WIP Wednesday

While it's fun to see what quilting projects our guild members are working on, it's also fun to see some of the other projects they're working on as well. This week our members have been working on a variety projects. We're also happy to have some new members sharing their WIPs for the first time!

Stephanie is working on this Stashbuster pattern from Material Obsession 2 with Tula Pink Parisville. I love all these prints mixed together! If you're a fabric junkie lover like me, I'm betting we could all use our stash a little bit more. 

Amanda C. is making this cute little jumper for her daughter for an upcoming photoshoot with the extended family (her husband's parents and siblings and their spouses and offspring). Amanda says she's thinking some big pink buttons for the top...but she thinks it still needs something along the bottom... But not sure what... Any suggestions are welcomed, so please chime in on the Comments below with your ideas! I love those little birdies!

Agnes is working on a ginormous size quilt! In theory, she says it's queen sized, but would fit a king, too. It is a housewarming gift for her friend Isabel, who just moved into a beautiful modern home. Her favorite colors are gray and grey :-), and the request was that it shoud be stark and minimalist. Sooo, she went to Denyse Schmidt for inspiration and picked Bella gray and the grunge gray from Moda. Agnes is thinking about doing something more fancy on the quilting front...maybe?... of course on a long arm frame, because there is no way someone could do this on a home machine!

Aw, Agnes...I think you can do it! Someone once told me to just start in the middle and spin it like a lazy-susan!

This is Cristi's first WIP Wednesday! Cristi was going to show us a quilt but she's too busy trying to paint her soon to be sewing room. So instead, here's a picture of how her dog decided to "help" her. He nosed a full paint pan and dumped it onto the carpet ...in the one spot she hadn't yet put a drop cloth. 

Ugh! I've been there with spilled paint but didn't have a dog to blame it on. Maybe Cristi will get new carpet too..haha!

But, Cristi had done some sewing too, and here is a photo of some 9 patches she's using in a quilt for  her mother-in-law. She's used 6 charm packs of Chateau Rouge by French General for Moda and will be using Faded Red Linen yardage for the sashing.

Mmmm....I'm liking this a LOT!

Andrea is making a quilt with the Fresh Lemons Garden Trellis pattern using leftover Echo prints and Madrona Road text print for the center.  It's another quilt for a cousin who recently got married.  Think she can finish by Saturday?  Yeah, Andrea doesn't think so either!

As I'm gearing up for the season finale of Project Runway I defer to Tim Gunn and say, "Carry on!" and "Make it work, Andrea!"

I wasn't sure what I was looking at first when Melissa sent me this photo. Was there a disaster? Nope, she's just on Fall Break this week and the next, so instead of sewing, she's stripping wallpaper.  This wallpaper is the layer *behind* the first layer that she removed.  Just so you know, fabric softener and water make it so much easier to get the stuff off!

Seriously, what's worse than stripping layers of wallpaper. Here's hoping is goes quickly, Melissa, so you can get back to sewing!

Erin has been sewing for her school's annual auction. This is the 3rd class quilt she's made with her daughter's first grade class.  Each child made a mini quilt with colorful fabric scraps Erin provided.  She then stitched them up and incorporated them into this quilt.  The title of this quilt is "know US by our LOVE" based on the verse from John 13:35.  She says the quilt is still very much a work in progress, but will be finished Sunday night.  Erin's other two class quilts "Olive Tree" and "Heart and Hands" can been seen on her website under her portfolio at www.missbutterflybs.com  

I LOVE this idea of the kids making the blocks! It's going to be stunning!

I went back to work 2 weeks ago and (sigh) I've hardly sewn a stitch. A couple of us from the guild will be doing some presentations about the guild, so I'm making up some blocks to illustrate and hopefully help answer the question, "What is Modern Quilting?" I think this is a good start.

A big THANK YOU to all our contributors! It's a bland blog without you!

Today we're linking up with:

WIP Wednesday

You know you're a quilter when...

1. Before a major event or holiday, you can be seen either up at midnight, or in the car on the way to the event, sewing the last few stitches in.

