Tag: Tula Pink

Turkey Tracks: Mt. Battie December 2017 Meeting

Turkey Tracks:  January 5, 2018

Mt. Battie Modern December 2017 Meeting

We had a very pleasant gathering a few days after Christmas.

We set the meeting calendar for next year, organized the “Long Time Gone” (Jen Kingwell) challenge for 2018, and celebrated completing our FIRST YEAR of membership in the Modern Quilt Guild.

Becca Babb-Brott brought her completed Tula Pink 100 MODERN QUILT BLOCKS top.

Note that Becca staggered her setting rows on the bottom as well as the top.  And, that she made the sashing between rows different widths.

It will be fun to see this one quilted and finished.

Next month we see the Traveling Quilts again.

Turkey Tracks: The Coastal Quilters’ 2017 October Retreat, Part 3

October 24, 2017

The Coastal Quilters’ 2017 October Retreat, Part 3

The Work

Wow!  Look at this fun quilt Deb Hazell is making:

Here the pattern:

Deb H. also worked on this yummy wool blanket that is meant for “ownself.”

The blanket is yummy, but look, too, at the nifty portable sewing table Deb has.  The top has a clear acrylic piece that fits exactly around your machine.  I think the brand is Sew Eaze???  They are not horribly expensive either.  To her right is one of the portable tables that let you put your cutting board or ironing pad and iron right at your fingertips.  I got one at Amazon and can’t imagine what I did before I had it.

Tori Manzi is a master foundation piecer.  She finished the side sections of this quilt on this retreat.  There is a big plain section that goes between the arrow points.  And see below that the arrow head and some of the stock are elaborately foundation paper pieced.

Tori has a lot of the components of this quilt done now.  I think the little stars on the right will go into that middle section.  My goodness!!

I love this quilt Jan Corson is doing.  Blue and neutrals, stars and log cabins, what’s NOT to like??  She got the top done this trip and all the blocks trimmed up so the quilt will lie true.

Next, she made these little pouches for her daughter’s wedding in July–gifts for the bridesmaid’s.  Four done!

The inside of each has a different, charming fabric.  If these pouches run away from home, Jan, you could start looking at my house.

I am living vicariously through Deb Torre, who is just moving into the most beautiful farm house with a BARN and outbuildings.  Animals are coming in the spring.  I voted for chickens.  Hubby has a new tractor.  Deb is making this “star” quilt to go with the new bedroom’s colors.  She made great progress during the retreat.

In addition to her star quilt, Mary Bishop also made this Halloween table runner.

Mac Saulnier worked on these log cabin wreaths.  If I understand her correctly, they will be put together back to back to make a hanging for Thanksgiving and one for Christmas.

Jan Kelsey worked on two Christmas funky block log cabin quilts.

But her big project for several retreats now has been this quilt that uses old postcards saved by her grandparents during their travels.  She copied the cards and printed the copy on to fabric.

Clever!  And, a lovely way to capture family history.

Vicki Fletcher got borders on her “disappearing 9- patch” quilt.  From a distance, this quilt looks so lacy.

I got the last 40 Tula Pink blocks done, from TP’s book 100 MODERN QUILT BLOCKS.  I used all Cotton + Steel fabrics and will set the blocks in this “city” setting.  Mary B. said the blocks remind her of old-fashioned comic book pages, all colorful and each page different.  Yeah!  That’s the look I wanted.  Now I am looking for C+S setting fabric.  The ones I like are virtually sold out.  I really liked the sparkle/Stardust fabric in grey.

I relaxed by making some Wild and Goosey blocks with my teeny scraps–a pattern from Bonnie Hunter.

I’ll set them with black and white strips and will set the blocks with wide sashing grounded by a small-block 9-patch.

I made two of the big star blocks (16 inches) that I designed after taking Amy Friend’s improv workshop.  Her book on this method is IMPROV PAPER PIECING.

It was a productive retreat.

Turkey Tracks: Play: Making Little Quilt Blocks

Turkey Tracks:  July 18, 2017

Play:  Making Little Quilt Blocks

I seem to be “playing” with making 3 1/2-inch quilt blocks.

I am in the process of sewing the next 10 Tula Pink 100 modern quilt blocks–which are all about the fabric.  Some of these involve triangles–which have “bonus” triangle possibilities, so this happened.

Here’s a fun one.

This one, too.

Here’s the collection so far.  The mini 9-patch is from NO SCRAP LEFT BEHIND, Amanda Jean Nyberg, of Crazy Mom Quilts blog/instagram.  It is actually 4 inches finished.  These are FUN to make.

These will likely wind up in the Parts Department quilt, but who knows.  That box of blocks is getting full.  As soon as I finish a few other projects, I’ll open it.  And, I can see the light at the end of the tunnel of Works In Progress.

Turkey Tracks: Fifty Tula Pink’s

Turkey Tracks:  June 5, 2017

Fifty Tula Pink’s

I’m halfway there!!

Fifty Tula Pink’s 100 Modern Quilt Blocks finished–which covers me through June.

I am using almost all Cotton+Steel fabrics in each block.

I have NOT got a clue about what fabric to use to set these blocks.  Time will tell…  Maybe a khaki kind of color?

These blocks are fun to make–easy and all about the fabrics.

Turkey Tracks: The Tula Pink city Sampler: 100 Modern City Block Quilts

Turkey Tracks:  May 18, 2017

The Tula Pink City Sampler: 100 Modern City Block Quilts

The Coastal Quilters’ and friends May 2017 retreat is in the previous blog entry.

Many members of both Coastal Quilters and Mt. Battie Modern Quilt Guild are making Tula Pink’s City Sampler:  100 Modern City Blocks.

Many people brought their blocks to the retreat.

