Storm at Sea on Dry Land

One of my fav patterns is storm at sea because the coloring you use can change it so.  The Quilt Inspiration blog has a great post about this block that shows many ways to interpret it.   I’ve even turned it into a valentine’s quilt with a red/pink heart shape.

Here’s a montage Quilt Inspiration put together.  I’m especially taken with Joen Wolfrom’s transformation of this block into a flower garden (second row, left)

Quilt Challenges

Lots of quilters’ groups have what they call challenges.  Some challenges have specific parameters – subject must be x, size must be a by b, colors must be pink and cream, etc.  Others start with loose inspiration.  One I did was from page 13 of a magazine.  We could use the subject, the color, or any other inspiration we took from it.

Yet another challenge I thought would be fun was a whisper quilt.  The first quilt was seen only by the second participant, who put her spin on it.  The second quilt was passed along to the third participant and the original quilt was returned to the first quilter.  This went on through all the participants who saw only the quilt done by their predecessor.  After all the quilts were done, the results were displayed together.  We had only 3 participants, but the quilts sure were different.  I think it was just too open ended for most of our guild members.

Last night all us modern quilters received a piece of patterned fabric about 8 inches square.  Our challenge is to combine it with other fabrics and turn it into a small quilt about 14-16 inches in size.  Can’t wait to see all the ways that fabric gets used come August.

One of the most amazing challenges I’ve seen is the online twelve by twelve one.  It’s now a traveling exhibit that  I saw at the International Quilt Festival this year in Cincinnati, Ohio.  The book about it has some great descriptions of how each quilter made her choice for the 12 themes.

Atmospheric Nova Scotia

My Nova Scotia vacation photos are very atmospheric. Water takes on so many different colors. I’d love to do a landscape quilt from them. Saw a raw edge strip applique quilt at Quilt Canada and think that method would possibly do Cape Breton justice.  Here’s an example of that technique by Heather Lair:

What’s A Guild, Anyway?

Last night I went to a meeting of the Akron Modern Quilt Guild.  As always I learned some things, like my favorite regional fabric store is having a $5/yard sale.  But I got to thinking about why groups of quilters call themselves “guilds” as opposed to clubs or groups.  So I just looked up the definition of “guild” in my 1965 Webster’s Seventh New Collegiate Dictionary.  That out of date tome defines a guild thusly: “an association of men with kindred pursuits or common interests or aims; esp. a medieval association of merchant or craftsmen.”

My takeaway from this is 1) that dictionary has got to go – as if only men can be in a guild; and 2) I think we use the term guild because we consider ourselves craftswomen.  So guilds are made up of people with certain skills in addition to having common interests.  I love the phrase “kindred pursuits.”

Our modern quilt guild even has a logo designed by Bailey, one of our members.  We usually meet the 4th Wednesday of each month, from 6-8 p.m.  Oh yeah, it’s on Facebook.

Just What the World Needs

Another quilting blog, ugh!  Why?  Well, I’ve been trying to neaten and straighten my notes, thoughts, resources, works in progress, and my work.  So, I thought a blog might be the way to go.  It’s for me primarily.  If anyone else stumbles on it, that’s fine.  I considered using Pinterest, but decided I needed the ability to add words.  So here I am.

I love:

• fabric, especially hand dyed (which I can’t afford) and vividly colored stuff
• designing improvisational quilts
• the design process
• learning techniques
• messing about with scraps of fabric (see above)
• paper piecing, especially the freezer paper way

I don’t love:

• control freaks who use rulers to check the straightness of my sewing lines (aka the quilt police)
• following patterns – where’s the fun in that
• floral fabric (gag me)
• overpriced quilting gadgets – don’t get me started on all those rulers
• cutsey stuff (unusable baby gifts, hostess aprons, table runners, Xmas tree skirts, Halloween banners….you get my drift)
• hand applique, though I’ve used it
• anything fussy and twee.

My goals (er, my good intentions):

• quilt all my tops (I can hear the laughter now)
• learn to free motion quilt proficiently (this is necessary to accomplish goal one – especially my only real art quilt)
• use up most of my stash before I buy more fabric (being on a tight budget is really helpful here)
• produce some quilts characterized by subtlety and close attention to detail
• actually make a series of quilts rather than trying to stuff all my ideas into one.