Category Archives: challenge

Birds of a Feather Quilt Together

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This year’s theme for our guild’s quilt show challenge was, “Birds of a Feather Quilt Together”. 

The challenge rules consisted of:

  • Create a bird using any style you prefer
  • Use some or all of the ruby fabric provided
  • Use some or all of the beads provided
  • The number 40 must appear in your quilt
  • Perimeter not to exceed 80”

When I saw the April block from the pattern collection called, 2025 Year Of Sewing Machines, I knew I had found the perfect pattern to fit the parameters of the guild challenge, Birds of a Feather, Quilt Together. 

The quilt pattern depicts a Singer Featherweight sewing machine piecing a bird block.  Since I have a Featherweight, this seemed to be the perfect pattern for me.  I have surrounded my quilt with beads on the bumps of the rick rack trim on the outside border of my quilt and I have used the ruby red fabric provided in the challenge for the body of my bird and the outer border.  The number 40 appears on the faceplate of my machine as, 40 Years 1985 to 2025, which is a tribute to the 40th Anniversary of our guild.  The silver alphabet beads stitched to the body of the quilt spell out, “Birds of a Feather Quilt Together”.

This is the April block from the pattern collection called, 2025 Year Of Sewing Machines

Retreat – February 7 to 10, 2020

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I started working on these star blocks during the last retreat (in October 2019). I finally finished the blocks and got them all arranged onto the design wall on the first day of retreat and then on the second day of retreat I managed to get everything sewn together into a finished flimsy.

I must admit, I was a bit frustrated coming into the room on Saturday morning after I spent time Friday arranging the blocks, only to find that my design wall had come loose from the wall and everything was in a heap on the floor. I had to start all over with the layout on Saturday morning. It was a good thing I wasn’t married to that layout. I put the design wall back up on the wall and started arranging blocks again. My layout isn’t planned; but rather my typical random placement.

This is a large lap – approximately 66″ x 76″.

The fabrics used were from two fat quarter stacks of Jinny Beyer fabrics – 50 fabrics in total. Each star is made from a different fabric. I only needed 46 different fabrics to execute my plan which left me with 4 star blocks leftover that I will make into either a pillow or a table runner.

The pattern is from Atkinson Designs and is called Stash Stars. The blocks are very cleverly pieced with no danger of ever cutting off a point as the points float and do not go out to the edge of the block.

This was the second project that I worked on during retreat. This is my Snowflake quilt. This is the quilt that I was making for our guild’s Winter Challenge. I was very ambitious to think I would finish it at retreat and have it ready for the February guild meeting. This one might have to wait until the next retreat.

I tried to piece the blues randomly but you can see where I have too many dark blocks together. The fabrics are different but from a distance they read too similar in value. I will have to do some frogging and replacing with different blue squares to fix that look.

The quilt pattern is called Snowflake and is by Nicole Daksiewicz of Modern Handcraft.

The Winter Challenge “rules” were:

Winter Challenge

You are making a quilt creation for yourself.

Requirements…..not rules….

1. Make a winter improv/modern quilt (your choice of inspiration)

2. Minimum size 16″ by 16″

Maximum size – No limit

3. Make it in your 5%, something you would love to receive.

4. Finnish and show by the Feb 13 guild meeting. If you are not available for the Feb meeting posting on the Facebook page is good.

5. Participation is encouraged as your creation will tie into our next swap plans for the spring, to be announced at the Feb meeting.

FVMQG 2018 Creativ Festival Challenge

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This year my modern quilt guild’s annual challenge rules were:

1.  Pick up a challenge quilt envelope that contains a 10″ square of fabric in one of the colours from our guild logo.  The three challenge fabrics were all Free Spirit Cottons in the following colours:  Tropical, Jade, and Spring.

Free Spirit Solid - Tropical

Free Spirit Solid – Tropical

Free Spirit Solid - Jade

Free Spirit Solid – Jade

Free Spirit Solid - Spring

Free Spirit Solid – Spring

2.  The colour of the square in your envelope must be the dominant colour in your challenge quilt.

3.  Use the guild business card provided to show you the other colours that can be used and feel free to add as many of those colours as you would like.

Guild business card

Guild business card

4.  Solids only.  No prints.

5.  Neutrals can also be used.

6.  Size:  21″ x 21″ – square only, no other shapes

7.  Keep your quilt a secret.  Do not post pictures on Facebook.  Nothing is to be revealed until the quilts are hung and voted on by the public at the show.

The colour in the envelope that I received was Spring.  I love lime green so I was pretty happy that this was the colour that was assigned to me.

