Friday Finish: Quilts for Pulse

I haven't found the words to describe the Quilts for Pulse project, the impact it has had on our community, our guild, myself, and I am not sure I ever will.  The QFP top that was started at our annual Gruber's retreat has now been quilted and photographed, so it's about time I at least blogged about that.

Nine of us made the retreat this year; each of us made an oversized heart block from Happy Zombie's Love Quilt pattern.  

We each selected a color; you know I don't even remember for sure which color I chose ;-)

Lovely Mary!

 Mary, of course, selected turquoise blue!

Coming up with the block layout was a group effort and was not taken lightly...sure wish I had input from eight others all the time!

Love these girls!!!

The quilt top was finished in July at our retreat.   It sat patiently waiting to be quilted while I helped with other aspects of the QFP project.  Due to the overwhelming generosity of the worldwide community, our Orlando Modern Quilt Guild set about making quilt tops from the incredible number of heart blocks sent in, quilting and binding those tops, photographing each completed quilt, distributing quilts to those affected by the Pulse tragedy,  and writing thank you notes.

As for the quilting, I quilted various patterns in the heart blocks and the phrase "love is love is love" in the negative space.  I didn't mark the letters or lines, preferring to quilt organically as if I were writing those words.  I have messy handwriting ;-)))

Serendipity has been a common theme when discussing QFP with my guild friends.  (One day I hope someone writes all about that.)  When it came to the binding, I was in a hurry and grabbed from my leftover binding collection.  While stitching the binding to the front, I realized the fabric was all from Amy Butler's LOVE fabric collection!  During our Gruber retreat photo with the quilt, Stephanie and I realized we were both wearing our Glamp Stitchalot t-shirts designed by Monica aka Happy Zombie (not planned).  The backing is Amanda Jean's Good Neighbor's fabric line.  Serendipitous, indeed!

photo by Paula Kennedy Photography

Our heart quilt was finished (just) in time to be professionally photographed (thank you Paula Kennedy!) for QuiltCon's Quilt For Pulse exhibit.  After the photo shoot the quilt was gifted to a 911 operator who had to listen to and transcribe all the horrific emergency phone calls from that terrible night.

Our quit label

Quilty friends definitely do rock!  I am so grateful to my retreat friends for helping make this quilt for someone in need and so appreciative of the generosity of the worldwide quilting community that made it possible for the OrlandoMQG to deliver almost 1,800 quilts.

If you will be in Savannah next week for QuiltCon, please stop by the QuiltsforPulse exhibit and see photos of all the quilts made and donated.  There is an official meet up at the exhibit Saturday at 12:30, but at least one member from our guild will be there during all hours of the show.  

Hope I get the chance to say Hi! and Thank You!

Linking up with Crazy Mom Quilts.

Spiraling Butterflies

Spiraling Butterflies is my finish for the QuiltCon Michael Miller Glitz Fabric Challenge.

The butterfly blocks were made using Little Bluebell's paper pieced Modern Butterfly pattern.  I just love this pattern and have so many other butterfly quilt plans!

The background fabric is Michael Miller Cotton Couture in Blush and also in Love.  The color variation is quite subtle, but I like the depth using two different colors provides.

I finished making the blocks and determined the layout while at our Orlando MQG retreat (still need to post about that!).  Having creative input from others was awesome!  After that, the top came together quickly.

I used my walking foot to quilt spirals (THANK YOU Jacquie and Craftsy for the refresher) starting a little offset from the center.  Aurifil 2410 in 40wt was the thread I used.  I had just enough left over from this quilt and the color matched perfectly.

Twice before, I quilted spirals, but one was a mini quilt and the other was just on a portion of the quilt.  I said I would never do it again, but this time I found the process quite therapeutic.  Crazy, right?!

The Cotton Couture solids are SUPER soft, so possibly that made a difference in the quilting?  All I  know is, the {continuous} turning of the quilt through my Juki didn't seem as difficult as I remembered.

 
The backing fabric is Michael Miller What's Your Angle? and the binding is the pink pearlized dot from the Glitz line.

 The binding was hand stitched to the back while on Thanksgiving break.  I finished just in time to photograph and upload before the deadline.  This is my first time entering a quilt into a show.  I must admit, it was quite exciting and nerve wracking at the same time.

I saw on Instagram this morning that a record breaking number (1,810) of quilts were entered in QuiltCon 2016 and approximately 300-350 will be accepted!  What an incredible show it will be!

To me, it's a win-win.  If my quilt gets in...Cool!!!  If it doesn't....I don't have to make a hanging sleeve and ship it have to part with it!  Good luck to all who entered!

QuiltCon 2015 = New WIPs

It seems I am always on the go which prompted me to take classes at QuiltCon that would provide portable stitching skills.  As a matter of fact, out of the four workshops I attended only one required a sewing machine.

embroidery class project

First up was Embroidery with Alison Glass.  I pretty much knew the stitches taught, but it was a nice refresher and I was inspired to pull out some old embroidery WIPs and plan new embroidery projects.

two sample class projects

Another workshop I took with Alison Glass was Modern Appliqué.  We learned four techniques, but by far my favorite was the reverse appliqué using jersey knit.  I love the nice surprise when the knit is cut away and you see the gorgeous fabric underneath!

this WIP also served as my blanket on the train...super soft!

This inspired a bigger appliqué project that I recently took with me on my daughter's orchestra field trip to NYC by train (23 hours each way!).  I used Deep Dark Ocean for the top, Sahara Sun for the back (both new jersey solids from Art Gallery Fabrics) and Melody Miller's Playful from Cotton+Steel for the middle.  Circles, squares and triangles are traced on the top which will result in a shapes themed blanket for my grandson.

good times!

