The final week is here for the US Tour! Today we have Illinois. A state I’m fond of because it is where my husband was born and raised. I’ve spent many days visiting family in this state! From large cities to farmland! You can find the block HERE designed by Dragonfly’s Quilting Design Studio. It has been a fun TOUR. I hope you have enjoyed it.
My Louisiana block KIT is still available on my website. Be sure to get yours before they are gone. The US Tour block patterns will be available free for a limited time.
As promised, I have a couple photos of the second Challenge for another guild I belong to. This week you get to see my Red and White Quilt for the Thimble Pleasures Challenge. ONLY Red and White fabrics could be used. I found some embroidery blocks that I did YEARS ago. The border fabric has been with the embroidery blocks just waiting to be used. The red fabrics are from my stash. I had a lot of reds to choose from!! The fun with using red, they all go together! Plus, in my opinion, the more the merrier!
My Red and White Quilt is below. I named it “Old-time Playtime”. I’m so happy to have these blocks in a quilt! We have a rule that our challenges can’t be any larger than 36″ square. So mine is 31″ x 36″.
In working with red fabrics, as I said earlier, I like to use LOTS of different fabrics. Also, I just reds from darker (almost burgundy) to lighter/brighter true red and even tipping to the orange/red. It sure adds to the movement around the quilt and it is happy and not solid and flat!!!
#1 – When making a quilt with a color theme…try a variety of fabrics in that color family! Look on a color wheel if you need inspiration.
I did a different background fill in behind each “Redwork” embroidery child. Outlining the embroidery also helped to highlight the children.
#2 – This challenge helped me move an unfinished project (UFO) into the DONE stack. Even though the embroidery blocks are probably 20 years old, they still made a wonderful small quilt.
Today we head all the way to Hawaii. This state is on my bucket list…one of these days!! Head over to Applique Quilts and More for their options on the Hawaii block. She has done an bonus block of Guam, one of the US territories. We are nearing the end. Be sure to go back to get any blocks you may have missed.
I promised photos from last week. I can reveal one challenge. The other will be next week. This reveal if for BVHQ (Blackstone Valley Heritage Quilters) Half Squares Challenge. The challenge included making 144 half squares of any size and fabrics of our choice. I had a charm pack of dots and blenders. There are fabrics from Michael Miller, RJR, P&B and more (I’m sure more, as that is how I collect fabric!! <grin>) I added Kona white to make two identical half squares. Since we could make any size half squares, I cut the white into 5″ squares to match the charms. Perfect and I trimmed to make 4″ finished Half-squares (4 1/2″ unfinished). When making the half squares, we did not know out layout. What? YES, we did not know how we were going to put our half squares together.
We each got a different layout! What fun!! My layout is called “Disrupted”, see below.
Now, I had all these different colors and white. but I realized the layout would work great to put the two like half squares together in the layout to create the diamond shapes. And since I had a rainbow of colors, I was excited to see how I could move those colors across the design. And “disrupt” one or two of the colors. I LOVE how it worked and turned out!
A side note: each member who participated in the challenge go a different layout. The layouts were in a set by a designer. I’m sorry I don’t have their name. We had a wonderful end of the year Strawberry Shortcake Show and Tell our Challenges! I only have photos of my result. (I took my photos as night, so the lighting was off.)
Some project are meant to be a Challenge, ya just might not know what the result will be. I LOVE my result! I added borders to continue in the “Disrupted” idea. I auditioned them before I sewed them on.
#1 – Audition before you sew! I had the angles of the borders in several different spots before the final decision was made and sewn.
I used a polyester batting, not usually my go to. However, it really helps the quilting stand out. The pantograph I used is “Spiral Rings” by Irene Steele for Willow Leaf Designs.
#2- If you want your quilting to stand out, try polyester batting. This was a low loft poly but it still highlights the quilting lines.
TRY a Challenge! It is worth the unknown!! I went to write and add the label and realized… this quilt was a perfect name for the last year. DISRUPTED! Shows cancelled, teaching at shows also cancelled and life got put on hold. I’m SOOOOO excited to have had an in person show and the prospects for in person teaching and guild lectures! Cheshire Quilter’s Guild of Keene, NH…I be there IN PERSON tomorrow night!!
We are getting closer to the finish of this US Tour. We still have a couple more states and extras! Today we travel to the beautiful state of Montana. As a kid we took a family vacation to the great west and I remember switch backs to get to Red Lodge, Montana. I think we even took a picture standing in snow in the middle of summer. Quite a novelty for this Midwest girl. My memory is of wonderful mountain views, amazing valleys and crystal clear rivers and rocky river beds. I think you will enjoy the block Ladybug’s Cabin has designed for her home state, MONTANA.
I’ve got two guild challenges on my design wall right now. I can’t show you either until their reveal. I’m super excited about both of these!
The first guild challenge is half squares. We all made the same number of half squares whatever size we wanted. I used a charm pack and cut white background to go with each charm. 144 half squares later…and a surprise layout….we were given the layout! I love my quilt top center. I’m now adding borders! I’ve used polka dots. Super excited to finish! I’ll give you a sneak peak…
In my second guild, our challenge is Red and White. We can’t make it larger than 36″ square. Yikes, I love to make lap quilts. I just took mine off the longarm. I’m happy with the outcome, now to put on the binding. No hints or peaks on this one. I’ll show them both finished next week.
