UPDATE

 The Great Kandinsky Caper - update

NUMBERS 1, 28, 29, are now accounted for!   Thanks & keep them coming.
October’s fun challenge, interpreting Kandinsky’s painting, IMPROVISATION # 27 (Garden of Love), is in the works and so far it is full of playful squares.  We are looking forward to putting it together when we receive the following numbers:  3, 4, 8, 9, 14, 18, 20, 23, 24, 26, 27.
We need yours by Jan 5th. On Jan. 7th  the missing pieces will be sent to volunteers to do in time for our Feb. meeting.

Please send your finished piece, with its # and your name to:
Michele Kucker
1845 E. 31 Street
Brooklyn, N.Y. 11234

michelek44@gmail.com

Member Spotlight: Judy Stadler

This is a new Q & A series to get to know our members.  Today, Judy Stadler talks to us about her experience as a quilter.

1.    picture of recent project -  I made 6 quilts this year and this is my favorite. It was a gift to a long time friend for her first grandchild. I gave it as a thank you for staying with her in Sweden this past summer. The quilt and block are my original designs.

Tell us about yourself.  Where are you from and how long have you been in our guild?

A:            Grew up in Far Rockaway. Have lived on UWS of NYC since 1974.

Have you always been crafty?  What other things do you make?

A:            Have used many media. Here’s a short list… High karat gold and fine silver jewelry; glass work; weaving; handmade books; mixed media art; textile design; wet and dry felting, photography. Textiles are my first and last love, however. Now I mainly make quilts. And I am kind of getting into art quilts.

Where do you sew?

A:            In a corner of my living/dining room.

What is your favorite type of project?

A:            Designing my own blocks and quilts. And I love any kind of hand sewing.

What’s your favorite quilting tool?

A:            Can’t say I have a favorite.  I love all of them.  Well, maybe the sewing machine – though I plan to get a new one soon.

What type of fabrics do you use most often?

A:            Cotton prints.  I also love wovens, silks and vintage textiles.

Who or what inspires you most in quilting?

A:            I am inspired by so many things – nature, ethnic textiles, color, all forms of art…

What are you working on now?

A:            I have several projects in progress: my version of a Dear Jane; Hawaiian applique; a series of art quilts; wedding gift quilt for my nephew; putting together the blocks I got for my Bee’s exchange; a Sashiko wall hanging to name a few.    

What kind of projects would you like to tackle in the coming year?

A:            I have several ideas for projects for the coming year but they are not yet ready for their profiles. And this year I want to learn in depth how to dye my own fabric. I have experimented with natural dyes in the past, but it’s too complicated for my limited space.

Do you have a blog, flickr, pinterest, or other place on the web you’d like to share?

A: I have an old blog I no longer post to (www.judithstadler.blogspot.com) and a new blog I started that has very little on it (www.stitchtraveler.blogspot.com) I may or may not continue with stitch traveler – haven’t decided yet.

(Thank you Judy! If you would like to be interviewed for this series, please fill out the questionnaire and email it to jessunderquilts at yahoo dot com)

Member Spotlight: Nancy Dougherty

This is a Q & A series to get to know our members. Today, Nancy Dougherty talks to us about her experience as a quilter.

Where are your from and how long have you been in our guild?

I currently live in Fort Lee, New Jersey. However, my day job as a pediatric dentist brings me to Bellevue Hospital in Manhattan every day. I am also on the faculty of the NYU College of Dentistry.

 Although I was born in NJ and returned there as an adult, as a child my family moved frequently throughout the Northeast U.S. along with a period of time in California. Back in what now seems like another lifetime, I attended Pratt Institute and the California College of the Arts as a graphic design major. I worked in the magazine business for about 5 years before making a sharp turn career-wise to become a dentist (hey, it’s like doing “arts and crafts” in people’s mouths). Although I left the “professional” art world, I never stopped drawing and painting. I eventually came to quilting via my long-term interest in surface design.

I started quilting less than a year ago and quickly fell in love with the whole process. I am drawn more to “modern” designs than traditional ones and attended my first Metro Mod meeting this month (December 2012). I was so happy to find this group – the first meeting was loads of fun, and I especially enjoyed the welcoming and sharing environment.

 

Where do you sew?

Wish I could say I had a beautiful workspace, but my cutting mat and sewing machine get set up on my dining room table. Now that my 2 sons are in college, maybe I can start claiming their bedroom as a workspace? (although it’s such a mess, I’m usually afraid to even open the door to that room).

 

What type of fabrics do you use most often?

 I enjoy working with blocks of solid color (as opposed to prints), especially rich, saturated color. My favorite fabrics so far are KONA solids. I also like the Cherrywood suede-look fabrics, although I haven’t completed any projects with them yet. Japanese indigo dyed and ikat fabrics are also favorites. I have some of those fabrics, and I love them so much that it’s almost painful to contemplate cutting them up. I have to just go for it!!

 

Who or what inspires you most in quilting?

I just bought a book by a Japanese quilter, Keiko Goke. Love her stuff – incredibly creative, free-form designs with beautiful vivid colors. (She has a website, www.keikogoke.com. The text on the site is in Japanese, but you can get a good look at her quilts). Also, I am continually inspired by going back over and over to look at Amish quilts. The simplicity of their designs make them look modern, even if they’re over 100 years old.

