2018 – Ten Squared Plus Five

At last, the Rochester Modern Quilt Guild’s first show, “Taking Flight,” is over (September 29) and I’ve nearly recovered. It was a huge success; we had lots of visitors, lots of quilts, and lots of happy vendors. It was also a huge job creating a show out of whole cloth, a job I’m glad to pass along to another guild member.

“Taking Flight” – inaugural show by Rochester Modern Quilt Guild, September 29, 2018

So, here is a quilt I made for the show. You can also see it hanging lower center in the show photo.

Ten Squared Plus Five

I used three packs of mini-charms (2-1/2″ squares) sorted by color, then added a few extra black squares to counterbalance at the bottom. To contrast with all those straight lines, I quilted it in a spiral on my Viking.

Ten Squared Plus Five – center quilting

Ten Square Plus Five – Showing Back

The back matched the fabric of the yellow square.

This is now with my new grand niece in Virginia.

2018 -Green Fuse

Wow, it’s been over a year since I posted on the blog!

Since the 2017 Genesee Valley Quilt Fest, I’ve been extremely busy with two projects: downsizing from a 4-bedroom house to a 2-bedroom condo, and chairing the first quilt show of the Rochester Modern Quilt Guild.

The show will be 10-5 on Saturday, September 29 at First Unitarian Church of Rochester, 220 Winton Road, Rochester, NY 14610. Hope to see you there!

And I’ve managed in the meantime to make a few quilts. I hope to cover them in upcoming posts, but here’s a preview of the free-motion floral quilting on a new queen quilt I’m calling “Green Fuse.” It’s inspired by Dylan Thomas’s “The force that through the green fuse drives the flower.”

 

This quilt should be finished in time to be part of the “Taking Flight” show. More to come!

2016 – Fly Away Home

Finished at last. The “geese” are dimensional, made using the one-seam method popularized by Ricky Tims.

Fly Away Home

It’s baby quilt sized.
On to the next project!

2016 – Rainbow Hearts

The Rochester Modern Quilt Guild is helping the Orlando MQG collect heart quilts in rainbow colors for anyone effected by the June 12 shooting at Pulse. Here are the blocks I’m contributing.

Rainbow Hearts for Orlando Modern Quilt Guild

May we all live in harmony.

Complete – 2015 Big Square

I finally took the photos for this charity baby quilt.

2015 Big Square

This has been donated to the Rochester Modern Quilt Guild’s charity effort to provide quilts for a local neonatal unit. Here are some details:

2015 Big Square – front detail of quilting

2015 Big Square – complete back

2015 Big Square – back detail showing quilting

I like the texture of channel quilting; it makes running a hand along the quilt fun.

Update 2 – Semi-Circles 2015

After presenting my curved seam demo to the Rochester Modern Quilt Guild, I completed construction of this quilt top. The blocks on the bottom row were used in the demo.

Semi-Circles complete quilt top

I now have three tops ready for quilting, so I’ll be assembling quilt sandwiches, basting, and quilting on my machine for a while. Here are the other tops I’ll be working on:

2015 Purple Square Baby Quilt Top

2014 Princess’s Crown Quilt Top

I’ll post photos as they’re completed.

 

Update – Semi-Circles 2015

Semi-Circles Lay Out Idea 2

I’m having fun experimenting with a modern lay out for the classic Drunkard’s Path block. These finish at 8″, so this is 32″ x 40″ so far.

Semi-Circle Detail

I’ll keep several of these blocks unassembled for the demo on curved piecing. It’s part of the program of the Rochester Modern Quilt Guild, September 9th.

Semi-Circles – 2015

Semi-Circles Lay Out Idea 1

I’ve been busy elsewhere for a while but am now back in the studio. I’m working on a guild presentation about curved piecing and here’s what I may do with my demo samples once they’re all sewn.

Finished – Courthouse Squares – 2015

Courthouse Squares 2015

Quilted and bound, this crib/lap quilt is now complete. Here are some close-ups showing the variations among blocks and the scrappy binding.

And a view of the quilting from the back.

Courthouse Squares – 2014

I belong to the Rochester Modern Quilt Guild, where we love challenges. The challenge I’m working on now is to make any project using only black, white, and one bright color.

2014 Courthouse Squares – Black-and-Whites

My first thought was my favorite color – red – but that seemed too easy a choice. (What’s black and white and red all over?) I went to my stash for inspiration and found three fat quarters of bright turquoise. This classic block is called Courthouse Square. I like recasting an old pattern with modern fabrics and attitude.

Courthouse Square Block

With my stash, I picked a wide variety of fabrics, using my design wall to combine them in a “random” plan. The color sequence was intentionally varied in four blocks to give the eye some focal points.

Courthouse Squares Being Planned on the Design Wall

The top has now been sewn together; the quilting is underway.

Courthouse Square Quilt Top