Festival of Quilts

September 15, 2015

I recently returned from Festival of Quilts in Birmingham, England. We had such a delightful time. This is England’s largest trade show and I can certainly see why. The show was a buzz full of energy and excitement. One of Moda’s International Distributors, Winbourne Fabrics had a booth to meet and greet quilters and sewists from several countries.

Some of the sales team along with the President of Moda, Mark Dunn were present as they demonstrated Moda Precuts.

They even had a few sewing competitions showing some free patterns from the Moda Bake Shop.

Janet Clare stopped by to share her designing process and the place went crazy.

We got to meet store owners that were passionate about their craft and also had a wonderful selection of moda everywhere. It was so much fun!

The show was full of charity quilts. I believe they called them aid quilts. There were quilts made by all kinds of groups either raising awareness for a cause, raffling quilts to raise money for an organization or to commemorate a milestone.

This quilt immediately drew me in. Isn’t that what a quilt at a show is supposed to do? Was it the classic blue and white? Was it the variance of texture? Was it the simple repetitive shape of the hexagon? I would say YES to all of the above. It was not until I made my way through the crowd that I was able to actually appreciate the true charm of this quilt.

The quilt was made to document the history of a hospital. An aid society had taken pieces of cloth from the hospital and combined it with notes from patients, memorabilia, embroidery and so much more. Each piece was a small piece of the history and told so many different stories.

A few other of my favorite pics from the show.

A car full of brightly colored sewing machines! Who wouldn’t have wanted to drive off with that baby?

A music inspired mini quilt challenge. Black, white and red!

Luke Haynes was there!

No trip to England would be complete without a stop over at Cath Kidston for a little souvenir shopping.

And a visit to see the Queen!

You have got to love a country that has Nibbles & Sharers.

I have the greatest job ever.

-modalissa

Smitten, Smitten, Smitten

8 Comments

September 11, 2015

Have a I rambled enough about how much I love this quilt design? I took it to the rose garden in my neighborhood and thought I would snap a few creative pictures. Not a good idea! The quilt top with exposed seams got caught on every little thorn!

So I “artistically” threw it over a bench and loved how the quilt top looked. I was so busy looking at the quilt that I didn’t even realize how cool the brick was until I was about to crop it out of the picture. I had to keep those tessellating Texas shaped bricks in the picture!

I am pleased to say that Smitten is complete and off to the quilter.
YEAH! YIPPEE! HURRAY!

The quilt top has been complete for a little while but I wanted to use my leftover bits and pieces to add to my quilt back. Funny story: I showed the back to a friend of mine and she loved it. I said wait until you see the front. Her only comment was I like the back better. Ouch, right? The front is nothing but set in seams! So for that reason I am not showing you the back until it is back from the quilter. Don’t get me wrong, it is cool in a funky, minimalist, modern kind of way!

Thanks for stopping by.

-Modalissa

Pre cut Primer winner

1 Comment

September 10, 2015

Thank you so much for sharing your memories of your favorite teacher. I enjoyed reading each of them.

The winner of the Varsity Layer Cake is Sandy in St. Louis. Please send me your mailing information.

Thank you for following along.

-modalissa

Pre-cut Primer Blog Hop

91 Comments

September 9, 2015

Hello, If you are following along on the Precut Primer blog hop, then congratulations you have made it to the 12th grade!!

This book is chalk full of projects using Moda precuts. It does not take an MBA or a PHD to be able to make one for your favorite scholar. You will learn something new throughout beginning with page 5, full of tips from Barb and Mary of Me and My Sister Designs.

Did you know? Hold a white piece of paper behind your needle as you thread it. The paper makes it easier to see the needle.

Quilt made by Sarah Huechteman.

Close up of quilting.

That is me, center row of EVERY group picture ever taken. Thank goodness Lori Chrisman and Leah Pender were always there with me!
I had a massive crush on the second guy on the first row, Kent Ferguson, which probably explains my height issues.

When asked if I would be a part of this hop, I knew just what I would do. Number 2 son is a high school teacher and coach, so I knew this would be a great opportunity to make a quilt for his school. School colors are green and gold, so the Varsity collection from Sweetwater was perfect. He has always been passionate about working with kids and will be a wonderful influence on the kids he comes in contact with.

Excuse me for a minute, while I reminiscence about a few of my teachers.

Mrs. Barney, my second grade teacher, was the first person on my doorstep when my father passed away. I was grown and married, but she found where I lived and came to visit me so many years later.

Mrs. Pasierb, my third grade teacher, was a brunette walking barbie. All the boys drooled as she walked by. This by no means is an insult. She was beautiful, smart and sweet.

