MQG Riley Blake Challenge Quilt

In my continuing attempt to catch my blog up with all the items I've managed to finish so far this year, I'd like to share my Riley Blake Challenge Quilt.  As anyone who is familiar with the Modern Quilt Guild knows, the periodically have challenges sponsored by some of their awesome sponsors such as Michael Miller or Riley Blake.

 Earlier this year, Riley Blake sponsored a challenge with the Quilted Fish's fabric  line called The Cottage Garden.  It is a beautiful line of fabric with lots of my favorite colors like aqua, yellow, gray and it also came in a pink colorway.

We were sent the aqua/gray colorway to get started on our quilts.  Of course I had to buy more fabric because you just never know, right?

The challenge was to try something new and do something you'd never done before.  I had never done triangles and had been wanting to try them.  Also, I've been wanting to start designing my own paper piecing patters.  So I decided to design all the patterns for the entire quilt.  It was a very simple design as each square only had 3 pieces and I had 3 different square shapes and sizes.  It was fun and I really enjoyed it.

Ironically, I barely got my quilt posted to the site before the deadline.  I had finished the quilt but forgot to post it until the very last day.  I haven't received an email yet about the challenge winners so I guess they are still working on that.  But its the challenge that's the fun part - although it would be awesome to win ;)

My pieced quilt back and label.  I used lots of leftover fabric for the back and I think it came out great.

There were two great text prints in the line, a white with black text and an aqua with white text.  I loved them both.  I used the white for the binding. 

Quilt Stats:
Name - Triangles
for the Riley Blake MQG challenge 2015
Size - 39.5 inches tall and 32 inches wide
Quilting - Quilted on my Juki with straight line quilting.  I actually measures and marked every line because I wanted them to be straight and precise.  They were exactly 1 inch apart.

**Linking up to Crazy Mom Quilts and Can I Get a Whoop Whoop?**

My Michael Miller Modern Quilt Guild Challenge Quilt

Wow.  Say that 3 times fast.  My Michael Miller Modern................
Just kidding.

Ok, now for the big reveal.  My very favorite quilt that I've ever made of all time.  My butterfly quilt.  I call it "Butterfly Release" because my intention was for it to look as though the butterflies had just been released from a box and they were flying up.

 In the MQG challenges, the fabric company sponsoring the challenge sends out a fat eighth of about 6 or so fabrics to each guild member who signed up for the challenge.  In this challenge, the fabric line was called Petal Pinwheels and it was very springy and happy.  There was one solid - in my case the dark orange.  This fabric is sweet and happy and reminded me of spring.  What do you see in spring?  Butterflies.  

I love butterflies.  They are beautiful, carefree and whimsical creatures.  They are also the symbol for Fibromyalgia and for Auto-Immune disorders both of which I have.

A butterfly closeup:

The rules of the challenge are that the project has to be quilted, you can use any solid fabrics but if you use prints, they must be Michael Miller.
Since I knew I wanted to do a butterfly, I started looking through all my paper piecing books for a pattern.  I wanted it to be very detailed.  I found this pattern in my favorite paper piecing book.  It's by Linda Causee and is called 365 Foundation Quilt Blocks.  There are 97 pieces of fabric in EACH butterfly.  Each butterfly has 5 sections - 4 wings and the center section.  I loved doing these butterflies.

The background fabric is white in Kona cotton and you can also see an off white looking fabric that I used which is the white on white Mirror Ball Dots fabric from Michael Miller.  I love the Mirror Ball Dot collection.  I still have some of each color and I use it sparingly.  I'm going to look for more at Quilt Festival this fall.

I quilted this quilt on my home machine.  I did an echo stitch around each butterfly in white Aurifil thread 50wt.  Some have two echo shapes.  Then I did a random loopy stitch on the remaining of the quilt with a yellow variegated Aurifil thread # 3910 in 50wt.

I started quilting on my Brother which is the machine that I usually use for FMQ.  It started giving me fits and I couldn't figure out what was wrong.  It straight stitches just fine.  I googled the problem and found many solutions, all of which I tried.  None helped.  Finally, I switched over to my little Janome and it quilted beautifully - or at least as beautifully as it can be when I free motion quilt.

Some of the stitching that I did when I was still trying to use the Brother, needs to be redone.  I want to enter this quilt in our local quilt show next spring, so I'll have to fix that.

This big brown butterfly is my least favorite.  I was trying to match the brown/tan color in one of the prints but this solid just came out too flat. 

The quilt back.  You can see the butterfly outlines on the back if you squint. :)  I used all the fabric that I had left from what I was sent plus I added some solids that coordinated with them.  The bird print by Violet Craft in tangerine was just added because I like it.

And of course my label.  I got my husband to write this one because his handwriting is better than mine. 

More pictures!

Hey, that FMQ looks pretty good!

Last pretty picture.  I'm not a very good picture stager.  I need to take a Craftsy class on that.  
My Butterfly quilt measures approximately 45 x 53.