This sweet little Winnie the Pooh quilt is a labor of love for Robin's unborn daughter. Robin just reached the 30-day countdown, so she's working on it every chance she gets! I adore pinwheels for babies...and wait...those 8-point stars in the corners are pretty cool too!

2. The line outside your restroom "stall" during the play's intermission gets longer & longer because you're trying to sketch the complex design in the tile floor because it'd make a neat quilt design!

Crys really likes HSTs (half-square triangles). I have to admit my HSTs need some practice, but I think she's got it down pretty well. This is a really interesting color combination and I'm anxious to see it spread out in all it's glory.

3. Every time your boss wears a particular shirt you have to bite your tongue to keep from asking him if you can have it when he gets tired of it.

I may have mentioned before that several of our guild members are obsessed with into hexagons. They swear to me that they are fun and relaxing to do, but I just haven't bought into that idea yet :) This is another quilt by Crys using both new and old fabrics by Denyse Schmidt. I love this mix of menswear/womenswear fabrics. I see a tie, vest lining, a summer shirtdress...it's a great mix! 

4. You don't mind spending tons of money on fabric to make a quilt for a gift but would never spend that much money on a store bought gift.

There's been a lot of chat this week about bag patterns. Shana was at the mall this weekend and she saw a cute quilted gym bag but didn't like the price. Like a lot of us, she thought "I can make that!" and that's exactly what she's doing. She's started the sides, which will be really cute. But wait, Shana...cupcakes on your gym bag? You're my kind of girl!

5. You go to the pizza place and your four year old pipes up, "Look, Mom, that man's using a rotary cutter on the pizza!"

I don't doubt that someday, one of Amanda L's kids will say that to her! Amanda has been working on this "Little Apple Orchard" quilt for a while now. I'm getting a little antsy because she just keeps giving us little snippets of it and I'm dying to see the whole thing. Made with a charm pack of Aneela Hoey's "Little Apples", the quilt has four "orchards" divided up by color and is English Paper Pieced in the shape of apple cores. Each orchard is tidily closed off by a "fence" of Kona White. The quilting in the apple orchards is done with a White Pearl Cotton. Between and surrounding each orchard is a scrumptious Essex Linen, which Amanda is hand-quilting as well with apple tree branches in a variegated Sulky Blendable Thread. She says, "It's slow going, but doing so much of the work by hand is incredibly rewarding, relaxing, and FUN!"

6. You're making travel plans and one of your first thoughts is if there are any must see quilting stores within a 100 mile radius of your destination.

A couple of weeks ago I went with my sister to take her daughter back to college. And, okay, I was a little disappointed we didn't have time to stop at a couple of the quilt shops I jotted down. I am in the middle of making a photo quilt for a friend's parents celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary. I've gotten to know them a little over the years as they've come to visit her and they are absolutely fantastic people! It's really a pleasure to be able to do this for them.

7. You purchase fabric and the clerk asks "what are you making?" And you have to answer, "I don't know", "I'm not sure", or my usual "I just collect fabric."

Bri says she's been collecting 30s fabrics for the last few years and is excited to be using them in the Bee in My Bonnet Row Along she's doing. She says clues come out every other Wednesday, so the project is a bit of mystery as well. This is her Row 1 and I have to say I'm curious as to what's next!

8. You leave the house with bits of thread and fabric all over your clothes.

Bri is also working on a fall leaves quilt, which will be a retirement gift for a friend. When I first glanced at this quilt, a few of the leaves looked transparent. Can you see it too? It's almost like looking through the quilt and seeing the ground or trees.

9. You spend more money on 'quilt stuff' than you do on your wardrobe.
Happy Quilting!

Today we're linking up with:  

WIP Wednesday

The buzz among modern quilters across the country is QuiltCon and the OKC Modern Quilt Guild quilters are no exception. Presented by The Modern Quilt Guild, QuiltCon is looking to be as exciting to quilters as ComicCon was to Twilight fans. The who's who of modern quilting will be there and I, for one, am beyond excited!

