QuiltCon Block

Have you heard about QuiltCon? Wondering what it is and why so many people are talking about it?

"QuiltCon is the inaugural international conference and show by and for The Modern Quilt Guild. The first modern quilting event of its kind, QuiltCon features top modern quilting instructors and will attract attendees from around the world. It includes a juried modern quilt show with cash prizes, vendors, lectures, workshops from top modern quilters, and more." {from the QuiltCon website}

Members of the Kansas City Modern Quilt Guild participated in QuiltCon's Block Challenge. We used colors from QuiltCon's logo to create a quilt block that reflects what modern quilting means to us.

I knew I wanted some scrappy element in my block because I've always loved scrappy quilts (both traditional and modern). I also knew it had to have some wonky element to it. I like wonkiness contained and controlled a bit so I added the white frame around the scraps. And while I love solids and negative space, I knew a large number of my scraps would have to be prints because they are my first love. I didn't really plan for my block to be so long but I found more and more prints I wanted to include. The challenge in making such a long block is to keep that white frame straight and even. And it's not perfect. I quickly snapped a photo before I squared it up and headed out the door to the KCMQG meeting.

  Here are some of the members' blocks.

And a few more. I never fail to be in awe of the quilters in our guild!

Here are the designers' showing off their blocks. {photo by Lauren Hunt}

Lisa Hirsch is showing her block that was voted as the guild's favorite. Way to go, Lisa! {photo by Lauren Hunt}

Members of Modern Quilt Guilds and modern quilters from around the world participated in this challenge. 20 blocks will be used in a quilt to be raffled at QuiltCon and the remaining blocks will be assembled into quilts by local Modern Quilt Guilds and given to Austin's Children's Shelter. 

If you would like to see more examples of QuiltCon Blocks, head over to The Modern Quilt Guild's website. They'll be featuring the blocks over the next four weeks beginning here. I'm certainly enjoying seeing all of them!

MQG Meet Up

The Kansas City Modern Quilt Guild and the St. Louis Modern Quilt Guild teamed up with the help of QuiltCon to host a meet up on Saturday night at the downtown KC Marriott.

There was an amazing turn out with close to 300 people, unbelievable door prizes and giveaways. Authors, tv personalities, fabric designers, shop owners, quilters, artists, publishers, bloggers, friends, manufacturers, pattern designers, guild members from across the world, a baby and so many more mixed and mingled. It was so loud! A room full of energy and excitement. It was such a great time and all the organizers from Kansas City and St.Louis did an incredible job.

Potholder Swap

I'm sneaking on the computer one more time before Christmas to show you this little potholder. I made it for a swap the KC Modern Quilt Guild had with the Portland Modern Quilt Guild after Susan Beal came to speak at a meeting. I really liked the construction of this potholder and I hope I can remember how I did it so I can repeat the steps again. I quilted the front and back separately with batting on one side and insul-bright on the other. Then I sewed right sides together and turned in inside out, top stitching all around. I guess I do remember! 
 
I'm loving Basic Grey's Grunge fabric right now and used a nice lime green for the back. My partner was Elsa Hart and she said she loved lime green, yellow, orange and grey so I included most of those colors. I thought being in Portland, sending a little "Sunshine" would be nice so I found a scrap of that too! 


We could actually use a little sunshine here in Kansas about now. It's been dark, cold, and rainy for so many days. I'll share the potholder I received after Christmas and hopefully we'll have some sunshine so I can get a good photo or too because it's just beautiful!


Take care and have a very Merry Christmas!

Improv Block for Jacquie

Many of you know our Kansas City Modern Quilt Guild President, Jacquie, and I could go on all night about what a fun, gracious, kind, inspiring, organized, giving person she is. Well, we got the news that she was moving to Chicago and leaving the Kansas prairie behind. I was shocked and sad yet so excited for her and all the possibilities waiting for her. Within moments of the news, Shea was organizing us all to quickly create blocks for a special quilt.

Jacquie loves orange and Shea asked the guild members to make blocks that had orange, grey, white and black and be made in an improv style. Lucky for me that Jacquie had made me sit up and notice that orange wasn't really so bad and I'd actually been on the look out for orange fabric that I could love for about the last six months. I was surprised that I had accumulated a nice little orange stack in my stash.

I had to laugh taking these tiny little cuts from quarter and half yards of fabric. I'd made an improv block before but I used a tutorial so the training wheels were off for this one. I loved creating it! It was so much fun to just sit down at the sewing machine and play. Shea, her mom Mary, and Angela worked together to get pull it all together beautifully.

