Here's the hero shot. My strip piecing method was a bit flawed, so some chunks of the strip are 8.75" tall instead of 9" tall. I'm sorry for the miscalculation and I hope it will be okay in the final quilt!
I was a very good quilting bee-er this month and finished my strip for Rossie's kelp quilt completely on schedule. I was very intrigued by the design she had in mind, and even more impressed that she dyed the fabrics herself. I hope I am half as creative when its my turn to send out packages. There is pressure involved when you have a certain amount of fabric to use, and a time frame to use it in. Which is precisely why this quilting bee is a good exercise for me.
I think my horizontal bars are a bit wider than Robin's (which I'm so glad you posted a photo of so early in the month). Rossie I hope that is okay!
I can't wait to see how the subtle red shades variations play out together in the completed top.
Ladies, I hate to brag, but I think I'm the first one done with our panel this month! At least from what I know... does posting it here first count as first one done? Anyway, I was thrilled to be working with such beautiful fabric and it was a fun pattern to execute! Thanks Rossie! You all don't have to worry that I'll be the first one out every month... I just happened to stumble on a little time yesterday to take care of this. I promise I wont be the most annoying one in the bunch! Can't wait to see what you are cooking up for next month Cheryl!
I blogged about it today on my own blog, and if you don't mind my shameless plug, here's my link! Hope you all are having a happy summer!
I'm having a hard time deciding between the many ideas I've got for this project. I thought I was on track, but then I picked up this book. The girls and I have been earmarking projects. It has also introduced me to a few new-to-me designers that I now want to research.
It really is a great book for fun craft ideas. And I adore the details on different techniques, tools, and designers.
Actually, it's still June, but I'm posting these instructions now because I am planning on handing off fabric to Rebekah and Debbie at tonight's Modern Quilt Guild (Brighton chapter). The rest of you can expect fabric in the mail within the week!
Here's the plan for the quilt:
This began as a kelp shape that I doodled and re-doodled. Inspired, of course, by Amanda'swork.
It doesn't really look much like kelp any more, but I still call this "the kelp quilt" in my head.
Maybe that's what kelp looks like on Mars?
I had originally conceived of doing with it in mineral green colors. But, I changed my mind and decided on oranges and reds, similar to the colors in this textile by Ray Eames. I might bind it in lavender, but probably candy blue, as in the painting above. We'll see. : )
I hand-dyed these reds and oranges to get the variation in colors I wanted. I used pimatex fabric which is really lovely to work with, so I think you'll be happy as you sew. (I'll send the white, too!)
This is going to be a twin-size bed quilt.
Here are my guidelines:
--I'd like everyone to please make a 9" tall, 65" wide strip.
--As you can see in the picture, I would like your kelp shapes to be in the center of the strip height-wise (don't stress, just aim for the center, okay?)
--Try to keep the plants less than 4" tall and the stems no more than 1.25" tall.
--Anything goes as far as how many plants you'd like to put in your strip, how long the plants are, whether you do some that are just stems, and where you position them in the strip width-wise.
--I love subtle wonk, but nothing crazy or forced.
Can't wait to see what you all make!
Here's a song to get you fired up!
July 2010 - Rossie
August 2010 - Jess
September 2010 - Cheryl
October 2010 - Amanda
November 2010 - Debbie
January 2011 - Rebekah
February 2011 - Robin
March 2011 - Lauren
April 2011 - Blair
May 2011 - Malka Yahaira
June 2011 - Jacquie
I do believe I have accommodated everyone's wishes.
If something comes up and you need to swap your month, that's fine; but please try to arrange it yourself and let me (Rossie) or Cheryl know if you need help.
The groups for individual bees don't seem to get much traffic, so we're not planning on setting one up.
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Blog button
As requested, here is a blog button
html code for above
In Blogger, add these by going to the "layout" tab; click "add gadget";choose "HTML/JavaScript" as the gadget type; paste in code; save your changes!
To make the button bigger or smaller, change the "200" to a bigger or smaller number.
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Words of wisdom
Cheryl put this so well in her email that I asked her permission to post this for posterity: "We have a phenomenally creative group of quilters, artists, authors, and designers. We are all fans of mid century modern design. We believe that we can come together to create some amazing quilts. These quilts will capture the spirit of the artists involved. They will also, hopefully, capture the essence of mid-century modern design.
"So, instead of sending out precise rules and pre-cut fabric, please share your inspiration and a pile of fabric. Let go and see what comes back to you. We can trust each other to produce quality blocks, so trust the process."
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Please post each block you make
When you post a block you made, please attach two labels: (1) your first name (2) ______'s quilt <--- filling in the name of the person for whom the block is destined.
This will make it easier to search back through posts.
I have added ALL of these labels to this post so that you can add them to future posts just by clicking on "show all"
and then select the relevant labels.
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Feel free to post about other mid-mod stuff here.
I'm loving the inspiration posts, and their comments. Keep them coming and please use the "inspiration" label!
I have figured out how to get the byline up below the title of each post, hopefully this will help us know who is talking when. (I'll try to clean up the way it looks soon).
Also, if any members want me to add their email address to the list of those who get emailed each comment, shoot me an email. (You can also subscribe to the comments by RSS, but I like the email method myself.)
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I'm beyond pumped to get started!
Thank you all!
I was a very good quilting bee-er this month and finished my strip for Rossie's kelp quilt completely on schedule. I was very intrigued by the design she had in mind, and even more impressed that she dyed the fabrics herself. I hope I am half as creative when its my turn to send out packages.
There is pressure involved when you have a certain amount of fabric to use, and a time frame to use it in. Which is precisely why this quilting bee is a good exercise for me.
at the local library (on of the commenters here recommended it). It has a lot of textile designs, too.
I'm having a hard time deciding between the many ideas I've got for this project. I thought I was on track, but then I picked up this book. The girls and I have been earmarking projects. It has also introduced me to a few new-to-me designers that I now want to research. 
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