Kate Spain and the E-Z Quilting Mini Quilt Challenge

So what has resulted in Kate Spain's joy? Could it be the stack of 16" mini quilts created by our quilt guild and shared with her this past Saturday?

But wait!  How did we get to this point? Let's backtrack and explain. It all began with a visit from Michele Muska, who suggested it might be fun for our guild to do a challenge using the E-Z quilting mini templates. 

Moda donated some, and by some we mean a lot of Kate Spain's new line "Canyon", which if you are interested, is coming out in October. With mini quilt templates and fabric in hand we were off to our creative spaces.

Several months later, we gathered to admire the results. 

The big reveal resulted in many oooohs and aaaaahs. Of course, questions and compliments abounded.

New experiences and insights were shared as well. Terrie used a diamond tool and learned about the intricacies of y-seams. Garen realized that she didn't love matching triangles. Lori created a field of plus signs and would have kept going but the guidelines called for a finished size of 16X16. "On the "plus" side," she said,"it was small enough to test my hand quilting skills."

Sharon used a mini-fat template to make her first ever mini-quilt. She took a larger version of one of her quilts and shrunk it down to size.  Betsy was inspired by a photo of Nancy Zieman of Sewing with Nancy showing a more modern way to use the template without points.  Carole Ann enjoyed working her 60 degree diamond in this pattern.

Suzanne used a mini fat cat template and triangles to create her handbags. She admired basket quilts made by Gwen Marston and her pieces reminded Suzanne of those works. Pinterest triggered a memory, she ditched the old plan and started anew and is happy she did. Rebecca also used a mini fat cat to create musical chairs with enough seats for everyone. Sue saw and constructed big triangles with her mini triangle.

From left to right here, Sherri, Kathleen, and Maybeth showcase Kate Spain's fabric line using a mini fat cat, square, and triangle templates respectively.

Our last group of mini-quilts displays hexagons English Paper Pieced by Michelle who tried hand sewing and hand quilting for the first time. Gail created beautiful shapes using the 120 degree triangle. 

This is when the mini quilts were revealed to Kate Spain last Saturday.

Kate Spain loved them so much she wanted to keep them for herself. She settled for a hug. (See first picture in this blog) Now these minis are taking a trip to Quilt Market with Michele Muska and E-Z Quilting.  How exciting is that!

Thank you Michele Muska, E-Z Quilting, Kate Spain and Moda for a very fun challenge!

Sew much fun in August

Those that could congregated at our creative hub- The Weston Library. Toting sewing machines,needles, rotary cutters, thread and more, we dove right into our various quilting and sewing projects. 

Maybeth ironing and examining a strip 

Suzanne sewing up her E-Z Quilt Challenge

Jessica cutting up her mini dresdens

Terrie binding a quilt 

Michelle making a mini bag

Lori creating a t-shirt quilt

Susan English Paper Piecing

In the midst of all this creative output, conversations about family, friends, quilting inspiration and ideas abounded.  One of our hot topics of the day was our entry into the  Improv with Intent MQG Charity Quilt Challenge. Wanting to keep it Connecticut themed, we decided it would be fun to make an improv quilt of the Merritt Parkway Bridges.  The intent part of it comes from us deciding on how we will use the fabrics. For example, do we all use the same background color or let that be part of the improv.  Other questions pertained to the size of our improv pieces, and  how many people will participate. Once we set up these guidelines we are free to play with our pieces(the improv part). So start looking at those bridges. Some of us have picked our  favorites already.  Take a look on the internet and become inspired!

Have you ever heard the song with the line "I'm falling to pieces"?  Well, for us it is more like going to pieces. Paper pieces, that is. It is addictive!  Terrie brought in the book The New Hexagon: 52 blocks to English Paper Piece. You create amazing blocks and join them together to create Millefiore Quilts, which in Italian means " a thousand flowers".  Pretty cool!

The day ended with a feeling of accomplishment. There is something to be said about working in a creative atmosphere with others and enjoying  yummy food at the same time. Luckily next month, we have the opportunity to gather on two seperate dates. 

Our monthly meeting will be held on September 12th. We will present our finished E-Z Quilting minis then.  On September 19th we will also be meeting at Christie's for some Shop Hopping. See you there!

July Quilting Spirit: Challenges, Charity Quilts, and More

Get ready to read!  So much is happening in the next couple of months. 

First off, submissions for the Riley Blake challenge are due on July 31st. Sheri brought in her circles and drunkard path to share. Great motivation to get our projects done. For those of you that have not been paying attention to Facebook, here are our members' projects.  To admire others projects and submit your own, click here. 

Now let's talk about the Kate Spain and E-Z Quilting Challenge. Call us lucky because E-Z Quilting donated a whole bunch of mini shapes to our guild to use in conjunction with Kate Spain's Canyon Fabric coming out in October.  The shape has to be used somewhere in your block. If someone inspired your pattern, don't forget to credit them.  The kicker is that our group has been invited to visit Michele at E-Z Quilting! They can't wait to see what designs we have created with these tools and fabric, so bring your works-in-progress to E-Z Quilting in NY on August 5th. For more information on that, check out the events tab on Facebook. The sixteen inch blocks are due in September. For more details, click here. 

