Modern Mini Challenge, Time to Vote!!! Slash & Sew, No Rules, Just Right!!!

Ok, let me just start out by saying THANK YOU to danih03 for telling me about this challenge! Because of her, I got inspired to do this :) For those of you reading this who do not know what the Modern Mini Challenge is, click on it! So, now that you know, it was a quickie challenge (5 weeks) and it has some fabulous prizes! I'm writing my blog essay about it so that I can be entered in the contest and get voted on ;) Let's get right down to it. Here it is: 

In case you did not click on the rules here they are:

The Modern Mini Challenge is a 5 week series that kicks off with some seriously inspiring work from some super talented bloggers. Spark your creativity with ideas and inspiration from some amazing mini quilts and mug rugs*. 

Get ideas flowing for color, fabric, technique and style. This is your opportunity to try something new, something fun, something on a small scale. 

Take that big idea and give it a try in mini form. 

So here’s how it will work: 

2/6/12 - 2/19/12 

Weeks 1 & 2 - Inspiration Weeks - Modern Mini Challenge Blog Hop  

Bloggers share their modern minis and kick-start your creativity. Get inspired, get creative, get those ideas flowing!

2/20/12 - 3/4/12 

Weeks 3 & 4 - Sew. Sew. Sew! 

Work on those minis and create your Modern Mini Challenge piece. 

3/5/12 - 3/9/12 

Week 5: Enter the Contest!

Link up your Modern Mini Challenge piece at Ellison Lane Quilts. Voting begins that week and winners are announced on March 9th!

Size Requirements: Minis should be smaller than 36." 

*mug rug=very small quilt typically used as a coaster :)

So, while I got tons of inspiration from the daily blogs, I already had some inspiration from my Mitch kitty :) I blogged about his love of quilts and cotton batting here and also here.

He really, really, really needed his own quilt to lay on! Since he loved laying in the kitchen, I started thinking about the colors in our kitchen and what kind of fabric would be kitty-centric. 

Here is a picture of our kitchen:

Then I started thinking "how could I make it modern?" Well, I have not been quilting long, so I mostly knew how to sew together rectangles and triangles (which is usually not considered modern). But, I was doing the Craftsy Block of the Month where they showed me how to do slashing/stripping. I decided that it was time to just start slashing and sewing with no rules, just whatever struck my fancy :) I used kitchen fabrics (peppers and the red with the kitchen words on it - hard to see in the pic). I went to JoAnn's and found a $10 bundle of fabric that had orange colours and kitties. And, then I just started improvising.

Here are a few of the pics of my progress:

Slashing.

 Ironing as I slash.

 About to put the border on. 

 Putting the border on.

 Sewing on the border. (Orange thread I used to quilt it is also in the pic.)

 Working on the back fabrics.

Spray basting it. Interesting note: I save all the batting and fabric that I cut off when I square final quilts. The batting was in two pieces (scraps) from previous large quilts that I had finished and I just lined them up to make it fit. You can't tell in the final product!!!

In the above photo, I was practicing on my quilt sandwich scrap.

In the above photo, I had accidentally forgotten to put the foot down and this is a view of the stitching from the underside. Good thing I was only warming up !

This is me quilting it.

This is me squaring it off (above).

This is me (above) about to sew the binding strip ends together. I use a technique I learned here at Moose Quilts. I love their approach to making the ends come together. It works purrfectly every time!!!

The ends after sewed together (above). The finished product (below): 

For the back, I used leftover fabrics and my signature.

 Here I used my labeling technique which I have fallen in love with.

And, here is Mitch showing it some love :)

And, Charlene Elizabeth Baltimore (Charlie) showing it some love with her best friend Mitch Hennessy!

Anyway, I hope you all can show me some love and vote. Also, please follow me, comment, +1 me, and share this on Facebook or through email with your friends!

Until my next post, I wish you all the best!

Mike.

Big Fat Queen on the Wall!!!

I blogged about this quilt in my previous post ...and here. But check this out:

It takes up my entire design wall!!! And, that's not with the border. It will be difficult to baste (I spray baste). I might need some help from my husband. Anyway, I love the optical illusion. It's great. Now I need to work on sewing all 42 of the blocks together! Just thought I would share due to how impressed I was with the enormousness of this project (is that a word?). Google confirms. I also had a seam ripping moment. I had accidentally taken the orange block and the turquoise block and sewed them along the diagonal with the wrong side of fabric facing the right side (after I cut it). Sew, I had to rip those seams out and sew them back together without using the line/double seam/cut technique. And I have to say, I saw a seam ripping technique on Leah Day's blog that said rip every 4th stitch and then pull it apart. (It may have been a comment on a post, as I cannot find it.) It worked wonderfully. I'm surprised I had never heard of that before.


Since I already finished the Modern Mini Challenge (voting starts March 5th), I made some progress on this one. I will post when it's time to vote on the winners of the MMC. Please come back then and show me some love :) (votes). I blogged a little about it here. I'll send out a reminder.

Please comment, +1 me, follow and share this with others!

Anyway, until later.


Mike.

Modern Mini Challenge, Printable Fabric Labels, and a Simple Welcome!

I haven't written on my blog in awhile, so I thought it was time since I had a spare moment. What I thought I would do was share some of the things I've been working on since my Block of the Month post on the 12th.

The first thing I wanted to share relates to something I blogged about here. I wanted to know how you sign your quilt. Of course I always try to use some sort of fabric on the back that relates to The Wizard of Oz. But I really needed a way to put words on the back. I decided to purchase some printable fabric sheets from Avery:

In the photo you can see the box it came in, and the sheet on the right is my first printed label. I ended up putting it on the back of this quilt.

The fabric sheets are fusible, so after I cut it out with my rotary blade, I ironed it to the back (after I washed the quilt). It seemed to work out well, but I have asked my Aunt Carrie to let me know when she washes it if it held up. For the label design I used my digital scrapbooking software, My Memories Suite, to create it and then print it.

I have also been working on the Modern Mini Challenge at Ellison Lane Quilts. I decided to make a mini for our cat, Mitch. He really needed something to lounge on in the kitchen. I noticed that he really liked laying on my works in progress or my unused batting, so I am making him his own quilt.

Above is Mitch laying in the kitchen in his favorite spot on towels that we used to wipe our feet when it is wet outside. (The back door is in the kitchen.)



I decided to go with colors that match the kitchen. Three of the walls are painted Candied Yam (obviously not the wall in the picture with Mitch above). And, I thought slashing and sewing would be the most modern piecing technique I know how to do.



The back fabrics are pictured above.

Anyway, I will blog about that more when it's time to enter the contest.

I have also been working on a queen sized quilt for my mom. I am using a pattern that I found in the latest issue of Easy Quilts from McCall's. It's called "A Simple Welcome." 

Here are some pictures:

I suppose I will blog about that when I finish it.

Anyway, I should get busy!

Until next time,

Mike.