The challenge quilts were displayed for public viewing at the Creativ Festival show on March 16 and 17.

Creativ Festival Challenge Quilts - Group 1

Creativ Festival Challenge Quilts – Group 1

Creativ Festival Challenge Quilts - Group 2

Creativ Festival Challenge Quilts – Group 2

Creativ Festival Challenge Quilts - Group 3

Creativ Festival Challenge Quilts – Group 3

Creativ Festival Challenge Quilts - Part 4

Creativ Festival Challenge Quilts – Part 4

We have to wait until the April guild meeting to find out who won the Viewer’s Challenge Award and to see who made which quilt.

 

The book that you bought that you haven’t made the quilt from yet challenge – Update

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I am happy to report that my challenge quilt is quilted and bound, ready for entry in our guild’s little display at this year’s Creativ Festival in Abbotsford on March 24 and 25, 2017.

 

SISTERS IS OFF THE GRID - hanging in the 2017 Creativ Festival

SISTERS IS OFF THE GRID – hanging in the 2017 Creativ Festival


Title of Quilt: Sisters is Off The Grid
Quilted by: Me (Silverthimble Quilting)
Size: 64 inches x 74 inches
Book / Magazine / Pattern: Love Patchwork & Quilting Magazine – Issue Twenty Six
Author / Designer: Jo Avery and the Edinburgh Modern Quilt Guild
Title of Original Quilt: Off The Grid
About the Quilt: The quilt was created as the Edinburgh Modern Quilt Guild’s Charity Quilt Challege entry for QuiltCon 2015. The challenge was to make a quilt using an ‘off-grid’ construction. The EMQG produced their version of the quilt in a random, improv style and Jo Avery produced the pattern for a structured version of the quilt. My version of this quilt uses a mixture of prints and solids. In 2014, some members of the FVMQG took a bus trip to Sisters, Oregon in July to see the annual Sisters Outdoor Quilt Show. We were able to visit the famous Stichin’ Post, a quilt shop located in Sisters that is owned by Jean and Valori Wells. I purchased two fat quarter packs of Valori Wells’ fabrics as my souvenir of the trip and used them along with coordinating solids in my version of this quilt. Sisters is a very small town with a population of only 2,038 (as of the 2010 Census), located 155 miles southeast of Portland in the high desert. The Sisters Outdoor Quilt Show is internationally recognized as the world’s largest outdoor quilt show displaying more than 1300 quilts representing fiber artists from around the world. More than 10,000 visitors from all over the world flock to Sisters on the second Saturday in July every year to attend this quilt show.

The book that you bought that you haven’t made the quilt from yet challenge

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Our guild has issued a challenge this year for our annual Creativ Festival display of quilts to make a quilt from a book that you bought that you haven’t made the quilt from yet.  I was going to add the challenge for myself of piecing curves and make Modern Millie but the background I picked and ordered for my quilt was a bit darker than I would have liked when it arrived.  Add in Christmas events, customer quilts, and workshops taking up my time and I started to worry that I would run out of time to complete my entry.  I shifted gears towards the completion of a quilt that I had started last summer–Off the Grid.

The quilt was created as the Edinburgh Modern Quilt Guild’s Charity Quilt Challege entry for QuiltCon 2015. The challenge was to make a quilt using an ‘off-grid’ construction. The EMQG produced their version of the quilt in a random, improv style and Jo Avery produced the pattern for a structured version of the quilt.  The pattern appeared in the Love Patchwork & Quilting Magazine, issue Twenty Six.

Love-Patchwork-Quilting-issue-26-724x1024

My version of this quilt uses a mixture of prints and solids. In 2014, some members of the FVMQG took a bus trip to Sisters, Oregon in July to see the annual Sisters Outdoor Quilt Show. We were able to visit the famous Stichin’ Post, a quilt shop located in Sisters that is owned by Jean and Valori Wells. I purchased two fat quarter packs of Valori Wells’ fabrics as my souvenir of the trip and used them along with coordinating solids in my version of this quilt.

Sisters is a very small town with a population of only 2,038 (as of the 2010 Census), located 155 miles southeast of Portland in the high desert. The Sisters Outdoor Quilt Show is internationally recognized as the world’s largest outdoor quilt show displaying more than 1300 quilts representing fiber artists from around the world. More than 10,000 visitors from all over the world flock to Sisters on the second Saturday in July every year to attend this quilt show.

2017 Creativ Festival Challenge entry (flimsy) 64 in x 74 in

2017 Creativ Festival Challenge entry (flimsy) 64 in x 74 in

Now I just need to get this quilted and bound by the March 9, 2017 deadline!