Speaking of projects, let's take a look at some goodies from the meeting. 

 Michele brought in a bag she made following the Swoon Evelyn Handbag.  

 Gail brought humor to our meeting, and a mini reversible tote. 

 Garen displayed her pretty English Paper Pieced Flowers.  It seems to be the latest trend in our group.

Per request, Michele brought in materials to show Terrie and, of course, any interested parties how to EPP. Interested and weren't at the meeting? Check out PaperPieces. Also check out the book All Points Patchwork if you want to give your work a twist or tweak. 

Speaking of twists, Maybeth created this wonky cross quilt. We are loving that one narrow line of crosses in those bigger blocks. 

Look who took Sheri's paper piecing class at the Bolt! Christine displays her pink and purple arrows quilt. If memory serves correctly, she is quilting up several for a group of her granddaughter's friends as well.  

 Susan whipped up this baby boy quilt for a friend.  Those colors are striking. 

 Sheri brought us more of her pieced designs.  Fishes and the ocean dominate in this quilt.  

Hold on -- this post isn't over yet! We also discussed the Modern Quilt Guild Charity Quilt our group will construct.  The keywords for this event are "Improv with Intent". Our guild will buy the fabric based on this color palette.  For some ideas of what that may look like, you can visit Beesewcial and Spontaneous Threads.  Amazing blogs and projects that inspire going on in both.

Hope you enjoyed this update.  Be on the lookin out for more in a few short weeks. Keep those quilting projects going.  In fact, bring some of them on August 8th for our sew-in at the Weston Public Library. We are thinking pot luck. Details to come on our Facebook page.

Everything Is Coming Up Quilts: May 9th Gathering

It has been a couple of months since we have posted, but it is not for a lack of quilting. Last month, we had a Sew-Saturday instead of a regular meeting. Several members gathered in Weston to sew together all our charity quilt blocks from the past year. Here are two beauties bursting with color.  

Don't you love everyone's half-square triangle blocks? So many configurations can be created with this simple block.

These flying geese stay in formation with a beautiful coral color. Can you spot the geese that are following the beat of a different drummer? 

We tentatively scheduled our next sew-in for August. Keep an ear and eye out for the exact date. We agreed that nothing beats the gathering of creative minds for a good cause. 

So after admiring some charity quilts, we reconnected with quilting friends once again, and welcomed some new ones to the SCMQG mix.  A big welcome to Claire and Helena! If you didn't have a chance to meet them, make sure to say hello at the next meeting. As luck would have it, Helena also started off our show-and-tell. 

Helena's reversible bag started up a conversation on where to buy linen. The cool fabrics and linen combo made us wonder where the best places to buy linen would be.  Jo-Ann's received a thumbs-up. Maybeth also recommended an online fabric store. You can find different weight linens for various projects, and they have some beautiful colors as well. Where do you find your linen?  We'd love to know. 

Terrie created this quilt in memory of a friend's beloved son.  His story, and his love of music touched all our hearts. Such a beautiful tribute with quilted notes all over.

Sheri holds up another award winning quilt!  The 3/4" stripped paper piecing impressed the judges and us alike.

Can you see the lines of quilting as well? 

She also surprised us with a sneak peek of a pattern design she created for the CT and RI Shop Hop. The design above is for The Bolt in Monroe, CT. You receive the pattern for free only by visiting the shop.  

 Check out more of her patterns, like this one, at her Whole Circle Studio Website.

Parthena decided to bring in a quilt that she treasures immensely.  Her husband's great-grandmother handpieced and handquilted this beauty. She loves how every quilt has a "her-story".  

She created this quilt for a friend whose kids attend a summer family camp each year. 

Our quilt viewing took a different turn with Lori's presentation.  Curves come together beautifully in this baby quilt.

 The amazing half-square triangle strikes again. The Herringbone design really catches the eye. 

The adorable backing with the embroidered name is equally striking. 

Next,  Betsy wowed us with her six inch paper pieced blocks. 

 Look at all those intricate little blocks!

We were duly impressed with this hand-quilted gift made for her daughter a while back.  

Just imagine the time and love put into hand-quilting this large quilt!

Maybeth showed us the wonky crosses she is putting together.  Look at those color combinations!

Here Michelle presented her yellow and gray quilt made out of half-square triangles.  Again we saw the wonderful versatility of this block in a new design.

Michelle also shared some practice quilting done in a class taken with Leah Day.  She recommended that everyone take a class with her if they can. 

Lastly, she showed us a hexie quilt she is working on at the moment.  The trick to this quilt is to put the hexies together like tumbler blocks.  Good-bye Y seams! 

It was another productive and motivating meeting.  So many quilts to make, so little time! We look forward to seeing everyone on June 13th at the Weston Library at 10:00.  What fun things are you working on right now? Don't forget to bring them next month!