Our 1st Holiday Party Sewing Night

we had a great brief meeting, lots of food, a fabulous gift exchange, and tons of talking along with funny stories squeezed in between our sewing. Thanks everyone who came and we will see you in the new year! Have a great holiday!

Cross Block

Hello quilters. Here are some great links to Red Cross blocks.

Check out this one From Tallgrass rairie Studio.
1918 Quilt in the Wenache Museum

Want a starting oint to make your own Cross quilt. Check out these tutorial links.

http://bettyninja.blogspot.com/2009/01/hot-pink-cross-quilt-block-tutorial.html

http://campfollowerbags.blogspot.com/2010/02/red-cross-block-tutorial.html

http://sewmamasew.com/blog2/?p=6954

Houses

hi quilters.
the four weeeks since we last met have flown by. Tonight's quickie tute is about house blocks.
Houses in quilts is not new. However, this is about modern quilting so we should take a look at how the house blocks have been rethought.

I found great examples and tutorials to peek at and maybe get some inspiration.

My mind is on fall and Halloween this time of year. I am envisioning haunted houses and witch cottages. Christmas could be gingerbread houses or Santa's workshop. Ohhh... you could make curtain flaps that open and reveal fussy cut pictures. You could use some of your favorite scraps.

Doll House blocks at Freda's Hive Cottage Tutorial

Wonky Houses at Unruley Quilter Wonky Town

Helens House at Patchwork of Mini Grey

Check out this mazing tiny house quilt from imagingingermonkey

And her tree skirt (second picture) is so stinkin cute

I would love to show what you quilt up. It doesnt have to be something made from the tutorials. This is your guild blog so lets see what you got. You worked hard now show off.

I would also like to welcome our newest member, Trina, to our group. Welcome Trina. She is the one with the super cute little baby.

Circles

Our September meeting featured a tutorial by A Commonplace Life called The Round About Quilt.
I wont repeat her wonderful tutorial so check it out.

I will show you the pieces that I used at our meeting.


I found it helpful if I made a finger crease at the center of the pie piece and the square piece so I could line up the centers.

Use lots of pins. When the two pieces are pinned together it will look like it wont work. It does. I made 36 of these and they worked everytime.

Here is one of my finished blocks. I wanted to quilt in circles and I thought the easiest way to do this is to use the quilt as you go tutorial. I just eyeballed the quilting using the center circle as my guide.

Here are a few other great circle inspirations to check out. Happy Quilting.

Roundabout Quilt by A Commonplace Life

Raw Edge Applique Circle Quilt by Cluck Cluck Sew

Polka Dot Quilt by Other Silly Things in the Studio

Simple Circle Quilt by Make it... a Wonderful Life

Making Circles to Applique by Quilts...etc.

Making circles with tinfoil by Anna Marie Horner

Reverse circles using heat resistant plastic by Mrs Schmenkman Quilts

Potholder Sawp

Our wonky star swap went really well and I am so excited for our next swap. We are going to exchane potholders. I change my mind on what I am going to make everyday. I have been waiting to see my secret partners favorite and least favorite colors before I decide on an idea.

There is still time to sign up. We had sign ups at our August meeting but you can still join at our Septemer meeting.
You are asked to make 2 (does not have to be matching) potholders considering your secret partners favorite and least favorite colors. You write these down next to your name when you sign up.

Here are just a couple of the tutorials out there for free on the internet. Of course, you can always use your own ideas. If you are my partner I hope you like what I make for you.


Spiderweb potholder from Jaybird Quilts

Dollhouse potholder from Frida's Hive

patchwork potholder from Patchwork Style

how to make a potholder from Modify Tradition

Pinwheels in July

hello Guilders,

I have assembled some pinwheel links. It is by no means an exhaustive list of pinkwheel ideas and tutorials out there. But it is sure to get you started.

The pictures above are of a quilt I just finished yesterday. I used Love and Good Folks fabrics. Each block finishes out at a whopping 16.5 inches. I didnt quite mean for them to be that big but I like how it turned out. It was a quick quilt to make and makes a statement.

It was also easy to quilt myself.


This quilt is a wonky pinwheel quilt using a pattern, Wild Things. I believe Heather has it at The Quilt Barn. It uses 2 identical charm packs and some yardage.

If you have made or make something using pinwheels please send my a picture. I would love to share it on our blog.

p.s. i quilt Pinwheel Sampler Quilt. This quilt tutorial includes all the instructions to make 25 different pinwheel blocks.

A more complicated pinwheel within a star block. Something a little more complicated by Haines

Moda Bakeshop has a great free pattern for a pinwheel baby quilt

Modify Tradition has a great simple pinwheel tutorial. It is the one I used for the guild meeting.

How about a mini pinwheel block finishing out t 3"? Red Pepper Quilts will show you how.

Of course I had to include a wonky pinwheel, also known as a whirly giggle. Strandz has a free tutorial for you.

Happy Quilting! Tara

Show and Tell

Look at this amazing string quilt made by Mary. She brought it to our May meeting for Show and Tell.

Yah, she just whipped this up after our string quilt tutorial. Awesome!! Thanks for bringing this in Mary.

Wonky Log Cabin

At our last meeting in May we talked about wonky log cabin blocks. One of my favorite blogs, Tallgrass Prairie Studio, has a great tutorial. Here is the link.

This quilt is one that is hanging in The Quilt Barn. I believe Jenele taught a wonky log cabin class with this. Go take a look, its a great quilt.

