Black to White PNWMQG Challenge

Sometimes I feel obligated to complete all the MQG challenges or opportunities that come up. I was excited about the Black to White Challenge for the PNW guilds for the Quilt! Knit! Stitch! Show and had a great plan.  I drew out a lovely diagram for stitch and flip HST and cut all the fabric.

Then, I picked up a bit of extra responsibility at work which reduced my desire to fill the spare time I did have with sewing a quilt that had no recipient yet.  I ditched the idea of adding the triangle to the other side of the HST and just went with the value based HST design.

This was not finished in time to submit it and I took it across the country on vacation to bind it.  The binding fairy finished the final side for me.  She also is going to give it to a step-nephew in June when he graduates from HS.  Yay that it is done nearly one year early.

I did a variety of quilting styles along the diamonds but primarily did the wishbone style.  The quilt is bound with a Valori Wells print.  It is about 60 x 70 ".  And best of all, it is another quilt crossed off the WIP list!

Two challenges

     This weekend I finished quilting my Modern Metallic Challenge quilt.  I quilted pebbles of various sizes in the middle of the rings, attempted to quilt "figure 8" in the rings, and densely stippled the negative space.  In fact it is so densely stippled that I think it is more dense than the pebbles.  I chose to machine bind it because it is not super fun to hand bind a quilt which is densely quilted.  Now I have a little more than a week to take "proper" photographs and submit it for possible display in Portland in August.  

     Instead of working on the three skorts that I have cut out and waiting to finish, I chose to try the Modern Traditional Mini Quilt challenge by Timeless Treasures and Dear Stella.  I do tend to like Modern Traditional quilts best.  I started with an intricate plan of a "do it yourself sampler" and changed plans to string HST.

     On a smaller scale, I could like it, but it wasn't a small enough scale.  To redeem some of it, I switched to making hourglass blocks with the HST.  And here is where it will stay for a few days.  This is randomly put together in an alternating pattern.  I need to do something more but I have not decided what that will be.  At the very least, I need a few more inches of "something".  And I'm nearly out of my white fabric.  I probably will not have a winning design, but I did manage to post a WIP picture so I could be entered into the random winner drawing of a charm pack or two.  I could live with that...

     I may go back to the random sampler idea again.

Modern Metallic quilt top

My MQG is participating in the Modern Metallic Challenge.  We received four fat quarters of Quilter's Linen Metallics to incorporate into our design.  The idea was that the fabric, thread or theme was inspired by metallic design details.  My original idea was to use a picture of the side of a train for the design but I changed my mind.

 

Instead I used the Icky Thump block by 627 Handworks.  The block is intended to be put together differently, but I liked the circles instead.  Luckily I had just enough Kona Snow (6 inches to spare), enough wide backing leftover from another project and a lovely batting scrap that left just two inches extra.  At about 36 x 48, it was a wonderful size to use up what I already had.

And what do I do when I wake up at an obnoxiously early hour in the morning and can't manage to get back to sleep?  I get up and baste the quilt.  I'll try to save the quilting for tomorrow when the weather is not supposed to be quite as nice as today.