Hadley Challenge Spotlight- Betsy Ryan

Betsy writes. "I had seen Denyse’s quilt, “Snake Trails” when I had gone to one of the sales at her studio. I thought to myself that I would make it someday. When we received our fabric, I thought this would be a good time! I chose the blues and greens and added some solids in those colors. I then added some orange to give it a pop of color! I added minky for the backing and popped in a circle for a little added interest on the back. I decided to do very little quilting on this quilt because I thought it should be kept simple. The quilt measures 44x44 and will be a gift for a future baby. This was a fun challenge and I love seeing how different everyone else's is coming out."

There has been some discussion about this quilt on our guilds Facebook page. Some of our members decided that the snakes are using the circle in the back to get through to the front. Very imaginative!

Hadley Challenge Spotlight- Sheri Cifaldi-Morrill

I was really inspired by Denyse’s photos and description of the new Hadley brand on her website. Before digging in and cutting up fabric, I thought about the women attending the Seven Sisters schools in the 1950s and 1960s and what type of preppy quilts they might have on their dorm beds.

The geometric patterns of many of the Hadley fabrics and the “Ocean Waves” quilt influenced the design of my square (85” x 85”) quilt top shown in the photo below. Going into the challenge, I knew I wanted to find a way to incorporate all of the fabrics in the Hadley collection into one quilt top. I started dividing up the fabrics into mostly warm colors or cool colors (with some exceptions) and began to create large preppy “x”s (5 cool and 4 warm) which then led to one large blue “X”. The working title of the quilt is “xoxo, Hadley”.

I’m now working on designing and producing the back. I’m working with the triangle scraps I have left over—again a nod to a period in time when nothing was wasted. For the front and the back, the only additional fabric that I’m adding is Kona Cotton Natural. I’m also still pondering what the quilting pattern should be—I’m thinking of patterns that will accentuate the 9 “x”s.

Having studied graphic design as an undergraduate and yearning to apply these skills on projects that don’t involve a computer, Denyse and her work has been a source of inspiration for me ever since I purchased her book about seven years ago. Unfortunately, I only became brave enough to finally dig in and begin quilting about two years ago. This was such a fun challenge and I hope the Southern Connecticut Modern Quilt Guild and Denyse can collaborate on additional projects in the future!

On another note, Sheri recently found out that her entry in the Modern Quilt Guild's Michael Miller Challenge has been selected as one of the Nine semi finalists. Go Sheri!

Hadley Challenge Spotlight- Lori Hashizume

The Hadley prints remind me of the 1940s swing era. I wanted to do something jazzy to reflect the music of the period and chose Denyse Schmidt’s Any Way You Slice It for inspiration.

 

I began by cutting random width strips and sewing them onto 6 inch paper squares, improvising along the way and incorporating 5 different solids to make the prints stand out more. When I assembled the blocks, the result was a little loud and dizzying.

To tone it down, Michelle offered me a bag of off-white scraps she purchased earlier from Denyse Schmidt. Several people suggested solid cream sashing and borders, but I thought it might then look more like Between the Lines, a somewhat orderly design by comparison. I didn’t want to lose the jazz vibe so I sewed off-white strips together and used them to replace a few of the colorful squares.  

 

The result is Restoration Swing, named after the pages of the detested Restoration Hardware catalog that was recently mailed to customers in a bulky 17-pound bundle and which I used for paper piecing.  

P.S. Lori sewed the quilt top entirely on her newly acquired Singer Featherweight. How fun!

Hadley Challenge Spotlight: Terrie Harper Langer

Terrie Langer's Inspiration for the Hadley Challenge

Terrie with her quilt top at the July 12th meeting. She shares with us her color choice and inspiration below.

