Black and White

Have you heard about the two-color challenge over at Color Girl Quilts? Sharon is hosting a sew along / challenge to use just two colors. If you use black and white, the project could be eligible for a future issue of Curated Quilts.

Since I'm not happy with the stark black and white bits in my Yellow-Green BOM project (scroll down), maybe I can repurpose them. And add a few fabrics from stash. I seem to have a few black and white prints. Here's the palette I've pulled for the black and white challenge.

Of course I'll add solid black and white or white-on-white as well. I may not use all of these prints, but at least I have plenty to choose from.

I have no idea yet what I'll make, but the pattern link up is next week so I 'd better figure out something pretty quickly. The top is due end of June and the finished quilt (image) is due August 1st for Curated Quilts. Minimum size is not less than 150" around the perimeter. If I make a 40 x 40" top that's 160" so that should qualify.

Since I finished Pickle Dish and the Red Project is stalled, I've been wanting a new project to work on. The Yellow-Green BOM has to wait for the monthly block assignments, so I can work on this black and white challenge in the meantime.

It's kind of ironic that someone who calls herself the Colorful Fabriholic wants to work exclusively in black and white, and has the stash to do so, don't you think??? Wish me luck that I can pull something off!

What's on my Design Wall: Yellow-Green Blocks

As I've mentioned before, STLMQG has an ongoing BOM in which we each use only one spoke of the color wheel, and make blocks according to the theme or skill announced each month. My color is Yellow-Green.

You know how sometimes leader-enders take on a life of their own and become a full-blown project? Yeah, my color BOM project is starting to do that, too. Each month in addition to the featured block(s) I've been making some filler units. The whole thing will end up like a puzzle quilt, a la Jen Kingwell.

Here are all the blocks and parts I have so far, just stuck on the wall, definitely not the actual placement.

A total eyesore so far, but there's at least 5 more months to go of monthly block assignments so we'll see how this ends up.

I have a half-yard of a bold black and white stripe that I'm thinking of using for some filler strips. Or maybe I should save it for the binding? I'll also add filler strips of some of the prints used in the blocks.

Since the beginning, I've planned on having some black and white parts for fillers, so I've made some four patches for checkerboard strips and some flying geese. But as I look at this, I wonder if the contrast is too stark? Some of Jen Kingwell's quilts seem to feature less contrast. Or maybe I just need more B+W parts, and need to space out the other stuff more so it's not all crowded together. What do you think? Comments and input welcome.


Link ups:
Small Quilts and Doll Quilts
Em's Scrapbag
Love Laugh Quilt

Hands2Help - Mercyful Plus

My second quilt for Hands2Help this year is Mercyful Plus.

This quilt was inspired by a blogger bundle from Bernie at Needle and Foot, the sponsor of Mercyful Quilts. It's fitting that this quilt should go back to them.  Story here.

Linking up with Hands2Help at Confessions of a Fabric Addict

Hands2Help - Bricks and Mortar

Today is the final link-up day at Confessions of a Fabric Addict for Hands2Help. 

This quilt is going to Mercyful Quilts.

I'm calling this one Bricks and Mortar. 

It was a UFO for the longest time, but now it's finished.
Story here - scroll down. 

Linking up with Confessions of a Fabric Addict

The Snake Quilt

Remember a couple of years ago, some friends and I got together to make a snake quilt?

Cherie, Kevin, and Dar, with me in front

It's now quilted, bound, labeled, and finished.

This whole project started when Cherie spotted a vintage snake quilt in the window of an antique shop in Paducah in April 2016. I drafted the pattern for her. One thing led to another, and it grew into a group project with Kevin and Dar; we all got together at Kevin's Quilt Cave a few times to piece the blocks and make the top. It was always intended to be a Quilt of Valor, and we used a scrappy combination of fabrics from all our stashes. It was a challenging project for all of us.

Fast forward, and Cherie was able to quilt it. She quilted stars into it in keeping with its purpose as a QOV.

I found the perfect star spangled backing fabric for it. And someone had a nice navy print with red and white in it, perfect for the binding.

We have a veteran in mind to present this QOV to, my SIL's father-in-law who served in the Navy. We're hoping to present it in June. He's in his late 80's so it's about time he gets a QOV.

This has been such an enjoyable and satisfying project in so many ways. The challenge of creating the pattern and the templates, learning to paper piece the arcs, sewing the curved seams in the blocks. But the very best thing about this whole project has been collaborating with friends and getting together for sew days with them. I'm beyond pleased with how it turned out.

Snake Quilt, QOV, 60" x 80"

Link ups:
Confessions of a Fabric Addict
Wendy's Quilts and More
My Quilt Infatuation

Paper Piecing and More

At the STLMQG meeting on Saturday they announced the color spoke BOM skill for this month: paper piecing. Since this is an ongoing BOM, I'm making varied blocks in 12", 9" and 6" sizes with 3" filler blocks and I'll puzzle them all together later. My color is Yellow-Green. 

I've always admired Pineapple blocks but never wanted to commit to making enough for a whole quilt. This would be a great project to try a Pineapple block and get it out of my system. 

I printed off a foundation for a 6" block from EQ7. I made one test block, and it turned out pretty well. Then I decided to make three more. It's actually easier to chain piece more than one at a time. 

Fold. Align. Sew. Press. Trim. Repeat, around and around. 

In other STLMQG news, we had a huge turnout for the "No Excuses" challenge. Some of the quilts were amazing! Mine (see previous post below) was accepted for our quilt show in July, so I turned it in to the show coordinator. 

The Mineral Plus quilt is still on my design wall. I have about four more row seams to go until it's a finished flimsy. But row seams are boring and it was much more interesting to spend my time in the sewing room yesterday playing with Pineapple blocks. I'll get Mineral Plus finished to a flimsy this week. 

Also this week I'll bind the snake quilt. I hope to have it finished to show here Friday, and I'll take it to the CSQ meeting next week. 

Link ups: 

Small Quilts and Doll Quilts

Em's Scrapbag

Love Laugh Quilt

No Excuses

Tomorrow the entries in STLMQG's "No Excuses" challenge are due. My entry is finished and ready to go.

Each member of STLMQG was given a mini charm pack, and the challenge is to use at lease one piece in any quilted item. Pretty simple, therefore there's no excuse not to participate, right?

I said I might use this piece...

...and I did.

Want to see the rest of what I did with it? Here it is:

Okay, I used more than one of the mini-charms. That's fine, no rule against that. In fact, pretty much no rules. I raided my low volume scraps and stash and combined as many as I could into a layout featuring a lot of negative space.

Then I added a lot of quilting, straight lines about 1/2" apart and strategically placed spirals.

The backing is a low volume black and white print. While making the top, I found that some high contrast prints with a lot of black in them, even if they're on pale grounds, didn't play nicely so I had to leave them out. This one was borderline, but I used it in the top anyway. 

This quilt measures about 42 by 54 inches and will become a donation quilt later. Meanwhile it'll be shown in STLMQG's quilt show in July in the "No Excuses" category.

The guild announced that the prizes for the challenge participants will be awarded by raffle, not by voting or viewer's choice, so it doesn't matter if I share today rather than wait until after the meeting tomorrow. So, I'm whooping today for a finish, my "No Excuses" challenge quilt.


Link ups:
Confessions of a Fabric Addict
Wendy's Quilts and More
My Quilt Infatuation