Nice huh?
Side note:  I did not win the Michael Miller MQG challenge :(  They are already having another one using his solid couture line but it is finishing up around Christmas and I just didn't think I'd make it in time.

Tyler's Modern Quilting Group

That is not our official name.  We haven't decided on a name yet but we have several possibilities.    We have had our second group meeting and it was great!  We are still getting to know one another and there was way more talking going on than sewing - we are suppose to be a sewing group :)

At our second group meeting, we shared the name tags that we had made.  I gave a sneak peek in my previous post, so now I'll show you the whole shebang.

 Here is an up close and personal.  All my points met up!  I was so excited.  That's why I love paper piecing so much.  It's so precise. 

I'm not that great with embroidery, mostly because I don't practice and I only use it when I have to, but I think my name came out fairly well.  I just wrote it on muslin with a pencil until it looked okay and then I used the outline stitch to embroider it.

I put my Modern Quilt Guild pin on my name tag.  We aren't part of the MQG yet but several of the ladies that have been coming are individual members and there is talk amongst the group about joining.  I think we have to have a few meetings first to see who all is going to be able to come on a regular basis and get to know each other.  But by spring, who knows.  There is so much talent in the group of ladies that have been coming - it's astounding.  I'm hoping we can get the word out to people in the surrounding areas because I know there are more Modern quilters out there in East Texas wishing they had a group of sewing friends that they could get together with and have fun!

Last shot, I promise.  I'm proud of our group and I hope we can continue for years and years.

This pattern is from a book by Linda Causee called 365 Foundation Quilt Blocks. 
I used fabrics from my stash for the project in my favorite colors. 
The text print is a great one.  It is from STOF and I bought it at my LQS.
My name tag measures 4 1/2 x 3 1/2 inches.

Thanks for reading!
Have a great day!

**I've linked up with Anything Goes Monday**and Fabric Tuesday at Quilt Story**

Wip Wednesday - The Butterflies Continue

I did a post here about my butterfly quilt that I'm working on.  It is for the Michael Miller fabric challenge for the Modern Quilt Guild.  The deadline is July 25th so I'm furiously working on finishing it.  I know exactly how I want to quilt it.

Take a look at what I have so far:

The painters tape on the floor outlines the size of the quilt top.  It's going to be about 43 inches by 53 inches. 

I'm done with 4 and 1/2 butterflies and still have 1 and 1/2 to go.  I'm getting pretty fast at making them though so I'd like to finish them this week. 

The space between the butterflies will be filled in with Kona White or a Michael Miller white Mirror Ball Dot which I love.

These butterflies are paper pieced and each one has 97 pieces.  I'm really loving this so far.

And of course, being a quilter, I'm also working on a separate project at the same time.  It's a secret project because it's for someones birthday.  I'm running late with it as her birthday has passed but that's ok.  I think she's going to love it.  Here is a small piece of it's awesomeness:

My secret WIP

**Linking up to WIP Wednesday at Freshly Pieced.**

Local Quilt Show Recap - Why YOU Should Enter Your Quilts in Your Local Show

Back in March, my local quilt guild held our annual quilt show.  Just like for most guilds, the quilt shows raise a lot of money.  Some of the money is given to charity, some is used to fund the guild, pay for speakers and basically pay the bills the rest of the year.  It's a really important fundraiser.

The theme for our show this past year was "Not Your Grandma's Quilt" - so basically a modern theme.  I've only been quilting for about 2 years and I've only been a member of the guild for 1 year.  Most of the members of our guild have been involved in it for many years and have loads of quilting experience including hand quilting, applique and whatever else.  Their quilts are gorgeous and most stitches are perfect, or at least they seem to be perfect to a newbie like me.

Therefore, I had not planned on entering any quilts until the chairperson spoke with me.  She had heard that I was interested in modern quilting and wanted me to enter something in the show.  She is a dear, sweet lady and I could not turn her down.  I think she had guessed - accurately as it turned out, that most of the ladies in our guild didn't embrace her theme.  They didn't want to step outside of their box - they like their boxes.  Don't get me wrong, there were a handful of people who completely embraced the modern theme and their quilts were awesome.  Of course, I didn't get pictures of any of them. :(

I didn't win any awards for the 4 quilts I entered, but then I didn't really expect to.  I entered the show so that people could see my quilts, so that they could see something different than they had been seeing.  There were over 250 quilts entered and I'd have to say that I would have classified about 15 of them as modern.  That doesn't include the art quilts.  We had a few art quilts and they were lovely but in my mind, they are in a separate category.

That's why I'm making this call out.  To all modern quilters, or modern traditionalist, or traditional modern, or improv or whatever you want to call yourself.  

ENTER YOUR LOCAL QUILT SHOW

Let the world see something else other than traditional quilts, civil war quilts, Baltimore applique quilts and all the other stuff we've been looking at for years.  I want something different  and you shouldn't be afraid to show your work.