Pictures were sometimes challenging as the light out in a hallway lined with design boards was “iffy” light, especially at dusk.  I probably brightened this picture too much.

Karen Martin has FINISHED all her blocks.  We spent some time arranging them–and now she will decide how to set them.  I love the limited palette Karen used.

Tori Manzi:

Another limited palette from Lynn Vermeulen–who also worked on and finished challenging black and white/bright color foundation paper pieced blocks:

Becca Babb Brott:

Linda Satkowski:

 

With this last picture, I am realizing I did not get pictures of Nancy Wright’s or Vicki Fletcher’s work.  I get pretty focused during a retreat, so missed getting up and taking pictures.  Sometimes though, people take down their work and start on other projects, so the opportunity to take a picture is lost.

I did not bring my Tula blocks to this retreat and need to do my May blocks.  I am also realizing I need to put them up on the design wall to see how they are playing together.

Next retreat:  October 2017.

 

Turkey Tracks: Tula Pink’s 100 Blocks

March 16, 2017

Tula Pink’s 100 Blocks

I have been totally enjoying making my March and April blocks, plus a few, for our year-long Tula Pink project.

I’m using Cotton + Steel fabrics for the most part in my blocks.

Here are the ones I just finished:

These blocks are addictive.  They’re easy, and they’re all about the fabric.

Turkey Tracks: February Quilty Update

Turkey Tracks:  February 14, 2017

February Quilty Update

I love winter because I have lots of uninterrupted time to sew.  Plus, I love snow.

I am ticking along with all the various projects and having fun seeing them come together.

Here’s Katja Marek’s EPP millifiore quilt in progress.  I have almost finished a large section at the bottom left  and will be adding it soon.  It’s in shades of blue.  And the addition of the blue will make the left edge complete.

Yes, this quilt is very funky, and I have no idea how it will look when it’s done, but…  I am having fun.

img_1829

You can see the piles of completed blocks of the Farmer’s Wife–each a column–above the millifiore.

That top was finished last night.

img_1841

I liked the zig-zag setting, but it requires cutting four of the blocks in half on the short rows!!!  I thought the quilt too long and skinny, so added two columns and used the five extra blocks I had on the upper left (2) and lower right (3).

I got a little OCD–ok, a lot OCD–about setting up blocks for one of Willyne Hammerstein’s quilts, “Valse Brilliante.”  Hammerstein is Austrian, and her colors are very European.  I’m doing my version in brights and neutrals, and each block will have some text fabric in it.  I got a bundle of “pearl bracelet” fabrics that are bright and colorful, so I ironed them all, and I can’t bear to put them away again until I’ve finished.  There are also some bright Japanese daisy prints I like–as you can see below.  It actually takes a while to set up one of these blocks, but now that I’ve used up all the red wonderclips, I’ve slowed down.  I try to sew EPP with matching thead as much as is possible.

img_1837

I have these fabrics left to cut and glue:

img_1838

Some of us here in Camden, Maine have formed the Mt. Battie Modern Quilt Guild, which is in addition to our venerable Coastal Quilters, which is a chapter in the Pine Tree Quilt Guild.

I am so drawn to the “modern” fabrics and the graphic nature of the modern quilts.  And, there is a strand that is modern/traditional, or some such title.   So, we are going to have even more quilty goodness.

We are going to do a “traveling” quilt and will turn in our initial pieces on March 2nd.  I have made this piece as my offering and look forward to seeing how it comes back to me.  I’m not thinking this piece will be a center medallion that gets developed.  And I will go back in with pearl cotton when the quilt is layered to embellish such as the exclamation point at the end of the “Love.”  The “blue moon” and the back side of the sliver moon were cut with one of those rotary circle cutters–which I learned from our workshop with Timna Tarr.

img_1828

My alphabet was modeled on the one I found in Mary Lou Weidman and Melanie Bautista McFarland’s OUT OF THE BOX WITH EASY BLOCKS.

We had a major snowstorm starting Monday night and ending Tuesday night–a blizzard.  There was a near complete “white out” and lots of high wind.  I have about 2 feet of MORE snow on the ground now.  As the storm abated, I made my way down the steep drive to my mailbox and retrieved the first Cotton+Steel fabric club package from Pink Castle fabrics.  Isn’t it pretty?

img_1840

I’m already thinking about making the next set of Tula Pink’s 100 City blocks.  Some of us are doing 8 blocks a month.  (You can see an earlier post on that challenge.)

I hope your winter is wonderful!

Enjoy it.  Slow down.  Hibernate.  Spring with all of its energy will be here in due course.

Turkey Tracks: Tula Pink’s Modern Quilt Blocks

Turkey Tracks:

Tula Pink’s Modern Quilt Blocks

I am intrigued by “modern” quilting.

Tula Pink’s work is a lovely example of a collection of “modern” quilt blocks that float in a communal “sea” of, usually, a light color, that lets each block also shine on its own.

It’s a bit like the meta-narrative of today:  be an individual inside the community.

IMG_0836

The fabrics today are gorgeous–even though the bolts are not as wide and the griege not as sturdy and the fabric costs more per yard.

The good news is that fat quarters are plenty big enough to make these “individual” blocks.

Here’s what one of Tula Pink’s looks like.  See, it’s all about the fabrics.

IMG_0826

And look!!  Minimal quilting in this block.  (That’s not usually true for modern quilts though.)

So, what do I do with all the “old” fabrics I already have?

I will keep using them–and I will try some times to put them into blocks that “float” more than blocks in a traditional quilt where blocks link up to make patterns and secondary patterns across the quilt.

Truth to tell, I like both ways of quilting, so will continue to do both.

Meanwhile, I’m celebrating this quilty development because I was really sick of the geometric/medallion quilt that has been quilted to death that has won all the shows in recent years.

It’s long past time for a change.