This is Mary unveiling Windy City for the first time at our guild meeting.

And here's Jacquie all wrapped up.

We'll all miss her but we're in wonderful hands with Shea leading us and I can't wait to hear about Jacquie's adventures in Chicago.

Read more about the creation of Windy City and see some great close up photos over on Shea's blog. Thanks for the photo's Shea!

If you want to see some more awesome quilts, make sure you check out Quilts on the Quad this Saturday on the UMKC campus. It's the KCMQG's first quilt show!! Get all the details here.

Pouch Project

As soon as I returned from TN, I was anxious to sew something. The summer has slipped by quickly I feel like I haven't accomplished much with all we've had going on. I was eager to start and finish something.

I helped some friends from the KC Modern Quilt Guild cut and package some kits at Jacquie's studio a few months ago and I finally felt like my heart could take opening them up and begin sewing.

These kits contained everything I needed to make a little pouch that will hold a tiny baby born too early to survive. They are called fetal demise pouches. Such a cold clinical term. But our guild is hoping to provide something soft and delicate so that parents can hold their little one and say goodbye.

Making the kits with friends was a little easier than sewing them on my own. There was camaraderie through the difficulty in what we were doing. We shared some stories and eventually found some rhythm to cutting fabric and ribbon. It's amazing how being with friends and touching fabric can soothe the soul.

Sewing at home, alone while my family was out of the house, made it so very hard to think about the babies that might be growing right now. How their parents are filled with joy at the anticipation of their arrival. It made me think of the two babies I lost so very early. And it made me think of friends who have lost babies and how I wish there was something I could do to comfort them. I'm so glad to be able to do this project to offer some small comfort for someone grieving.

I started with one pouch and followed Alex's very detailed tutorial for her pouch design. It went together smoothly and for the next three I was able sew in assembly line fashion. I'll admit that I had to turn on the television for some distraction.

If you'd like to read more about this project, the KC Modern Quilt Guild blog has a post here and Quilter's Home magazine just published an article about several projects for lost babies, including ours.

Seeing {Pink} Squares

Well, here it is! I finally got to see it in person tonight when Shea handed it off to me at the Kansas City Modern Quilt Guild tonight. This is the pink version of the Seeing Squares quilt that I made for Jenna. You got to see a little peek here and it's so nice to be able to share it with you now.

Angela Walters quilted it in a beautiful flower design that's flowing and feminine. I've had fun hunting for the squares that she put a special little design in. I can't wait to wash it up and see it in all of it's wrinkly goodness.

It's 48″ x 56" and I think it will make a great sized quilt for Jenna to cover up with on chilly mornings while I make breakfast. I hope it will live in our family room for a while and add a touch of sunshine while we wait for spring to arrive. It'll be interesting to see if Jenna agrees with that idea.

Shea is featuring this little pink quilt on her blog today.  When you visit, make sure you take a look at the other three versions of the pattern. They are all very beautiful and yet unique in choices of fabric. Enjoy!

Seeing Squares

I'm so excited to introduce you to a new pattern that my friend Shea recently released. Shea was the first person that I met when I visited the Kansas City Modern Quilt Guild and her friendly, warm personality made me (and everyone else) feel right at home. 


I was just tickled when Shea asked me to test Seeing Squares. I found it to be very clear and concise, with helpful hints along the way. I suspect that Shea's experience as a teacher helped her communicate the directions in easy to understand illustrations and graphs. She's made whats looks like a complicated pattern into one that was so fun to put together. I'm amazed at the care she puts into creating her patterns before they are released.  Shea made the pattern twice. Paula made the gorgeous quilt on the cover and I made a small pink one that you'll see later this week. Shea even included measurements for a pieced back which is a huge time saver!


Shea's been sharing the different versions of this quilt this week on her blog and I know you'll love seeing them. Get started here and make sure to read through the past few days of posts. She'll feature my pink quilt tomorrow.

And I have to share a photo of her first pattern just because I think it's brilliant and adorable! This will be a perfect Christmas gift for a friend who has several little kiddos running around. No noise makers, provides hours of entertainment and can store easily when needed. 


Shea's offering FREE shipping on both patterns until St. Patrick's Day!

 

Robert Kaufman No Prints Allowed Challenge Sneak Peek

I finally got moving on my Robert Kaufman No Prints Allowed Challenge. I've been sketching, planning, sorting, changing my mind over what to make. I had all these ideas but I think I got really hung up on feeling like I need to have a purpose and recipient for what I made. Tonight I let go of that and just decided to play with an idea I've had for a while. If I like it enough, I can always plan something bigger for the right person at the right time. So for now, it's just something for me to enjoy. 