Speaking of Jenele, she brought this quilt as a show and tell. It is amazing. The quilting is done with different thread colors and is very striking.

Heather's son made this wonky log cabin quilt. The backing is a soft brown minky.

If you make a wonky log cabin let us know and we would love to post a picture.

Wonky Star Block Swap

Hello all. I finally have the wonky star tutorial and link up for you.
At our last meeting in May we discussed a block swap. Here are the guidelines:

-you have to make 12 blocks by the August meeting.
-the background fabric must be a solid white, no tone on tone.
-the star points are to be done in brights. A country or darker color block swap is in the works for the Fall
-you must follow the tutorial that we found on The Silly Boo Dilly blog.

This is a fun and easy block that is appropriate for all sewing levels.
We have about 8 people signed up so far but you can sign up at any time.

You can click on the link above and it will take you to the Silly Boo Dilly blog for her wonky star tutorial. I will also show you step by step pictures of my block.

What you will need:
8 4.5" white squares. I bought a yard of white and it should be enough for 12 blocks.
1 4.5" center block
4 4.4" squares cut on the diagonal for the star points. You could also use scraps for this.

I lost the pictures that shows a white square and triangle laid on top. Lay one of your triangles on top of a white square.

Sew a 1/4" seam, open and press.

Flip the square over and trim the excess star pieces off using the white square as a guide.

Trim the white corner piece.

First point done. You can lay the triangle piece where ever. Experiment.

Lay the next piece on top and sew a 1/4" seam. Iron open and trim as before.

Voila. You are going to do this to 4 white squares.

Lay out the blank white squares, center square and the 4 squares with points as above. Join together and trim your block to 12"

Here is another one I made.

And one KZ made.

Email me if you would like to be added to our list of participants. We would love to see your blocks.

You can make a baby quilt or make a bunch more and make a bigger quilt.

Let me know if you have any questions, tguisto@hotmail.com

String Quilt Tutorial

Thanks to everyone for a great meeting last night. I think we had a pretty good turnout and got lots of ideas for future meetings.
I demonstrated a string quilt and took pictures as I was making the blocks. If you have any questions email me. I'd love to hear from you.
I got this idea from the wonderful blog, Film in the Fridge. She has lots of great ideas and tutorials. Check her out.

The great part of this quilt is you can pull from your scraps and stash. You dont have to buy a thing. Although, buying fabric is pretty fun.
I cut all my strings 2" but you can use any size, even mixing the sizes up in each block.

I used phone book pages to paper piece. You can use any paper but would suggest a smaller stitch length so the paper tears easier.

You can use spray baste or a glue stick to lightly stick the center string to the middle of the paper on the diagonal.

Lay your first string right sides together over the middle string. Sew through the fabric and paper.

Iron the second string open. The edges will hang over the edges of the paper.

Continue by sewing strings, right sides together on the previous strings. Iron open.

Here is what the block will look like when the paper is covered.

Flip the block over and cut the extra fabric off using the paper square as a guide.

I saved the extra bits that were cut off for the other blocks. They come in handy for the corners.

I like to chain stitch the blocks so I dont have to keep getting up to the ironing board. I got 10 blocks ready with the center block sprayed on.

Sew the first string on each block and iron open. And so on.

Now the fun part. Tear the paper off. Join the squares.

You can use any size paper. I made a 5.5" block but only because that is the size phone book I had.

I ended up with lots of strings and extra corner bits so I challenged myself to use up all the pieces. I made 2 different tops using the scraps of the scraps. I will post these when they are finished.

Modern Quilters, this is your blog so send me any ideas, questions, pictures...what ever you got.

And leave a comment to I knew you were here.

Welcome

Welcome to the first post for The Modern Quilt Guild. I have added some links to the left of blog and web sites that you might like. If you know of some great sites you would like to share email them to me and I will add them.
I thought I would start off with a bio of one of our members.


Kaysie Schreiner
I have always been interested in being creative/crafting/making huge messes all around the house for as long as I can remember much to my mother’s dismay. I painted, drew, stamped, knitted, beaded, made soap, created jewelry, basically everything but sewing. In fact, I was determined not to learn how to sew and then when I was in junior/senior in high school, I decided I wanted to be a fashion designer. So off I went to San Francisco and earned my Bachelor’s degree in Fine Arts with a major in Fashion Design. Really my passion lies in illustrating and designing (i.e. sketching, patternmaking, grading, etc), but I have learned to love sewing and learned most of my sewing and construction techniques in college. After college, I took a break from the fashion scene, but now I find myself wanting to be right back in the thick of it. I am currently working on starting a sewing pattern company with a focus on children’s wear and women’s wear. For me this is a great way to do what I love and be able to be home with my wild, adventurous, determined 2 ½ year old son, Xavier.

What is your favorite fabric line?
Right now I would have to say anything by Anna Maria Horner, seriously her stuff is just so good.

How did you start quilting?
I mainly started quilting to have a change of pace from drafting & constructing garments during the day. It has turned into a addictive hobby, that’s for sure.

Sewing tools you can't live without?
Probably my rulers, rotary cutters, pins, pattern notcher, sewing machine and drafting paper.

Sewing advice?
Have fun with it and to not be afraid to jump in and try new things

What are your favorite snacks to sew/quilt by?
Chocolate of any kind and my new favorite drink a combo of lemonade and sparkling water

Favorite show on tv or music to quilt by?
I love to watch The Golden Girls or Murder, She Wrote literally over and over again. Definitely my favorites.