My Design Wall and a Challenge for 2014–Want to Play Along?

I've got a few things going on, on my design wall today.

Clockwise, from the upper right are my banded basket blocks for the November Block Lotto.  All the blocks we're making this year are 6 by 9 inches finished size. I made these using 4 different approaches, including paper foundation piecing.  You can find all the details in the Banded Basket block pattern and links to all the block patterns for this year so far and many others on the Block Patterns page on this blog. If you are a basket fan–it seems quilters either love them or loathe them–and want to make blocks for the block lotto, you'll find details here.

Below the baskets is the reverse appliquéd feather using fabric made from small scraps.  Victoria's latest challenge on the 15 minutes blog has inspired me to pick this back up and finish it.

The red & white block will become the label for my sampler quilt.  I began piecing the backing over the weekend, but got distracted ...

Before my little distracting idea completely took over, I made the two Window to the Sky blocks. A quilter from a group to which I used to belong died recently. The blocks are for comfort quilts for her husband and children.

The Quilter's Cache pattern for the 12 inch block is partially paper-pieced, but when the GIF images didn't print correctly, I decided it would be easier to make templates. It's been a long time since I had to deal with the printing-GIFs-on-a-Mac problem.  For templates that will have limited use, I use the lightweight cardboard from food packaging. The little box of non-gluten bread mix was just big enough for the task.

So that's my design wall and here's what's distracting me ...

I have been thinking about the joy I find in quilting and the types of projects that are pure fun for me and I decided I wanted to challenge myself to design and make another quilt starting with a Tea Towel.  While this thought was in my head, I saw a blog post with the top winners in the annual Spoonflower tea towel design challenge–one of the winners grabbed my imagination and I was off and running (in my head).

I thought some of my quilting friends in blogland might like to join me, so I sent email to some of those that I had connected with during my journey with my project, Cock-a-doodle Tea Towel. I was glad that I wasn't the only one who liked the idea ;-)

If the idea appeals to you, too, here's what I'm thinking.  The suggested guidelines are pretty basic:

1. Your quilt must include a tea towel–it can be new or vintage.

2. The colors in the tea towel determine the color palette for your quilt. I honestly learned so much by limiting myself to the 5 colors in that reproduction rooster.

3. Try something new. It doesn't have to be a big thing and since it's defined by you, it can be anything.

Although things won't really kick off until January, I know from personal experience that unless you happen to collect tea towels, finding one you like can take time.  I stressed last year because I couldn't find anything like what I thought I wanted ... and of course now, I see tea towels everywhere–even Amazon.

Uh oh. I just did a quick search on Amazon to make sure that was still true and found this one. I really have to stop looking :-)

I will post something more formal later this month, on the 21st,  as part of the Quilting Gallery's Blog Hop party ... and there will be a give-away.  There will be a linky (open until the end of the year) to sign up if you want to play along. The timeline I envision is:

November-December - decide you want to play and find/choose a tea towel for your quilt
January - share your choice of tea towel
February- share your work in progress
March - show & tell - finished quilts

To see more examples of the quilts made for the Tea Towel Challenge on the 15 minutes blog - Tea Towel Challenge Posts

Synchronicity and May Flower Blocks

When Diane saw this quilt on the cover of Quick Quilts, she sent email asking if anyone on the Quilting Forum was planning to organize a swap of the color-rich floral churn dash blocks. The same magazine sat on Terri's coffee table calling her name . . . so she organized the swap.

I thought my niece Hillary would really love the quilt, so I joined. I finished my blocks today. Here are my fabric combinations.





As I was putting the blocks for the swap together, they charmed me, so I made some extras for a second quilt, with a different setting for me. I can't wait for the swapped out blocks to come back to me.

Miniature Quilts

Small and Miniature quilts

Peni shared photos of some of her miniature quilts with the Doll Quilt Swap group on the quilting forum on about.com. Peni is a very talented quilter and, like her large quilts, these minis are just too wonderful not to share.

