Quilt Shows - A Boost of Inspiration

Quilt shows are one of the most inspiring events a quilter can experience. Quilts, classes, special exhibits, vendors, seeing old friends and meeting new ones - it all comes together at a quilt show. For me recently it was the Kansas City Regional Quilt Festival that meets every two years at the Overland Park Convention Center in Overland Park Kansas.

This show is the result of the combined effort of the members of 18 guilds from the greater Kansas City area. It is organized and run by a board of volunteers from the 18 guilds - each guild having an area of responsibility. This year was the third show and they seem to get better and better every year. I'm already looking forward to 2021!

This year, I viewed (very closely in some cases) the approximately 450 quilts in the guild showcase area, 100 quilts in the judged area, 40 quilts in the special exhibits, and the 7 challenge quilts. I took 4 classes, attended 1 trunk show, entered 1 quilt in the judged portion of the show, had 1 quilt appraised, volunteered twice to be a "White Glove" ambassador, sold opportunity tickets for my guild's raffle quilt, volunteered to support the quilt appraiser, shopped the vendors, and enjoyed the company of 2 good friends at a nearby hotel. I had an awesome time! The only thing I wish I had done now was to attend the Ricky Tims Concert, as Ricky is one of my favorite people, as well as a favorite quilter.

I'll write about my classes in separate posts, suffice it to say, I learned a bunch and met some great and inspiring teachers.

There was inspiration at every turn. One of the most inspiring corners of the show was Cindy Parry's special exhibit.

Cindy's exhibit was called Tohoku Daishinsai which means Tohoku Disaster. Cindy, who was born in Japan, was especially touched by the 2011 Tsunami and decided to translate her anxiety, sorrow, love and worry for the people of Japan into a series of  15 wonderful wall hangings.   
Cindy used multiple techniques in her wall hangings (which always makes my socks go up and down) as well as incorporating images from Japanese newspapers and her personal photographs.

Cindy's work inspired me in several ways - first of all is her technique and workmanship, secondly is that she was inspired by an event and turned her feeling into quilts, thirdly is that she worked in a series - with each wall hanging being different, but around a common theme.                      
 Cindy says that her profound sadness and obsessive thoughts about the devastation have lessened somewhat since she has completed the quilts and traveled twice to the affected area (in addition to her annual trips to Japan). Other quilters have indicated to Cindy that they too have made meaningful quilts that helped them heal from their own private suffering.

A final thought (for now) from Cindy - "I think my best quilts are those that mean something to me. I think that most any subject when carefully considered, has many aspects and angles from which the story can be told. From those, a series can be born." Food for thought as I consider my quilting going forward. I see some series in my future.
   
Didn't see her exhibit at KC Regional Quilt Fest? No worries. Cindy's exhibit will be at the Starlight Quilters Guild on August 27th. Can't make that meeting? Check out the Japan Festival at Johnson County Community College on October 5th.

If you would like to bring Cindy to your guild or organization for a presentation on her quilts, please contact her at idyllways@aol.com. She spoke at our guild and I was riveted. 

Keeping it Curious about my sister quilters and what inspires them.

  

One Block Wonder - One crazy fabric equals one GEORGEOUS quilt

OK I almost don't even know where to start about One Block Wonder (OBW) quilts. I love them! I probably buy more OBW fabric than any other type of fabric.





My love affair with OBW quilts actually started with a Stack-n-Whack class at Overbrook Quilt Connection. What's the difference between OBW and SnW? The OBW was designed by Maxine Rosenthal. The SnW technique was designed by Bethany Reynolds. They are close cousins - the quilts, not the designers (grin). Both are kaleidoscope quilts. Both start with layers of fabric cut in exactly the same place. OBW usually have 6 layers and SnW usually have 8. OBW are cut in equilateral triangles; SnW are cut in wedges or 90 degree triangles. OBW are usually put together without a background, SnW utilizes a background fabric. You can get books that feature both techniques.



The SnW class I took at Overbrook Quilt Connection a million years ago was wonderful, although I am sorry that I don't remember who taught it. Here is what I do remember: my friend Bobbie and I used the same focus fabric with different backgrounds - I used yellow, she used green. The teacher warned us not to get our fabric mixed up, but one look at my area and you could tell by the mess that it was mine. Bobbie's fabric was nicely trimmed and stacked and mine was all over the place. There was no way we were going to mix up our stacks of fabric!

