October 2013 Meeting - Show & Tell Recap

Last Saturday, October 5, the New York Metro Modern Quilt Guild met after summer hiatus for the first meeting of the year. It was an action-packed meeting filled with lots of catching up and gabbing, a hand-sewing group challenge, and of course, a very exciting Show and Tell. It was great to see all the fun things everyone was working on over the summer! 

Kim, our Vice President, kicked off Show and Tell with a quilt made from an UFO that Andrea H.M. brought in. Kim cut it apart and added Kaffe Fassett and floral print fabrics. She had fun quilting it and thinks it looks like a kitchen table cloth.

Lisa, our President, pieced this top in Kathy Doughty's class at Quilting by the Lake, this past summer. It was a mind-bender but very fun.

Rose, a new member, submitted this quilt to the Grand Central Quilt Challenge to celebrate the station's centennial. She plans to also include the hands on the center clock. 

Michele completed the top for the Kandinksy quilt. The process involved making 1 1/2" squares from the image and interpreting it into a 6" square quilt block. Participants were not shown the full image and were allowed to use any materials and fabrics. The back of each square has statements. Michele chose the border fabric by color and texture, not by skill needed. In the future, she will probably work with partners to complete the quilt!

Inspired by photos from the blogosphere, I decided to tackle Alexia Abegg's Marcelle Medallion Quilt from her new book, Liberty Love. I've only completed the center star and a two borders, but have really enjoyed the process of the detailed piecing and would have never thought I'd be working on a quilt like this a year ago when I joined the guild.

Dotty shared two quilts, both double-wedding rings, and a new skill set. Both were gifts for couples getting married. On the left, was for Molly, whose wedding took place at sunset in Riverside Park. On the right, was for Gracie and Andrea, a same-sex couple from Brooklyn who featured doughnuts. The couple loves vintage fabrics so Dotty made sure to include them in the quilt.

Melly, also a new member shared with us a quilt composed of fabrics she printed herself (!!!). Unfortunately, we are unable to share images since the quilt and fabrics are currently in a various proposal processes.  Melly wanted to challenge herself with a multicolor printing process in her home studio. Her materials include stamps and stencils. The finished pieces are often small. Melly is also actively seeking friends, so if you need another quilting buddy or printing friend, please contact Melly!

Tina has been missing since Christmas because she wrote and defended her thesis (!). She coped by trawling eBay for quilt tops so that she could practice free motion quilting. She purchased this one for $12 on eBay and "shoved the whole thing through" the small throat of her Janome. She will be donating the quilt to Bumble Beans Basics.

Judy shared a quilt she titled "Woman in a Garden."

Jody shared a quilt she made for her grandson, which correlates with the one she made for his twin sister (which was green and had a butterfly theme). This was Jody's second attempt at using her "tractor" AKA her long arm. The top features fish and the backing includes turtles, which Jody's son collected as a child.

Maren shared two quilts she made for baby gifts. The first, on the left, was for a beloved babysitter who had a baby in July. Each of Maren's daughters also contributed a block, which are included in the back. The second quilt, on the right, is for a friend in Maren's book group. The quilt features skier fabric.

Nancy shared two quilts. The one on the right was made after taking a Stupendous Stitching class at The City Quilter and on Craftsy. The quilts are very pretty but also time-consuming. On the left, was made after a Slash and Stitch class also at The City Quilter. The process includes layering fabric and tearing away. Raw edges are left from where the fabric is cut. This is a very easy thing to do which yields great results.

Margaret made this quilt from blocks received via Lucky Bee 13 and Quilt Bee 2. She machine and hand-quilted in each block!

 

Sue shared a work in progress. This is her largest and favorite improv quilt to date. It was on her design wall for a long time. She used all hand-dyed batiks and no commercial fabrics.

Karen had twins last year. When her kids were about 4-months-old, her aunt was diagnosed with breast cancer. To show her support, Karen made her this quilt so that her aunt could feel like she could "wrap herself in a hug" during chemotherapy. The back was pieced with sewn scraps and took longer than the front! The label notes "from your favorite niece." Karen's aunt is now in remission.

Andrea F. shared a simple quilt. She fell in love with this fabric from Nani Iro and decided to make a whole cloth quilt. It is hand quilted. Originally, the fabric also had a print of chickens in houses, but Andrea just cut it out and inserted a blue stripe instead.

Mandy took a Leslie Tucker Jenison class during Quilters Take Manhattan. Mandy brought several pre-cut jelly rolls to the class. The class was only three hours long, so Mandy was not able to finish the top in class, but was able to complete in about six hours. 

Chris took a Waste Not, Want Not class at the City Quilter and started with one block and went crazy through her scrap pile. She used all fabrics from her scrap bag to compete this quilt. The back is also composed of scraps.

Judy shared the quilt for the guild's "Metro" challenge. It startedout as a man's suit, shirt, and tie worked into the bow tie block. Judy is from Rockaway, "a small town compared to New York City." Her first job took her to 42nd Street, across from the New York Public Library and to her, the city felt like a center grid, which inspired the center grid of this quilt. The gray fabric border around the center panel is embellished with thin stripes that Judy manually cut out from a city printed fabric. 

Liz attended SewDown Philadelphia, hosted by the Modern Quilt Guild, in September and learned how to make Lizzy House's Meadow block. Lizzy does not sell the pattern for this block but teaches it in various workshops. Liz shared two beautiful blocks from her quilt in progress.




Greer joined Lucky 13 Bee two years ago and was participant #12, so to get the others in the bee to be motivated to make her blocks, she made a concerted effort to finish all the blocks. For her turn, she asked for a confetti block. She eventually left the bee, but got her blocks back and managed to make a few more. The central piece of all the blocks contains a large block of fabric that Susan helped to hand-dye.




Rossanna was at the City Quilter attending a class and was admiring a nine-patch block. The instructor told her that the block "goes super-fast" so Rossanna went home and gathered all her kids fabrics and made this quilt.

Andrea D. shared a quilt made from blocks featured in Tula Pink's latest book, City Sampler: 100 Modern Quilt Blocks. She will be teaching this class at the City Quilter. Quilt blocks were quilted into negatives space. It is machine quilted and took a long time because she was very precise. 

Helen also attended Quilting by the Lake this summer and participated in Kathy Doughty's Fractured class. She shared that it was harder than it looked. Helen was considering adding another row and wanted an opinion on whether the quilt should be larger. With a show of hands, the guild voted that it did not! :)

Diane is on an ongoing mission to use the smallest pieces of fabrics that no one wants. She sews the fabrics onto muslin and it becomes similar to a toilet paper roll. When she needs fabrics, she just unravels the roll and cuts a piece to size. The quilt below is foundation pieced.

Laura did not make many quilts last year but "made a baby last winter." She shared a quilt that her cousin made for her that features many Kaffe Fassett fabrics.

Andrea wanted to make a Polaroid picture quilt. She fussy cut the fabric to feature an image from the print in each frame. She had some Dick and Jane fabric that she cut the wrong size and incorporated it into the quilt. 

Bernadette decided to give a try at English paper piecing after being inspired by fellow guild member, Jessica's book, Quilting on the Go, and the practicality of not being able to quilt in the summer with a fan. 

Susan cut up a beloved Missoni shirt of her husband's that no longer fits anymore. She kept the buttons and tags from the shirt and incorporated Kaffe Fassett's shot cottons. She will be teaching a class at the City Quilter about repurposing items for quilting.

Thanks for a great Show & Tell everyone! Please let me know if anything needs to be updated about your quilt.