Modern Quilts - Call for Entries!

Attention Modern Quilters!

Georganna Hawkley recently contacted me and asked me to pass along this information.  The Ontario Museum of History and Art is curating an exhibit for Modern Quilts and is asking for submissions.

Please pardon the poor quality of this printout, but you can still see the relevant information.  Deadline for entries is August 15th, 2016.  Email Georganna for your application at ghawley@ontarioca.gov.  Good luck!

Jen

Autumn in spring - Building Blocks Tuesday

Spring is the best time to think about fall, right?  I spent most of yesterday making these Scrappy Autumn Leaves blocks for Nita in the We Bee Canadian bee.  I only finished two of the three that I need to make; however, there was a problem with the second one.  Can you spot it?





Yep!  I accidentally added the stem for the third block to this one.  I will have to get my seam ripper out before I continue.

Anyhow, I do like how these blocks turn out, though they take a heck of a lot longer to make than the Modern Maple blocks I have made in the past.  I also noticed that some of my seams were a bit more off than I normally like.  I think I need to double check my quarter inch foot.  Perhaps the kids bumped it out of alignment or something.

If you are interested in making your own blocks, they are actually called Autumn Glory blocks and the pattern is HERE.


Camp Mommy continues this week.  Today, we are headed back to the dentist so my 5 year old can get a crown because her filling keeps falling out.  Oh joy!  Initially she was very excited to get "a crown", but once we explained that it wasn't the type of crown for dressing up like a princess, she was less enthusiastic.  Although, yesterday, she started telling people that soon even her tooth would have its own crown, so I guess that is something.

What blocks have you working on this week?  I would love to see.  Link up your fabulous blocks.  You put a lot of hard work into them - show them off!  This free linky will stay open until the first Monday of next month, but I will repost it every Tuesday until a new month starts.

Rules:

1) Please link up only to the page in your blog showing your wonderful blocks, not just the blog homepage.  Flickr and Instagram pictures are also OK.
2) Make sure to put your blog name as the description so people know where they are going or the name of your block!
3) Please grab my button and post it in your blog post or sidebar.
4) Visit other linky participants!

Thanks for reading,

Jen

An InLinkz Link-up

Inspirational Sunday (5) - via QuiltConWest 2016

Happy Easter!  And thank you for joining me this Sunday.

Today I am going to start sharing quilts from the "Modern Traditionalism" category.  I think you will agree that they are a really interesting group.  I took quite a few pictures of this category, so I am going to split it up and share on multiple Sundays.

First up, "Focal Point" by Christa Watson of Las Vegas, Nevada.  It is machine pieced and machine quilted without a frame.





Having an off center big block is a popular choice with modern quilters.  I especially like how Christa quilted it with a spiral, which is in contrast to all the sharp points of her blocks.


Next up is a two color quilt called, "Cabogo" by Silvia Sutters of Edwardsville, Illinois.  It is machine pieced and machine quilted without a frame.




Silvia was inspired by artist Victor Vasarely (who has very 3 dimensional graphic works) and tiles used in Brazil.




Upon closer look, her blocks are drunkards path.

Another drunkards path quilt was "Flounce" by Melanie Tuazon of Livingston, New Jersey.  It is machine pieced and machine quilted without a frame.





This quilt won 2nd place in the category.  I like how each column has one block in print fabrics.  Sometimes I wish we could see more examples of modern quilts with more prints in them.

And finally for today, "Blueberries for Sal" by Elisa Albury of Salt Lake City, Utah.  It is machine pieced and machine quilted without a frame.




I really like these simple blocks, and especially liked seeing some of the hand stitching in random places.




What about you?  Have you made any "Modern Traditionalism" type quilts?


Thanks for reading today,

Jen

Spring Break, Yikes! - Building Blocks Tuesday

I promised blocks this week and almost couldn't deliver.  However, I have spent the morning making these flower blocks for the guild's first charity BOM.  They turned out rather springlike.