Hear are the reasons I used (and probably the same ones you are using) to not enter a quilt in a quilt show:
1.  my piecing isn't perfect.  I don't always meet my seams up
2. my binding isn't perfect.  I sew it on by machine and they will want hand sewn.
3.  my quilting isn't perfect.  I can't afford to send my quilts out to be long armed.  
4.  my quilting is too simple, the judges will want complicated motifs with feathers and blah blah
5.  I do improv piecing, the judges won't understand it
6. I'm afraid to enter.

Entering my quilts in our local show helped me to just GET OVER IT.  Our quilts are different, they are made with solid colors, or bold prints.  We mix colors that people might not normally see together.  We may not always follow all the quilting "rules" and are afraid that the quilt police will come take our fabric stash away.

But guess what?  When I took a chance and showed my quilts that were by no means, perfect, I felt better about my work and having it judged.  The judge was a nationally accredited judge and she really tried hard to say nice things about all my quilts.  Even my Giant Starburst quilt which I knew was a hot mess, she gave me a + for visual impact.  

But what really got me excited was that on all 3 of my other quilts, I got a + for precision of work on my piecing.  I almost cried.  I think that was the highest compliment I could have been paid at this point.  It's what I've been striving for since I started quilting.  It's the OCD in me :)

I hate this picture of me.  My smile is so forced and I look creepy.  Focus on the quilt :)

So, that is the rant for today.  This is the same rant I have recently given a friend who got discouraged and didn't think she was good enough to enter the Houston Quilt Festival.  How do you know until you try?  If they reject your quilt, then make another one and try again next year.  In the mean time, lets start entering all the small quilt shows around us.  The local ones and the ones in the next county.  Let's show them what Modern Quilting is, that it's important to us.  We can love traditional quilts and respect the love and workmanship that went into them and still have our modern quilts too.  There is room for all of us.  But first we have to try.

Deadlines to remember:  If you are a member of the MQG and are doing the Michael Miller Fabric challenge, the deadline has been moved to July 25.

The MQG is asking any members interested in displaying in the Modern Quilt Showcase at the Houston Quilt Festival 2014, the deadline to enter is June 27, 2014.  Click here for details.

The Houston Quilt Festival has a lot of special exhibits and the deadlines run through the summer.  Please check out their call for entries in their special exhibits by clicking here.

I'd love to hear your comments about entering local shows or any shows.  Did you feel the judge was fair?  Please share your thoughts in the comments section.

And one last thing.  We are starting a modern quilting group/bee in the Tyler, Texas area.  Anyone who is interested and lives close enough to Tyler to make it feasible, please email me at handmadewhimzy@gmail.com.  You do not have to be a member of the local quilt guild to join our modern sewing group although it is perfectly awesome if you are.  Thanks!

**Special thanks to Robyn for sending me the pics to use in this post.

**Linking up to Anything Goes Mondays and Sew Many Ways**

Houston International Quilt Festival - Part 2

Welcome to the Houston International Quilt Festival 2013.  I'm not going to go over every detail or anything.  Just hit some highlights.

This is Ebony Love.  She was my instructor for the Modern QR code quilt class.  The QR (quick read) code is that little scanny thing that is on everything now.  You scan it with your phone and it gives info about whatever it's advertising.

So in this class, we started making one in quilt form.  Ebony was the most professional quilt instructor I've ever had.  Her instructions were all written down for each of the 4 quilts that we could choose from.  She even had them bound with a spiral.  Just that alone made her class awesome.  
We could choose between a gray or off white background and I got to class too late to nab a gray but that's ok because I probably would have chosen the white anyway.
When our quilts are finished they will look like a QR code.  Because they are in color, they won't be scanable but Ebony said that she will send us a label for our quilts that has the scanable bar code on it when we finish our quilt tops.  I'm working on mine now and hope to have it done in time to enter it in our local quilt show.

I really enjoyed all of the classes I took this year.  Not a stinker in the bunch.  I have pics on my phone of some of the other classes and maybe someday I'll get them loaded to my computer so I can post some.

Here I am in my witches costume for Quiltapalooza.  I loved my tulle skirt.  But out of all the people there, about 80% were dressed as witches.  It occured to me that I could have made mine in pink and gone as a Barbie or something.  Maybe next year.  It was a fun party though.  Lots of great costumes and they gave away tons of prizes.  Unfortunately, no one at our table won any.  :(

This was my favorite quilt from the Modern Quilt quild display in the quilt show.  It is called Fireworks Quilt by Tara Faughnan, an individual MQG member.  To see all of the Modern Quilt Guild display, go here.

One of the classes I took was called Fifty Shades of Groovy By Leslie Tucker Jenison.  Her Fifty Shades quilt is one of the ones on display in the above link.  Her class was fun and she is a great teacher.

One disappointment I had was that the majority of the quilts seemed to be landscape quilts.  I love landscape quilts and art quilts but it seems to me that such a major show could have divided the categories up better.  Maybe have an equal amount of each kind of quilt.  I also wish the Modern Quilt display had been bigger.  It's quite a large movement at this point and I think there should be more recognition.  They did offer Modern quilting classes this year, which was a first.  I took as many of them as I could get into.  I'm hoping for even more next year.