My next one was a OBW. My son James wanted a black and green quilt, so I decided to make him a OBW (see the first pic in the post). After looking for just the right fabric for a month or so, I finally found a cool tropical flower print in Colby Kansas.  I bought 6 or so yards - enough for the 6 repeats of the pattern plus some extra for borders.  After cutting the triangles and putting together the half hexies, I set aside all the blocks with the bright red, yellow, orange and yellow flowers. So James' quilt was mostly black and green and I had plenty of leftovers for a bright tablerunner.

One of the things I love about SnW and OBW is that you can use fabrics that you wouldn't normally put in a quilt - or at least fabric that I wouldn't normally use. You could even use "ugly" fabric! Check out some of the fabrics before I stacked and cut, and then the resulting hexagons. Pretty amazing, yes? 

Western Belt Buckle fabric

Kaffe Fassett Floral fabric

The other thing I love about OBW is that the technique is fairly simple. You just layer the fabric, cut strips and then triangles, and then sew 2 sets of 3 triangles together to make 2 half hexies. The hardest part is laying the hexies out in a way that "flows".

The third aspect of OBW that thrills me is that you have a million options when it comes to the layout - you can add tumbling blocks, solid strips, make the layout asymmetrical, or any number of other creative options. 

I am going to be teaching One Block Wonder quilts at Mea Bernina sometime in the future. I've taught 2 classes already and people want more. So check out the website for upcoming classes and come play with OBW quilts with me! 

Just writing about OBW makes me want to go down to my studio and play with my pretty OBW fabrics!

Eclipse - A Terrific Quilt and A Terrific Group of Friends

I have been working on this wonderful quilt for the past year. It's not a secret, I promise. It's been one of my favorites - the quilt as well as the quilting group doing it with me. 

We started last January - 6 of us. Kim turned us onto Eclipse from Mainstreet Market Designs and now we call ourselves the Eclipsettes. We each chose our own colors - 24 of them for those of us following the pattern (some of us decided to use 12 colors instead). I went to Stitch On and got 24 small prints that skip oh so nicely around the color wheel.  I also chose to go with the black background - I think the colors really pop.

So we decided to do 3 spokes a month, the spokes being paper pieced in 2 sections. They went together fairly easy and most of my fellow Eclipsettes are finished by now. I am almost caught up. Just some outter borders to go. The worrisome part is whether my outter circle and borders will fit nicely onto the inner circle. We'll see soon.

 OK, so the quilt is great, but even better is the friendship we share. We talk, laugh, share quilting tips, eat, drink, laugh some more. I've gotten to know 6 beautiful women through this craft, just as many of our fore-mothers did.  Last summer we went on a retreat at Kelly Ashton's The Creative Place so that we would have uninterrupted time to work on Eclipse and other projects. We had a blast.  What happens at retreat stays at retreat.


In today's time of instant communication, media overload, and bad news all around, small, intimate groups of like-minded friends are my calm in a crazy storm. I can't over-estimate the value of these friends.

Although the year of Eclipse is drawing to a close, our group has decided to keep going. We were the Eclipsettes and now we are the Hueys (as in Getting to Know Hue).

If you find a group of friends like mine, cherish them as the treasures they are.

  

Magic Squares - Thank You Sara Chappell

So, I have my guild friend Sara Chappell to thank for my increasing stripe stash. Stripes are wonderfully versatile - they make great bindings, an accent fabric, or borders. But my favorite way to use stripes is what I call magic squares. I'm not exactly sure where that name came from, but I do think its's absolutely MAGIC!

There is more magic if the stripped fabric is wild and doesn't repeat too often. Two color fine stripes don't make any magic at all.  Stripes with multiple colors, sizes, and shapes make wonderful magic!

Here is how the magic happens - 

• Layer 2 layers of matching fabric - matching so that both layers are identical (sort of like a stack and whack)
• Cut a strip any size you want depending on how often the stripes repeat - anywhere from 4 to 6 inches wide and at least twice as long.
• Cut the strip into squares
• Draw a line diagonally from corner to corner.
• Sew a seam .25 inches from the each side of the line.
• Cut apart on the line. Press
• You should have 2 matching half square triangles.
• Make 2 more if you want 4 for a square.
• Keep making more, using a different cut of fabric so that your squares are not all the same.

They can be put together in squares or partial squares like I did, or in rows, or randomly.

I've only made 1 so far and it sold at an arts and crafts fair, so I am dying to make some more and play with different layouts.