More from Blue Ridge Quiltfest

We were a small group--made smaller because of some last minute cancellations--but that didn't stop us. We had workshops. We shopped. We won door prizes, lotto blocks and Lou won the featherweight.



Becky Davis' handpiecers were focused and after class, they continued to work on their blocks all weekend.



Janet's Carolina Byways class was fun. I think everyone had a different vision for their quilt. Krista made a mini; Ellena brought wonderful Civil War repros; Lou had wonderful fabrics, too ... I brought pieces from my scrap bin. Krista finished her mini quilt the next day. I brought home a pile of light half-blocks and dark strips ... but I have since made some progress. I'm auditioning border fabrics now. You can tell that the surrounding Blue Ridge Mountains made an impression on me.



Friday night we had Show & Tell in the Living Room.



Click the photo of Dorothy and Becky (with the vintage quilt top that Dorothy is finishing) to see the rest of my Show & Tell photos.

On Saturday, a bunch of our crowd headed to the galleries and quilt shops in Asheville, while three us spent the day with Meg Manderson making miniature landscapes.



Meg is a local fiber artist who creates beautiful landscapes (and other interesting work.)



Saturday night, we gathered for more door prizes and the block lotto drawing. I still can't believe I won.



Afterward, Krista pulled out her big box of fabric and made a few baby quilts from some I-spy swap fabrics.



The first top went together quickly and after a bit of excitement with a shattered needle and some EMTs, a second top was completed.



By the end of the evening, two quilts were "birthed," and ready to be quilted and a third top was almost completed.



On Sunday, some of us were on the road early, some spent a leisurely morning at the country club, packing up, checking email and saying goodbye.

I was a little worried when my suitcase seemed quite full when I'd only packed the fabric. Everything fit ... just barely.



Janet and Dorothy and I headed into Asheville to check out a possible venue for next year and lunch before I headed to the airport and home. On the way to the airport, I picked up a new pair of travel scissor so I could work on my landscape.



The longer my flight from Cincinnati was delayed, the happier I was to have handwork to do.

Blue Ridge Quiltfest

I came, I saw ... I won the lotto blocks ;-)

It was a great get away for me. Janet and Donna picked me up at the Asheville airport and after minimal shuffling--to put the wonderful fudge which all the participants received in a cool place and to pick up Dorothy along the way--we headed to the legendary Mary Jo's Cloth Store about two hours away in Gastonia. Krista and Colene had left Virginia earlier that day and with no planning at all, we all arrived at Mary Jo's within 5 minutes of one another. How's that for synchronicity?



Everything you have heard is true--they seem to have every fabric in every line and it's all irresistably priced. I went looking for Asian prints to make Oriental Lantern blocks for Kate's swap and found an entire aisle of them.

Later that night we travelled back to Asheville for greek food and then on to the country club to check in and unpack.


Most of us stayed in the main building, but four forum members opted to share the villa. I never actually saw them rocking and stitching in those rocking chairs, but I like to imagine them there. For the weekend, quilters happily co-existed with quilters ... though on at least one day, some of us were awakened by the sounds of these two guys chatting beneath our balconies.



I thought it would be fun to pack up with golf cart with sewing machines, fabrics, quilting supplies and quilts, but ... we just ran out of time.



Inside, the place had the feel of a comfy lodge. The living room was one of the public spaces--we held show & tell there Friday night and and after Becky's handpiecing class Friday morning, many of the students hung out and continued to work on their sampler blocks.



One floor up there was another space, which turned out to be a great place to sew together in the evenings. Dorothy brought a quilt stand, so we even had our own design wall.



Yep, those blue & white stars are some of the lotto blocks that *I* won. It was so unexpected and will make a beautiful quilt filled with memories for me. The design wall also came in handy when Janet brought out the blocks forum members made to celebrate her first anniversary as the quilting guide on about.com.



Of course the best part of the weekend was putting faces and personalities with names from the forum.



Mark your calendar for next year:
Blue Ridge Quiltfest - March 7-8, 2008 in Asheville.