorway, and could then stipulate additional guidelines and dates.  Anyone who completed something quilty could include it in the Flicker pool by January 31st, when Violet would personally pick several winners whose items would be displayed in the Michael Miller booth.

We had so many projects and stories.  I'm going to split this post over several days because there is so much to share.  

I'll say it again, if you're not coming to our meetings, you are missing out.  The majority of these pictures do not do justice to the quilts.  There is nothing like seeing the details up close, or touching the fabric, or hearing someone's enthusiasm or frustrations as they present their quilting journey/story.

In no particular order we have:

Wendi, who actually had yardage in the "girl" colorway because she hadn't joined our guild when we received our fabric bundles, made this beauty.  (Ok, this photo is not so good, but you can find prettier photos on her blog, prsd4tim2.)  She decided to participate anyway.  Her quilt is based on the Heximetry pattern from asquaredw.  

Kim works quick.  In fact, her little baby quilt was finished in time for the national deadline of January 31st and included in the Madrona Road Flickr Pool where Violet complimented Kim saying "I really love the negative space and the quilting - beautiful job!". 

It's the Pointed In The Right Direction Pillow tutorial.  (I like how Kim coordinated her sweater to her quilt.  That was planned, right?)  

When Kim made this, we had no idea of the connection because...Wendi was an EMail participant only.  She had never come to our meetings.  We, I, found her through a comment on her blog, and the rest is history.  Wendi posted about this interconnectedness, which you can read about here. 

Star light.  Star bright.  The first star I see tonight.  This is the prayer wish my children recite every night as I tuck them into bed, so Kira's quilt holds a special place in my heart.

Kira based her design on an older wonky star tutorial from Silly BooDilly.  The fact that Kira covered the corners of her center block and really ex-ten-ded her star points, makes it all her own.  

When she first posted photos to Flickr, one of the best comments was how this looks like "a big wonky mama star with her baby star nearby".  I totally agree.  Look at those mama's arms reaching out to snuggle and protect her baby.       

This improv pieced back is COMPLETELY out of Kira's comfort zone.  Simply because she ran out of white fabric.  What's a girl to do?  Improvise of course, with leftover scraps.  Love it!  That back is as beautiful as the front.  

My tote bag was completed the morning of our reveal.  Yeah, nothing like  procrastinating, and then sewing, until the last possible moment.  Even though Bobbi and I had purchased additional yardage from our LQS, The Sewing Center Around the Block, during the January Support Your LQS event, I didn't cut any fabric until two days before our meeting. 

No particular pattern was used.  I was inspired to make wonky, improv circles, because of the name of the fabric line  - Madrona Road - and because of my own experience that so many of our choices in life, while seemingly random, end up being connected.  My favorite print, Memoir, was omitted from the improv circles so that I could feature it. 

All of my wonky improv blocks were constructed with a stack-slice-swap method that I've absorbed from reading Jan Mullen's Cut Loose Quilts and Kathryn Schmidt's Rule-Breaking Quilts books so many times.

Gina's LOVe letters WIP.  We learned during this reveal, after she had pulled these from the display table because it wasn't a "completed project", the last time she'd been able to sew was during our February 9th meeting and sew day.  As the tour de force for the 2013 Emerald Coast Quilt Retreat & Show, we totally "get" why sewing didn't happen for her.  Next time Gina.   

Betty's tote bag was designed using her accuquilt GO! kitties die.  She used strip piecing and applique and quilted it with a random meander stipple. 

Early in her "playing with fabric" phase, she was unsure if this was going to be a pillow or a tote bag.  I hope she has enough fabric left for a pillow.  I have it on good authority that several people want one.  

I wonder if Betty knew that Violet is a kitty fan?  

Again, see what you're missing by not coming to the meeting and sew day?

Dreaming of QuiltCon

Our little piece of QuiltCon.  You know, that inaugural conference and show by and for The Modern Quilt Guild that happened in Austin, TX over the weekend.  You know, the one we all wanted to attend.  You know, the one some of us recently  dreamed about attending.

QuiltCon.  The reason we made this beautiful quilt.   

First came the idea of, and the challenge.  Even when QuiltCon was in it's planning stages and details were vague, we knew we wanted to participate.

Then came fabric. 

This little bundle was put together at Lynn's during our March 2012 meeting.

Then came the blocks.  

August 25, 2012 was the submission deadline.  Some of us sent blocks.  Some of us held onto our blocks.  Some of us even held onto our fabric.  From around the country and around the world, more than 375 blocks were received, but only 20 to 25 would eventually be chosen for the Raffle Quilt.  Elizabeth Hartmann wrote a series of posts about all of the blocks, organizing them into shape families and piecing styles.  Photos can be found here.  She did this from August 27th thru September 22nd.  There were SO many gorgeous blocks!  

After her selections for the Raffle Quilt, the remainder of the blocks, in groups of 7 or so, were distributed to MQGs who wanted to make a quilt for the Austin Children's Shelter.  These quilts would also be displayed during QuiltCon.

These are the blocks ECMQG received.  From New Zealand.  From Charlotte, NC.  From Philadelphia, PA.      

During our November meeting, we decided to make our quilt in the style of a "travelling quilt" with participating members arranging blocks, adding blocks, and/or adding yardage.  We chose Kona medium gray as the background. 

As it made it's tour through our homes over the holidays and into January, it took shape like this:  (I think I have these in order.  I think I know who made new blocks and who assembled what, but for fear of omitting someone, I'll just show pictures.  For now.)

After our January Sew-day, Marcy took it home and began free motion quilting with her longarm.  Once again, just as she did with this quilt, she took a one dimensional top - a beautiful, colorful, modern top - and intuitively, magically, made it come alive.  Texture.  Depth.  Beauty.  Dimension.  Fun.

The pieced binding, hand-sewn by Kathleen just as she did for our last charity quilt, is a combination of Michael Miller's Painter's Canvas in tangerine orange (I think tangerine is more descriptive, but...) and On A String in lime by Valentina Ramos for Robert Kaufman.  Both, obviously, are official QuiltCon colors.  Both compliment our quilt beautifully.  We have to thank Kelly S for that design choice.

Finally, our label.

We packed this baby up and shipped it off to Austin for QuiltCon and it's eventual destination at the Austin Children's Shelter.  What better way is there to share our love of quilting, our love of color, our love of fabric, our love of sewing, our love of design, than to comfort a child, a young adult, or a family that needs protection and healing?

I think we accomplished all of that with every stitch we put into this beauty.  Congratulations ladies.