Brown Bag - #40 November

I decided to participate in the brown bag exchange this year through the Yellowstone Valley Quilt Guild.  In August or September, we put some of our fabric in a bag.  This year I put in pieces from Judy Niemeyer's Reclaimed West.  Then, the organizer exchanges the bags and we receive a bag of someone else's fabric.  We are supposed to create something for that person.  Then, they receive their gift back at the December meeting.  With day guild, the quilted gift has to be completed.

I went to the Tenth Festival of Quilted Wonders at the Water Works Art Museum in Miles City.  There, I saw Family Challenge by Linda Schiller.  I think this quilt is amazing so I copied what Linda had done for the brown bag that I am giving to Lyn B. this year.

Here is Linda's quilt:

The had dyed fabrics make Linda's quilt even more beautiful.

Surprisingly, I had my brown bag project completed a month before it was due.  That is a new feeling for me.  And it is a wonderful feeling!

Blue Squares - #39 October

When I started attending the WAV (We of Artistic Vision) meetings, they were doing monthly challenges.  In the July 2014 I started, they were working on complimentary colors.  I had some really cool orangish fabric in my stash that I decided to use as the background.  I crumb pieced the blue squares.  And brown includes all of the colors so that was fine to use as the lines, I figured.

I finally finished this in October 2015.  I used Sew Sassy 12 wt in three of the gray quilting lines.  I thought is would show more.  I guess it just makes a stronger line on the gray stamp that is already there.  It seems like I still have a blending issue - when I quilt, it seems like I blend my thread color to the background fabric.  I am trying to be bolder with the colors of my quilting but I still have a long way to go.

Fall Skinny Barns - #38 September

Sue Hanson at Trackside Quilting is selling the Skinny Barn patterns by Zebra Patterns - Original design by Debra Gabel.  Trackside Quilting is also selling kits for you to create your own Skinny Barns.  I was to create the Fall Skinny Barn in time for the Rocky Mountain Sewing Festival the end of September in Billings, Montana.

Sue provided the sky fabric.  The cow and quilt block on the barn are in the patterns from Zebra Patterns.

Crayon Challenge

Early in 2015, the Yellowstone Valley Quilt Guild decided to do a black, white, and crayon challenge.  You were to pick 3 crayons from a box.  You then threw one crayon back.  You were to create a black, white, and the two colors you drew quilt.  I picked yellow and blue.

First, I drew a loose curved line from one edge of my newsprint paper to the other corner.  Then I drew the flying geese with their yellow tail.  Next, I drew a straight line that encompassed the geese so I did not have to do curved piecing.

I did not draw the geese so they touched the geese in front of them - they are floating geese.  I finished drawing the line on the bottom of the geese.  Then I could paper piece each goose unit.

I crumb pieced the triangle edges to finish the top.  By the September meeting when our challenge piece was to be used as Show N Tell, I had this quilted and trimmed.  It did not yet have the binding on.  By random drawing, I did receive money for being in the challenge.

Piped binding to finish the whole thing off.  But the binding did not get sewn on for another month.  At least this item is completed now.

Keegan's Tea Bag Log Cabin

Many months ago, artist Brooke Atherton asked Keegan to create a block out of tea bags.  I was not to give him any direction.

We recently traveled to Bozeman, Montana where Booke Atherton has a part one of a three part art display at the Emerson Center.  Keegan's log cabin is in one of the uncompleted works with a big pencil line around it to separate it from the other parts of the art piece.  It is so cool!

Keegan's log cabin is in the upper left hand corner.  It has a big pencil box around it.  This is one of Brooke Atherton's pieces that is not yet completed.

Row by Row

Town & Country Quilt Guild in Joliet did a row by row exchange during 2015.  I created these rows for Nancy R.

She had machine embroidered words from a book on her blocks.  We were supposed to use the words to create blocks from the book.  When I returned Nancy R.'s box of fabric and rows back to her in October, there was only one word left to use.

President's Block

The Vice President of the Town & Country Quilt Guild in Joliet is responsible for creating a quilt for the President.  At the July meeting, the President had to leave early so the Vice President took that time to explain what she was thinking in terms of a quilt for the President.  She chose Women of the Bible.
Since the Joliet Guild is small, I created two blocks.

I did hear that some ladies got together earlier in November and had to create even more blocks to get the quilt finished.  The gray was the fabric that everyone received to create their blocks.

President's Block

The Vice President of the Yellowstone Valley Quilt Guild is supposed to organize and create a quilt for the currently serving President of the guild for the December meeting.  It is supposed to be a secret.  This year, they presented the block that is to be created for the current President during the block exchange program.  One person pretended they were asking for a block for themselves.  Then, little elves went around the room and told everyone with a whisper that the instructions were really for the President's block.  So everyone knew what was going on by the time the October meeting was completed.

I turned my block in at the November day guild meeting.  I was under the impression that the quilt was to be completed when presented to the President at the December meeting.  But, I think other members are thinking the President is just going to receive the blocks.  I guess I will find out the answer to this question in a month.

Make & Take

Yellowstone Valley Quilt Guild hosted a Make & Take event at Trackside Quilting in November.  There were 4 different things you could create during the day.  I only had time to create one item so I opted to create the iPad bag designed by Sue Hanson at Trackside Quilting.

I also put two pockets on the inside.  I am very happy with my little bag.

Friendship Exchange

Sue W. organized a Friendship Block Exchange for 2015.  I was allowed to select the light background.  It has orange and green flames on a cream background.  We had to use that fabric in each of our blocks.  It was the fabric that was to tie our quilt together.

I created Snowflakes & Winterberries by Laurie Shifrin in the Batik Beauties book.  I accidentally created an extra block.  I guess that could be a label.

These are the fun blocks I received back from the group.  I am missing one block.  We have a facebook page for our group so I have asked on the facebook page if anyone has seen the extra block I am missing.

We are supposed to have our quilts completed for a reveal party by February 2016.

Dog Beds

I turned in 4 dog beds in October and 5 in November to Help for Homeless Pets.  They use the pillow cases stuffed with scraps as a bed after the small animals are neutered.