These are simple snowball blocks with a common yellow center.  Cute, right?  And while these are not exactly my favorite kinds of fabrics, I can certainly see the potential of this being a great scrap buster.  I don't know about you, but I have quite a few unmatched 5 inch squares that I don't know what to do with.

I am WAY behind on everything else at the moment.  I spent quite a bit of time the last couple weeks getting my garden ready for the growing season.  Now that I am waiting for some of my plants to actually grow, I was hoping to have more time in my studio.  But of course, spring break starts tomorrow.  Which means, Camp Mommy starts tomorrow and other than a dentist appointment for all, I have nothing else planned.  Yikes!  Please wish me luck.

What blocks have you working on this week?  I would love to see.  Link up your fabulous blocks.  You put a lot of hard work into them - show them off!  This free linky will stay open until the first Monday of next month, but I will repost it every Tuesday until a new month starts.

Rules:

1) Please link up only to the page in your blog showing your wonderful blocks, not just the blog homepage.  Flickr and Instagram pictures are also OK.
2) Make sure to put your blog name as the description so people know where they are going or the name of your block!
3) Please grab my button and post it in your blog post or sidebar.
4) Visit other linky participants!

Thanks for reading,

Jen

An InLinkz Link-up

Inspirational Sunday (4) - via QuiltConWest 2016

Welcome back to Inspirational Sunday.

Today, we continue with the Piecing category from QuiltConWest 2016.

I think took more pictures of this category because piecing is something I could definitely improve on!  Plus, I really enjoy looking at how the piecing makes some of these designs really come together.  The first quilt is a great example.

This quilt is called "Kaleido" by Jeannie Jenkins of Willowdale, Ontario, Canada.  It is machine pieced and machine quilted on a frame.





Here is a close up.  I found it interesting that some of the blocks are offset from the grid just enough to elongate those points, making it a more interesting design.





This next one is one of my favorites in the group.  It is called "Shape Shifting" by Dawn Golstab of Leander, Texas.  It is machine pieced and machine quilted on a frame.





It is one of my favorites in this group because it is her perfectly lined up points that create the shapes you see.  She even matched up some of the fabric design to keep the illusion going!  That is dedication!



I just found it cool!





"Cog" by Emily Cier and quilted by Angela Walters is next up.  It is machine pieced and machine quilted on a frame.




I have only ever seen this pattern as a hand pieced design.  I would be interested to know how she machine pieced it.  But, I have done a few of Emily's other patterns and know that the piecing is not always as easy as you hope.




Finally, some of the winners of the Piecing category!

"Pointed Statement" by Amy Friend of West Newbury, Massachusetts is machine pieced and machine quilted on a frame.  It won 2nd place in the category.




It is an original paper pieced design.  I looks like it is pieced together using diagonal strips, yet her triangles point up and down perfectly!





I like how she mixed in colored thread in the quilting and varied the distance between her straight lines.





And 1st place goes to "Under the Radar" by Corrine Sovey of Austin, Texas.  It is machine pieced (paper pieced) and machine quilted without a frame.

This quilt was for sale for $3000. When I walked by it on Saturday, it had still not sold.





Here is a close up.




I found the piecing really interesting on this one.  She maintains some of the gray and white horizontal strips in the inner rings.  Also, instead of breaking up that center red circle into quadrants, she used one half circle and added a quarter.  I would have loved to be in the room when she pieced all those rings together.


That's it for this category.  I hope you enjoyed it!

Thanks for reading,


Jen

Cat nap - Building Blocks Tuesday

I have no new blocks to share this week, but don't think I've been taking a cat nap!  I've been rather busy with other life stuff - kids, garden, laundry.  I have had less time for sewing, but I have done some.

I did just finish stitching all my ditches for Block Two of my Technicolor Galaxy, and I am contemplating additional quilting.  I've also been piecing a quick stitch and flip quilt for my eldest, but it is block-less!  I have some bee blocks that I will need to get done soon, so I am sure I will have something to share next week.

In the meantime, please visit the links below to see what everyone else has been working on!

