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My Mini-Quilt from Cindy

When we got back from our trip last week, a little package was waiting for me, all the way from Ireland.  As part of the Atlanta/Irish Modern Quilt Guild swap, we exchanged mini-quilts, and I may have rigged it so Cindy at Fluffy Sheep Quilting and I were partners.

Somehow Cindy figured out that I maybe-sort-of like Star Wars, and based on a class she took at the Fat Quarterly retreat, she decided to make me a porthole view from the Millennium Falcon.  Alderaan! Tatooine! Those other planets I can’t remember the names of!

A long time ago in a galaxy far away in my sewing room…

Cindy posted a lot of detail shots of the quilt on her blog before she sent it over, so you can go there for some more photos, but I told her I would present it in proper context:

So what if I have 3 different Han Solo action figures? I can quit any time I want.

For the full effect, you have to put on the 3-D glasses to view the planet fabric (thanks, Rhonda, for helping Cindy out!) and yell “That’s no moon!” or “I made the Kessel run in under 12 parsecs!” I love the swirly batiks for the planets.

Thank you, Cindy! I love it. And thanks for the extra goodies for all the kids (human and feline).

Bonus semi-related Helper Cat photos:

Zapper takes to the fainting couch in the face of so many Han Solos.
The Force is strong with this one. Apparently presence of a high level of midichlorians makes one take a lot of naps.
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Wellspring House Woven Quilt - Finished!

Over the weekend I got a chance to use my friend Lynn’s long arm machine to quilt one of the two quilts I’ve made for the Wellspring recovery house.  As a refresher. the Atlanta Modern Quilt Guild is trying to gather 29 twin size quilts within a range of colors to donate to the residence house for Wellspring Living, which is where the girls rescued from human trafficking go to recover and work towards rejoining mainstream society.  The quilts will stay at the house and not go with the girls, but we have other efforts to make quilts for the girls to take with them.I got a chance to finish up the binding before work this morning, and into the washer and dryer it went!

The pattern is Basket Case from Cluck Cluck Sew. To make it twin size I added an extra row to the length and upped the border a couple inches. The blocks are made from jelly rolls, and finish 10″ each. I made it so blues all went horizontal and greens and aquas went vertical. Not as prominent an effect as I’d hoped, but I’m happy with it regardless.
I ended up with a couple extra blocks I set into the back, which works great since two widths of cotton fabric are a little short for a 90″ length to fit a bed.
I’m working on finishing a winter table runner for my MIL for Mother’s Day (which I meant to give her last Christmas, and then a couple weeks ago for her birthday - whoops), and can hopefully finish that up this weekend.
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AMQG Modern Block of the Month

The Atlanta Modern Quilt Guild is doing a “Modern Block of the Month” program to encourage our members to get comfortable with 1) different fabric than they are used to and 2) different block styles than they are used to. I’m coordinating the program, and the four blocks are being designed by four of our officers.  At the end of the project, members can either donate their blocks if they don’t want them, or use them to make a table runner that I’ll be providing a pattern for.

The fabric we are using is the Jay McCarroll Habitat line, which was donated by the Free Spirit fabric company. We’re a bit late in getting around to our challenge for this fabric, since most of the other MQG’s did something with it last year. All the blocks are 12″ finished.

I designed the first block, which I named “Stardust”.

Our guidelines were that we could only add a solid fabric to the Habitat fabric, so I chose a brown. After I made the block, I thought it needed something extra, so I had the idea to make a wonky version, which is WAYWAYWAY outside my comfort zone.
And you know what? I actually like it better. I’m not sure if it’s the Kona Snow and the wonky star shape I like better, but it works with this fabric line (which admittedly is not my taste).
Block 2 was designed by our President Andi, and it’s called “Modern Strings”. I went back to the brown because I had more of that in my stash.
As the official pattern tester, I get to see all the block patterns ahead of time, so I’ve already got block 3 (designed by Lynn) queued up. Can’t reveal it until after our April meeting though!
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Mug Rug!

The Atlanta Modern Quilt Guild did a mug rug swap for our December meeting, and I was lucky enough to get the one from Melinda in our guild. Melinda is a wonderfully talented long-arm quilter and all-around knowledgeable quilter. We are so lucky to have her in our guild! She also thinks lime green is a neutral, which is something I can get behind.

This the mug rug she made, that I now have in my sweaty little paws (okay, not sweaty so much as chilly, because it’s 22F overnight here in Georgia):

(Pictures courtesy of Melinda, too - told you she was awesome)
Here are all the mug rugs from the group:
(The one I made is the brown and blue on at the bottom, 2nd from the left. I like to call it the Charlie Brown Mug Rug because it seems a bit paltry compared to the other wonderful ones that were done).
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Random Thoughts and Inspiration

I did some work on sashing the blocks for the paintbox quilt that the Atlanta Modern Quilt Guild is donating to the upcoming inagural show for the Southeastern Quilt and Textile Museum, and got to thinking about the story of the quilt. Part of that was documenting “the story” of the quilt, and who all has worked on it, so I had to look up a couple names. Well, of course once I fell down the internet rabbit hole I couldn’t get out, and low and behold, looky what I found!

I confess to having bought 2 layer cakes recently. One was a William Morris print collection, which I have a inexplicable attraction to (I also have the book William Morris in Applique, which I plan on making something from one day), and the other is a Moda Origins layer cake I got from Tiny Stitches, one of my LQS. I think I will use my Origins for this, since I was trolling the Bake Shop for a pattern but wasn’t particularly inspired by any of the layer cakes. I think I’ll pair it with a clean white accent fabric, and some of the Lime “grunge” I picked up.

The Quilt Along starts on November, and a new block will be posted every other Tuesday. Come join in!