February 2013 Meeting: Show and Tell Recap

Hello everyone! Thanks for your patience with this month's Show and Tell recap. Our February group was much larger than our December, which made for a hefty show and tell session, which was great because I love seeing the beautiful creations of and hearing the behind-the-scenes stories from our fabulous and talented guild members! Thanks to name tags, I almost got everyone's name. If I missed yours or misquoted a detail, please comment or email me so I can update the post. Additionally, if you have a personal blog or a link to a pattern that you've discussed in your quilt, feel free to share so I can update the post with more resources. Apologies in advance if I haven't gotten the best image of you or your quilt-- I am still learning to maneuver my way around the space, capture the stories behind the quilts and get a good shot all at once! I will try my best to master it all by the next meeting. ;) 

Although not officially a part of Show and Tell, above are the blocks made for the Sketch group quilt to be featured at an upcoming Quilt Market. 

The Kandinsky quilt is also coming together quite nicely!

Without further ado, the recap from our meeting on February 2. 

Victoria shared these amazing platform pumps she she created for Kick Off Your Heels, a project dedicated to raise funds for The Barbra Streisand Women's Heart Center. Victoria paper-pieced the fabrics and adhered them to the shoes with a glue gun. I wish they were for sale!

Andy attended a free motion quilting workshop and was asked to bring 1 meter of black fabric. She ended up using and entire spool of thread practicing free motion quilting techniques. The design is very intricate and detailed and just bursting off the fabric in person (I'm sorry Andy! I had a hard time getting the contrast with the camera!)

Sally lived in London for a while and developed a penchant for Liberty Fabrics (who doesn't love Liberty Fabrics?) and created this beautiful quilt top. Sally noted that this is one "expensive UFO." 

 Lisa lost power during the storm and made these bright beauties using 2.5" hexagons. 

Margaret, following a quilt-along on the DaintyTime blog for the I-Ching Modern Quilt, and created this zen masterpiece. Interestingly, part of the process included throwing coins! Margaret also handquilted the back of the quilt.

While visiting Stone Barns, David was inspired by a brick pattern and created this magnificent quilt with no repeating fabrics. Using 2.5" strips, working out concentrically, and attaching thin sashing, this seemingly simple project turned into a true labor of love.

Andrea made this piece to practice free motion quilting. She ended up liking the piece and not the quilting so much!

When Pamela unfolded this gem of a quilt, there was a definite buzz in the room! Pamela is working on a series of quilts in homage to different colors. This one is dedicated to the color orange. She wanted to show all different shades and a variety of colors. She made six group of colors, i.e. saturated yellow-orange, unsaturated yellow-orange, saturated orange-red, unsaturated orange-red, etc. 

Pamela saw this block design in a magazine and made up the pattern herself. At first, she wasn't even sure how to piece the quilt! Here, Pamela points out the seam of the block and reveals the piecing strategy. She drew the block on the computer and arranged it on the screen. This block is very versatile and can be arranged in a variety of ways yielding crazy patterns. They all shift around the little center square and the swirls are offset by the square. These were all made using split seams and the quilt was not finished with normal binding, but facing instead.

A member suggested that we should use this block for next year's challenge! Who's game?

Bernadette started four blocks for victims of Hurricane Sandy and eventually made enough for a large quilt. This was her first attempt at free motion quilting.

Jackie had a stash of Tula Pink fabric and decided to make this statement quilt for a friend who had a good work year.

Yolanda's background is in textile design. This little quilt is a combination of paper and fabric. The image from the quilt is originally from a painting. Yolanda dropped the painting into Photoshop and fused fabric to paper and then quilted this dramatic wall hanging.

Yolanda also designed the fabrics and owls for these adorable blocks she calls "Owlettes."

 Nicole made these wall-hangings for her family as Christmas presents based on a Purl Soho pattern. This is the one she kept for herself.

 Terry joined the guild a year ago and was mostly hand quilting. This was her first attempt at machine quilting. The quilt was a gift for her sister who loves fonts and the colors: black, white, and red.

 Helen has a friend who was cleaning out old family items and discovered this fantastic UFO which was in need of a home.

Jackie joined the guild at the February meeting. She was supposed to go to the quilt show in Houston with a friend, but Hurricane Sandy thwarted her plans. So instead, her friend brought back this kit as a consolation. The border of this quilt is paper-pieced.

The last baby quilt Tina made (and shared) was for her nephew who was born on December 16, 2012 in England. This one is for a friend who is having a baby girl in March. It is made from all scraps. 

Naomi was "Queen Bee" in August and requested blocks with hand-dyed fabrics with leaves. The blocks were gorgeous. She incorporated the blocks with some batiks from the share table.

