August 2014 – So Sew Gifts

I realized tonight (8/22/14) that I haven’t yet written a post for quilt shows. It’s fun to attend quilt shows to get inspiration and see products/fabrics/displays from a wider variety of shops. quilt knit stitch

This fall, mom and I attended the Quilt Knit Stitch Expo here in Portland, OR. Thanks to Deb at Quilter’s Corner Store for the free tickets!

At this particular fair, many vendors had signs about not taking pictures of their displays. They must have had difficulty of people stealing their designs. So instead, I tried to pick up flyers and information so I can go back later and look at or purchase patterns. Here’s some of the interesting sites to check out:

Kay Mackenzie = a friendly lady who helped me with ideas about how to applique. I told her about my recent attempt (Initially Yours Quilt) and she gave some good advice about going slow and stitching at 90′ around the appliqued design.

Thanks to the reps of Moda for the free mini pack of fabrics and a reminder to visit their bakeshop site for free patterns.

Some great little ideas and colorful projects covered the booth for Pieceful Designs. I especially want to make something like this:

The pattern designers, like Nancy Lorene, are so creative and shops like The Stitchin’ Post are full of ideas.

One of the guild activities each year is a Challenge Quilt. This year, it was the theme “Initially Yours”. We were to use either fabrics or styles or images reminiscent of our initials. For me, this was a chance to make a quilt I’ve been thinking about for awhile, a landscape beach scene.

I used the “A”pplique technique of using “F”usible “F”abric and decorative “S”titches. Included are fabrics that imitate “A”qua water, trees in a “F”orest, and “S”andy beaches. There’s even a tidepool and kites flying since those are two of my favorite parts of visiting the ocean.

It was fun to see what other people came up with, and many of us used this opportunity to try a new technique. Here are a few that I liked, which turned out to be the three most popular as voted on by the guild members.

(2015) This year’s challenge quilt was to use “neutral + 1 color family + zinger”. It was again interesting to see how people interpreted those “directions”. This was one of my favorites.

Month: August 2014

Quilt Shows

Initially Yours