Tag Archives: modern quilts

Final Blocks of the Modern Quilts Unlimited Mag/Michael Miller Fabrics Block Challenge!

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With the last few blocks to do, the challenge was to  design blocks that would complement the patterns and colors of the other 9 blocks and create a harmonious and cohesive quilt.   The final quilt challenge will determine whether I succeeded in this task.  The quilts will be posted by Nov 15th and voting will go from Nov 16th -30th.

June’s block was Drunkard’s Path (below left).   This traditional block is simply a quarter of a  circle set within a square.  There are many, many ways that these can be set to make a block or quilt.  As you can see in my modern version (below right), Drunkard’s Bull’s Eye, there are numerous drunkard’s path subunits  in each quarter circle gradually enlarging from the center outward with alternating light and dark.  The light colored fabrics were graded from light to darker as you moved from the center outward  which gives it incredible depth and a luminous quality.  It just seems to jump out at you  while at the same time it recedes into the distance.  This was my favorite block of the 12, and  I can see a large one-block quilt in my future!

The final block of the challenge was Jacob’s ladder.

JacobsLadderBlock

This block when put together in a quilt, can create some beautiful secondary patterns.  Just search Pinterest for Jacob’s ladder quilts and you will see a beautiful mix of traditional and modern takes on this classic block.

 

I played around quite a bit with this one, and below are several drafts of potential blocks designed in EQ7.

But in the end, I decided to make it a little simpler than the original and give it the look of an actual ladder.  I reversed the colors on either side of the ladder and I love the contrast.   The turquoise,  purple, and orange also complement two of the other blocks…Sailing the Chevron Sea and ZigZag BowTie.  My version of Jacob’s ladder won the last block challenge.

Contemporary Jacob's ladder

I had one last block to create.  I wasn’t able to do the rail fence block during the month it was featured, so I had a chance to design a block to balance the colors and pattern of my Spiral Pinwheel block.  The “Rail Fence in a Rail Fence” does a great job of complementing the pinwheel block, and I was very happy with the result.  What do you think?

Rail Fence in a Rail Fence                          Spiral Pinwheel

TaDa!  Below are my twelve blocks!

 

Ironically, I thought the due date was Sept 10th, so I was frantically working to get it finished. For the last few months of the challenge I was already playing around with  the layout on my graphics program, and was doodling with the the quilting motifs for each block on my iPad.  That sped things up a lot.   The piece was on the frame and I was quilting it when I checked the site to see if anyone had already posted a finished quilt and low and behold, found that it was not due until Nov 15th!  I was so relieved!  I had to go to Maryland to help my daughter haul two horses to North Carolina, so I had plenty of time after my trip to finish it.   I’m super happy with it and can’t wait for the big reveal in November.    Here is a sneak peek of some of the quilting:

Stay tuned for voting Nov 16th to Nov 30th to vote in the final Quilt Challenge!

So Glad to be Home!

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I’m finally home from Florida and all of the horses arrived safe and sound.  I have been crazy busy with all the catching up yard work to do and cleaning and organizing the barn.  I finally spent a couple of afternoons and evenings working on this month’s block challenge.  The block this month was our choice of the classic “sailboat” or “airplane”.

I played around with the airplane block on EQ7, but really didn’t like anything I came up with.  I first came up with doing 4 sailboats on the diagonal sailing around the north star and did that block, but after completion, I wasn’t satisfied with it.  What do you think?

Sailing by the north star

So back to the EQ7 drawing board!  Here are some ideas I came up with.

Thinking about the waves made me think of rough seas and then I thought about doing the waves as chevrons.  This is the block I decided to do for the Block challenge:

Sailing the Chevron Seas

I think this will go nicely with the other blocks for the ultimate quilt challenge.  Voting starts today!  Go to http://a.pgtb.me/MfCtTr/h5Cj1?w=36927840&e=123431568 .  Scroll down the page and click on the vote box of the block you like the most!

 

 

Modern Quilts Unlimited Magazine/Michael Miller fabrics block challenge, month #2.

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Second month of twelve.  The Traditional Block this month is Snail’s Trail (below left).  My modern version is below rightWonky Snail's Trail Cubed.  This was a really fun block to design.  I love the 3D effect!  Please vote for my block! Last month I won by only 4 votes, so every vote counts!  To vote and/or share go to  this link: http://a.pgtb.me/MfCtTr/h5Cj1?w=36927840&e=9986782

Traditional Snail's Trail block

Traditional Snail’s Trail block

Hello World! My First Quilt Challenge Success!

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August mqumag Challenge winnerIt is a little scarey to publish your first blog post.  I have been wanting to do this for a while, and now have taken the plunge.  I entered my very first challenge this past month, and won with the quilt block “Spinning Transparent Geese”.

Modern Quilts Unlimited Magazine  http://www.modernquilts.mqumag.com/july-block-and-quilt-challenge-winner/  and Michael Miller Fabrics are sponsoring a 12 month block challenge, “Everything Old is New Again”.  Every month there will be a new block and at the end of the 12 months, the blocks will be put together to make a quilt and then there will be a quilt challenge.   Spinning Transparent Geese is my take on the traditional flying geese quilt block.   I was really excited! You would have thought I’d won the lottery!  I have been thinking about doing a  transparency quilt, and this was a fun exercise.  I was really happy with how it turned out.

SNAILS-TRAIL The next block is “Snails Trail” shown to the right.  I have something really exciting I’ve designed for that.  Stay tuned for the next block!  I’ll post the link for voting on Sept 11th.

         If I’m not riding, I’m quilting….