Miss Resenta, my fourth grade teacher, whom I probably tested the most. Yes, I was a little hellion that year. She got married during the holiday break and became Mrs. Williams. I thought that was the coolest thing ever. She had to be one of my favorite for many reasons, including that she had a wonderful deep laugh that brighten the room.

Mrs. PIttman, fifth grade as shown above, had the coolest collection of polyester jumpsuits!

The list goes on and on!

My kids went to the same elementary, junior high and high schools that I did. Many of my teachers were their teachers, so I know first hand how much a teacher can influence your life for many years to come.

I am formally apologizing to all my teachers for any headaches I may have caused or my children may have caused.

The Giveaway : Enter to win a layer cake of Varsity by leaving a comment on this post, telling me your favorite teacher and why.

Winner will be announced September 10, 2015 I will wait until late in the evening to pick a winner.

Details: Pattern – Precut Primer – 12th Grade by Me & My Sister Designs

Fabric – Varsity by Sweetwater & Bella Solid Bleached White 9900-200
I am doubling up on just the greens and gold fabrics and throwing in a few other basics.

Size – 3 across and 4 down for a throw size.

Good luck!

Hop on over to Melissa Corey. She is also a 12th grader, just like me!

Below are the links to all of the other posts. Check them out. It is not to late to enter some other giveaways.

This is Me and My Sister’s latest book – Pre-cut Primer.

September 2nd – Pat Sloan & April Rosenthal

September 3rd – Corey Yoder

September 4th – Amy Ellis

September 7th – Jane Davidson & Heidi Grohs

September 8th – Sherri McConnell

September 9th – Melissa Corry & Lissa Alexander

Enjoy

-Modalissa

I am Smitten

1 Comment

August 17, 2015

If you follow me on Instagram you will know that I am obsessed with the Smitten pattern by Lucy Kingwell. (This is a Jen Kingwell pattern designed by her daughter Lucy.)

Smitten by Lucy Kingwell

I started out hand piecing the blocks while I was on vacation.
Love love love!!

Then returned from a long car ride and became impatient and started machine piecing the blocks.

I cut strips from a big assortment of fabrics and used Marti Michell’s templates to cut the actual shapes.

Then I just sat down playing and picking from my pile of shapes to create different blocks. I would sew late into the night and think,
just one more block.
You know what happens then, it is like eating Lay’s potato chips, just one more and before you know it the bag is empty. That is what making these Smitten blocks is like, you can’t ~~eat~~ make just one.

3 smaller hexagon blocks are joined to make bigger hexagon shapes.

At some point it was time to make some decisions on colors and fabrics. I really wanted the black but some of the blocks were just too dark or heavy. I knew I needed the depth that the black would give so I concentrated on grey , textures, checks and assorted prints that would read black/dark.

Jen Kingwell’s dot from Gardenvale is the perfect color.
Not to black, but just right.

I am making my quilt a tad bigger which means I am still making blocks. Some of my blocks may be too dark so I will put them to good use on the back.

One of the blocks I made an OPPS. It was not supposed to go like this at all.
But I like it and I am going to finish it out “creatively”.
Who knows it may make the front of the quilt. If not it will be mixed into the back.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/27835222@N08/shares/13398J

I am going to have the quilt top done by the end of the week. Or at least that is what I am shooting for. It is to the stage that I need to lay it out, but I have two big dogs that like to “sew” with me. They are hairy mongrels so I will have to keep them distracted during this time.

Then it will be off to the quilter to work her magic. I will be on the lookout for quilting designs.
Anyone have any ideas or suggestions?

Vin DuJour Stars

2 Comments

August 7, 2015

Vin DuJour Stars

Sounds like a peaceful evening under a sky full of twinkling lights drinking a few glasses of bubbly.

ya right
The name of the quilt does almost sound magical and yet it is just the description of one of my favorite quilts.
The fabric was named Vin DuJour by 3 sisters and duh, the blocks are stars, hence the name, Vin DuJour Stars.

The stars are BIG stars. Each block is almost 30″before trimming.

I am not a fan of purple, or I wasn’t a fan of purple until I made this quilt.

Come on, old ladies like purple.

I am not an old lady so why would I ever dream of liking purple?

Until now, I guess there all shades of purple and this deep grape won me over.

The name of the collection was Vin DuJour so the color names were Burgundy,
Champagne and Grape.
Excess research was done, if you know what I mean, to create these designs and colors.

The stars were made using 2 Vin DuJour Jelly Rolls so the strips were already cut at 2 1/2″ and i just started sewing.

Each of the stars were pieced with a different color placement, so they really do twinkle throughout.

If you are interested in this pattern, McCall’s does have a link to download the digital version of the Jan/Feb 2014 issue.

If a big quilt like this is a bit too much to bite off right now, they have also created a 1 block wallhanging option.

Download pattern here.

This would be dreamy made from a Christmas collection.

