Modernized New York Beauty - Part Eight

This is a continuation of 7 previous posts about the making of the modernized New York beauty as part of the mod squad challenge for 2024.  When I make a quilt that needs custom quilting, I take a picture of the quilt, turn it into black and white, and print a copy.  Then, I use tracing paper and try out a few of my ideas.  When I'm satisfied with the drawing, I then either transfer the idea to the fabric with a water soluble marker, a white marking pencil, or I just use the drawing as a reference.  This was my idea for the quilting for this quilt:

I ended up doing things a little bit differently, while still matching the thread colors.

Stay tuned for a picture of the the quilt after it got quilted!

Modernized New York Beauty - Part Seven

This is a continuation of 6 previous posts about the making of the modernized New York Beauty for the mod squad challenge.  I pulled out all of my quilting threads to match the colors in the quilt.  I needed a few more, so I pulled from my sewing threads and hope they will run through the machine OK.  Here are two pictures - one showing the matching method that I use by putting the spool on top of the fabric color.  And the second one shows the threads all in a pile.

I can't wait to start quilting it.

I hope you still like it!

Sisters Outdoor quilt show - 2024

I rode the bus with quilters from my guild and another guild for the 2nd year in a row to the Sisters Outdoor Quilt show in Sisters, Oregon.  What fun it was again!   Yes, it was hot over in Central Oregon, I think it was 99 degrees.  I took a cooling fan, a big hat, and sat down more than I did last year.  Anyway, lots of nice quilts.  Here's some of the pictures:

And here I am having lunch with Linda Taccolini, Joy Frahm, and Sandi Stuhr and enjoying our Margaritas!

I hope you like seeing the quilts!

Sewing Lessons

My youngest granddaughter is taking beginning sewing lessons with me.  We made a small bag that is big enough for a cell phone - her first all fabric project.  She's such a fast learner, so smart, and really enthusiastic.  Its a real joy for me to pass along the skill set.  

And Grandpa took her out to pick the blueberries after her sewing lesson.  Now.... maybe she would be interested in making a small quilt?

Modernized New York Beauty - Part Six

This is a continuation of 5 previous posts about the making of the Modernized New York Beauty quilt that I want to enter into QuiltCon.  

The next step was to sew this big circle into the background.  I had to unpin all of the applique circles in order to sew the 4 background pieces together.  Then I sewed the arc into the background.

After I sewed the background to the arc piece, I pinned the applique circles in place, making sure that they were the right angle and distance; then spot glued them in place.  Each circle had to be machine appliqued in place and this took the better part of a week and involved a fair amount of twisting and turning the whole piece.  I don't mind sewing things like this, but I do worry that things will get stretched out of shape on the edge.  So, before I did all of that applique, I went ahead and stay stitched the edges.  

And finally I spray and pin basted it to the batting and backing.  Here it is all ready to quilt! 

I hope you like it so far!

Tradition Made Modern - Part Five

This is a continuation of 4 previous posts about the making of the Modernized New York Beauty quilt that I want to enter into QuiltCon.   I sewed the quadrant pieces together and separately, sewed the background pieces together.  Originally, the background pieces were planned to also be in quadrants, but I wanted the ombre fabric to match from the 4 sides, so I taped the pieces together, then cut them apart at the corner diagonals.  This meant that I couldn't sew the background quadrants to the circle quadrants.  Each had to be pieced and then sewn together as one big seam.  Oh boy, that might sound like a lot of math to some of you.  But, if you're like me, and you LOVE math, this will get your brain into high gear and it will give you a lot of pleasure to figure out all of the geometry.  

Well, back to my conundrum with the colors of the circles.  I made a lot of circles and tried a few combinations before I landed on continuing with the same colors as the points of the inner arcs and making them in graduated sizes.  Here is where I ended up.

When I finally had that decided, I went ahead and sewed the arcs all together.  For some strange reason, I sewed all of the center pieces together, then had to piece the arc quadrants to the circle.  What?!%?  Talk about making it hard on myself!  

I know it doesn't look like much changed, but the piecing took a long time.  It looks wonky because I intended it to be wonky with my hand drawn pattern.  

I hope you like it so far.

Tradition Made Modern - Part Four

This is a continuation of 3 previous posts about the making of the Modernized New York Beauty for the Mod Squad Challenge for 2024.  I decided that I wanted to get it done and enter it into the QuiltCon show of the Modern Quilt Guild in February 2025 in Phoenix.  The deadline is in the fall, which is months before the deadline for the Mod Squad.  

I decided to start making the applique circles for the center pieces in the peach and yellow fabrics.  Since I machine applique, I didn't want to piece the entire top and then wrestle it around the machine for all of the little circles.  It'll be a different story for the applique circles on the outer edge since they will be placed exactly where they should line up.  Anyway, I made the circles and pinned them in place, measuring the angle and the distance with a protractor and ruler.  I think I might change the placement so that it is more random, though.  I like the idea that they could look more like freckles instead of concentric circles.

I cut out all of the circles for the outside in shades of purple to pink.  I pinned those in place.  I thought they looked kind of heavy, so I changed them to some lighter versions.  I didn't like that either and here is the final placement of the the circles.  My husband didn't like the peach and frankly I didn't either.  But it has to sit and marinate for a while.  

Stay tuned for what I decided to do.