A little quilt showcase

I thought I would take the opportunity to share with the wider world some of the amazing Charity Quilts that the Portland Modern Quilting Guild has produced this month.  For those of you who follow me, you know that I am a pretty active charity quilter and I organize our guild’s charity sewing.  I am constantly amazed at the generosity and talent of our guild when it comes to our program….

Some Guild members donate orphan blocks that we make up into quilts.  Our wonderful Guild president this year, Elsa, donated the blocks that made this beauty….

green star quilt topElsa donated ten blocks which were sewn into a top by me, and then quilted by Coleen of The Quilted Thistle.  Photos do not do Coleen’s quilting justice, it is beautiful.

quilting detailOh and did I mention the little hedgehog?

star detailI used the tenth donated block in the back of the quilt…

back of green yellow star quiltOther guild members donate fully completed quilt tops to us… Sam Hunter of Hunter Design Studio donated the top and back for this beautiful quilt….

sams quiltand another guild member Gail Weiss free motioned quilted all over it, to great effect…

sam's quilt detailOne or two of the quilts we donate each month start life at our Charity Sew Day, which are held at our local quilt store Modern Domestic.  Once a month we invade MD’s class room space and whip up blocks which in turn are made into quilts…

rainbow improv quiltI love this improv rainbow quilt top.  All the blocks were made at the Charity Sew Day in January by guild members including Mary Ann, Kim, Debbie, Dawn, Michelle, and Elsa.    The top was then quilted by the fabulous Dawn Graf-Thiessen, another one of the Guild’s talented long armers.

rainbow improv detail

The fabric for these blocks is from scraps that were also donated to the Charity Sew program.  When I receive a donation of scraps I sort them into colours (each colour has its own shoe box).  What is left over is put into a catch-all box of multi coloured scraps…

improv quilt..and some of those scraps were used to make blocks for this bright improv quilt.  In November last year I asked Guild members to make a 12 inch square bright improv block, if they wanted, which would then be used in a Charity quilt.  This top was the end result…

Improv quilt detailBright loud and fun this quilt is definitely going to make some kid very happy…  The top was quilted by last years Guild president, MaryAnn.  She did a great job free motion quilting on her home machine.

The last quilt I want to share is a simple quiet baby quilt…

low volume charity quiltThis top was made during a Charity Sew Day by guild member Anne.  She took some precut squares that had been donated to the program and made a disappearing nine patch block.  On Sew days I always pack some precut or orphan blocks so that people who do not necessarily want to make the block of the month can play.

low volume detail

Another guild member, Emily, free motioned this darling pattern all over the quilt using her home machine.  The sweet pattern works so well on this low volume quilt.

I would like the thank all the PMQG guild members who every month help our charity program in ways big and small…either by donating fabric or blocks or their time and talent.  We could not do it without you.  Thank you.

Scrap busting quilt…

This morning I managed to finish up the improv baby quilt I started last week.

easy scrap baby quiltI started making blocks last week as a way to take a break from doing old WIP’s (see my original post about the process) and found myself making blocks here and there as I worked on other things.

improv quilt detial 2The blocks are all random improv and used up quite a nice selection of my low volume and pastel scrap stash.

quilt detailThere are lots of novelty prints with enough bits and pieces to play a good game of I spy (aka eye spy).   But for me the most fun of this whole process was the quilting.  If you follow this blog you know I am determined this year to get better at free motion quilting and this week I got some help.

maching bindingLast Friday I took delivery of a wonderful Bernina 550, which I have on loan to play with and oh what a difference a good machine makes.  When it came to quilting this baby up, I was excited to attach the free motion foot and stitch regulator and really play.

quilting detailNow the quilting is far from perfect but it is okay and so much better than anything I have free motioned before…. and most importantly it was great fun to do.  I just free motioned squares and I am now chomping at the bit to try some new things.  I have dusted off my Angela Waters books and bought Christina Cameli’s new book “Step by Step Free Motion Quilting” and I am ready to get serious about this quilting thing.