It's coming together fairly quickly and I've had fun working on it tonight. But I'd better get myself to bed. The little preschooler will be awake before I know it!

Sunkissed Scraps

I finally let go of this pile of teeny tiny scraps left from trimming blocks on a quilt that's off being quilted. I used Sunkissed by Sweetwater for Moda along with some Kona Solids. These bright fabrics breathed a bit of sunshine into a cold winter. No photos of this top secret quilt yet...I can hardly wait!

What I can share is an article from Kansas City Star about modern quilting. It's a great story full of beautiful quilt pictures, great resources and even a bit of history. Jacquie Gering and Lauren Hunt are leaders in the KC Modern Quilt Guild and gave lovely interviews. I wish you could see how passionate, talented and funny they both are in real life. Well, you can if come to one of our guild meetings!

This warm weather that's been giving me the itch to get outside and walk (or maybe even run a little) is headed out. I just heard rain hitting the windows and there's snow in the forecast. Maybe I'll see more of those little birdie tracks in the morning. I'm so glad we got in a trip to the playground this afternoon!

Kansas City Modern Quilt Guild - January

I headed off to Kansas City last night to hear Angela Walters present some of the quilts she quilted for Tula Pink and to discuss her quilting process. Angela's quilting is just amazing and it was so interesting to hear how she approaches a quilt and how she decides what designs to quilt.


Quite a few members have collaborated with Angela on their quilts and we've gotten to see them over the past year. But what a treat to see her quilting on Tula's beautiful fabric and quilt designs! Jacquie from Tallgrass Prairie Studio has also worked with Angela and you can see some examples here and here. Jacquie's Selvage Quilt is probably my all time favorite quilt, both for the quilt top and the quilting. I'm a big lover of historical architecture and something about this quilt brings to mind beautiful architectural elements that I've taken a thousand photos of over the years. All of these links show details of Angela's work...you'll enjoy taking a look.


Members could bring a quilt top and ask Angela for quilting ideas on their particular project. Not only did we get to see some inspiring quilts but also got tons and tons of quilting ideas for both beginning and experienced quilters. I brought this quilt to share and have enough ideas that I might try to quilt it myself in something other than straight lines.


Next month, Alissa Carlton will be visiting our guild all the way from California. She blogs at  Handmade by Alissa  and is co-author of Block Party--The Modern Quilting Bee: The Journey of 12 Women, 1 Blog, & 12 Improvisational Projects. How cool is that!?

No Prints Allowed Challenge

We had quite an exciting Kansas City Modern Quilt Guild meeting in December. Robert Kaufman donated 100 charm square packs of Kona solids to our guild for our latest challenge...The No Prints Allowed Challenge!

Here's the challenge:

Use each and every charm somewhere on the front or back.
Use any additional fabric as long as it's solid.
Share your project at March's guild meeting and via your blog/flickr.

I had a hard time deciding between the dark charm square pack and the bright one. I ended up going with the bright which seemed to be the most popular of the night. I've had this pack opened up and arranged different ways around the house. I wanted to be able to see all the colors at one time. Then they sit in one spot and each time I pass I consider ideas for using the charms. After a while they get shuffled and rest in a new spot. They are finally up in my sewing room and I think I have the beginnings of a plan. I'm still not quite ready to cut....but I'm close.

I can't wait to see what everyone comes up with. It was amazing to see the projects from the last challenge (Project Plume). We have some very talented quilters in our guild! Shea from The Empty Bobbin has a couple of great pictures of the last challenge and this is my table runner in progress and completed. I gifted it to my sister for her birthday and we were just talking the other day about how much we love the bird print on the back. 


Do you have a favorite solid?

Lovely Swap Goodies

I've had a wonderful couple of days. The weather is getting much cooler and I usually don't like these darker days. But for some reason I'm feeling cozy and I'm having the urge to organize, clean and snuggle. So I'm doing a bit of each of those and having fun working on a quilt for Project Modern. 

I'm really enjoying the new items in my home that swaps have brought my way. There was much excitement the other day when my Scrappy Hoops Swap package arrived all the way from Australia! Little Miss J and I were having a late lunch when we saw the mail carrier walking up the driveway and I knew exactly what he was carrying. Isn't the packing tape adorable. We had fun opening it and I was just shocked when I saw what was inside.

