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.

WAV Heart

The We of Artistic Vision (WAV) Challenge for November was Value.  I created a heart using old jeans.

I drew the heart on a piece of newspaper paper.  I purchased the end roll at the Billings Gazette.  Then I created the heart using a paper piece method.  It took more pieces of denim to make the nicer curves at the top of the heart.  The problem with that was that there got to be a lot of bulk at the top.  Even though I raised the hopping foot on my Gammill quilting machine, the hopping foot bounced off of some areas.
I used PermaCore thread for the quilting.  But even that broke.
I believe the back looks a little rough so I am going to turn this in to the Quilt By Association Community Quilts committee.  One of those ladies will put the binding on this quilt.  Sharon T. will then find it a perfect home.

When I presented this at WAV, they suggested that I need to have as many stitch lines at the bottom as I did at the top.  To create the rounded top, I made a lot of stitch lines.  Then at the bottom, I had a straight line so I only used one piece of denim.  There is a lot of bulk at the top, and none at the bottom.
The WAV group also said that this could be just the beginning of something.  One lady suggested that she would start using the PaintStiks on it to add some color and fun.  Another suggestion was write words all over it like a graduation or get well item.  All grand ides for my next project :-)

Among the Pines

I finished the hand embroidery on four of the Among the Pines blocks.  They are the 2014 hand embroidery block of the month at Trackside Quilting.  I am just helping Sue out.  She will put the entire quilt together.
There are three "big" blocks that are the same.  I only did two of the them.  I made mine look the same.  They may go on the sides of the completed wallhanging.  Sue has the other "big" block to embroider.

The snowshoe block was fast comparatively.  It was also fun to try some satin stitching in the tablecloth checkers.

The trees in these blocks were quite tedious.  They took a lot of time.  I do believe I put completing these blocks off for a long time because of the trees.  I had to do the block with the skier first so I would do the other three blocks.

All of these blocks still have the Transfer-Eze.  The Transfer-Eze is rinsed off in cold water.  At this time, Sue C. has already rinsed the Transfer-Eze off the block I did and the blocks are at the store waiting to be put into a quilt.