Block Party...

I am so excited about something the LVMQG is going to start in June....our own Block Party!  Our President, Andrea, went to Quilt Market and picked up a copy of Block Party and we are planning on getting together our fabrics and inspiration blocks for a swap in June.  I already had a block in mind and I am using my coveted stash of Zany for Zinnias fabric that I have been hoarding for way too long!  I loved the fabric when it came out and continued to buy it long after it became scarce (from Ebay and other online resources).  I have made a king-sized and queen-sized quilt from my stash of Zinnias....and now I plan on making a nice string quilt for an auction in December.

Here is my inspiration block....

 

And here are my fabrics!

I made a box/kit that has a bunch of fabric, my inspiration block, and the foundations for all the string blocks.  Each month the box with rotate to a new member who will make a few blocks from my fabrics.  I liked the idea of a string block because a lot of people have never made one and they turn out so cute and forgiving...and the blocks can be made oversized and cut down without a problem...Perfect for a swap event!  This is a rough picture...but it will end up 6 blocks x 7 blocks....I am shooting for a twin-sized bed quilt.

Anyhow, that is all for today.  I'm hoping to complete my Dad's cabin quilt top this weekend so I better get to sewing and pressing!  LOL....Have a nice, long holiday weekend!

Name Quilt...

Well, it has been very busy here at my house lately so there has been little quilting.  But last weekend I got the chance to make a name quilt for my co-teacher.  She is from Hawaii so I tried to incorporate wavy quilting in the background, and some raw edged applique in her favorite color, purple.  The background is Kona Ash.....It is an end of the year gift for her....

Anyhow, that is all that has happened around here the last few weeks.  Summer is coming soon so maybe I'll get busy and make some new stuff!  :-D  16 days left (teaching 8th graders isn't much fun right now....LOL)!

New project....

I need to make my co-teacher a name quilt to hang on the wall.  Yes, I know it is a little late in the year, but she is the third one I've had this year and I have finally decided she is here to stay!  I sent her some fabric color schemes and she likes this one...pinks, purples and a dark gray.

Her name contains about 10 letters so there will be a wide variety of batiks used in the project.  This should keep me busy this weekend.  Happy Quilting to you all!

The WRONG way to Mod Mosaic...

Ok....so the whole thing with the Mod Mosaic block is that it is free-form, improv, uses up your scraps, etc.  So I decide that I might make a Mod Mosaic panel quilt (about 15" by 50") for my classroom--but not from scraps.  I recently bought a bunch of Meadowsweet fat quarters and I wanted to use those--but not waste any (I'm allergic to fabric waste).  This lead me to the Freezer Paper Technique that completely goes against the improv-y Mod Mosaic theme (please don't let Oh, Fransson see this post!!  LOL)....

I ripped off about 50" of freezer paper and began breaking it up into smaller chucks by marking wonky lines on the paper side (using pencil and a 24" acrylic ruler).  It looked sort of like a big puzzle when I was done...After breaking it into several small chunks, I further broke the chunks down into little pieces. 

I cut the chunks apart and made little notes/numberings on each piece so I could re-assemble this mess.  I even wrote down what fabric I wanted on each piece....

Then I cut the pieces out and pressed the waxy side to the right side of my fabric (taking care not to waste any fabric).... I cut the pieces 1/4" away from the freezer paper.

And then re-assembled the pieces on the table.  Definitely take pictures as you go or you will spend forever trying to figure out how it all fits together.

 Then I began sewing the white strips in between the colored pieces.  As I picked up a colored piece, I left behind the freezer paper in the right spot so I could put it back together again.  You can obviously tell I had some early problems with this step and spent a few hours looking at the hot mess on the table wondering how the shizzle it would all would fit back into the chunk...

As I got a chunk done, I put it back together to form my quilt top.  See the blue lines....those define my "chunks"....It does end up a bit larger than the original piece of freezer paper (each white strips adds an extra 1/2" ).  Hmmm....A bit time consuming, but it did turn out OK.



I'll try the improv method this week at the MQG meeting...I think if I use actual scraps it might make the random cutting less painful :-D  Happy Quilting!!

Today I had lunch with....

Latifah Saafir....one of the founders of the Modern Quilt Guild (out of Los Angeles).  Yes, she came to Las Vegas on Vacation in made arrangements to meet up with the LVMQG President Andrea and a few of the officers. ;-)  She was very nice and so energetic about Modern Quilting!  Very motivational.... You know, it is amazing how a little blogging and online communication can lead to such a big thing like the MQG.  Thanks Latifah!!!

I have been working on a project this week.  A member of the LVMQG, Cola,  is going to do a demonstration on the Mod Mosaic block this Thursday....I don't know if my "improv" is up to par so I tried making a Mod Mosaic panel using freezer paper.  I'll post more on that later, but this is how it is going so far...

I'm going to attempt the Mod Mosaic block "improv style" this Thursday!  Wish me luck....

Pomegranate Center Quilt...

In my spare time I've been working on a modern quilt made from a Kona charm pack.  The pack was labeled "Classics" but I don't think so....The design is the Red Center quilt that I saw on the Material Obsession blog.  Someday I'll make a Red Center using my Kaffe fabrics, but today it was the Kona solids and some dark grey.  Obviously, the center square is the color Pomegranate....



Anyhow, now I'm stuck trying to figure out how to quilt it.  I bought a lot of grey thread so that isn't a problem...Any ideas???  It is quite small....maybe 32" x 40".  Any ideas?  I'm leaning toward just sewing 1/4" inside the grey throughout the top...not even quilting the colored pieces.  ???  Hmmm....

Raffle Quilt Ending...

This is a good story...get out your tissues!

We sold about $520 worth of raffle tickets prior to the school carnival.  Now you have to remember that my school is in the inner-city so I knew it would be hard to sell tickets to the students.  But I sold about $10 worth at school.  A little 6th grader bought one ticket to try to win the quilt for her Mom.  When the drawing was held, a student pulled the winning ticket and I didn't recognize the name but it was the 6th grader.

She was getting her face painted but her brother heard her name called on the bullhorn and he said he would go get her.  I recognized the brother....he is an 8th grader who was helping the teacher next to me with her "Rat Race" booth (yes, in the 'hood rats are very popular!).  I told her that her student's sister had won the quilt and she told me that their family lives in the neighborhood.  They are struggling...the teacher bought the brother a Subway sandwich for helping with her booth and he kept it wrapped up so he could take it home to give to his Mom.  Really.  That is a nice son.  And the daughter won the raffle quilt.  That Mom did a nice job with those two kids--she is getting a sandwich and a quilt tonight! 

Thanks to everyone in the Las Vegas Modern Quilt Guild who helped to make the quilt and everyone who bought a raffle ticket to help support the Knudson Counselor's Fund.  Your contributions are appreciated!!!