Weekend Recap

I took six of my recent quilts

and one from 2010

to this year's Davies Manor quilt show.

Rise and Roost . . . 

The Spotted Winkel . . . 

Epicenter . . . 

Scrappy Bow  Ties . . . 

(the heart quilt was made to hang

in a local cardiologist's office)

The Scrapbook Quilt . . . 

(with a king size quilt hanging

on either side of it)

Tea Party . . . 

(due to lack of entries, 

the Panel Mania challenge was cancelled)

and Asian Odyssey.

I spent all three days with the quilts 

from the 70273 Project.

SO many stories were shared.

Ms. Andrea comes every year with her hand crank machine.

She was such a help with our XX block drive.

Even those who sat at the admission desk

got in on the XX action.

There are now 80 completed blocks 

with more to be turned in on Wednesday

when people come to pick up their quilts.

That will be enough to piece TWO quilt tops!

(I will quilt one of them

and Chris volunteered to quilt the other)

And after seeing the quilts, several people 

expressed interest in hosting block drives,

including a visitor from New York state

who is taking information back to her quilt guild.

Little Man and his parents came to the show

and with Ms. Andrea's help, 

he made his very own marble bag.

(she said he's the youngest bag maker to date)

He also made his very own XX block.

He picked out two buttons

and then put the others 

back into the zipper bag

one button at a time.

Priceless.

Quiltdivajulie

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"Gratitude is a many-colored quality, reaching in all directions. 
It goes out for small things and for large . . . "
Faith Baldwin

Tea Party - The Quilt

My challenge quilt is quilted and bound - hooray!

You might remember the flimsy reveal post

when I shared that no matter what the challenge

I needed to LIKE what I was making.

I rarely work with panels

other than piecing them into a quilt back

so turning one into a quilt front

with pieced and appliquéd borders

was a conundrum to be solved.

I'm very pleased with the end result

but still thinking I shall resist future challenges.

Quilted with liberated swirly fans and flowers

using Glide thread in Warm Grey 4.

Finished size is 47" wide x 63" long.

(challenge requirement was for sides 

greater than 36" but less than 74")

The sleeve and label are made

and will be sewn on today

and I'll fill out the paperwork before the weekend.

When turn-in day arrives next week,

I'll be more than ready.

Quiltdivajulie

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"Challenge is a dragon with a gift in its mouth. Tame the dragon and the gift is yours."

Noela Evans

Tea Party - The Flimsy

This is how Tea Party

(my response to this year's 

Davies Manor Panelmania challenge) 

looked with its center sewn together.

I used two of the J. Wecker Frisch panels

to generate the layout because I wanted a quilt 

in the 48" x 64" range rather than 

a table topper or wall quilt.

A few hours later, I had a finished quilt top.

I'm delighted with the look of the vine-like appliqué -

it meets the criteria AND it suits my style.

In fact the entire quilt top makes me happy.

This project has been fussing about

in the back of my head since last November

when the challenge was issued.

I found the panel easily but then spent far too long

trying to figure out how to meet the challenge criteria

AND 

create a quilt that made ME happy.

At this point, I'm planning to resist next year's challenge.

There are so many quilts I WANT to make

and I'm tired of those being pushed

further and further down the "to-do" list.

But for now, 

I'm over-the-moon to have this top finished.

And, as planned, I used the rest of the 

coordinating fabrics to piece a scrappy back.

Next step will be to get Tea Party pin basted

so I can start quilting!

Quiltdivajulie

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Update on Challenge Quilt Effort

The 2018 Davies Manor Quilt Challenge 

is called Panelmania.

The challenge is to start with a panel

and make it into a quilt.

Sounds simple -- 

but I'm here to tell you that it has not been simple at all.

Step One for me was to cut the panel apart.

Sheesh - you'd think all the squares would be sized the same.

Nope.

There was as much as .5" difference due to fabric distortion

from being rolled on the bolt.

Step two was to play with all of the extra companion fabrics

to come up with a scrappy backing.

I like it but that center vertical didn't play the way I'd hoped.

This feels better.

In the end, I want this to be a quilt that I LIKE and will USE.

Here is the sketch that I finally came up with for the front.

A few things have already changed,

but that is pretty normal . . .

The challenge  also includes the statement

that borders are supposed to be "pieced and appliquéd."

I don't do much appliqué 

so that took a bit of puzzling and pondering.

I think Gwen's and Freddy's bias strips will do nicely.  

Those gray strips at the top and bottom 

are now out of the running.

I'll use the two-part blue/pink on all four sides.

* * *

My cold morphed into a sinus infection 

so I'm still moving pretty slowly,

but at least I mostly know where I want to go with this.

The turn-in date is October 30-31 so

 there's plenty of time to piece the front and back

and quilt my entry before then.

Quiltdivajulie