One more little thing about this quilt is my daughter absolutely loves it, begged for it and now owns it.

She is not old at all, actually she is pretty cool.

So purple is for cool people.

-modalissa

** this is a continuing series in my effort to document my quilts for history. Since what you put on the internet stays there forever,
I thought this would be as safe as a place as any.

I’m a Big Girl now

2 Comments

August 5, 2015

Well I have always been a big girl.

You know the gal that is always on the back row, middle slot for group pictures.

The gal that the basket girl coaches start drooling over my “talent” in 3rd grade.

The gal that was consoled by her father by the repeated saying, “There is always going to be someone shorter than you, there is always going to be someone taller than you, etc.”

My tearful reply was always why does it always have to be the boys that are shorter.

My dad’s patient wisdom had a way of finally balancing my life out. He was right.
There is always someone richer, poorer, smarter, dumber (not as smart), prettier, uglier (not as pretty), you get the drift.

Now that my 3 minutes of therapy is over, what I really mean is I am big girl now
because my platform for my blog has been upgraded.
I have officially moved over to WordPress.
I have so much to learn and so many more options.
I could actually be dangerous.
(Dad, hopefully the smarter part will come in handy here.)

I have some cleaning and rearranging to do but that is all a part of learning.

I want to thank Angela Yosten for squeezing this in between all her other responsibilities.
So bookmark me, sign up for email notifications, FB me or IG me.

-modalissa

Log Cabin Swap Fun

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July 7, 2015

Log Cabin Swap

Several of you have asked about the Log Cabin Block swap

so I thought I would share the details here.

I found a few gull-able friends and decided to just put it out there to see if they wanted to make over-sized blocks, cut them into quarters and then swap.

Here is our my plan. It is pretty much the nuts and bolts type of information. You can disregard any of the swapping info.

RULES:(you know I don’t like too many rules, I like to call them guidelines)
Colors? Think Minick & Simpson meets Bonnie & Camille
(fabrics are not limited to these designers- just want to convey the feel of fabrics to work with)
No Batiks
Denims, wovens and other textures okay except no crazy stuff like chenille.
Blacks and Golds okay
Press away from center regardless of light fabrics.
Do I need to say quilt store quality fabrics? I hope not with this group.

Make 20” finished log cabins
– any size center(think big since it will be cut into quarters) – any size strips except outer strips on all four sides must be a minimum of 2” finished.This will allow trimming and squaring up after swapping. – Basically make 16” scrappy blocks then add 2 1/2” cut strips on all four sides to have a 20″ block. – Cut each block into 4 even quarters measuring 10” square. Keep 1 and trade the other 3. Do not sew any of the quarter blocks back together. – Send the blocks to me at this stage.

Once you receive the swapped blocks, trim and square up your blocks. Join 4 together in whatever setting/layout/or design you prefer.
Size will vary depending on how much you want to trim your swapped blocks. The layout below, I am estimating finished blocks will be approx. 18”

So that is our swap in a nutshell. There are a bunch of us doing these blocks with all different styles, tastes and fabric stashes. The variety of blocks will be the starting point to create some pretty cool finished quilts. We are a competitive/over achieving bunch, seeing what everyone creates will be the exciting part.

Here is the just beginning of my log Cabin strips. This was a great stash buster project. All those 1/8 of a yard pieces that were to big to go in the scrap bin but were constantly lost in the “fabric closet” quickly got sliced and diced into a variety of sizes. My fabric started out combining Bonnie and Camille with Minick and Simpson.(Acronym for that would be BCMS)

Then I added Zen Chic, Sweetwater, Luci Summers, Tula Pink, a piece or two of Momo, Primitive Gatherings and 3 sisters! I am in heaven!!

Here are Susan Ache’s strips. What a wonderful variety,

mixing 30’s prints, Fig Tree

and Sweetwater.

Yummy!

Oldies and Goodies!

Then in the blink of an eye, Susan already has a bunch of her blocks done. If you follow Susan on Instagram, https://instagram.com/yardgrl60/, you probably already know she is an incredible quilter.

This pic is from Laurie Simpson’s instagram.

https://instagram.com/minickandsimpson/

Look at some of those tee-tiny pieces. Like I said,

a good scrap buster.

Janet Hill has already been playing around with

different settings. @janeth421

The best way to track the process as my posse

continues making their blocks

is to follow

#locabinblockswap

on Instagram.

We will be swapping blocks end of July!

I hope to have my quilt ready for Labor Day.

I can’t wait to see what everyone creates!!

This quilt is so inspired by my friend AmandaJean Nyberg of crazymomquilts as well as all the Bento Box type of quilts happening all over the place.

I highly recommend anything Amanda does and her quilt is a bit more manageable than the way we are doing our swap. Our blocks are bigger to start with but end up making a smaller block overall. If you like the look but don’t want to deal with the swapping, get Sunday Morning Quilts. You will not regret having this book in your library.