I had seen this hoop on the group's Flickr and loved everything about it. The colors, the words (Where ever the ride takes me), the polka dots, the bike, the scrappiness. She even painted the hoop aqua. Love, love, love! But what were the odds that I would get the one that I loved so much. Miss J and my husband thought it was pretty cool too. I love looking at it and I'm very impress with the bike embroidery. It will definitely have a special place to hang in my sewing room!

Leah even sent a couple of beautiful fat quarters. They are so pretty! Thank you Leah!

My other swap goodies came from the KC Modern Quilt Guild. For the November meeting we were to bring something we made with a holiday theme (any holiday) or a few fat quarters of fabric. I brought some of my favorite Basic Grey Fruitcake fat quarters and then felt a bit bad because so many people had made the most gorgeous projects to swap. I need to step it up for next year!

We got to break up into smaller groups and participated in an activity where we could ask each other questions and get to know people in our group a little better which I loved.  When it came time to swap with people in our group I had my eye on a little bag with the brown polka dot fabric you see in the potholder above. I knew the fabric was from that very same Basic Grey line that I love so much and was hoping something inside had the same fabric. And it did! These darling potholders were inside.

I haven't seen the Christmas print before but it's just perfect. I love text and swirly prints. It reminds me a little of some Christmas dishes I've seen at Williams Sonoma.

I've never had any potholders this shape before and was very curious about how they'd work. They work great and have already seen some action in my kitchen. I just love opening my little drawer by the stove and seeing them there. Sarah used a neat technique for the binding that I'd like to try soon. Thank you Sarah! I love them!

Cherri House at KCMQG

 

I was so fortunate to hear Cherri House speak this month at KC Modern Quilt Guild. Cherri is such a genuine woman and her story of how her life has shaped her quilting was very moving. I picked up City Quilts the week before she came and got to know her quilt designs a little better. City Quilts focuses on solid fabrics and they are beautiful quilts. But I was just amazed at how vibrant they were in person. You'll notice City Green on the table. From a distance, all of the little squares look green. However, if you look closely, there are varying shades of blue and even some purples. Cherri's eye for color is just incredible. 

I've never worked with solids (besides white) and hearing her speak has opened my eyes to so many possibilities. Many of the guild members have been using solids and I love what I've been seeing during the show and tells. Isn't it wonderful what we can learn from each other. I can't get over how many talented people I'm sitting around every time a go to a Guild meeting! 

Orange Binding

NICU binding, originally uploaded by Under the Evening Star.

I love binding, at least the hand stitching part. It's so nice to have a good excuse to sit and visit with my little girl, watch Food Network with her and it's guilt-free since I'm being so productive!

Vicki lead the KC Modern Quilt Guild in this project to donate quilts to a local NICU. I'm not sure who pieced this quilt but it's beautiful and I love the color combination. My friend Sheryl quilted it and then passed it on to me to bind. I took it to our guild meeting tonight and it was so fun to see most of the quilts displayed. It's amazing to see what many hands can accomplish together. Check some of them out here.

Kansas City Modern Quilt Guild

Last Wednesday evening, I attended the Kansas City Modern Quilt Guild's second meeting and had a wonderful time! It was so exciting to visit with so many quilters who were absolutely as nice as could be. The show and tell was so inspiring. We saw quilts from beginning quilters, very experienced quilters and everything in between and they were all beautiful. In fact it was SO inspiring that I had a hard time sleeping that night because I was so excited.

Tula Pink was at the meeting and gave us all a challenge. She brought charm packs of her new Plume line of fabric that Moda donated to our group. The challenge is to use the charm pack and a half yard of fabric, along with any fabric for the backing and binding. I love so many of the designs in this line as well as the colors but it's really out of my comfort zone to use some of the colors in the charm pack together. It took me several days to finally figure out what I wanted to create.

I made three Disappearing Nine Patch blocks using Rachel Griffith's wonderful tutorial on p.s.i quilt. I then framed them with a chocolate brown solid from Moda. I'm considering an attempt at free motion quilting with this project. The challenge participants will share their creations at the April meeting. It'll be fun to see what everyone came up with.



The pink feathers on the pink background is a favorite.


And so is the large scale floral which is surprising since I usually don't care for large scale prints.

I have a thing for keys so I'm really in love with the keys dangling from the vines/trees. You can see the pink and green versions here.

Edited to add: See finished quilt here.




It was fun to branch out and try something new which is exactly why I was interested in joining a guild. The Modern Quilt Guild is popping up in many areas around the country so check to see if you have a guild near you.