Do you participate in Challenges????
My reasons to “just do it”!! (and my TIPS for this week, more than TWO!!)
It can use up fabric from your stash.
OR…..a reason to buy MORE fabric!!
It might be simple and you can use it to give to family.
It often gets you out of your comfort zone…I consider this a good thing! And a great reason to do it…remember it is called a Challenge for a reason!
You may learn a new technique.
Your quilt will not look like anyone else’s quilt (usually).
Same theme, usually very different outcomes.
Inspiration!
You are participating in your guild!
Sometimes there are prizes (not one of my reasons for doing it, but might be for some)
Now a question for you…
When participating in a Challenge, do you want a required fabric to use? Or just rules?
I’m curious, as I’m going to be the Challenge chair for next year in one guild. I’ve got some ideas, but the questions I just asked are on my mind. Thanks in advance for your input!
This week we head “out west” to Wyoming. As a kid we did a camping vacation to this beautiful state. I also had the opportunity to drive all the way across it to go to a Spring Quilt Market one year. I couldn’t get enough of the mountain views, wildlife and amazing scenery! Kathryn at Dragonfly’s Quilting Design Studio is this week’s designer. You can find Wyoming HERE!
Enjoy!
Debbie
AND Congratulations to Cathy W. who won my prize in this week’s raffle/giveaway!!
A HUGE Thank you to VQF and all my students! I had a wonderful time teaching virtually. I talked about the classes last week. I ended on Friday evening with Bindings – A World of Options. I love sharing binding possibilities and showing my quilts with the variety of bindings I’ve used. If you missed this lecture, you’ve got another chance! I’ll be teaching it at the International Quilt Festival in Houston, IN PERSON, this October!!
Houston announced their teacher roster! I’ll be teaching the lecture, Bindings – A World of Options and my class Done by Three! I’m excited to be in person for the show this fall. I’ll also be vending. You can see the faculty list on the Quilts, Inc. website and my listing HERE. You’ll see I changed up my photo. <grin>
I hope you will join me in Houston if you missed these classes at Vermont virtual Festival.
The joy of the pattern, Done by Three, is it uses ALL Fat Quarters except the binding! I’ll put photos of three of the quilts I’ve made with this pattern.
Have you ever bought a bunch of Fat Quarters or a FQ bundle but didn’t know what to do with them? This quilt is perfect for those FQs. It has a way of highlighting each fabric and tying them all together.
A Fat Quarter is 18″ x 20-22″ (the second number depends on the width of fabric). Instead of a “skinny” quarter yard (9″ x 40-44″) we cut 18″ from the bolt and then cut half the width…thus a FAT quarter! It is a larger “chunk” of fabric to work with and a favorite of so many quilters. How many of you have a stash full of Fat Quarters?
#1- Give Done by Three a try if you have a bundle of Fat Quarters! You can find it on my website. Done by Three
While teaching for VQF, I was still in Kansas City. I forgot to pack my large square ruler. So, away I went to purchase another. I ended up getting a 15 1/2″ square. I LOVE a large square. The quilt Twirl-A-Tool is a larger block. This square worked great!
Wonderful Kentucky! Home of the city of Paducah! I’m a HUGE fan. From the AQS Quilt Show in April to the decorated/painted flood walls and the southern charm!
It has been a couple of busy weeks! Last week on Tuesday I was sitting on a plane with a 3 hour delay due to a computer shut down that didn’t seem to make the news. So, needless to say, I was LATE and didn’t get a change to get Two Tips posted. Wednesday was setup for the Kansas City Regional Quilt Festival! Then the show Thursday-Saturday. Thank you, thank you to all who came through my booth for the show! It was WONDERFUL to be IN PERSON and no mask!
This week I’m teaching virtually for Vermont Quilt Festival. I’ve had two wonderful class so far (Become a Brilliant Binder and Twirl-A-Tool) and have one more tomorrow (4-3-2-1-DONE with Fat Quarters) and a lecture (Bindings a World of Options) on Friday evening. There is still time to sign up for the lecture.
The week before all of this we were in Florida for our granddaughter’s wedding. Beautiful, rainy and a nice ceremony!
It will be back to designing very soon. I have several NEW things happening for Fall Market! Keep your eyes peeled as I begin sharing!
Today the VQF class was Twirl-A-Tool. A fun use of Brilliant Bindings as a cutting template. With using any template, it is good to have some kind of grippy to help hold the template in place on your fabric when cutting. My favorite is True Grips, no affiliation, just a fan. They are very grippy and very thin. Did you know you can use the entire sheet of the product?
#1- Add True Grips to the back of your templates or rulers to help them grip the fabric. (see the circles on Brilliant Bindings below)
Another tip I often share is to mark your rulers when you need a reference point. A Sharpie marker will wipe right off with an alcohol wipe!
#2- If marking on a ruler use a Sharpie…rubbing alcohol takes it off!
DebbieWendt's Blog 