Tuesday, January 26, 2016

January Block-of-the-Month

Due to unforeseen circumstances, Block of the Month took a hiatus at the end of the last calendar year, but we are back!  Four more blocks to go before we are at 12.

This month's super-cool block is by Patrice, who blogs at Quilting with Patrice



Patrice says: "Be brave! Try curved piecing. With this block you can practice curved piecing and make your curves as gentle as you want to avoid the need to curse (reverse the curse!)."


The link to the tutorial is here!

Tuesday, January 19, 2016

Solids Mini Quilt Challenge

It's been a while since we last did a mini quilt challenge. With our annual quilt show coming up in April (stay tuned for details), we thought we'd launch a no-stress mini quilt challenge to show off our awesome modern quilting skills at the show.
Jen's mini quilt from our very first mini challenge.
This challenge will be pretty simple... make a mini quilt, no more than 36" on any side using solids. That's it! You can follow a pattern, make up your own, improvise something or just go with the flow.

Alexis' courthouse steps quilt
Why does your quilt need to be 36" or less on either side? Well for starters, we want to showcase all of your awesome quilts in one area of the quilt show and in order to do so, we need them to be relatively small. No, these quilts will not be judged by anyone, so you don't need to worry about that. That being said, the reason we picked 36" as a maximum width and length is that this is what QuiltCon considers a "Small Quilt". So, if you do want to submit your mini quilt to other shows, we encourage you to do so. With these simple guidelines, your quilt will fit into the Small Quilt category for QuiltCon, which I've been told is less popular that the piecing category for example (meaning you have a better chance of getting in).

Julie's stunning flower quilt top from retreat this year.
Quilts will be due at the end of March/early April, once we determine the exact date that quilts will be due for the quilt show at Fabric Place Basement. So I'd aim for the end of March for now. With retreat in the middle of March, this is the perfect time to start planning something to whip together. Most of all, have fun!

We can't wait to see what you create!