YVQG Exchange

I had completed at 13 blocks for other people in the Yellowstone Valley Quilt Guild block exchange.  That allowed me the opportunity to present a request for people to create a block for me.  I presented my block at the November meeting.

I requested a crumb line block with a solid background.  I didn't pull it from an actual pattern so I wrote the directions myself.  So far, there have been no calls with questions on the block.  That could mean a few things.  People may not be working on blocks yet because they cannot even turn in blocks at the December meeting.  Or, no one is going to turn in blocks for me.  Or, the directions are fine.  I would be living in a fantasy world if I completely believed the last idea.

Two crumb lines:

Three crumb lines:

The solid background is 13 inches square.  Then, the crumb lines are 2 inches wide.  The blocks do end up being wider than 13 inches and around 13 inches (depending on how lined up the top of the block is when inserting the crumb lines).  It will be fun to put see what people return.  I hope I get a good response.

Handprint bag

For Christmas, I made a bag for Mom from the extra paintings we had from this spring.

One side is dedicated to Keegan:

One side is dedicated to Dillon:

I did a split stitch through paper to get their names as the heading on denim.  I really like the way the split stitch looked on denim.  Getting the perfect font and then printing the name on paper from a word document worked pretty well.  I did learn to trim away the excess paper so I was not wadding it up when I was trying to hand sew.  When I wadded the paper with the fabric, it moved the paper enough that it could have ended up with a crooked name.  The hand sewing worked much better when I removed the excess paper.

I liked working with the old jeans on the outside of the bag.  I used the Elna Denim machine so I didn't have any trouble.

I tried to use knit for the lining.  It feels fine but I don't know if it is going to sag with use.  I also put in knit pockets.  I used interfacing in the pockets.  I think the pockets are too heavy.  That may contribute to sagging.  Knit is also heavy.  I think regular cotton fabric may have worked better.

In my opinion, the bag also ended up too tall.  I was so focused on getting the handprints and footprints to be included that I used as much of the painted canvas as was available.  I should have done more trimming.  Also, the name could have been on the side of the canvas rather than the top of the canvas to decrease how tall it ended up.

I made the handle around 43 inches long.  The top of the bag hit me at my hip.  I love that handle length but it may not be the way to go for normal people.  When Mom opens her gift, I will tell her that she can take a few pleats in the handle to make it the length she desires.

By Keegan & Dillon

Dillon & Keegan did some sewing in November.  Keegan dug through the first layer of his fabrics from Brooke A. and found a bag of fish fabric that was already cut into squares.  The boys sewed the fabric for a while.  Then they quilted for a few minutes.  Finally, I forced them to sew down the binding.
Keegan showed his quilt during the Show N Tell segment of the Yellowstone Valley Quilt Guild meeting in November.

Dillon was sleeping during Show N Tell so he did not present his quilt.

I was trying to get some community quilts quilted one day.  Keegan thought they should sew.  I told him I could not help him that day but I could help him the following day.  He informed me that he did not need help.  He could sew by himself.  He is 4 1/2.  In a few minutes, Dillon yelled for help.  Keegan told me that he could help Dillon so I did not need to come into the sewing room.  Sometimes the little fellers are too smart for their own good.

QBA Row By Row

Final row by row for Quilt By Association night guild will be presented at the December/Christmas meeting.  This month, I created a Christmas row for Barb H.  I created the ornament balls.

Each of the little ornaments:

As the year is winding down, I am telling myself that I am not going to get involved in so many exchanges next year.  I will just have to see how that works out for 2015.

Block Exchanges

Block Exchanges through Four Winds Quilting in Billings, Montana continue.

Stargazing for Annette E.  Stargazing was designed by Angela Pingel.  Found in the Modern Blocks book compiled by Susanne Woods.

Links for LeAnna J.  Links was designed by John Q. Adams.  Found in the Modern Blocks book compiled by Susanne Woods.

 On the Plus Side for Julie.  On the Plus Side was designed by Emily Cier.  Found in the Modern Blocks book compiled by Susanne Woods.

Criss Cross Triangles designed by Amanda Sasikirana found in the Modern Blocks book compiled by Susanne Woods.

Scattered for Barbara B.  Scattered is designed by Allison Harris.  It is found in the Modern Quilts from the Blogging Universe book.

Tree for Sheri M.  Tree Quilt is designed by Jolene Klassen.  The pattern is found in the Modern Quilts from a Blogging Universe book.

Improv Color Blocks for Jennifer M.  This block and presenter were in a different group but I had some extra pink so I asked if I could create this block too.  Jennifer was only too happy to let me make her a block.  Improv Color Blocks was designed by Kati Spencer.  The pattern is found in the Modern Quilts from the Blogging Universe book published by That Patchwork Place.

Checkered Fields for Debbie G.  Checkered Fields was designed by Yvonne Malone.  Found in the Modern Blocks book compiled by Susanne Woods.

Quarter Cut Daisy for Mary H.  Quarter Cut Daisy was designed by Laura West Kong.  Found in the Modern Blocks book compiled by Susanne Woods.

