Sunday Stash (QuiltCon Edition)

I can't believe a month has passed since I returned home from QuiltCon East which you all know took place in Savannah, GA.  Since then I've been sick twice, first with a bad cold and then a nasty stomach virus.  And I made a trip to Mississippi to attend the funeral of an uncle.  I'm anticipating April to be a more healthy and happy month.

While at QuiltCon, of course I shopped the vendors, but I was relatively good.  I thought I would show you what I brought home.  Most are purchases, but I scored an awesome souvenir!

Now, just look at this pincushion.  Do you see those initials AJN?  You know whose they are, right?  I was looking at the quilts late Thursday afternoon and ran into none other than Amanda Jean Nyberg of Crazy Mom Quilts.

Pincushion made by Amanda Jean Nyberg

Before QuiltCon she mentioned in a blog post she would be giving out 75 pincushions at QuiltCon.  You just had to show her a picture of a quilt you had made from one of her patterns.  I've made a mini from her Trees pattern (blogged here).  I've also made a mini Bright Birch Trees which haven't blogged about yet.

Ok, on to the rest.  I was excited to receive a fat quarter of Flourish from Seventy Six by Alison Glass in the QuiltCon swag bag.

Flourish in Marigold

I splurged on a 2-year subscription to Simply Moderne and received this charm pack of Folk Art Revolution by Kathy Doughty and a tote bag and yearly calendar.

Folk Art Revolution by Kathy Doughty

I also purchased a two small fat quarter bundles of Doe by Carolyn Friedlander at the Beyond the Reef booth.

Doe by Carolyn Friedlander

I don't remember from which booth, but I purchased four half-yard cuts of Cotton and Steel's Basic, Add It Up in Lip Gloss, Bananas, Sea Glass and Indigo.  These have already been prewashed, cut into and added to the stash.  The substrate of the three on the top are an unbleached quilting cotton which feels wonderful and keeps the colors from being too saturated if that makes sense.

Cotton and Steel's Basic, Add It Up

And lastly, I found these enamel and sterling silver earrings at the SCAD gift shop by Kathryn Riechert and thought they were the perfect souvenir since I took an indigo fabric dyeing class with Maura Ambrose of Folk Fibers.  I'll share about my dyeing adventure in another post.

I hope your brought home lots of goodies from QuiltCon!

Linking the Sunday Stash #217 with Molli Sparkles.

Instagram Love + GIVEAWAY

Without a doubt, my favorite social media platform is...INSTAGRAM!  There's so much visual inspiration on Instagram!  It's so quick and easy, well almost instant!  You can see someone post a few quilt blocks one morning and have a finished quilt top that night.  Well, all quilts don't come together that quickly, but it's so fun to follow one's progress.

Just two years ago while at QuiltCon 2015 in Austin, Texas, I remember reaching 100 followers.  I was so surprised that 100 people would be interested in what I was doing, I took a screenshot.

Fast forward two years, and shortly after QuiltCon 2017 in Savannah, GA, my Instagram account reached 1,000 followers.  I'm so honored to have each and every one you follow along that I decided to host a giveaway on Instagram.  One lucky follower from anywhere in the world will receive a $25 gift certificate, AKA Stash Cash, to Stash Fabrics, an online quilt shop north of Atlanta, GA.  The details are below the instagram link.

Thank you for following along on this quilting journey! To celebrate 1k followers, I’m giving away a $25 gift certificate to @StashFabrics! Simple, just: 1. Follow @QuiltedBlooms 2. Like this photo Bonus entries for tagging and/or reposting. Open to everyone! Giveaway ends 3/17 8pm EST. GOOD LUCK! #Giveaway #1000Followers #ThankYou

A post shared by Paige Alexander (@quiltedblooms) on Mar 10, 2017 at 12:24pm PST

There are 2 simple rules...head on over to the instagram giveaway post.  First you will need an instagram account and then:

1. Follow me on Instagram @QuiltedBlooms
2. Like the photo by clicking the heart icon below the image on the left.

And totally optional, you can receive bonus entries by tagging a friend.  If you have friends on Instagram, leave their Instagran screen name preceeded by the @ symbol in seperate comments.  The giveaway will close Saturday, March 18th at 8pm EST.

Happy Instagramming!