Several of us Guild Gals are in the process of making individual modern blocks to combine into one quilt for submission to the QuiltCon show. They're all due at this Saturday's meeting, so I suspect there may be a little frenzied experimentation going on right now. We're going to save the blocks and show them to you down the road. But for today, we have some other quilty eye-candy from three of our members.

Andrea is relatively new to the group. In fact, I haven't even met her yet! Stay tuned for next week's guild meeting recap, because she's bringing a quilt for Show & Tell that we all can't wait to see! She's currently sandwiching this quilt below, that will be a wedding gift for her cousin. Orange, aqua, gray is totally my color scheme...love it! And get this, THIS is only her second quilt. Ev-er. It's going to be awesome!

Agnes just tried trapunto for the first time. Yeah, this is her first time, pretty awesome, right? In trapunto, there's a little bit of stuffing tucked in to give dimension. The orange-pink batik was her focus fabric and then she dyed another piece to go with it. The raised design she placed on a tile and then rubbed it with a gold Shiva stick. The gold stippled quilting then enhances the entire design. This is going to be used as a guestbook cover for her friend in Michigan. What a great gift that will be treasured!

Finally, we have Robin who is expecting her first baby in October. As you can imagine, she has a lot going on right now and most of her projects have been less quilty and more nursery related. But, her husband is a BIG Halloween buff and since the baby is due early October, a Halloween quilt seemed fitting. I love her choice of fabrics and how she's quilted cute figures and words onto the blocks. She's finished it off with a striped print binding and in her words, is "hand stitching the binding like a madwoman every time I gets 5 minutes in front of the TV!"

So there you have it! A little peak into what our guild members have been making. For myself, I'm involved in a non-sewing, non-creative and tedious project that I can't wait to complete so that I can start a 50th wedding anniversary photo quilt for a friend's parents. Yikes, no pressure there.

Enjoy the rest of your summer, back-to-school is quickly approaching!

WIP Wednesday

I'm happy to have the opportunity to fill in for Amanda who has gone to get a massage. Some people have all the luck! Actually, she has a pinched nerve, so the massage is therapeutic and we wish her a speedy recovery so she can get back to sewing cute little things like this Dresden doll quilt below. It's for her daughter's second birthday so...shhh....don't tell. And in case you're wondering, the center is from Aneela Hooey's "Walk in the Woods". Seriously, cute.

Another lucky person in our guild is Elizabeth. She teased us this week with a photo of herself stitching away in Colorado. She is our mini-quilt queen and loves to try out new techniques. And since she was in Colorado when she made this one below, she likes these prairie points going upward just like the mountains.

Here's another mini, this time by Agnes. I chose the photo with her hand in it so you could see just how small this little gem is. I think my fingers would get mixed up in the needle trying something so small, but Agnes has serious skillz.

Next up is Crys using Sweetwater's Reunion charms and a few pezzy prints. The thing I've noticed with Crys, is that she's not afraid to be random. Being random is like coloring outside the lines and creating something no one else has created. And that, to me, is truly modern.

And there's me :)  I'm happy to have finished this baby quilt this week. I typically work with brighter colors, but I loved the "sweetness" of these tans and plums. I just have three more to complete by August!

Summer has truly hit Oklahoma this week with triple digits. It's so hot (and humid) all you can do is stay inside and quilt all day! Our next WIP Wednesday should have loads of projects!

What do YOU do to beat the heat?

WIP Wednesday

 I hope you enjoyed your Memorial Day weekend, and remembered to give thanks for all of those brave men and women who have and continue to put their lives on the line in the name of freedom each and every day.

I got a little sewing in this weekend, but not as much as I had hoped.  I'm making progress on the quilt I have going for the quilt along over on my blog.  I think it will be a great one to curl up under the evenings for some summer reading.  :)

Crystal happened upon the great idea to embroider some Summersville fabric.  Just a bit here and there.  I believe this is going to be a pillow.  :)

The bricks are my favorite.  :)

Leslie is working on this cat bed which she believes her cats will most likely ignore.  HA!

