A Round Robin with the Chicago Modern Quilt Guild

Objective for 1st Round: Add rectangles to assigned member’s applique block & bring back to next months meeting to swap for another’s block & add next border for the next month.

I got my friend Donna’s, all patterned fabric block. Very beautiful, but I don’t have much of a stash, let alone metallicish print, worthy enough to adorn her block. If I look at something often & long enough, I eventually come up with an idea, but usually the night before its due!

Well, our next meeting isn’t for 2 weeks & I’m actually done! And I really like it. Simple but effective, keeping with the angle of the circles going yet also keeps the eye moving with the red accent.

Since I’m still reading Memoirs of a Geisha from my book club (Books & Bordeaux), I think the Asian frame of mind helped me on this one.

I love it! Too bad its not mine to keep. Each of our blocks will be passed around until November when we get to see our original block with the additions of 4 more peoples creative additions. I can’t wait!

The Bach Boat on Lake Michigan

At Winnetka boat ramp

Karli, Mickaela & Lauren K  Baha'i Temple Wilmette, IL

Mickaela & Lauren K

Jelly Roll 1600

40 strips of 2 1/2"x40" fabric of various leftover & unused fabric laying around doing nothing. Sew them end to end for a strip 1600" long.

47 minutes later it turned into this! How cool is that?!

4th of July Parade 2011

Mom, Dad, Terry & Fran joined us for Brookfield’s parade to see M march with the cheerleaders. She was very excited to be part of the parade. Last year M & K were both in it. K with her softball team, M with a friends local carwash. Afterwards, we enjoyed the music of The Neverly Brothers at the park. Mom & Dad have heard them before a couple times at various locations & really enjoy their music. They not only do Everly Brothers songs, but a whole mini history of early rock & roll. A perfect day!

Mug Rug Swap with the Chicago Modern Quilt Guild

Ebony of the guild organized the swap. I thought 4 was a good number but they’re pretty addicting because you want to keep trying new designs. Since they’re small, there is no fear in making mistakes. You just make another one if you don’t like it. Although, when it’s the deadline, you swap what you made & hope they like it!

Father’s Day Picnic & Dinner

A sunny & muggy day. Breakfast in the screen house, lunch at the Forest Preserve, & dinner at Andrew’s Open Pit. A very filling day.  Jeff was here for 2 out of 3 meals, had to go on the road. A really good day! I wanted to touch some fabric by the end of the day but time ran out. Maybe tomorrow.

Progress on my WISP (work in slow progress)

Started a year ago with the Moosequilts Online Jellyroll Sampler Quilt Along, I'm finally happy with the finished top. The pieced border was made out of the leftover strips that I somehow squeezed and stretched them to fit perfectly. We'll see how that works for me when is time to quilt it! Puckers, I'm sure! I really want to get the back done so this can be finished & used this summer, I love the colors! Its just that I want to make the back pretty with some leftover pieces but I'm not sure how to put it together. And because I need a big empty space to lay it all out, I'm not finding the time to make this happen. I know... I just need to

"Just Do It"

Mother’s Day on the Fox River

       

Every year since bro Billy bought his house near the Fox River, we have gathered for Mother’s Day & his birthday. This year it was minus my sister & Jeff.( Terry-Michigan, Jeff-on the road). A beautiful day as usual! I remembered to take a picture of B’s gift in progress but not of the finished project. It’s a picture of B&V on a glass jar with a citronella candle for outside topped with beaded copper wire. He loved it!

Having Fun with the Chicago Modern Quilt Guild

I'm so glad I found them! I look forward to the monthly meetings & became the self appointed photographer of the monthly Show & Tells. My friend Donna (met her thru an Art Quilt class @ quiltfabric.com) joined & is thrilled more than I am about what being part of this group has done with our art/craft. These are from the first challenge I took part in. We made a quilt block & placed the block with the remaider of the 4 fat quarters we used in a bag to be blind swapped at the meeting. We then had to finish into a quilt the block & fabric, adding from our own stash as needed & return to gift the owner at the July meeting. It was a BIG challenge for me, since I've never created anything as I went along. It was really fun though & everyone LOVED theirs when it was returned to them at the meeting. The most recent event at the guild was "Iron Quilter". Here's the results at the guilds blog. http://thechicagomodernquiltguild.blogspot.com/2011/03/iron-quilter-huge-success.html We were divided into random teams, my team ROCKED! Donna, Sarah, & Erika. I'd say we worked really well together & won the judges choice award for creative use of embelishments. It seemed like all our supplies given were really ugly, but it came together in the end. We all had a blast & can't wait to work as a team again. Next months meeting is a "sew-in" & a strip swap. I'm not sure what that is, I'm sure it'll be fun & interesting!

Another Beautiful Mother’s Day!

About 5 years ago we started going to my brother’s house on Mother’s Day & his birthday. He’s a block from the Fox River & the bike trails. It feels so good to walk down the trails of Spring greenery to the Dam so Bill, Jeff & the girls can drop a pole into the water. This year we walked a little further so Bill could show us a beautiful view.

