Blog Tour: Creative Quilt Challenges
We are so happy to get to be a part of a blog tour for the newly released, Creative Quilt Challenges by two of our very own lovely customers, Pat Pease and Wendy Hill. You'll see the tour schedule below so you won't miss a thing! Be sure to leave a comment to be entered into a drawing to receive you very own copy (international winners get a digital copy). Pat and Wendy will also send a bonus surprise to domestic winners. We'll pick the lucky winner Monday, April 11th, so please post your comments before then.
UPDATE: Congrats to Susan S! You're the lucky winner among our commenters. Thanks to everyone who chimed in.
Monday, March 28: Lynn Merrill, ctpub.com/blog
Tuesday, March 29: Maria Shell, mariashell.com
Wednesday, March 30: Sandra Clemons, sandraclemons.blogspot.com
Thursday, March 31: Tierney Hogan, tierneycreates.wordpress.com
Friday, April 1:Gina at BOLT Fabric Boutique, boltneighborhood.com
Monday, April 4: Beth, sewmamasew.com
Tuesday, April 5: Kristin Shields, kristinshieldsart.com
Wednesday, April 6: Paula Marie, paulamariedaughter.com
Thursday, April 7: Teri Lucas, generationqmagazine.com
Friday, April 8: Wendy Hill, wendyhill.net/blog
Let's get started, shall we? We were given Challenge #4: Pass It Back and Forth and Do Not Speak." This was a very interesting process for us, for sure. We all jumped in on the project (minus one of our crew who was away on vacation) and it was really cool to see the stages. I started it off with this:
It's a base of shot cotton with a block of cotton print and solid appliqued to it along with scattered squares of a very sheer striped cotton. I quietly handed over and it turned to this:
From Sarah: "Starting with Gina's initial quirky quilt square, I thought it would be interesting to cut a third off from the solid non-decorated side and sew it onto the busier side in order to better distribute the two main solids and to give it a more balanced look. I then added a complementary solid in a grey/purple shot cotton to the hacked off side. To finish it off I introduced and stitched a large square of a bohemian-like print at an off set angle. I handed off a scrap of solid and print to Cameron and wished her the luck she doesn't need. (she's an amazing quilter!)"
In Cameron's hands, our project evolved into this:
This was a big surprise when I saw this! As you can see, she cut it up a lot more and inserted a bit of denim. She unpicked the center seam, sliced both halves up into equal strips of about 2" wide and sewed them back together. She also added a big block of denim and appliquéd a couple of strips of a striped denim when she was done.
And then it went onto Hannah:
Hannah removed the denim strip from the center as well as the striped sheer pieces. She then took one half, turned it the opposite direction and attached it to the other side. Voila!
I wouldn't call this finished, but certainly transformed. It is a fascinating process and I think the fact that we had four people participate and work on it just one time each (so far) may keep it feeling a bit more mixed up than if it were two people who really know one another's styles, like the authors do.
I should point out that I am by no means an experienced quilter and thus was a bit intimidated by the whole idea of working on this for a blog post. However, I found it really exciting to see what we all did and as I think of the coming steps, feel intrigued and enticed by the challenge.
Pat and Wendy offer such a fun collection of challenges and wonderful ideas. As I was reading the introduction and their comments about seeing patterns and color combinations around us all the time, I felt a big "yes!" I have recently started using my phone camera to capture color combos around me as I walk around town, in the woods, wherever. Their work is inspiring and encouraging and for a novice like me, I am so appreciative!
Will you pass it back and forth and not speak?