Stephanie is hand piecing these fabulous stars from Erin McMoriss's "Somersault" line.  She does such lovely hand work!

And last, but not least, Trina is working on this twin sized Zig-Zag Quilt for one of her kids.  Lucky kid!  LOVE the orange.  A border is in the works.

There ya have it ladies and gents!  Other than a reminder about our Quilt Show on June 8th <wink wink, nudge nudge> the blog will be pretty quiet until the show is over.  There's a lot to be done!  :)

Sew long for now!

-Amanda-

WIP Wednesday

It's that time again folks...and the WIPs are sadly lacking this go 'round.

Sorry...I don't even have any.  I didn't get anything done last week since I was attending a destination wedding.

But, Cornelia...bless her heart, had sent me this little nugget before I left, for me to share with y'all!

She said:

This one has an interesting story..... A few months ago I was thinning out my fabric stash. I pulled eight or nine FQs and larger scraps (new fabric and old shirts, sheets, etc) that I just didn't think I'd ever use. But as it would happen, when I saw these all together, I thought they actually looked kinda neat together! So I quickly cut them into 4" tumblers and stuck them away for another time. Last week a friend had a little girl and I was able to churn out a top in no time because my cutting was done.

I still have to add some borders to plump this up some.

Looking good, girl!  It has a sweet vintage feel that I'm loving.  And thanks for helping us out with WIP Wednesday this week.

Now, I'm off to work on some of my own projects and play catch up a bit.

And if you're a member of OKCMQG or are interested in becoming one...don't forget to come to our meeting this Saturday, 1:00, at Quiltworks in OKC!  :)  I look forward to seeing everyone!

Sew long for now,
-Amanda-

WIP Wednesday

The WIPs are few and far between this week.  Me thinks that most people are working on projects for the upcoming OKCMQG Show in June.  The submission form for the show will be up on the blog May 1-15th!

Now, on to the WIPs.

I have two projects going on right now.  Well, two quilting ones at least.  The first is for the Newbie Quilt-Along I have starting on my blog in May.  Right now the blocks are done and are waiting in a pile for me to put together into the quilt top.  I wish I could remember all of the fabrics I have going on in this one.  Most are from a Michael Miller line, and my binding and backing fabrics are from the "A Stitch in Color" line.

My second project is my first English Paper Piecing project.  OH MY GOODNESS!  Talk about fun!!!  (Sorry, I'm a nerd.)  I am immensely enjoying this little project.  I started out with just a wall hanging size, but hope to sometime make a nice throw sized quilt with this technique.  I'm doing "hand quilting" on it with some pearl cotton at the moment.  The background fabric is a lovely handkerchief linen.

Leslie is in the midst of designing a transparency quilt using a curved ruler.  I'm loving the colors in this block and look forward to seeing the overall effect.  Since it's Leslie's it's sure to be superb!

And lastly, but certainly not least, we have Agnes' "Avalon" quilt.  OH. MY!  :)  This finished up splendidly, and I hope she does submit it for the upcoming quilt show...remember, Agnes...you can submit 3 large quilts!!!  ;)  She made it for her daughter's birthday.  Isn't that sweet?!  Maybe she'll adopt me.  HA!

I hope you all have a fabulous week, and get a lot accomplished.  I'm in a flurry getting ready for a vacation without the kiddos.  EEK!  (That's an "eek" of both excitement and nerves.)  But, don't worry!  There will be our first "Coffee Talk Tuesday" to look forward to...which funnily won't happen until a Thursday so we can remind you about the submission form going up on the blog on Tuesday.  Oy!  Confusing.

Sew long for now,
Amanda

WIP Wednesday

 It's that time again folks!  :)  See what some of us are up to this week:

Erin is free motion quilting the groups "habitat" quilt.  She is using the pieced side as a grid for the quilting curves in gray thread.  Very impressive!  




Angela made this jelly roll quilt using the Sweetwater line "Reunion" for Moda.  The technique sounds very interesting, in that as you create the quilt you don't actually know how it's going to look when it's finished...you won't know how your strips will end up.  And what makes this even more fun is it is from a class given by our very own Jemellia!  :)  I need to sign up for that...looks fun and quick.