Naomi also found scraps of wool from scrap table. She used rust-colored water to dye the wool. Later, she also found some rust-colored twine from the share table to incorporate into the piece. She plans on sewing diagonal lines into the border.

Judy needed to make a quick gift and used a fast technique incorporating fat quarters called slash and sew-- which is cutting and sewing until you run out of angles. 

The February meeting was Veronica's first meeting. She paints watercolors and uploads them onto Spoonflower (a custom fabric printing site), then quilts around them. Amazing detail!

Dorothy made this bold quilt out of flying geese blocks collected from 11 people. It was quilted professionally in Texas.

 Since she is often traveling, Renee does not get to show and tell very often. She was excited to share two beautiful quilts with the group. The first, above, was featured in American Quilter.

Inspired by her bedroom colors and using Dear Stella fabrics, Renee, made this fantastic gray and yellow quilt. 

Sue calls this one the "Lucky Day" quilt. She won the blocks and won the batting (from our September raffle) and plans on donating the quilt so that it will be someone else's lucky day. She received 23 blocks and made one additional herself to complete the quilt. There are different shades of gray in the sashing because she ran out. If you participated in making any of these blocks, please share your name with Sue or in the comment section of this post.

Hayden started this juicy quilt top in October and finished it the night before the meeting. She chose popsicle and flying saucer themed fabrics, which are a favorite of her mom's, who she will be gifting the quilt to!

Kim usually hand sews and quilts but took a machine quilting workshop in Ohio and created this very detailed piece. The batting contains wool.

Andrea works at the City Quilter and was intrigued by the Galactica fabric. In this quilt, she decided to take the fabric motif outside of the block (see top right corner and bottom center). Andrew shared her technical secret of  extending the motif beyond the block: after she sewed the top together, she would fuse the motif from a different section of the fabric. 

John was inspired to make this stunning red and white quilt after seeing a red and white show in the city. He designed the block himself which is a combination of a Drunkard's Path with half-square triangles. 

Diane wanted to share both sides of her "split personality by showing two quilts. Diane is an applique scholar. The one above contains blocks that are copies of a classic album quilt. It is completed by hand and she finished the quilt quite aptly on inauguration day!

The quilt above is called "Leaving Yorkville" which Diane was inspired to make after her move from living in the same place for 22 years. She used fabric "crumbs" from her stash. The quilt is backed with a fabric containing a map motif.

As a Leo, Greer loves to celebrate her birthday. For her 40th birthday last year, she rented a house in the Poconos for a week and incorporated quilting into the celebration. She bought 1/4 yards of fabrics from the City Quilter and to create a block asked all her guests to write or draw on a blank square. She was surprised by house seriously everyone took the task. The theme was of course, "40." The above blocks are a sampling of the group's creations. One includes Greer's family tartan... another has the word "forty" in different languages.

Mayann created the above fanciful quilt triptych using cotton wool with organza shadows. 

Another creation by Mayann showcases flattened miniature baskets which make up the circular medallions. She used a combination of materials, including was linen and incorporated wool batting for the first time.

Earamichia shared two quilts which are an "ode to Spoonflower." She uploaded images onto Spoonflower and incorporated them into her quilts. The one above is called "The Man in the Mirror" and is a tribute to a friend who is always taking pictures of himself.

The one above is called "Keep Flowing with the River" because "the river always knows." In this quilt, Earamichia wanted to practice embroidery and apply new techniques.

Nancy took Andrea's Outside the Block class at the City Quilter and created this floral beauty. She used Jane Susman's Early Birds line of fabric to make the blocks.

Andrea was inspired to create these simple yet bright blocks by straight line quilting from the guild. She incorporated scraps into the blocks.

Kim had lots to share with us this time around. The quilt top above was originally brought in by Andrea and contained all diagonal lines. Kim took it apart and re-pieced it into 9 patches. The result is pretty great!

In the first Bee, Kim was "queen bee" in February 2012. She had an Alexander Henry fabric that showcased kids in cultural dress from all around the world. The fabric was fussy cut so that each kid is highlighted. Although it could be misconstrued, the kid motif does not end up being offensive because they're so cute! The blocks are a wonderful extension of each kid.

The last quilt Kim shared was the result of mystery quilt collaboration with her family (what a great idea!). Kim's mom has a longarm machine and this was Kim's first time using it.

Rossana took a trapunto class at the City Quilter and created this beautiful block. During class, when it came time to select the templates, they were all snatched up before Rossana could decide on one. So she decided to combine two and make her own which included an elephant in the center of a circular border. When it came time to share, Rossana's "template" was the envy of the rest of the class. She then incorporated fabric from Peru into the border.