I'm curious about what you do with your striped fabric! Let me know.

Zen Garden Quilt Update

Here's a finished one for you! 

I finally finished Step-Daughter Lynne's Zen Garden Quilt. If you missed the first posting about this quilt, you can check it out here. 
Yahooooo!  I really liked how it turned out. Lori Kukuk did a great job with the quilting. 
It hung in the KVQG annual quilt show last April. 




I was going to use a BL Sashiko machine to stitch the water lines, but decided to use perl cotton and add the stitches by hand.



Lori's quilting added little flowers into the cherry blossom hexies. 




This was fun in so many ways - using Daiwabo Japanese taupe fabrics, EPP, working from a picture instead of a pattern, adding in my own touches like the clamshell river rocks at the lower edge of the quilt.

I love moving a quilt from "a work in progress" quilt to a finished quilt. It hasn't made its way to Lynne in Portland yet, but it will soon.

Here's to a finish!

Houston International Quilt Festival - Quilts, Classes, and Vendors, OH MY!

Do you have a quilting bucket list? Yeah, me too! 😁
Quilting Cruise
Paducah
QuiltCon
Ricky Tims
Kaffe Fassett
Road To California
Retreats
Paula Nadelstern
Susan Cleveland
Bargello quilt
Self-Portrait quilt
Victoria Findlay-Wolfe
Double Wedding Ring quilt
Among other things.
HOUSTON! Check it off the list!

Yep, I went to Houston International Quilt Festival this year. Not only did I go, but did the whole enchilada when I got there. It was a a super experience all around.

We (Shari, Cyndy, Jeri and I) started planning this several months ago. We sent in our class requests on the first day - lesson learned: don't mail it in, fax it next time. I didn't get all the courses I asked for, but I did get some really good ones.

Shari reserved the hotel - a great one on the shuttle bus route. We tried all three restaurants in the hotel ($$$, $$ and $) - they were all great.

Classes - I'll do a separate post on each class, they were all fantastic. Laura Murray's paint sticks and stamps on fabrics, Paula Nadelstern's Simple Blocks with Complex Fabrics, Gyleen Fitzgerald's Bent Star, Catherine Redford's Introduction to Wool Applique, Ricky Tims' Six Weeks in Six Hours, and Saturday Sampler.

Quilt Exhibits - Festival winners and entries, Lion King, Passacaglia Millifiori quilts, Houston Quilt Guild . . .

Vendors - Oh my word. I've never seen so many vendors at a show of any kind. 25 rows of vendors. I spent way too much money, of course, but I came home with some really special goodies.



And we had soooo much fun. Talking, laughing, sipping, eating, shopping, sewing, beading, learning. Quilting friends are the best!

Thanks Shari for Sharing Your Rotational System With Me!

This post addresses organization, AGAIN! It's just one of those things for me - I love hearing about new ways to stay organized and on task in the studio.

So I was dealing with the challenge of having tooooo many quilts to work on and not having the focus to work on anything. Every time I went down to my studio, all my WIP were calling my name . . . "Denise, choose me!, No, you want to work on me! Over here, I'm over here!" As a result of all the cacophony, I wasn't working on anything at all.

My friend Shari told me about her system of rotation through 8 quilts a month. Some of her quilts were BOM, others were quilts she had started and wanted to finish. She decided to work on each quilt for 3 days and then put it away and work on the next one.

This automatically resonated with me because I love working on multiple quilts at once. My trouble is that I had too many. So I started with 5 quilts to work on, then added 3 more, took out 1 and added 2 others. So now I have 9 projects that I am cycling though.

I have been working on each one for anywhere from a few hours to a few days. I work until I have a sense of completion or burnout. Its been working great so far. I have working on all 9 quilts and after I reach completion on #9 I'll start all over again.

I am loving this! I haven't been this productive in a long time.  Here is my list:
        
        Asian Garden Path
        Fiesta Mexico
        Feathered Star
        CURIOUS
        Technicolor Galaxy
        Tula Pink 100 Modern Blocks
        Enchanted Forest
        Home Tweet Home
        Sedona Star













As I finish projects, I will rotate new ones in. I have lots of projects waiting in the wings!




Here's to productivity!
I'm curious, what helps you keep your productivity up?

Sisters - Shopping, Classes, and Quilts Galore: The Ultimate Quilting Experience

I am still in overwhelm mode. It was AWESOME!

