Modern Quilt Guild Swap

One of the few perks of membership in the greater Modern Quilt Guild in which I participate is the annual MQG Swap now in its second year. I was paired with Linda McLaren aka the Quilting Biker from Ontario, Canada. She is a tremendously talented longarmer and quilter.

At the time I was making my mini to swap, I was also experimenting with a simple loom I had gotten Anne for Christmas a couple of years prior. I decided to bind and finish one of the woven quilts I had made as a part of this experiment.

I used fabric from a MQG Michael Miller Challenge for the back and as the guide for my quilting. Knowing that this mini was for a talented machine quilter - which I am decidedly not - was a little intimidating, for sure. (Photo credit: Linda McLaren)

Here is the finished mini I sent: (Photo credit: Linda McLaren)

Here is the beautiful mini I received. One of the things I love about quilts is that I receive quilts outside my typical colors, fabrics and patterns. I love when my partners experiment as I have often used swaps as motivation to try something new. Linda knocked it out of the park!

WIP - National Quilter's Circle Block Challenge

I've had a productive few weeks, though I haven't shared much of it, yet. One of these projects is the National Quilter's Circle Block Challenge. This free quilt along is a series of nine blocks constructed primarily with half square triangles and flying geese. They are deceptively complicated. I think one block has 81 pieces! I've made a few modifications, but, other than being a couple of blocks behind at this point, am excited by the challenge. Gina Perkes of the Copper Needle has designed nine excellent 16" blocks.

One of my quilt goals this year is to make a couple of quilts to live on our couch. This will be one of those quilts. Because I knew it was staying home, I cut into a layer cake I've had for awhile now of the first Cotton + Steel line by Melody Miller. It was a little scary, I'm not going to lie. I've opted for Kona Steel for my background.

I've managed to take pictures of blocks 1, 2 and 4. I also have blocks 3 and 5 complete, and block 6 is in-progress. This is one that I am modifying slightly. It has a great square set on point that separates the inner and outer parts of the block. The original pattern makes this box with a lot of smallish half square triangles. I'm not intimidated by the HST's, but I do have a striped fabric I'd like to fussy cut and use to frame the inner part. I'm pretty sure this has been more work than just following the directions would have been. Blocks 7 and 8 have been officially released and block 9 was leaked. Hopefully, I can have them all complete by the end of next weekend.

I've also played some with designing a setting for the blocks. The nine blocks on their own are a little smaller than I'd like the finished product to be. I'm up to six variations in Illustrator and about a dozen pictures from similar quilts done by others and shared on Facebook or Instagram.

This post will be linked to Elm Street Quilts' One Monthly Goal. I'd like to finish the top by March 31.