Bountiful Mini Quilt Challenge

Posted on August 22, 2017 by thequiltedcat

Hi everyone!

I’m excited to share with you my mini quilt entry for a collaborative contest between the Portland Modern Quilt Guild and Art Gallery Fabrics. We used the Bountiful Fabrics collection by Sharon Holland. Our challenge was to create a mini quilt to celebrate the beauty and scenery found across the mid-west.

My entry is called “Bounty in Every Direction” and is inspired by all the wonderful farms and ranches that I’ve seen while flying. The arrows are my own foundation paper-pieced design. I used free-motion quilting in a circular shape to represent the center-pivot irrigation system used on many crops.

The dark brown border is made from faux leather and represents the ranches in the mid-west. The appliqued flower with beaded center represents the farms and growers.

I hope that you enjoy this little quilt! It will be on display, along with all the other entries, at the PMQG Quilt Showcase on October 19th at the Lagunitas Community Room in Portland so come check it out if you’re local.

“Bounty in Every Direction “Mini Quilt

“Bounty in Every Direction” Mini Quilt

Close-Up of “Bounty in Every Direction” Mini Quilt

“Bounty in Every Direction” Mini Quilt

“Bounty in Every Direction” Mini quilt

Happy Quilting!

~Jennifer

MQG Riley Blake Fabric Challenge for 2015

Posted on June 17, 2015 by thequiltedcat

Hi everyone!

I made an original design for my entry into the “Modern Quilt Guild 2015 Fabric Challenge with Riley Blake Designs” contest.

The rules for the challenge are:

Make something fantastic that is quilted.
Make something you have never done before.
Challenge yourself to learn something new.
Use only Riley Blake “the Cottage Garden” fabrics and coordinating Riley Blake basics and solids.

I used the fabric sampler pack that MQG members could sign up for and receive in the mail. I added just 2 fabrics – a Riley Blake shade (granite) and a Riley Blake solid (off-white).

I’m calling my entry “Sisters in Bloom” because the quilt features the Three Sisters mountains with a nod to all the beautiful, blooming flowers that you can see while strolling through the town of Sisters (particularly during the upcoming Outdoor Quilt Show in July!!). There is a fussy cut bird from the fabric perched on one of the flowers. Look on the right-hand side!

The flying geese are a paper-pieced, spontaneous creation that I made up as I went along!

I used red floss for a punch of color in the flowers, on the bird, and in the quilt name. The quilting is all free-motion on my domestic machine. If you look closely, the sun is radiating out from just behind the mountain on the far left-hand side of the quilt. I used a variegated thread in the bottom portion of the quilt to add color and movement to imitate a flowering alpine meadow.

Sisters in Bloom Quilt Entry for the MQG Challenge

Close-up of embroidery

Little bird close-up!

Spontaneous, paper-pieced flying geese!

If you are an MQG member, you can view other entries into this challenge via the online forums. Anyone can view entries in Instagram using the #mqgfabricchallenge hashtag.

I hope you enjoy my entry!

~Jennifer

Madrona Road Challenge Quilt is Finished!

Posted on January 13, 2013 by thequiltedcat

Just in time for the Portland Modern Quilt Guild meeting this week, I finished my Madrona Road challenge quilt!

I did the quilting and binding last night. The quilt is about 34-inches by 34-inches. I’m calling it “Bird in a Window” because of the cute little birdie sitting in the center square.

Here’s a look at the completed quilt:

Bird in a Window Quilt Top

For the quilt back, I added some interest by piecing together a few more squares and hand-embroidering the quilt details onto the label:

Bird in a Window Back

Two close-ups:

Bird Block Close-Up

Label Close-Up

This has been a fun challenge for me, and I hope to participate in future challenges!

I plan on taking this quilt with me to the guild meeting this week. I think there may be a group photo taken at the meeting so I’ll try to post about it.

Enjoy!
~Jennifer~

More Progress on Madrona Road

Posted on January 10, 2013 by thequiltedcat

I’ve worked a bit more on my Madrona Road quilt challenge and have finished assembling the top.

You can read about my start in this earlier post.

For the Portland Modern Quilt Guild, we had to incorporate a word so I choose to use the word, “bird.” There is a cute little golden bird that appears in one of the prints that I used, plus I decided to use a paper-pieced bird block as my center image for some whimsy!

Here’s a look at the center block:

Madrona Road Bird Block

And here’s a view of the quilt top:

Madrona Road Quilt Top

For the top, I took inspiration from Faith at Fresh Lemons and her Lemon Squares Quilt pattern. I altered the pattern just a bit to include my whimsical bird block and added an inner border from Kona cotton and an outer border using one of the Madrona Road prints.

Of course, my cat had to ask me: “Mom, why a bird and not a cat?”

Why a Bird, Ma?

This weekend, I hope to take the project over to mom’s house to quilt it.

Enjoy!
~Jennifer~

Madrona Road Modern Quilt Challenge

Posted on January 2, 2013 by thequiltedcat

With the new year, I decided to stretch my sewing/quilting skills and join a guild. I signed up for the Portland Modern Quilt Guild since I have been intrigued by some of the modern quilt blocks lately. I have a link to the PMQG on the right sidebar of my blog.

I’ve been focusing quite a bit on applique and paper piecing so I’ll return to some traditional piecing techniques for my first modern quilt project.

The project will be for the Madrona Road Challenge – a fun challenge that uses the Madrona Road (Michael Miller) line of fabric by Violet Craft.

I visited a local quilt shop to pick up some fabric from this line, but they only had a few pieces to choose from. I did pick up 4 different prints and then a few solids for accents.

Here are the solids:

Madrona Road Patterned Fabrics

I could order more Madrona Road pieces from an on-line retailer, but decided to challenge myself using just the prints that I found locally. The other stipulation is that it must be a wall or art quilt no larger than 36 inches on any side and must include a word that inspires the quilt.

I’ve worked up some ideas for my challenge quilt and am using a word inspired by an image in the actual fabric itself.

Stay tuned . . . I’ll post a progress photo soon!

Happy quilting!
~Jennifer~