What blocks have you working on this week?  I would love to see.  Link up your fabulous blocks.  You put a lot of hard work into them - show them off!  This free linky will stay open until the first Monday of next month, but I will repost it every Tuesday until a new month starts.

Rules:

1) Please link up only to the page in your blog showing your wonderful blocks, not just the blog homepage.  Flickr and Instagram pictures are also OK.
2) Make sure to put your blog name as the description so people know where they are going or the name of your block!
3) Please grab my button and post it in your blog post or sidebar.
4) Visit other linky participants!

Thanks for reading,

Jen

An InLinkz Link-up

Inspirational Sunday (3) - via QuiltConWest 2016

Springing forward today!  I saw a post on Facebook that read, "that hour we lost was the one I was planning to work out! Oh well!"

Today, I am sharing quilts that grabbed my eye in the Piecing category at QuiltConWest.  I wrote this post and discovered that I had too many pictures to share, so I am going to break it up into two posts.

First up, "Triangle Transparency" by Yvonne Fuchs from Tehachapi, California.  It was machine pieced and machine quilted on a frame.




Yvonne is a fellow QDAD (Quilt Design a Day) member, and this is one of her early designs.  I really enjoy seeing the designs in the group come to life.  There are so many wonderful designs in the group, I think we all wish we had more time to make them!

I really enjoy being in the group and recommend it to anyone.  Initially, I was "designing" my quilts in EQ7 each day, but I found myself spending WAY MORE than the recommended 15 minutes to draw out my design, unless I used one of the pre-programmed blocks and made minor adjustments.  I found this limited the types of designs tremendously.  Recently, I went back to just sketching them on paper with colored pencils (which reminds me, I have about a week's worth of designs to post).  This plan really allows me to limit my time to 15 minutes and also do some of the more modern layouts.  I have some trouble getting EQ7 to do alternate grids, and I want most of my designs to incorporate them.





Look how perfectly all her HST's line up!  And the fabric choice really lets the piecing blend together.

Next up is "Let's Connect" by Christopher Thompson of New York, New York.   This is machine pieced and machine quilted without a frame.  He did his own version of matchstick quilting in a wavy pattern.





I really had to look closely to see how he pieced the lamps in his quilt.





Those aren't appliqued on, nor are they Y seamed.  They are just really well lined up strip piecing!  The heavy quilting really helps hide some of the seam lines in the black sections; you really couldn't see them at all unless you were extremely close.

This next one is called, "Spikey Molehills" by Myrth McDonald of Silverthorne, Colorado.  She was inspired by a pattern called Molehills by Latifah Saafir.  It was machine pieced (paper piecing) and machine quilted without a frame.





I really found this one interesting.  It is like a cross between Clamshells and New York Beauties.




And of course, the curved piecing is really lovely.

I couldn't help but snap a shot of this one!  "Jungle Abstractions: The Lion" by Violet Craft of Beaverton, Oregon.  It is machine pieced (paper piecing) and machine quilted on a frame.



Violet has really gone to town with her "abstractions" patterns.  She has all kinds of animals now, and each one is pretty darn cool!

This next one is called "Piece 12" by Lissa Alexander of Dallas, Texas.  It is machine pieced and machine quilted on a frame.





I love how the blocks turned on point with the skinny sashing created this look.




Next up, "Plaid on Point" by Jennifer Jones Rissotti of Kingsburg, California.  It is machine pieced.  It was machine quilted by Darby Myer on a frame.





I just found it very striking, and I really like the use of transparency.

This next quilt might look familiar.  "Big Love" by Sheri Cifaldi-Morrill of Woodbridge, Connecticut.  It was machine pieced and machine quilted without a frame.  It was constructed using 1 inch strips that finished at 1/2 inch!



If the quilt looks familiar, it is because it is the 2nd in a series that Sheri created.  The first won the mini category at last year's QuiltCon in Austin.

I'm going to end the post here.  Please tune in next Sunday for more from the Piecing category of QuiltConWest 2016, including the winners!