Pinwheel for Morganne Kayler:

Petal Pod for Cindy F. of Kingman, Arizona.  Petal Pod was designed by Jessica Kovach.  It is found in the Modern Quilts from the Blogging Universe book by That Patchwork Place.

This is the last of the block exchanges for this year.  It was fun and I did create blocks I would not normally create but I am glad that I am done for the year.

Two By Six - #30 October

The Two by Six pattern designed by Natalie Hardin is in the Modern Blocks book compiled by Susanne Woods.  I presented this block for the Modern Block Exchange through Four Winds Quilting in Billings, Montana in 2013.  I have had it quilted for a while even.  I just finally finished the binding and put a hanger on the quilt in time for the Four Winds Quilting Modern Quilt Show on November 1.

The blocks were about 12 1/2 inches unfinished when I received them from the people in the exchange.  But, as with any exchange, the blocks were merely close to 12 1/2 inches unfinished.  I put a teal border around the blocks that I had received to make all of the blocks the same size.  Then I put another orange and yellow border around the blocks.  I cut the blocks wonky so the teal squares would go everywhere.

Then I quilted it A LOT.

Dragonfly:

Jamie Wallen creates dragonflies in his DVD Thread Fusion.

Cattails:

Sun with sunbeams:

I didn't know right away what I was going to do for background fill around the thread painted elements.  I created all of the elements so I would have enough room on the quilt to create elements.  Then, I moved the quilt back and forth on the Gammill quilting machine to do the background fill.  That created some tucks on the back.  Very sad.

Gift Bag - #31 November

For a few years, I have been thinking about creating reusable gift bags for our immediate family to use.  It seemed crazy to give my husband, or receive gifts from my husband, in wrapping paper that was going to get tossed out in the recycling.  We will still have to wrap the gifts for the boys so they can make the maximum amount of noise allowed for fellers.
Quilter's World Winter 2014 had a pattern for a Reusable Gift Bag designed & stitched by Gina Gempesaw.  I followed the pattern generally to create my own gift bag.  I did make it bigger.

The pattern requested nonwoven fusible interfacing.  I haven't used interfacing very much before.  It was something new to try.

I was very sad that the seams inside the bag are raw edge.  But I could not figure out a way to have the lining peaking out over the top outside of the bag without the inside being raw edge seams.  I might play with that later.  Or not :-D

Round Robin

Sharon W. created a center inspired by a Kim Diehl pattern for her Round Robin through Yellowstone Valley Quilt Guild.

I created little blocks for my round called Crossroads from the New Classic Patch Work book by Yoko Saito.  I thought they were very cute at only about 3 1/4 inches finished.

It seemed like it required more thinking to do the last round of the round robin than the first round.  The round I created had to go with the rounds that had already been created but still tie the quilt top together.

Alice In Wonderland

Pam P. in the Yellowstone Valley Quilt Guild (YVQG) Row by Row exchange asked for something to go with Alice In Wonderland.
I fussy cut some of the characters from Alice In Wonderland out of a fabric Pam had provided.  Then I used my scraps of pink and red to do a courthouse steps around the squares to create a 12 1/2 inch unfinished block.

I created 9 of the courthouse steps blocks.  They could almost be their own quilt.  No one else had sewn their blocks together in a row so I did not either.  Pam had written in her book that she was thinking about putting it together like a maze.

When I did a search on the internet for Alice In Wonderland quilts, some had the card suits in the corner.  So, I created 10 inch unfinished blocks with each card suit. 

The funny thing about this Alice In Wonderland quilt is that I had heard about it before I received it to work on.  It was something different enough that it warranted discussion.

Tea Bags

Keegan is working with Brooke A. to create a piece with tea bags that is due in January.  The first part that Keegan was to do was place tea bags with Misty Fuse on a piece of muslin.  I was not supposed to provide any guidance.  He was to put the tea bags wherever he thought they looked good.  Following is the result:

Brooke said that she needs this to turn it into three log cabins.  I suspect that I will not be able to put a picture of the final product on the internet because it is Brooke's and it cannot be on the internet before it is entered in a show.  There are copyright issues.

Dog Beds

A few more dog beds went to the Billings Animal Shelter in October from this house.

WAV Contrast

The We of Artistic Vision (WAV) Challenge for October was Contrast.
When I looked up contrast, I read the photographer definition on Wikipedia.  I interpreted it as sharpness of lines.  My first creation was a green crumb quilt that will be the cover for our blanket box.

Then I over-thought the challenge and decided the blanket box cover was not filling all of the requirements.  Next, I created a circle mat that had contrast in color.

Not that there is a "correct" interpretation of an artistic challenge, this is closer to what was anticipated.  The quilter definition of contrast is opposite colors on the color wheel.

The WAV group is super supportive even though they can see that I am just starting out.  One of the comments on this circle was that the curved binding was very nice.  Bias binding is kinda fun.  This is the second time I have played with bias binding.

Modern Quilt Show

Nancy Sasse at Four Winds Quilting hosted the second annual Modern Quilt Show at Grace Methodist Church in Billings, Montana on Saturday, November 1.