Two casts later & Bill caught his 1st Northern Pike of the year & on the Fox River! It was at least 2 feet long! What a great birthday present to himself!

And of course, I had to make my bro a giant cupcake birthday cake!

The craftiness that I unfortunately didn't take a picture of was the 2 button pins I made for my mother & sister based on an idea from the book Button ware. Of course I was making them the night before and trying to solder the pin onto them in the morning. I think they are pretty but of course as usual I didn't make one for myself. The buttons were the flowers & the coiling of the wire at the base looked like a vase. I need to get a picture of them at some point to personally document what I do with all my time!

I finally finished block 4 & 5 for the Jelly Roll Sampler Quilt Along. Now I’m waiting to be inspired to create block 6.

Block 4 makes me smile! Block 5 doesn’t belong to the same family!

I’m new the world of Jelly Roll quilting & I’m trying to use all the colors of the roll. Maybe you’re not supposed to when making a sampler quilt or maybe I’m just not combining them very well!

This Sunday is my first meeting at the Chicago Modern Quilt Guild. I’m excited to meet some really creative people. I’d like to take part in their Inspiration Challenge Event (ICE), but my creative process to create a block with 4 fat quarters isn’t really happening too fast. Plus, I’m afraid to commit to messing up someone else’s block. It’s a swap challenge to create a wall hanging size quilt with someone else’s block & fabric pieces. I’m afraid I won’t make time to complete it on time because I’ll be digging out my house room by room for Mick’s graduation party in June. I’ve been sketching ideas this week but just can’t narrow down a design. I want to include CMQG-2010 on it so it will inspire me to keep creating. Let’s see what happens! Until next time…

Moving Along on the Quilt Along & other March & April Things

Blocks 2 & 3 from the Jelly Roll Sampler Quilt Along from moosequilts.blogspot.com. I love my Frolic jelly roll from Moda.I want to mix up the colors but hope it will all come together in the end.I am currently behind by 2 blocks. How can that be?!! The new blocks come out every other Monday which I thought would be so manageable, but my procrastination & sidetrackedness did it to me once again! I think maybe the disaster zone of my work area has something to do with it!

The beginning of March was Dad’s & Aunt Adeline’s birthdays. Dad got a Giant Cupcake Cake from the pan I got for Christmas. Aunt Adeline got a Kanzashi flower corsage that I also made, based on Sister Diane’s Kanzashi in Bloom book. It was easy & fun, so why don’t I ever make more than one item when I try something new & of course, its always for a gift!

My friend’s birthday was also in March. She appreciates all things handmade, so I made her this zip pouch based on the one in Amy Karol’s Bend the Rules Sewing. I loved it, my family loved it & Maureen loved it! All made with supplies on hand with a beautiful pink shiny lining!

Easter was during the girls Spring Break. Eggs were colored on Good Friday as always. I had to get out the green checked vinyl tablecloth for tradition sake. Very bright, very fun!

Also during Spring break, we went downtown with my Mom & sister to Macy’s Annual Flower Show. Of course shopping was included to get the girls excited about going. The weather was PERFECT! Warm & a little windy. We each took the train & met up downtown.

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The first 2 weeks of April were very sunny & warm. This made my daffodils start opening earlier than I wanted them to. They are always in bloom for my birthday so I wanted them to last, which they did. They are my favorite flower probably because they are the first pop of color in my yard after our long grey winters.

My first time to the International Quilt Festival in Chicago & then I hear it will probably be my last because they are moving the Spring festival to Cincinnati, Ohio. That’s me & Pokey Bolton, Editor in Chief of Cloth Paper Scissors magazine, as well is all of the Interweave things she’s in charge of. She was running Make It University at the festival, a series of 1 hour workshops by various mixed media artists. I was lucky enough to do 2 of them. Names were pulled & you had to be present. I made a fabric ATC & a collage on canvas. Also pictured are the mini pieces of art I brought to their trading post to swap with others on a wall. Once again, they were fun & east to make but they’re all gone. Below are the mini art things I swapped for.

These are the Thank You cards I made for my sister, cousin & friend, all who are very thoughtful people in my life & all appreciate creative work!

Now, on to my mess to clean up so I can catch up on the quilt along! The mess is stifling my ability & need to create. I hate when I let it take over my space. I wish I had an assistant!

On to the next month!

New Month, New Projects to Do!

At the end of February was my main project, finished slowly, piece by piece. If I could just follow a pattern, instead of having to make it up as I went along it could have been done a lot more quickly. Loosely based on a bag in Designer Style Handbags by Sherri Haab, I LOVE the way it turned out and is my main bag right now. Although with it getting warmer out, I'm now thinking I need a Springy looking one. All the fabric was found at my local thrift shop. Some nice quilter is donating bags of scraps & some yardage. For $3, I got lots to play with now & for later!
New project for March, the Jelly Roll Sampler Quilt Along from moosequilts.blogspot.com. I've always wanted to buy a jelly roll, never had a reason too. It was fun looking for just the right one. I decided on Frolic by Moda. I love the bright retro colors!
Block 1. Why do I have such a problem with straight stitching?!