I just got back from 10 days of everything quilt related in Sisters Oregon - the 40th Anniversary of the Sisters Outdoor Quilt Show and Quilter's Affair.



I flew into Seattle and BFF Bobbie and I packed up her car (full!) and headed south to Sisters. Of course we had to stop at a few fantastic quilt shops along the way to collect the Row By Row patterns and buy a scrap or two of fabric. I started collecting gray fat quarters for a new quilt called Gray Matter.


The scenery on the trip was breathtaking - especially as we crossed Mount Hood National Forest.  The air smelled fresh and clean - like the pine trees that lined the mountain roads.




Our condo was at Eagle Crest Resort near Redmon Oregon. This 2 bedroom unit would give the four of us plenty of room to sleep, eat and sew during the week. Deer wandered in and out of sight of our back deck and the hot tub was heavenly.

The 3 classes I took were outstanding. I learned so much from talented teachers Barbara Shapel, Tula Pink, and Hilde Morin. More detail about my classes in a later post.

The piece de resistance of the week was the outdoor quilt show on Saturday. The town of Sisters is festooned with quilts - every building, porch, store front, as well as the inside of stores were covered with quilts. I've never seen so many quilts hanging in one place. More to come.


In addition to all the great quilty stuff, The four of us  - Bobbie, Cyndy, Sammie and I, had a great time together. Laughing, talking, sewing, snacking, shopping - we had so much fun. 

Stay tuned for details!

What Do You Do When You Get Stuck?

I'm feeling stuck - paralyzed. I go down to my sewing room and scores of projects call to me, but I just don't feel like working on any of them. I don't really even feel like starting a new one. Maybe I'm sick or depressed. Or maybe I need a break. Or maybe I need a nudge.

I've always been a bit of a procrastinator, but not usually in quilting. Quilting is fun, it's interesting, it's challenging. There is usually no pressure - except from myself. So why am I feeling stuck now?

I usually have a few little tricks to get me going. Tricks like prepping the night before, prioritizing about 10 or so projects to work on first, looking at Pinterest to get inspired. I also sometimes use an accountability buddy - decide what to do and tell my AB what I'm going to do and then let her know when I'm done.

Maybe I should try a new trick - put the names of all my projects in a jar and work on the one I pull out of the jar. That actually sounds kind of fun.

I could also tidy up some. I've been working on a very detailed applique pattern and I have scraps of fabric and bits of fusible all over everywhere. That doesn't sound very fun but it's probably needed.

OK, so what do you, my quilting friends do when you are stuck? Do you ride it out, or do you have a trick to get going again?
Help!
Curious about procrastination in the quilt studio.

Tula Pink Update

Tula Pink is a fabric and pattern designer I have been following for a couple of years now. Her patterns have a simplistic, modern sensibility to them and I would describe her fabric as whimsical with juicy colors. When I saw her book 100 Modern Quilt Blocks, I knew I wanted to made them. Every. One. Of. Them.

So I asked members of my quilt guild - Kaw Valley Quilters' Guild - to participate in a sew along. Best thing ever! We started in January (see my earlier post from February 3, 2015) and have taken off like crazy. We just met last month and I am amazed at the beautiful blocks that people are making. So I though I would update everyone with some pictures and descriptions of ideas and tips folks have shared.

I think three of our group - Kathy, Sandy, and Barb, have all 100 blocks done. 







The rest of us are either racing or crawling along as our schedules allow. I have to admit I am one of those who are crawling. I think I only have 13 done. But I do have my stuff organized - I've made stickers for each block and have a list to keep track of all the I have finished.


Joyce is using the blocks as a background for her original applique designs. Taking her experience one step further, she made 4 of a block and sewed them together into something totally new.


Cindy is using Asian-inspired fabrics and antique kimono fabrics.

Shari is using black, white and gray fabrics.

Kim R. has focused on blue, green and red fabrics.




Joy T. is following Tula's color choices. 



It is so cool to see the blocks in such different colors and prints.

A couple of months ago, we decided to make extra black, white, and gray blocks so that we could make an opportunity quilt in the future. We are really coming along. We have 46 blocks committed to!  

It is so fun to watch everyone share their blocks and see how the same block is transformed by different fabrics. Next meeting I hope to take pics of everyone's block 1 - more if I can. 

So this week, I am going to get going on MY Tula blocks. I'll shoot for at least 8 of them.

Our little group has a FB page. Check out Kaw Valley Tula Pink 100 Modern Block Sew Along.

Staying Curious about Tula!