As always, thanks for reading,


Jen

Simple is hard - Building Blocks Tuesday

I've got nothing new this week :( !  I've been working on my garden, and quilting up those Block Two's for the Technicolor Galaxy quilt that I already shared on Friday.

I haven't worked on any new blocks this week, but I have been thinking about what blocks I should ask the ladies in the We Bee Canadian bee to make for me in a couple of months when it is my turn.

I find it to be an incredibly difficult choice.  On the one hand, I want some blocks that I think I will be able to put into a quilt that I will actually use.  My personal taste is a bit all over the place, but I guess I favor some more complex designs.  On the other hand, I don't always receive useable blocks when I ask for something complex, so I try to keep it simple.  I said "TRY".



Choosing a simple block even has it downfalls.   There is nothing overly difficult about making HST's.  It is the lining up of the HST's together that is difficult!  I don't expect everything to be perfect, but everyone has a different level of acceptability.

I made the above block a few years ago for the Simply Solids Bee.  Don't worry Ladies, I am not going to ask you to make this block......probably.

Hmmm, I think I will ponder these things a little more.  Have you every asked for a bee block that has gone horribly wrong??

What blocks have you working on this week?  I would love to see.  Link up your fabulous blocks.  You put a lot of hard work into them - show them off!  This free linky will stay open until the first Monday of next month, but I will repost it every Tuesday until a new month starts.

Rules:

1) Please link up only to the page in your blog showing your wonderful blocks, not just the blog homepage.  Flickr and Instagram pictures are also OK.
2) Make sure to put your blog name as the description so people know where they are going or the name of your block!
3) Please grab my button and post it in your blog post or sidebar.
4) Visit other linky participants!

Thanks for reading,

Jen

An InLinkz Link-up

Inspirational Sunday (2) - via QuiltConWest 2016

Welcome back to Inspirational Sunday!

Today, I am sharing quilts in the "Use of Negative Space" category and I must say that this category is one that I don't always "get".  While I recognize that each of these quilts has negative space, I don't always see that they are using it in any special way.  Please tell me what you think!

First, the winner of the category, "Reflection by Nancy Purvis of Garner, North Carolina.




It was machine pieced (paper pieced) and machine quilted on a frame.  I like how simple the design is and how the reflection from the center creates balance.

This quilt was for sale and sold, but I do not remember how much it sold for.  I want to say $400, but that may not be accurate.

Next up is "Bullseye" by Vicki Ruebel of Las Vegas, Nevada.




It was machine pieced (improvisational piecing), and machine quilted on a frame.

I like how she echoed the shape in the quilting of the negative space.  As I am learning more about longarm quilting, I am wondering how she managed to quilt this on a frame and keep the lines of quilting continuous.

The next quilt is called, "Color Study (Triangles)" by Erika Mulvenna of Chicago, Illinois.




It is machine pieced (large scale foundation piecing) and machine quilted without a frame.

I find this quilt very striking, but it is one of those quilts where I don't get how the negative space is being used in a special way.  Yes, it is creating the edges of the triangles, but what else?

In "Echoes" by Leanne Chahley of Lethridge, Alberta, Canada, I can see how the negative space in the center of the blocks is echoed by the circular shapes surrounding the blocks.

It was machine pieced and machine quilted on a frame.




I also liked her choice of thread for the quilting.





I don't always like variegated thread, but I loved it on this quilt.

This next one was one of my favorites in the category.  "Skylight View" by Jennifer Rossotti of Kingsburg, CA.




It was machine pieced (paper pieced) and machine quilted on a frame.

I like the way she quilted "blocks" around some of the geese, and even a phantom block of geese.



The last one for today is, "Modern Glacier" by Pamela Gavin of Bakersfield, CA. and quilted by Darla Hennessee Hall.

It is machine pieced (improvisational piecing) and machine quilted on a frame.



While I like the colors, this one is all about the quilting for me.



I am a big fan of this type of quilting, and I really like how it is broken up across the quilt.  I like the ghost shapes, and the diversity of designs.  I also enjoyed seeing how the quilter used some colored thread in the negative space.  The light aqua color and light brown adds a bit of pop to those sections, but the color is not TOO contrasting to detract from the piecing.