-Modalissa

Irish Chain Blog Hop

43 Comments

June 9, 2015

Hello and Welcome,
I am thrilled and nervous at the same time to kick off Melissa Corry’s Irish Chain Blog hop. Melissa has all kinds of fun things planned for this hop. Each day you will be visiting 2 different stops and I guarantee there will be so much color throughout.

Did you play with Pick Up Sticks as a kid? I found them quite challenging and spent hours balancing those little buggers. Melissa’s pick up sticks quilt is a realistic interpretation of thin colorful sticks balancing end to end throughout the quilt. Melissa used Carolyn Frielander’s collection which also gave this quilt an architectural feel.

I wanted to mix mine up and started with the classic colors of Red and White but was not to happy with my choices. I kept coming back to Melissa’s version. We have all agonized over color and fabrics, right? I wanted mine to look exactly like the one I saw, Exactly. Please tell me you have done that.

I did 15 jumping jacks to get my heart pumping and blood to the brain.
Then I decided I would do a positive – negative version of her quilt. I still wanted an architectural, yet almost industrial look so I went with an assortment of greys and used whites as my sticks.
My quilt top looks like steel buildings with reflective windows climbing the skyline.

If you squint at the picture above it almost looks robotic.

Squint again and there is a chunky plus sign shape that will be quilted as an overall design. I think this will give the quilt a sleek secondary look.

The fabrics are a combination of greys, whites and cremes from Amy Ellis and Zen Chic. They are so perfect for a quilt for a man in your life.

Hop on over to Fat Quarter Shop to see the quilt that Joceyln is making.

Check back every day as these talented quilters each share their Irish Chain.

June 8th – Happy Quilting – Blog
Hop Intro

June 9th – Moda Lissa – Lissa Alexander

Fat Quarter Shop – Jocelyn Ueng

June 10th – Piece
N Quilt – Natalia Bonner

In
Color Order – Jeni Baker

June 11th – Amy’s
Creative Side – Amy Ellis

Sew
Kind of Wonderful – Jenny Pedigo

June 12th – Quilt
Story – Megan Jimenez

Diary
of a Quilter – Amy Smart

June 15th – Freshly
Pieced – Lee Heinrich

Christa
Quilts – Christa Watson

June 16th – Moda
Cutting Table – Carrie Nelson

Little
Miss Shabby – Corey Yoder

June 17th – Fresh
Lemons – Faith Jones

V
and Co. – Vanessa Christenson

June 18th – A
Quilting Life – Sherri McConnell

Stitch
This! – Jenny Wilding Cardon

June 19th – Happy Quilting – Wrap
Up & Grand Prizes

Melissa has some goodies lined up for her Grand Prize Giveaway

There will be a Grand Prize Giveaway on the final day of
the blog hop along with the Charity Quilt Reveal. There are 2 super
fun grand-prize Giveaways with lots of fabric, books, and even a mini quilt. To enter the giveaway, they just
need to leave a comment on the MELISSA’s Intro Post. ( CLICK HERE FOR A LINK TO MELLISSA’S POST TO ENTER.)

French General Irish Chain

6 Comments

June 3, 2015

Pom Pom De Paris by French General

We have had a bit of sunshine for the first time in weeks. The deluge of
rain seems to have stopped so I thought it a perfect time to pull out
another quilt and document the specifics. I thought this Irish Chain
would be good to talk about since next week I will be taking part in
Melissa Corry’s Irish Chain blog hop.

This old quilt is just the opposite of what I will be showing next week, but
more on that Monday.

When I say old, spring 2011 was when this fabric was available in stores. Seems like eons ago.

I love the look of Blended Quilts that Marsha McCloskey and Sharon Yenter are known for. This fabric collection seemed like a perfect fit.

So many of the prints were large scale and disappeared or blended into each other when cut smaller for the irish chain pieces. I guess that is the point of blended quilts, right?

I love the muted butter yellow prints in this collection. The quilt has been washed a few times adding to it’s well loved look.

I
did not let one scrap go to waste by adding the large prints, butter
yellows and woven textures along with any orphan blocks or pieces from
the quilt top to create a 2 sided quilt.

A feathered wreath design was quilted in natural thread filling all of the natural area.

This is also the time for my public service announcement to document your quilts. I did not do that so I can remember who the quilter was. Maggi, was it you?

I was lucky enough for this quilt to be featured in Quiltmania magazine 2012.

Thank you for reading along as I document my library of quilts and talk a step back into time!

Join me back here Monday for a fun blog hop featuring

Melissa Corry’s new book,
Irish Chain Quilts, Contemporary Twists on a Classic Design.

-Modalissa