Winter Quilt Show 2017

I have 4 quilts entered in the Winter Quilt Show in West Bend, WI. I've never entered quilts in a show before. I was very surprised to see all 4 of my entries on display. My husband was so proud of me that he had to snap photos of me in front of each and every one of the quilts. I'm posting the photo (of me) that I like the best.

Besides my 4 quilts, my modern quilt club entered our group project called "The Quilt that Made Milwaukee Famous". We all decided to make a quilt block that represents a Milwaukee landmark. We had a few rules. We had to all use the same color palette and our blocks had to measure at a finished size in increments of 8 inches. My block is 8" by 16". After the block were completed we spent a Saturday morning laying the blocks out. It was a great group project. We had one of our members sew the sashing around the blocks right on the spot. There was going to be no guessing after the layout was agreed upon, we were completing the top that same Saturday morning...well early afternoon by the time we were done. The quilt was sent out to be quilted and then completed by another member of the group. It sure turned out great.

Of course, the day would not be complete without a little shopping. Me and my friend Sue enjoyed stopping at every vendor booth and perusing all the wonderful fabric selections. We were both on a mission to find specific things and Sue found what she was looking for but I did not. That did not stop me from shopping anyway! I love fat quarters so I added many to my stash at great prices. I can't wait to start another project.

Milwaukee Modern Quilt Club Project

I belong to a modern quilt club that meets monthly at our local quilt shop. This winter we decided to create a modern quilt as a group and enter it into the Wisconsin State Fair and possibly the Modern Quilt Show. We decided to use Milwaukee landmarks as our theme and each member of the group chose a local landmark as their quilt block. We used the Modern Quilt Show color palette from a few years ago as our guide in making our blocks.

Over the past month we got together with our blocks, decided on a layout and stitched the blocks together. We all agree that the project is coming along very nicely. We only have a little time left to get the quilt top quilted and bound (July 29th) but we are confident that we will finish in time.

Modern Quilt Block - Harley Museum

My Milwaukee Modern Quilt Club has decided to enter a quilt in QuiltCon this year. As a group we decided to take some of our famous Milwaukee landmarks and make them into modern quilt blocks. Each person who wanted to participate chose a landmark to transform into a block. Some of the blocks in the quilt include the Allen-Bradley clock tower, the gas light on top of the WE Energies building, Hank the Milwaukee Brewer's mascot dog, the Hoan Bridge, the Calatrava wings...I could go on an on. I chose the Harley-Davidson museum.

Using a professional photographer's image of the museum campus from the view of the canal, I cut out paper pieces until I got the parts of the buildings scaled just right. There are these orange water towers that stand on each end of the campus and I felt it was important to make sure they were in the block. To give the block a totally modern feel, I chose to take out the trees. I wanted as little applique in the block as possible for a more crisp and fresh look. 

We had a specific color palette to use so the entire quilt with have a consistent look and feel so that is why the color of the grass is an unusual shade of green. Besides the color palette our rules were few, just make it modern and make it in increments of 4-inches. My block is 24 x 8. I can't wait to see this quilt come together over the next month.

What's on the design board?

This month my design board is pretty bare. This is a photo of just a section of the board.  I am happy to report that I've been finishing up some UFOs from last year so I haven't started any new projects.  It feels so good to finish old projects.

I did make a purple star block for my quilt club. During the club meeting in September we have to bring an eight and a half-inch block done with purples. Everyone who brings a block gets to drop their block into a bag then once all the blocks are in the bag, one is pulled out. The owner of the block pulled gets the whole bag of blocks. I can't wait to see what the other blocks look like. Since my most recent project was these star blocks it seemed appropriate to make one for this event.  Plus all the fabrics were still available since I haven't put them away yet.

I also have some of Sandy Klop's fabric on the wall.  These charm squares were completed by someone else and then left with the rest of the charm pack at Quilts for Kids.  I thought I would take them home and turn them into something.  Not sure what yet. Hoping putting them on the design wall would inspire me.

Looking at my empty design board is a reminder that I really need to brush the threads off of it!