Sunday, July 27, 2014

Flaunt Your Finish: July 2014


We didn't have a guild meeting this month and I have to admit it was nice to have a little break. I suspect many of our members enjoyed the break too, as I saw several photos on Facebook and Instagram that revolved around non-quilty activities.

A good portion of our members participated in this year's Michael Miller Fabric Challenge. We've shared snippets along the way and many shared their finished projects on Facebook as the deadline came and went. We'll be showing them off at our August meeting and sharing them here shortly thereafter.

In the meantime, we have these finishes to share with you. Please link up YOUR finish at the bottom of this post. Remember, it just needs to be a project FINISHED in July. It's okay if your blog post was earlier in the month.



AGNES made this quilt for her friend, Agnes, and her brave Hungarian family, as they are driving cross-country from NY to LA and up to San Francisco this summer. Since I had so much time on my hands (not), I made the husband a Hawaiian shirt out of the same fabric in black (Alexander Henry Route 66). 

Also, the quilt has its own carrying tote, so it can travel well. Take a good look at Agnes, she will be helping our Agnes with our Budapest Quilt Show this November!

BRI has two finishes to flaunt. The first is the Big Star.  It is a retirement gift for a good friend.  The pattern came from the blog La Bella Colori. The background fabric is from Kate Spain's Cuzco line....which Bri loves!  It had so many bright colors in it, I pulled colors from it for the star points.

The second is a triangle quilt Bri made as part of The Sassy Quilter's Quilt-Along earlier this year. I originally left the edges pointy but I wasn't able to figure out how to bind it on the inner angles, although I read two different tutorials....oh well.....so I used a small dinner plate and made it wavy....

For some unknown reason my husband chose to take down my clothesline....so I made him hold the quilts up....


ANN was busy this month as well and has several finishes to share. I was contracted to produce a couple of mini quilts to feature new machine embroidery pattern packs designed and produced by a former employer of mine, OESD (Oklahoma Embroidery Supply & Design). In 1997, I was hired by them to produce their first press catalog. It was quite an adventure. Fast forward and I'm still in touch with these great folks. They were looking for something on which to apply their new designs and thought mini quilts might fit the bill. These traveled to this year's Bernina University (dealer trade show), in Nashville, Tennessee.

This was for their 'Kimono Cuties' line. (I came to find out this was a licensed product line in the same vein as 'Hello Kitty,' a popular accessory character for young girls.) I gave the customer a few examples of modern quilt layout styles and they chose what happened to be OKCMQG's January BOM from last year! For both of these examples, I pieced the tops, they applied the embroidery, then I got them back to back, quilt, and bind.

This one is a take on the 'Swoon' pattern that features a Christmas design 'Festive Stitches.' I sized the pattern to accommodate the mini's dimensions, offset the block and came up with this. The backing, also pieced, is a 300% 'blow up' of the front pattern. (I've obscured their patterns because I have not yet seen this design pack debuted for sale on their website.)


Another job Ann took in was a houndstooth baby quilt. I'd made one as a gift for a friend a few years ago for the daughter she was expecting. Her friend, who'd been trying to get pregnant for a decade, finally did so and my quilt deadline date was August 1. After a few hit and misses on exactly what she interpreted as 'teal and purple' (see the scans of the Kona Cotton card I sent her), here's the houndstooth. The first time, when I did her quilt, I didn't have a written pattern so 'winged' how to do the diagonal stripe blocks. It was a bit work-intensive. This time, I adapted the instructions of the video tutorial by Missouri Star Quilt, making 'tubes' that cut into squares. It's a pretty cool process to watch! She demonstrates the process using charm squares and yardage. I used yardage only.

When quoting the job, I gave my friend two pricing options—quilt-shop-quality fabric or 'average' fabric. She choose the lesser of the two. I did not particularly enjoy cutting, sewing, or pressing it. It just felt 'off.' I have become SO spoiled, especially immediately after working with that lovely, supple Michael Miller challenge fabric. I try not to be a fabric snob, but after an experience like this, I am happy to love the fabric that's better!

Ann demonstrated the iron-on transfer process for quilt labels at our June meeting. This month, she started applying those transfers to twill tape to make labels for herself. Other than being paranoid about clipping the print with an iron in a later pressing, I really like the look. That said, if they were screen/permanently printed, they'd be perfect!

Once again, thanks for joining us! Please link up your project below and grab a button from the sidebar to share with your blog followers!


Wednesday, July 9, 2014

A Monthly Dose of Inspiration: July 2014



I hope everyone enjoyed a festive 4th of July and is having a great summer!  The days are sunny and warm and it is a great time to take advantage of the long days of summer to work on your projects.

Each month we like to share with you some of our members' creative works from Flickr to provide you with a little inspiration.  Below are some recently shared projects.  Maybe one of these will spark an idea and start you off on to something new.

Happy Sewing!