This quilt was for sale for $750, but had not sold when I saw it.


What about you?  Do you like using lots of negative space in your quilts?  How do you interpret the "Use of Negative Space" category?



Thanks for reading today,


Jen

March 4th - 60 Day Check In - 100 day challenge

Welcome to the second check in for the 100 Day Challenge!  How are things coming along??

I know we have all be busy since the last check in, and I can't wait to see what you have accomplished!

I know Kate at Smiles From Kate has been firing off the blog posts.  She is really getting rolling!  She also finished one of her other goals.  Go visit her blog to find out which one!

Cath at Bits 'n Bobs went on a Liberty of London shopping spree!  and blogged about it!!  I hope all those lovely fabrics helps motivate her to finish up her other goals too.

Fiona at Celtic Thistle Stitches has been stitching up a storm!  I think it is amazing that she chose not one, but TWO hand projects as goals.  Way to go!

Celine at Esprit Patch has been powering through all those bee blocks she wanted to finish.  Some of them are so intricate!  It makes me want to be in a bee with her!

Leanne at Daisy and Jack has started her Minnie quilt!  Go give her a cheer!

Katie at Karma Willow Designs has been going gangsta on her goals!  Wha-what!  Not only has she been destashing like cray-cray, but she has been making so many blocks!!!  I'm wondering if she has a stash left.

Janine at Rainbow Hare Quilts has so many lovely projects.  I love reading about her crochet projects in particular.  But what I am really wondering is if she finished up the crocheted blanket as one of her goals, aren't you??

Carole at CaroleLyleShaw.com was finishing up writing a book.  It's been a while since we got an update on how it is going.  Head on over to ask, "what's up, Carole?"

Judy at Knotty Needle finished up those fabulous purple socks, and she has been working on the most interesting quilt called Cleopatra's Fan.  Go give her a shout out!

Marci at Marci Girl Designs was hoping to quilt a gorgeous quilt and blog more frequently.  Please go tell Marci that we want to hear from her!

Lyndsey at Sew Many Yarns is making fabulous progress on her magnificent cross stitch project.  Go check out her progress!



We also want to give cheers for Diane, Lisa, Anne, Brita, Gi, Jamie, Kelly, and Sarah!  I hope you will update us to your progress in the comments!



So how am I doing on my 3 goals?

1) Finish Lazy Bums blocks - finished those up in the first 30 days, and it felt fantastic!



2) Blog - get back to blogging twice a week - I'm feeling good about this one.  Of course, the Inspirational Sunday's aren't hurting.  I was a little disappointed to learn that WIP Wednesday has been suspended.

3) Finish (including starting) Technicolor Galaxy - I started!  Block one is complete, and I've pieced all 12 of the Block Two's.  I still need to quilt them up, but since I plan all straight line quilting with minimal thread changes, I hope it will go quickly.



I was hoping to quilt them up during the last couple of days, but I've been gardening!  Some of you may remember that when we moved into this house, I had HUGE plans to go garden crazy.  Well, we missed the time for summer planting, and given the 100 degree + temps, I decided to wait until fall.  Once it cooled down a bit, I planted all kinds of fall seeds that I pre-sprouted and waited.  And waited.  And waited.  Most seedlings got about an inch tall and never grew past that.  To say it was disappointing is an understatement.  But, I have not lost faith!  I have revised my gardening strategy and rolled the dice yet again.  THIS time, I did buy some transplants.  I still plan to grow some things from seed, but I needed something green already in the garden. Wish me luck!

Just stumbled upon the 100 Day Challenge today?  You can still join in, but it will only be the 40 day challenge for you!  To recap the requirements, check out the Kick Off post HERE.


60 Day Check in Link up:  you can link up a blog post, Flickr picture, even Instagram photos.  I'll keep the linky open for a week so you can show off your progress and visit each other for a show of group support.

An InLinkz Link-up

Thanks for reading!

Jen