Welcome to Yahaira!

Hi all,

I just wanted to let you know of a slight change in the cast of Mid Mod Quilters!  While Malka remains excited about mid-century design, she found herself unable to find the time to make blocks for our bee (she has kids going to college, a book coming out, a shop to run...!)  I think we've all been there, very much wanting to have time to do something, but just not finding a way to make it work and feeling sick and guilty instead of fun and quilty! 

So, the lovely Yahaira of Bitter Purl has agreed to take over for Malka.  In fact, Yahaira has really stepped up to the bat...Malka is going to send the un-stitched packets of fabric to her and Yahaira is going to play catch-up for us! 

I've updated the directory in Google Docs, please be sure that you send packages to the right place!

Happy November,
Rossie

a chevron for m'lady

I hope it suits you!  20" is big!!!

Block for Cheryl

My block for Cheryl was heavily inspired by barkcloth.  I hope I haven't been too literal.  The amount of detail in barkcloth steered me away from my usual larger, more graphic style.  Making the finished block a curved shape was fun.

I hope my block "plays well" with the rest.  I noticed that Amanda and I used a similar motif.  I described my process in a little more detail on my blog.

Leafcloth

Cheryl's request had me a bit stumped.  Curves, not curves, barkcloth, huh?
I thought that once the fabric arrived I would be inspired, but I found the combination odd, stymieing me further.

Robin's blocks gave me a boost of inspiration and I sat down on Saturday resolved to figure something out.  I decided to focus on a single element from Cheryl's inspirations:

And so...

 It will be in the post shortly!

atomic barkcloth doodle block (for cheryl)

After feeling a bit intimidated by the open-endedness of your challenge, Cheryl, I'm now completely in love with barkcloth... especially the atomic kind! I can't wait to see how this quilt comes together and thanks for the chance to experiment. I've been eyeing those split hourglass shapes since we started this bee - what a perfect chance to try them out.

And, of course, I think I should get extra points for my photo - with fancy mid mod chair. All this mid mod stuff is kinda bad for my chair habit.

Another block for Cheryl

Trying to use up the fabric Cheryl sent, I made this 12" block:

All I can say is "heaven help Cheryl!"

minty chevrons - the plan!

I knew October was going to be hectic, so I always had my vacation as a backup plan in case I didn't have time to prep my fabrics to send out before that. So here I am - at the beach in the Outer Banks of North Carolina, packing up little bits of fabric to send to you! Here is the plan... I've been looking at a little post-it note on my desk at work for about four months now. I think I drew it pretty soon after joining this bee, and I've been pondering it since!

I've loved all the research this bee has required. I keep finding that I'm particularly drawn to all the wonky geometric shapes from this period, especially little triangly arrow shapes. My plan starts there: I'm sending you 1/2 yard of a main solid color fabric (green or brown), a 5-inch wide strip for the chevron, and little strips of solid fabric (brown or green). I'm asking each person to make a 20-inch block with the chevron in the center. My hope is that the chevron will take up a goodly portion of the block (maybe 12-16 inches tall and wide?) and the rest can be filled with little blippy strips (minus signs?) or squares or hollow squares or even a teensy plus sign if you feel inspired... Here are the fabrics - lots of browns and greens (mint chocolate, maybe?).
Hopefully this isn't too prescriptive... wonky, curvy-I welcome it all. In fact, I was thinking those chevrons may look even more "atomic" if their bottoms were small and the tip of the arrow was fatter... feel free to play around and explore and have fun with it. Fingers crossed that I've sent enough fabric! I can't wait to see what you come up with.