Winner!

Yesterday was my Tuesday quilting group's holiday potluck luncheon. This year we also had a challenge. Participants were each given five different fabrics and told to make a 10" block. We didn't have to use all the fabrics but we couldn't add any. Blocks could be pieced or appliqués, machine or hand done.

The big reveal was at our luncheon where we raffled off the blocks. And who was the lucky winner? Yours truly!

Andy Warhol-Inspired Quilt

My quilt guild held a challenge to make a quilt inspired by an artist. I love (quilt) challenges so I signed up. My quilt is inspired by Andy Warhol's repeated images using different colors. I hand appliquéd the shapes and used perle cotton for the quilting.

All of the challenge quilts are currently on display at K Town Bistro in Kensington, Maryland.

Madrona Road Challenge

At the December meeting of the DC Modern Quilt Guild, I picked up a packet of Madrona Road fabric by Michael Miller. The challenge was to use these fabrics, any additional Madrona Road fabric, and any solid fabric. The resulting item must be quilted and must be finished.

I made a tote bag, adding the blue solid fabric and another Madrona Road fabric for the lining. I quilted it using a long zigzag stitch with variegated thread.

4 Flowerpots

This is my finished, four-block quilt, which I started quilting back in the winter with the snow falling. It is heavily quilted, as you can see, and it was quite tricky to get the four quadrants of quilting lines to meet up properly. The lines are spaced 3/4" apart and I used masking tape to mark them. I quilted the dogtooth border in the ditch, eyeballing it. I renamed this quilt which used to be called "Rainbow Surprise" because that was the name of the challenge. It is now hanging on the wall of my kitchen in the space where "Dear Jane" used to reside (yes, I am a Janiac).

Pink Flowers

My quilt guild, Needle Chasers of Chevy Chase, is having our biannual quilt show this December. The show is featuring a challenge to our members to "try something new" maybe a technique you've never done before or doing something in a new way. I have never done beading or embellishments of any kind on a quilt so I decided that would be my challenge. I am planning to embellish and finish the quilt pictured on my blog, "Snowflake Hex" but thought I should begin with a practice piece - thus, "Pink Flowers." It's a mini-quilt measuring 10" x 14". The pattern comes from the book, Creative Quilting With Beads by Valerie Van Arsdale Shrader. I love the way it turned out!

Vintage Block Challenge

Here is my entry in our quilt group's Vintage Block Challenge, due this Tuesday. We got the idea from Mary Kerr's Vintage Revisited...A Block Challenge Exhibit. I saw the exhibit at Quilt Odyssey in Hershey, Pa., last summer. Each participant gets the same vintage block and has to make a 24" square quilt using that block. In our challenge, the vintage block is the yellow star (middle right). I combined it with some "orphan" blocks from my stash. Some are old blocks and some are blocks I made using vintage fabrics. I also included some blocks made with reproduction fabrics. Everything came from my stash. The final touch was the blue jumbo rick rack in the border. It is an "interrupted border" so commonly found in old quilts. Probably because it is easier than figuring out how to turn the corner!



Look at this cute little mouse conversation print found in the Grandmother's Flower Garden block that I picked up who-knows-when. I appliqued it to the white background.