Clementine Daisy on Exhibit

The winter term for Olli (Osher Life Learning Institute) at Furman University has just ended this week.  And I forgot to post a picture of Clementine Daisy which was included in the "Pretty Posies" exhibit in Baiden Gallery of the Herring Center for Continuing Education.

Clementine Daisy by Paige Alexander

Clementine Daisy was the only quilt included in the exhibit and since it is small, just 21" x 21", it fit right in among other mediums like watercolors, drawings, photography and mosaics.

Pretty Posies Exhibit in the Baiden Gallery Furman University

Clementine Daisy was made for the MQG Michael Miller Fabric Challenge in July 2014.  The fabric collection was Petal Pinwheels. (The winners of the challenge are here.)  I followed a tutorial by Debbie Grifka, Sew Solid Sunday #4, and loved working with the bias applique.  This is Debbie's version made with Kona solids.

Daisy Pillow by Debbie Grifka, Sew Solid Sunday #4

I found a few in-process photos. This little wall hanging is all about BIAS. Here the background has been pieced on the bias and the petals are cut and in place.  I must have enlarged Debbie's templates by 110% because it says so.

Clementine Daisy in progress

The petals are outlined in bias stems which were fused in place and then topstitched on each edge with a straight stitching.  This must have been the first petal I quilted.  I remember not knowing what to quilt where, but that's usually how I feel about every quilt.

Quilting petals of clementine Daisy

Clementine Daisy after the quilting is complete.

Not only were the petals outlined in bias, the center was also outlined in bias.  It was really a guessing game to sew bias circle together and then audition to see if it covered the center without being too large or too small.  It had to be just right and it worked! :)  And guess what, the binding was also cut on the bias.

Update:  I added a circle over the photo so you could see where the bias strip is joined to make the circle.  I measured the circumference of where I wanted the circle to be, added 1/2" for the seam allowance and cut the bias strip to that length.  The join is also with a diagonal seam.  So with a little math and a lot of luck it all worked out.  I added the bias around the daisy center rather than a solid because I wanted to showcase one of the prints in the collection.

Circle shows where seam is make the circle 

I even got 3rd place in our guild's show in the applique/mixed technique category.  I remember being up against some stiff competition, so I was thrilled!

Clementine Daisy 

Quilt Stats:

• Finished size: 21" x 21" 
• Pattern: Daisy Pillow Tutorial (Sew Solid Sunday #4) by Debbie Grika
• Fabrics: Michael Miller - Petal Pinwheels and Cotton Couture in Clementine
• Thread: Aurifil 50 wt.
• Quilting design: Modified stipple in the petals, outlined elements in back ground, all free motion
• Batting: 100% Cotton Warm & White by the Warm Company
• Completed: July 2014

Linking to Let's Bee Social with Lorna at Sew Fresh Quilts.

March One Monthly Goal

The list goes on and on of things, like UFOs, cleaning and organizing my sewing room and more, I should be working on this month.  But instead, I've decided to make practice free motion quilting my March One Monthy Goal.

I plan to assemble some quilt sandwiches and practice each weekly FMQ design in the Quilter's Planner until I feel comfortable with each design given for the of March.  Stephanie even has video tutorials for some FMQ designs making them easier to learn.

Simple Swirl FMQ design from the Quilter's Planner

I had the pleasure of meeting Patty from Elm Street Quilts at QuiltCon in Savannah.  She wrote a wonderful post about her QuiltCon experince you can find here.

Mustard Stain Goes to QuiltCon

When Mustard Stain was started on November 18th, I didn't know if I would have time to complete it by the November 30th deadline or if my idea would even work since I had very little batiking experience.

But here it is...I did finish it by the QuiltCon entry deadline AND it was juried in the the show AND it even won a 3rd place ribbon in the APQ Nine-Patch Challenge.  I was thrilled!

Our MQG's vice president, Faye, asked the board members over to her studio for a day of surface design and play.  Since we had batiked silk scarves with soy wax resist in her studio before, I was familiar with that process and thought I might could some how incorporate that technique into my nine patch challenge.  The scarf dyeing post is here.

Faye had some square cookie cutters in graduating sizes and I thought they would be perfect for my idea of stamping some nine-patches.  I started with 1 1/2 yards of Hoffman You + Me solid batik in zinc which was really white and I stamped away with the soy wax.