"When I started this project I wasn't sure what colorway to go with or whether I should use all three. I always joke that I will never wear orange or brown, as it was a uniform I wore for many years managing Pioneer Chicken Restaurants (think KFC and 50+ hour work weeks) in Southern California! I went with the orange(will also wear brown now and then) and was inspired by Denyse Shmidt's pattern,Between the Lines.  Suzanne had done a huge quilt for her daughter using the same pattern and shared it with us at our last meeting.  So, this is my take on Between the Lines.  I had actually cut my fabric for another pattern and switched patterns after cutting; forget all about measure twice and cut once!  I used paper piecing to make the 8 1/2 inch blocks.  The quilt came together quickly.  The top is finished and now on to quilting...  a whole other story." XO,Terrie     

July Meeting in Weston

We had a cozy turnout at the Weston Library this month.Thanks Gail for recommending and booking  this spacious place.  It's a great venue to show off our quilty works.

   As usual, our members continue to sew up some creative fun.  Two challenges, and a block of the month make for very productive group members.  No idle hands in this bunch! We even knit during meetings.  

Welcoming Jessica!

First and foremost we welcomed Jessica to the SCMQG meeting!   She traveled 45 min. to join us and impressed us with her cheery quilt made of Kate Spain fabric. So happy you could make it!

We usually begin our meetings by displaying our monthly block challenge.  This month this photograph.... 

 inspired these modern blocks.  We can't wait to see what fabrics Jennifer,  the lucky winner, pairs with these.  

 What's a quilt meeting without a demo? Michele demonstrated a new tool for us called the Leaves Galore Ruler.  It creates leaves in a cinch.  It grabbed our attention with its fun and easy application.

 Michele is using it to create  blocks for the Hadley challenge. 

More sneak peeks of other works-in-progress for the Hadley Challenge  appear below. 

It amazes us how the same fabrics inspire such different compositions. Member spotlights in the weeks to come will "enlighten" us on our members' creative processes.  

The show and tell didn't end there. It  revealed two more Michael Miller Challenge quilts

 ...and the goodies from a swap in which Lisa participated.

All in all, a very  inspirational meeting that will have us coming back in September motivated and with  many pretty projects in tow.  

Hadley Challenge- Sharon Litvinoff

Our guild is very lucky to be located near so many fantastic designers in the quilt world. This summer we have teamed up with Denyse Schmidt, who has generously provided us fabric from her upcoming Hadley line for a challenge. We were given fat quarter bundles, and are furiously working away on our projects. The fabric will be released to the public later this summer, so its been fun to get a sneak peek. Our instructions from Denyse were to either make one of her patterns, or be inspired by one.

We are going to try to show each members progress, and inspiration. The first is by Sharon Litvinoff, who is doing a quilt based on Denyse's pattern Cog and Wheel. Sharon loves paper piecing, and looked for one that had a lighter feel, with more movement. Sharon said, "I thought the Hadley fabrics would work well with the whimsical pinwheel design."

The finished quilt will be about 46 inches square.

Here is a photo of the back. She is still deciding on how to quilt it, but thinking of an allover crosshatch.

June General Meeting

We tried out a new location for June's meeting, and it worked out great! The room at the Weston Public Library was not only spacious, but it had a photography exhibit going on, which gave us inspiration for our next challenge! More on that later in the post.

This month we had a great turnout, many of the usual faces, as well as some new ones. We began with our challenge, which was a pincushion swap. Check out all of the interesting ones. We then assigned each a number, and everyone drew numbers.

We then decided that our next challenge will be to make a block inspired by this photograph that was hanging on the wall.

Please ignore the reflections!

We had some fantastic show and tell this month, which included some of the entries for the MQG Michael Miller challenge.

Photos (left to right):

Row 1-Maybeth and her squares, can you spot the missing one?, Suzanne and her rendition of Denyse Schmidt's Between the Lines.

Row 2: Sheri's Michael Miller challenge, nearly finished!

Row 3: Twister quilt, Debbie and her stacked blocks quilt.

Row 4:Suzanne and her Michael Miller challenge. 

Row 5: Michelle with her finished Michael Miller challenge, and a Mondo bag made of Denyse Schmidt Flea Market Fancy. 

After the meeting we had a little field trip to Norwalk for lunch at Valencia Luncheria, and Christies Quilting Boutique. Yummy and Yummy!

Our next meeting will be at the Weston Public Library on July 12 at 10:00 am. You can find us on Facebook here.