My sister and I were in class together with Katy Jones learning English Paper Piecing.  We both had a blast in this class...laughing, learning, chatting with our table mates, and of course eating chocolate.

EPP class progress

making hexies

Skills I learned in Katy's class came in handy when making the hexie Flower for Eleni and are nice when I join my friends for Crafty Tuesday.

improv piecing

Basic Improv with the Gee's Bend Quilters was the only workshop I used a machine.  I thoroughly enjoyed listening to the stories of Gee's Bend and did not do much sewing.  That's OK as I can sew at home any time, but the opportunity to listen to the ladies of Gee's Bend is rare!

So there's my latest WIPs added to my existing, long, and always growing list!  

Since I haven't really done a post QuiltCon recap, here are a few more pictures from my workshops:

love Alison's stitching setup

another reverse appliqué project with all quilting cotton

 The stitches learned in Embroidery were useful in Modern Appliqué.

Class photo from Modern Appliqué 

looking and listening - Gee's Bend

Selfie with the sweet Vicki aka America's Best Friend 

Susan and her daughters in Embroidery class with me 

Overachievers in EPP -  Melissa and Kristy

Teacher's pet!

picture with China Pettaway

Linking up with WIP Wednesday at Freshly Pieced.
Thanks for stopping by,

QuiltCon 2015: Charity Quilts

There is so much to say about QuiltCon...the quilts, the classes, the food and of course the people/community....  I did not enter any quilts into QuiltCon, but I did play a small part in three charity quilts that were on exhibit.

Geese in the Round by Wish Circle of do. Good Stitches a charity bee

One of the special exhibits at QuiltCon was  Pieced With Love: The Quilts of do. Good Stitches showcasing twelve do. Good Stitches {a charity bee} quilts.  I was excited to learn that one of the selected quilts was from our Wish Circle.  Geese in the Round (quilted by Caitlin) was one of the first Wish Circle quilts I participated in...see my block there in the bottom right corner?!

OrlandoMQG charity quilt-quilted by Ellen

Our OrlandoMQG members made blocks which were assembled into this QuiltCon Challenge Charity quilt.  All the challenge quilts were hanging in two of the ballrooms.  I was unable to get pictures of all the charity quilts, but I did take pictures of more than half.  I uploaded a Flipgram video on instagram if you want to see more.  If you search the hashtag #52QGoestoQuiltCon, you should find it.
 

Four of my blocks are in this quilt

Since I'm on the MQG Charity Committee, I wanted to also participate in the Region 4 QuiltCon charity quilt with several individual MQG members from my region.  I met two of them at QuiltCon but sadly didn't get a group picture with our quilt.

Region 4 Charity Quilt

I am still decompressing from my QuiltCon experience,  as well as still unpacking from that trip, so I plan to spread out my blog posts detailing my week in Austin.

Hope everyone is having a great week so far.  Thanks for stopping by,

Next Week

I'm home from QuiltCon and now enjoying a visit from my grandson.

first time at Animal Kingdom

Next week I will return with Dear Jane blocks, share pictures and tell you all about my adventures at QuiltCon.  In the meantime, you can read my "goodbye" post over at 52Quilters which includes some QuiltCon tidbits.

  

from Gnome Angel

There is also an interview over at Gnome Angel with Chris, the creator of 52Quilters.  It's an interesting interview, and I love that our guild's QuiltCon charity quilt from my week's post is featured in the collage.

I hope you will check out them both!

Quilt Beach and QuiltCon Prep

As I pack for QuiltCon, I want to share pictures taken a week or so ago at QuiltBeach.  I only went for one class and their VIQ Cocktail party.  What a blast!

Luke Haynes at work

Me, Luke and Allison

The one class I took was From Clothes to Quilts taught by Luke Haynes.  I was pleasantly surprised to see and meet Allison in Luke's class.  She was the recipient of my Angled Camp pillow swap.  It really is a small quilty world!

mini quilt top

The fabric for this class came from the closet of my boys.  I don't think they will miss their old button downs.  One shirt in particular was not suited for this project as what I took for nice stripes were really embroidered sections and frayed when placed near a seam.

Luke's class work - why can't mine look like that?!

I sometimes need to remind myself that I am in class to learn a technique and not necessarily to walk away with a masterpiece.  Otherwise I am quite disappointed in what I create in class ;-)

nice backdrop, wouldn't you say?!

love the cover quilt

Victoria was also at Quilt Beach teaching, lecturing and signing copies of her new book.  It was great to see her again and grab a few copies of her Double Wedding Ring Quilts book.

Cheers!

VIQ cocktail party

I am so thankful to Shelagh and Treasure Coast for bringing Luke Haynes and Victoria Findlay-Wolfe to our area!  I have taken classes with Victoria before and there is always something new to learn.  I did not get into any classes or the lecture with Luke at QuiltCon, so I was excited to take his class in Vero Beach.

If you're taking a class or attending a lecture with Victoria or Luke at QuiltCon,  you're in for a real treat!

how to best use my handmade pouches

I am basically home two days in between winter break in Montana and flying to Austin for QuiltCon. My unpacking and repacking was quite frantic.

organized by class

I am taking four classes, attending several lectures, staying for the Leadership Conference, and plan to meet up with old and new friends!

Alison and Penny's books

Packed a few books for author autographs.  I'm disappointed my copy of Krista's new book Make It, Take It did not arrive in time.  I may need to buy another copy while at QuiltCon so she can sign it for me.

Want to swap?!

I'm also "reporting live" for the 52 Quilters project while I am there.  I have pins for trading so if you're there, stop me and let's swap!  I will be swapping Rene' Creates AND 52 Quilters pins.

Somebody was trying to stow away in my carryon!

Thanks so much for stopping by!
I'm not sure if I'll have a chance to blog while I'm away, but I am taking my laptop just in case.