Faye sent me home with some Procion dyes in turquoise and chartreuse.  I got home and researched the basics on how to use the dye and started right away.  It was tricky because the soy wax melts at a much lower temperature than other wax.  I think that's the reason the turquoise stamps are not at clear.  This is what the fabric looked like once it was dyed and the wax was removed.  

Batiked fabric using soy wax resist and Procion dyes

I sketched out a design idea and realized I needed to add some turquoise lines between my 'nine' patches to define the bigger nine-patch.  This is my 4" x 4" sketch which was drawn on the back of the Procion dye instructions I had just printed out.  Don't you love my labeling...rather than large, I labeled the stamped nine patches small, medium and BIG.  I think C stands for chartreuse.  

Mustard Stain design sketch

I started cutting and piecing, without much planning, added an asymmetrical border and before too long I had a finished quilt top.  This picture was taken on November 20th around noon, so I didn't waste any time.  Maybe improv is easier when you don't have time to think about it. I guess this is planned improv when I had a sketch from which to work.  It was still all cut with a rotary ruler and cuter, no free hand for me.

Mustard Stain finished top 

Now, how was I to quilt this, my biggest dilemma with every quilt.  I guess I thought about for awhile because this picture was taken on November 21st at 10 am.  And for me, the safest bet is straight line quilting with the walking foot.  I had the idea of quilting it in the chartreuse color and forming one more nine-patch with turquoise thread.  Here I'm auditioning placement of the turquoise lines.

Auditioning quilting path

  

I thought about the binding before I quilted it and knew I would be cutting it close on fabric.  I had the idea of adding a bit of the turquoise in the binding along the right side where the large or BIG nine patch was.  Can you see I had to piece it?

Auditioning turquoise in the binding

Here's a picture taken after the quilting was completed on November 23rd late in the afternoon.  I quilted the four turquoise lines in each direction and then drew a line diagonally to give me a guide as to where to stop and pivot 90 degrees to echo quilt to the edge.  The lines are 1/2" apart and I used the edge of the walking foot as a guide.

Mustard Stain after quilting

I almost always block my quilts and needed to remove the blue marking lines so I dunked it in the washer spun it out.  I fluffed it in the dryer for just a bit and proceeded with blocking.  I did it the same afternoon so it could dry over night and be ready to bind soon after.

Here's were disaster almost struck.  I walked back in the room after 30 minutes or so and the turquoise had bled all into the chartreuse.  I was sick, especially after coming this far.  I had no choice but wash it and try to remove the dye.  I washed it a couple times in very hot water with synthrapol (designed to take our excess dye in the wash) and blocked it second time.  Thank goodness, no bleeding this time.

I was running very short on fabric. Improv is just seems wasteful to me, maybe that's another reason it's hard for me to do.  When I pieced the binding, it ended up with 15 joins with the grainline going crosswise and lengthwise.  This is detail shot that I inclued with the QuiltCon submission.  I decided on this shot because you can see the nine patch formed by the turquoise thread and the binding detail.

Mustard Stain detail

Here's the full shot.  You can barely see where I included the fabric which had been stamped along the bottom and left side of the quilt.

Mustard Stain by Paige Alexander

And you can see the Kaffe Fassett print for the backing and a partial shot of the label.

From all the creative nine-patch quilts in the category, I was excited that Mustard Stain placed 3rd in the APQ Nine-Patch Challenge.  The ribbon matches quite well.  I didn't hear who made the ribbons, but thank you!

American Patchwork & Quilting Nine-Patch Challenge 3rd place ribbon 

American Patchwork & Quilting generously sent the finalists a bundle of their latest publications.  Thanks APQ!

QuitCon was a blast and I hope to share more soon!  You can see all the 2017 QuiltCon winners here.


Quilt Stats:

• Finished size: 33" x 33" 
• Pattern: Original design with one pieced and hand stamped nine-patches forming one large nine-patch with an asymmetrical border
• Fabrics: Hand batiked and dyed fabrics using fiber reactive Procion dyes
• Thread: Quilting - Aurifil 5022 Mustard and 2810 Turquoise
• Quilting design: Echoing straight line with walking foot
• Batting: 100% Cotton Warm & White by the Warm Company
• Completed: November 2016

Linking up to Finish Up Friday, Whoop Whoop Friday, Fabric Frenzy Friday, Finished or Not Friday and Show Off Saturday.