The Good News.....and the last posting

Good news sometimes comes in 3's:

1. there were over 25 entries in the challenge!!! The voting was done by all guild members who viewed the quilts and chose a 1st, 2nd, and a 3rd.
2. Unlike American Idol or Project Runway - those who did not win do not have to leave the Guild. :-)
3. I had promised my two daughters that I would make each of them a wall-hanging for their new apartments - I have one done.

Actually - I have one more - yesterday was Nyia's (one of my grands) 3rd birthday.

Pictures of everything are here:

1st place - it is hard to see but the center squares have kimonos and the outside has fabric made into origami stars - incredible!




2nd place - this quilter did an incredible and very creative job with the two center figures - just beautiful!









3rd place - This quilter also used the fan theme with squares in between - beautiful quilt.

As you can see, my quilt was not one of the top three chosen. As with anything - you always want to win, but, for me, if I don't - I want those who did win to have been obvious choices, to have clearly deserved it and these quilts fit that criterion. The winners of the Guild Challenge were certainly deserving and all very talented quilters.

I did learn some stuff through this:

• it was fun to have a few focal fabrics to work with and I used only what I had (a real breakthrough)
• I did applique - something that I have not done much at all in the past and, surprising to me, I actually enjoyed
• I put together a blog - thanks Tracey C!

The last bit of goodness from the day was the most beautiful birthday princess in the whole world (ice cream stain and all).....

Thanks for checking in and for the nice comments!

Nancy

It is done!

The quilt is finished and I am proud to say I only used fabric, thread and batting that I already had...which should provide a little insight into just how much of that stuff I do have! Here are two pictures - one of the quilt and the other showing some of the back of the quilt. If you are interested in the interim steps - read the posting right before this one.

The challenge will be judged this coming Saturday 10/7 at the Quilting Guild meeting. I will take pictures of the other entries and, of course, post who won and how my quilt did in the mix.

thanks for reading.

Down to the finish line!

As I think I mentioned earlier, the final steps to completion include:


-Determining what the back will look like - it can be one solid piece or it can also be pieced. I chose to piece it. I used a large piece of fabric for the center, had some deep red fabric for the top and side borders and then appliqued circles of the fabric from the front onto each corner piece.

-Making a quilt sandwich of top, batting, back

-Deciding the design I am going to use to sew these pieces together (machine quilting). I decided to quilt the interior with gold thread in a swirling design and then to quilt the border in dark green with a more geometric design. I drew it on a piece of paper first, then stitched the larger lines and filled them in.

The last thing to do is decide on the binding - what goes around the edge of the quilt and covers all of the raw edges. I went with a gold fabric that would pick up the various golds in the quilt. You can see the gold in the picture to the left.

Apparently there is a limit to the number of pictures in one posting. I will post another with the completed quilt.

Finished the Top!!!!

I have finished piecing the top of the quilt - which is pictured here. For those of you who are non-quilters, the top of the quilt is the part that would show if it was on the bed or if it was displayed on a wall.

Next up is to decide what will be on the back - which can be plain or pieced, then I will make a "quilt sandwich" consisting of the top, the center (made up of batting - a cotton material that comes in varying thicknesses and that adds weight, warmth and, for quilts that will be hung, drape to the quilt) and the back. I usually pin these three pieces together.

Then I will start quilting it. Since I do not have a lot of time, I will be machine quilting this project. I also have to decide on thread and design.

I did get a chance to see the exhibit of the Quilts of Gee's Bend at the deYoung Museum in SF this weekend. These are some incredible quilts made by African American women who live in Gee's Bend, Alabama. The museum presented a program with the women on a panel fielding questions as well as the art historian who had been instrumental in arranging for their work to be displayed. If you want to see some pix, here is the website for the museum: http://www.thinker.org/deyoung/

Nancy

Making Some Progress

I decided to incorporate fans into the quilt to compliment the Asian theme of the challenge fabric. My stash* included other Asian inspired fabrics that would work as well.

Pictures today include:

• fabrics that I am using
• one of the fans
• some of my stash :-)
• my trusty sewing machine

*Stash - what quilters call their fabric to avoid guilt and quantification.

Introducing the Challenge Quilt

As most, if not all, of you know one of the things I do in my spare time is quilt. Some of you may even have a quilted thing or two. While I have known quilters, have gone to way too many quilt shops (both physically and virtually), have taught quilting, etc., incredibly, I have never joined a quilting guild (a club for quilters). Last year, the local quilt shop closed which somewhat dried up my opportunity to interact with fellow quilters. I finally and very recently joined the local quilting guild. It has been fun, although these ladies eat way too much!!!

At any rate, out of this guild joining thing came a new project (like I need another one). It is a Challenge Quilt – you are given some fabric with directions to make something out of it. The fabric is posted here - the directions are:

• Goal: make a quilt (miniature ok) or a quilted garment. No tote bags, sewing kits, etc.
• Time: Return finished item in a brown paper bag to the Oct 7th meeting. Do not put name of quiltmaker on item yet...ok to put name on bag (?)
• Rules:
• All challenge fabric must be visible and used on front of item
• Add any amount of other fabric you wish
• You can buy more challenge fabric from the store: Patchwork Cat in Benicia.
• I added one additional personal challenge – I cannot buy any new fabric for this quilt…YEEPS!

Since “AI” does not start for a while, I thought I would take you all on a short reality show journey from challenge to outcome. The outcome, as you can see from the directions, takes place at the meeting on 10/7 (so, fear not all ye with short attention spans, the end is not far off) where all of the challenge quilts will be presented and, if not judged, at least compared.

Are you asking yourself....

1. does she have enough fabric to pull it off....hahahahahahahaha
2. does she know what she is doing....not usuall
3. is she a stitch short of a seam...undoubtedlyabsolutelycompletely…what was the question?

So stay tuned for continuing episodes - no promises on frequency or regularity (is there ever?) - but expect some color, texture and excitement!!!!

n