a VMQG mini quilt swap

I finally managed to find a moment to blog about a recent finish. In between all the Sewvivor excitement, I have less than a week till I return to work, till school starts, and we are smack in the middle of house hunting. It's been a little wild and crazy over here. But, I digress.

A little while ago, our local VMGQ (Vancouver Modern Quilt Guild) decided to set up a mini quilt swap within our guild. Of course, I was all for it.

I was chosen to make a quilt for Amy Dame, a fabulously creative and incredibly talented person. I was a little bit (A LOT) nervous about what I would do. But in reading her questionnaire (you fill one out when you participate in a secret swap), I learned that she was obsessed with the churn dash block. Now, for no particular reason, I don't really like the churn dash. I find it a bit choppy or disjointed somehow. This year, there is a definite trend favoring "nested churn dash" blocks, where you have one block inside the next, inside the next and so on.

Always a sucker for a challenge, I figure what better way to challenge myself than taking an extremely traditional block that I don't like and change it to be something I would like, and modernize it.

So I made my own modern version of a nested churn dash, starting with a tiny little block, and setting it on point, like an economy block. Then I made a second churn dash around the edges, and set the whole thing on point again.

I chose to use colors Amy likes, jewel tones, etc. and tone on tone fabrics. But to make it even more modern, I off-set the colors so each churn had two colors. Set the whole thing on Moda Bella grey, add a couple borders to off set it even more, and you have a mini.
I did this within a DAY of receiving my recipients information. (And of course, feeling cocky, was sure that THIS would be the (one) thing that was finished in a timely manner.)

Initially I was going to hand quilt it, but then life happened and I started to feel it was the wrong decision for this particular mini. It needed more dense quilting to fill the negative spaces in a modern manner.

Fast forward to the day or two before we are to trade minis. And yes, there I am, ripping out my hand quilting, re-quilting it in a grid with some fun free motion pebbling.
I quilted it in a crossing grid, using a different color thread for each quadrant. I used white to pebble quilt the white spaces and left the actual churn dash un-quilted to allow it to pop and be the focus.

And of course, there I was, mere hours before handing it over, sitting by a creek, furiously binding, while simultaneously making sure my baby didn't drown. Skills, I tell you. (Because despite my crafty life, my children still expect to leave the house for fun excursions periodically. The nerve.)

So, I apologize for the lack of properly staged photos, but there you go. For some mysterious reason, fushia is practically impossible to photograph accurately. (My best friend and cousin was my model, and as she will probably kill me for posting this on my blog, I should say good bye now.)

There is something incredibly nerve racking about giving something to someone so talented (you should see the mini she made for another guild member!!!). But, she said she liked it. I'll believe her.

Linking up with Amanda Jean for finish it up Friday.
 

gravity - a mini quilt swap

Back in the May, I joined a project called the Schnitzel and Boo mini quilt swap. I have never done anything like this before and was intrigued. The photos of the previous round looked great. The thought of making a mini for someone I had never met, designed just for them, was the sort of challenge I couldn't resist.

If you follow me on Instagram, you'll be sick of seeing this quilt. But I wanted it documented, so here you go.

The quilt is still in transit, but don't worry, no spoilers here. I'll update later when the person receives it, hopefully with a picture.

After some careful studying of my unsuspecting recipient, I decided to go with a modern, clean-lined design, using cool blues and limes on a warm grey. I love grey as a background. It's a recurring thing.

I designed a pattern of five flying geese constructed out of half square triangles, three green based and two blue based. The lighter parts of the squares are low volume fabrics. Most of this was generated from scraps, which feels awesome. Oone or two prints as well as the grey were from my stash.

The simplicity of the design and the my study of the recipient called for some serious fun in the quilting department. This is my first time trying "matchstick quilting" after admiring it on several other quilts recently. It's like painting with thread. I love it.

I used a couple different weights and six different colors. 

I like how the backing turned out too.

And I even made quilt hangers and labels. (My least favorite task.)

Its name is 'gravity', a play on the flying geese and the movement in the thread.

Needless to say, I had a really hard time parting with it on Monday. I hope it's new owner loves it as I so loved making it for them.

I forgot to measure it post quilting, but before I started it measured 22.5" x 26". (I'm pretty sure it lost some width and height due to the quilting.)

Linking up for finish it up Friday with Amanda Jean.