Joy!

The Omaha Modern Quilt Guild hosted a challenge in 2018 for members to make quilts that expressed Joy. In addition to quilting, learning is one of my favorite things to do. For the last six to eight months, I've been a part of the Quilting Army supporting Professor Elizabeth Townsend Gard from Tulane Law School in her work to study the intellectual property issues in quilting. Around the same time as the Joy Challenge, Dr. Townsend Gard asked for quilts in the Just Wanna Quilt logo colors to be a part of the program's booth at Houston Quilt Market and Festival. Because the Just Wanna Quilt project has been a source of learning for me this year, I decided to combine the projects.

Alas, I did not get the quilt done for either. It was pieced in time for both deadlines, but once I realized I wouldn't be at the designated meeting to share the challenge quilts, I set it aside. I quilted it (and secured the iron-on appliqué at the same time) at a quilt retreat in late October. I finally bound it in mid-February.

This quilt started as a basic four-patch in bright Kona solids. I applied a Kona White appliqué using shapes from a logo for a NYC church that spell "Joy." To prevent bleed-through of the bright colors, I used two layers of iron-on interfacing under the white.

My Pfaff has dozens of stitches I've never used so I decided to try out the blanket stitch for quilting/securing the appliqué. I love this 28 weight Aurifil thread - now to remember where I got it as the spool is empty!

PQ10.3 - Bigger than a Breadbox

Project Quilting Challenge 3 fell on a challenging week for me - I was going to be out of town for a work conference from Tuesday through late Friday. I had a couple of small, potentially quick projects in my head. Of course the challenge had a size minimum attached .... always my luck when I try to plan ahead.

Shwin and Shwin's Hipster Cat Quilt had been on my list for quite awhile. There were at least three baby quilts I thought this might be a good pattern for, one of which is my next door neighbor who will soon be two. The simple, straight-line appliqué had the potential to be a quick finish.

With this project in mind, I purchased the background and backing fabrics at Fabrictopia in San Antonio. Fabrictopia felt a bit like a Project Runway shopping moment and so it seemed appropriate for a Project Quilting challenge.

I made a few minor adjustments to the outlines before printing the pattern.

From start to finish, the quilt top took me about two hours. Sandwiching, pinning, very simple quilting and binding took another three to four. Not only was I happy with the resulting product, it fit in my timeframe.

As you can see, I finished this up during a snow event. This disrupted our satellite internet service, and I wasn't able to get the quilt posted in time to linkup to the Project Quilting Challenge 3 post for voting purposes, but the quilt was finished on time and will be a great gift for a certain two-year-old down the road.

2018 Fair Quilts

For awhile now, I've shown quilts at my local county fair and the Nebraska State Fair in the Open Class Division. In 2018 I finished a couple of quilts that had been in the works for awhile and included a class project and my one and only entry in a Project Quilting Challenge.

Make It Fun Quilt
The Make it Fun quilt was begun as a part of the Improv Sampler Quilt Along hosted by Patty Dudek of Elm Street Quilts in 2017. Each block was improv-pieced in response to her weekly prompts. The blocks were showcased in previous posts: 1 and 2. I designed the setting. This quilt was special and then Marsha Gormley Swanson of Dog Ear Creek Quilts added her magic. It was fortunate to win the best of its lot at the Saunders County Fair and was named the Best Improv Quilt at the Nebraska State Fair in 2018. It also hung in the 2018 Lincoln Quilters Guild Biannual Show.

Lola the Llama
Using one of Elizabeth Hartman's adorable patterns, Lola the Llama is Kona and batik on linen. It was quilted at David M. Manglesen's in Omaha. It was begun for my neighbor's baby who is now two but should have a llama quilt to go along with her real-life kitties, dogs, horse and herd of goats. Hopefully I'll finish her sister's quilt soon so she can have it. Lola earned a blue ribbon at the Saunders County Fair and hung in both the Nebraska State Fair Open Class Quilt Show and the Lincoln Quilters Guild Biannual Show.

Diamonds Are a Girl's Best Friend
I was fortunate to participate in a workshop with MJ Kinman at the International Quilt Study Center and Museum early in 2018. MJ guided us through creating a gemstone quilt using a freezer paper template piecing method. I quilted it on my Pfaff. My mini was finished just in time to hang in the Lincoln Quilters Guild Biannual Show. It also earned a fifth place ribbon in the Nebraska State Fair Open Class Quilt Show.

Nebraska Home
Kim Lapacek's Project Quilting challenges have caught my attention for quite some time. I really wanted to dive in this year but life got in the way. This was my lone entry for the first challenge: Hometown Proud. Since Nebraska, in some ways, is one big small town, it seemed apt to try out Cassandra Beaver's raw edge appliqué meets quilting via many stitches. I was pretty pleased with the effort. The Saunders County Fair judge wasn't as pleased. :) It received a red ribbon in its class.

WIP - National Quilter's Circle Block Challenge Part 2

As I mentioned earlier, I started the year with the National Quilter's Circle Block Challenge. In the earlier post, I shared that blocks three and five were done, but not photographed. Here they are:

Block six was still in-progress as of the last post, primarily because I changed it a bit to allow for the continuous stripes of the fabric in the bounding square set on-point. I am positive it would have been easier to just follow the directions. Here it is:

Block six and some other commitments in my life led me to set this project aside for a bit. Hopefully it will be a late 2018 or 2019 finish.

Under the Needle - Quilt Goals for Q1 2016

Last year the Omaha Modern Quilt Guild and the store at which we meet both had PHD challenges ... Projects Half Done. I did quite well at working through my list last year and have compiled a list for 2016. Right now, the list has twenty-eight items. Twenty-eight! Many of these are swaps I am already committed to, and I left four slots for swaps later in the year. There are also at least four big quilts. I've never made four big quilts in one year. We shall see how this goes. I've thought for a long time however, that setting high expectations are the best way to accomplish things.

As I've become a bit addicted to the quilt community on Instagram, I found @quiltalong's quarterly finish challenges for 2016. This post shares a few projects I have started and hope to finish by March 31, 2016.

1. January's 2016 Birthday Fun Swap
   My hive mate with a January birthday loves gemstones. After all, diamonds are a girl's best friend. She also loves the palette of April Rhodes ... neutrals, coral and aqua. I was inspired to paper piece an aqua diamond on a linen background. It is pieced, sandwiched and edged but needs quilted and either bound or faced.
   
   
2. Zipper Pouch Swap
   I have identified a pattern and pulled fabric, but we shall see how it evolves.
   
   
3. Tula Jaybird Mini Swap
   Again, I've pulled fabric and selected a pattern, but have not started cutting or constructing. The fabric pull did garner positive support from other swappers in the FB group so I am optimistic.
   
   

There are a few more projects on the spreadsheet that need to be finished by the end of March, but they don't meet the Quilt-A-Long's definition of "started", yet. :)

I am linking this post to SLO Studio's Quilt-A-Long's Quarter 1 Call for Projects.