Saturday, April 27, 2013

April Flaunt Your Finish


Just as you shouldn't drink and drive, I believe you shouldn't be medicated and blog. With that said, we have some great finishes to flaunt. Not knowing I was going to do this (some had more to say than others) I'm going to let the creators tell you about their projects in their own words. I'd probably just slur mine.

Remember to link YOUR finish at the end of this post!


Ann says:
Here is my favorite composite photo of my Madrona Road Challenge mini quilt. I like the idea of its translucence.

Everyone at the April meeting saw my interpretation of a macro view of the Broken Herringbone pattern within the MR line. I substituted one of the MR patterns for each of the solids, double checked the angles, and corrected the motif because I completely overlooked an error in my first layouts.

Turns out the vertical band on the front perfectly overlaid a vertical on the back. I did my regular picture taking on the stockade fence and then took photos backlit hung on the wrought iron fence. Nice effect.


Bri says:

Hi!  This is my one April finish.  It is the Madrona Road Challenge mini.  I used Elizabeth Hartman’s Octagonal Orbs pattern.


Jemellia says:
A quick little tote I made while retreating with my mother-in-law at their cabin (yes, it's near the van down by the river). 

Kristine says:
Sooooooo frustrated with this camera. It yellowed and made lines on every pic I took. Here is a purposefully blurred, color corrected one. I will be replacing this camera very soon. Sigh.

Anyhow, this is my own design. The leaves and stems and flowers are all hand appliqued. Machine quilted on my Bernina. I love how it turned out. I wish the pictures could really show it!


Ann has more to say:
Another project I knocked out was a quilt for a sweet little five-year-old girl recently adopted from Ukraine. Her adoption was in the works when their president cancelled all international adoptions. My friends were there when this happened and were heartbroken. They had to summon up all their faith and assure her they would be back for her! As it worked out, adoptions already approved but not completed were allowed to go through, they returned to pick her up and little Polina was on her way to her US home. (Read the story.)

I knew I wanted to make something for her and in early April, I saw a triangle square layout I liked and remembered a pack of charm squares (moda Fairy Tale Friends) I'd bought sometime last year. I'd also bought matching solids. So I put them together and came up with this. I was going to do a coordinating backing, but saw that more of her colors were 'princessy' and thought the hearts fleece kinda went that direction. Finish size was 36" x 36". Did a simple hand tying.

Agnes says:
Somebody (Amanda maybe?) asked me about the thought process I put into quilt design. In my case, I am not sure there is much thought process, more like ideas piggybacking on each other. 

This is a pretty good example:
a)  Started out with a more-or-less conventional US flag design, then thought....hmmm
b)  this could be so much more fun if the stripes radiated out of the star, almost like a 4th of July firework!...then I looked at it some more and....
c) I thought, ...a mug rug ...is separated into "hot" and "cold" areas, isn't it? The blue cubes are kind of abstract ice cubes, while the star turned into a radiating flame,....but wait...
d) now the whole thing is like a big fish, ...that could be eating a small fish! etc.

Love these small scrap projects - instant gratification!

What project did you finish this month? Link up and Flaunt It!

Monday, April 1, 2013

April Block-of-the-Month


Happy Spring!  

I (Amanda L.) signed up to do the April BOM for the guild, and the block I am choosing to share is one I created for our “recent” Michael Miller Challenge Quilt.  


This block has a bit of history to it as it is designed after a portion of the Oklahoma City National Memorial.  The bombing occurred on April 19, 1995, and the resulting memorial is a place Oklahomans hold dear to their hearts.  It is a place of grief, history, and hope for the future.  As a relatively new Oklahoman, but someone who was affected deeply by the events of 9/11, I can relate very closely to the feelings of Oklahomans on this terrible tragedy, and so I created this take on the memorial as my way of paying tribute to those families and this lovely state who has accepted my family and me into its folds so generously.

April's Block-of-the-Month:



 A fat eighth of each of these fabrics is enough, but if you have large enough scraps those will do as well.   Of course you can also cut down fat quarters and use those, which I have done in the past as well.

For easy to print instructions: Click HERE



Cutting it out:

Orange (Fabric 1):
1a:  3” x 5.5”
1b:  Cut 2 –  2.25” x 5”
1c: 1.5” x 5.5”

White (Fabric 2):
2a:  4.5” x 5.5”

Navy Blue (Fabric 3):
3a:  2” x 5”
3b: Cut 2 – 4” x 12.5”

Sewing it together: (Use scant ¼” seam allowances, press seams open or to the dark side.)
  1. Begin with the “chair back”. Sew each of the 1b pieces to 3a to create the center back of the “chair”.
  2. Sew 1a to the top of the unit you created in step 1. 
  3. Sew 1c to the bottom of the unit you created in step 1. 
  4. Sew 2a to the bottom of 1c. 
  5. Sew each 3b piece to the sides of the “chair” unit. 
  6. Square up your block to be 12.5” square. 




There you go!  A complete OKC Memorial Block.  Thanks for joining me in April’s BOM.  Don’t forget to add your block to the flickr group.

Join us next month for May’s BOM!