How funny is Angela's son in this picture, by the way?  :)

Agnes is cutting pieces for her "Avalon" quilt, using Michael Miller "Poppy Fabrics."  This pattern combined with Agnes' sense of color is going to be stunning!  She plans to bring this along to our Sew Day on Saturday.

I for one am looking forward to Sew Day!!!  So if you're a member or are interested in finding out more about our group (and perhaps joining) join us for the Sew Day this Saturday.  It begins at 9:00 a.m. at St. Mary's Episcopal Church in Edmond.  Please bring a snack to share (label any snacks that contain gluten or tree nuts) and your lunch.  Hope to see you there!  I'll be the one with stacks and stacks of projects looking completely overwhelmed.  ;)

-Amanda-

WIP Wednesday

Hi there!

How are those spring allergies treating you?  I hope better than they've been treating me.  I've had one illness/allergy back to back for about 2 weeks now and I am just now rebounding.  It's so nice to see a bit of color outside though isn't it?  And I have been enjoying our rainy days of late.  Makes feeling blah so much more appropriate, and it's really nice to not feel like you're missing out on anything.

Well, other than my machine that keeps taunting me to turn it on.  I try not to listen.  You know...run by my craft space, fingers in my ears, singing as loud as I can so it won't tempt me.  Okay...not really, but you get the point.  I, personally, have done NOTHING.  Seriously.  I kid you not...we're lucky my kids were fed.

But, other OKCMQGers have been busy little spring bees!

Crystal is playing with her FMF (Flea Market Fancy) in a Wheel of Fortune (cute pattern name) block.  Paper pieced...impressive!  Finished it measures 16".  She has a ways to go though.  This is going to end up a queen sized quilt.  I'm assuming she's making it for me because I LOVE it!  ;)

 Elizabeth is working with her FMF as well in a large wheel quilt.  HA!  Can you tell we all have a bit of an obsession?  I'm sure you can relate.  Mine is staring at me in my to do pile.  Anywho...this is going to end up a huggable baby quilt.  AWWWWW...  She's testing out various colors.  I voted for the aqua.

 Leslie is working on her houndstooth quilt with a twist.  Loving the colors.  Although I have yet to see any FMF in there.  ;)

And, Phoebe, who is officially joining the guild next month (YAY!), is awaiting some new thread to quilt this sweet quilt.  Isn't it lovely?

Well, that's what the people who haven't been sick have been working on.  What do you have on your machine these days?  :)

W.I.P. Wednesday

I am SOOO excited about our new blog segment W.I.P. Wednesday.  It's quite a popular thing in the land of quilt blogs, but I am thrilled that it gives me a sneak peak into what my fellow guild members are working on.

With our scrap challenge going on most people didn't have a lot to reveal for fear of sharing too much with their swap partner.  I sense there are a lot of fellow procrastinators super busy people in the group much like myself.  ;)

 Cornelia is sweetly making a log cabin quilt for a pal of hers.  (What a good friend!!!)  Don't you just love these little "Sherbet Pips"in the hearth?  And the black and white really allows those pips to stand out!  :)

This is Crystal's "Jovial" Quilt.  Very excited to see the front.  This image is such a tease.  ;)

Elizabeth is hand stitching this gorgeous "Rainbow Trail" table runner with a variegated thread.  Reminds me that spring is HERE!!!!  :)

Leslie is the BRAVE one.  ;)  She's showing a sneak peak of her scrappy swap project.  Another cheery spring-y look.  Can't wait to see it in person!

Side note:  I feel weird typing about myself in the third person.  So I'm just going to type as myself.  lol  

I, Amanda, am working on this happy quilt in "Bliss" fabric.  Some friends have been asking me to teach them how to quilt, but they live far away, and thus my "Newbie Quilt Along" was born over at my personal blog.  

What are you working on?  Any special projects?  Maybe holiday related...Easter, St. Patrick's Day??? We'd love to hear what you have going on!  :)