Quilts and Books

Five years ago I did a paint chip challenge with my sister and the QBFFs. It was so much fun I decided to do it again. As president of my quilt guild this past year I got to issue a quilting challenge to members so I went to Home Depot, picked up a bunch of paint chips and passed them out. (If you're interested, I  wrote about it back in October  so you can see the rules I passed out with the paint chips.) This is the paint chip that I got: And here is what I made: This quilt is from a pattern called Geometric Gradation that I purchased from Geta Grama, a quilter from Romania . She does the most amazing work. I have two of her other patterns I hope to get to one day. My quilt is smaller than the original pattern because I only collected 8 blue fabrics in the right shades of blue (that pattern calls for 11 rows). This is a great quilt for snuggling on the couch, although right now it looks pretty awesome hanging on the wall. I quilted it with white 40-wt. Aurifil ...

In the wake of Halestorm (#HaleNo), lots of book bloggers are taking a break from normal reviewing for several days. I doubt I would have blogged books this week anyhow, but to show some solidarity here's a quilty post that had been brewing. One search phrase that frequently sends folks to this blog is "paint chip challenge" because I had participated in one back in 2010. You can read more about that with the  series of posts here . It was such a fun thing to do that when I became president of my guild this year, I decided to issue a similar challenge to guild members. I passed out close to 100 paint chips at our September and October meetings. They were in sealed envelopes, so no one knew what color they would receive. The rules are as follows: Use the color family represented by your paint chip as closely as you can manage. Use a minimum of 3 (three) tone-on-tone and/or solid colored fabrics. Use ONE multi-colored fabric or  ONE neutral fabric (black, white, gr...

My 6-month UFO Challenge continues and another success. This was an easy month since I only needed to quilt this small table runner. This little quilt is special as it was the project I made for a paint chip challenge that I did with the QBFFs. (You can click on the "paint chip challenge" label in the sidebar to see previous posts about it.) The picture below should probably be re-done, although I sort of like the effect of the light coming from behind it. It was a very windy day when I took it down to the track for the picture, so I had to pick an area of fencing where the wind would blow the quilt against it. Now that it's done I really like having this on my kitchen table. My other finished quilt for the month was Dorothy St. James' book cover quilt, which I wrote about here . Two relatively small quilts, but two more finished. My total for the year is up to five!

Four years and four days ago, I published a blog post about all of my UFOs (UnFinished Objects) and my tendency to flit from project to project. I'm always attracted to the shiny new project. Or someone decides to have a baby and they need a quilt (and by the way, I learned of a new baby on the way just this past Friday). Or I sign up for a guild or QBFF challenge. I'm full of excuses. Meanwhile, the UFOs are still patiently waiting for me. Today I'm looking back on some of those UFO posts from 2009 and 2010 because I've decided to enter a UFO challenge at my local quilt shop . The rules are simple: during the next six months finish one project per month. Bring the completed quilt to the shop and get entered to win a $25 gift card. If you finish all six projects you get entered to win a $50 gift card. Hey, that's a nice incentive! Anyhow, it's rather gratifying to realize that a few of those quilts from that first post in 2009 are actually finished. In t...

Last year, the QBFFs, my sister, and I decided to do a "paint chip challenge." That is, we each started with a paint chip and had to come up with any kind of quilt using only those colors. I got green, H(onorary) QBFF C. got coral, T. got orange, and A. got yellow. You can read more about mine here .  Today I have some pictures of the final projects and then a photo of the 4 of us together w/ our quilts. Since my sister, HQBFF C. does not live in this area, it was a real treat for the 4 of us to go out to dinner and talk quilts and quilting. First, QBFF A. She made 7 panels and then added these purple sunflowers. I could accuse her of cheating, but those sunflowers sure make the panels pop. Next, QBFF T. She made a lovely Storm at Sea quilt using her colors. This picture isn't very good; the quilt is more orange. I think the colors are better in the final shot at the bottom. This is C. holding up her paint chip along with her quilt. Her border fabric has some green an...

My sister, the QBFFs, and I are doing a "paint chip challenge." We swapped paint chips and each of us has to make a monochromatic quilt using the color of our paint chip. I was the recipient of this lovely green paint chip: Here are some fabrics I pulled from my stash (OK, I admit it--I did do a little shopping, but just a little!): I'm thinking one or more of those might have to go. And since white and black are not colors, I may add a little of each for some "pop!" What to make, what to make... Actually, I have an idea. Stay tuned!