What are you working on now?

So far, I have only done fairly small wall hangings, table runners, etc. I would like to tackle some larger size projects in the coming year. The pictures I have attached are of projects that I brought in for “Show and Tell” at the last meeting, but they’re the only ones I have photos of right now – I’ll have to get working!

At the moment, I am again working on some small projects to give as gifts: quilted iPad covers and handbags.

 

(Thank you Nancy!   If you would like to be interviewed for this series, please fill out the questionnaire and email it to jessunderquilts at yahoo dot com)

December Meeting Show and Tell Recap

Hello everyone!

I'm Nellie and joined the guild in September. I am a beginner quilter and very excited to be a part of such a wonderful, vibrant, and supportive community of quilters and artists. I volunteered to take photos of Show and Tell at the last meeting and have compiled a recap below. Unfortunately, since I am fairly new, I have not learned everyone's name yet and apologize in advance if I didn't capture the details of your quilt correctly. I've been trying very hard (and probably unsuccessfully) to balance taking good photos and writing up notes at the same time during the meeting! Please feel free to email or comment if anything needs to be corrected and I will make updates to the post.

1. A new member, made this quilt for a friend, who was a victim of stroke, is composed of angels from various Christmas prints. Incorporated into the blocks are notes handwritten by friend’s students.

2. Helen made this quilt, aptly named "Snowballs in Hell" using red and white blocks from the Two's Company Quilt Bee.

3. Margaret made this quilt with blocks from Lucky Bee 13.It is composed of more than 950 blocks. For the bee, Margaret requested half square triangles in two rows of nine. This is the first quilt she has made that she will keep for herself.

4. Bernadette made this baby quilt from fabrics from the Thomas Knauer summer challenge. She donated the quilt to a collection for victims of Superstorm Sandy.

5. and 6.Cassandra made these quilts out of fabrics she dyed herself back in college! The goal is to have the quilts complete by the end of the year.

7. This quilt was made for the member's mom who lives in New Mexico. They selected the colors together and chose "adobe" hues. This is the largest quilt she has made. She plans to rent a long arm to quilt it.

8. Jessica's SV (scrap vomit) quilt, which came together beautifully with a light border and was made during the week off because of Hurricane Sandy.

9. This member participated in a Mystery Block exchange and received 10, 8.5" squares, which she made into a fabulous scarf.

10. This colorful quilt will be a Christmas gift for a three-year-old.

11. This will be a Christmas gift for the member’s parents. She found the rooster fabric from the scrap table at the last meeting. The blue squares are velvet.

12.  This quilter is new to the guild and is "obsessed" with using menswear (ties, suits, shirts) fabrics for her quilts. She was inspired by an Ellsworth Kelly triptych poster and created these three quilts. The backing is comprised of men's' shirt fabric.

13. and 14. Usually a self-proclaimed "color" girl, Lisa stepped up to the "Whites-Lights" challenged and made this beauty that she will be gifting to a special person in her life. She quilted it herself.

15. Sue made this quilt out of 756 squares. There is exactly the same number of solid squares as there are printed squares. She calls this one "Urban Jungle" and plans to keep it for herself, despite never keeping quilts!

16. While feeling antsy during the hurricane, this member worked on this stormy looking quilt by stitching the entire East Coast by hand!

17. This quilt was hand quilted with an antique look.

18. This colorful quilt was a first-time quilt and finished with knotting/tying.

19. Susan made these beautiful squares using Sashiko embroidery technique. They will be combined to make a table runner.

20. Nicole and her son made this from scraps, strips, and random blocks.

21. These are my quilts. I started this quilt more than two years ago when I was pregnant with my daughter. I cut all the pieces but never finished it, but after the September guild meeting (my very first one) I was so inspired by the group that I decided to finish it. 

22. I made this from a pattern I found in a book and it is the first project I started with Susan Sato, my quilt teacher and guild member.

23. I confidently purchased a kit from Susan to make a table runner for a Christmas gift, but learned soon enough that triangles are not the easiest to sew! 

24. Maren took the T-shirt Quilt class at The City Quilter and shared this stunner, which was a commission from her brother. It is a quilt made out of a collection of his t-shirts, many of which have sentimental value.

25. Tina made this quilt for her sister who is about to have her first baby!

26. This quilted pillowcase was completed using one piece of fabric. The technique is called Needle Turn Applique and the old lady who was a master at this died earlier last year.

29. and 30. This member is new to quilting and is working on "wonky" log cabins for these two colorful pieces.

31. This member doesn't even like birds! Using the “quilt as you go” technique she is making 6” and 12” bird blocks.

32.  Jody has a great story for this quilt. Jody was commissioned by a friend to make a quilt out of two large bags of a girl’s childhood dresses (and matching doll clothes). The quilt is Queen-sized and retains many of the original character of the garments and accessories. A fantastic study in detail!

33. and 34. Victoria made this quilt for a new line of fabrics that will be coming out from Newcastle Fabrics. It will be featured at the Spring Quilt Market.

35. A quilt from Victoria’s recently published book, 15 Minutes of Play. Using the “crown of thorns” block, this is one of her favorites from her book.

36. and 37. Andrea will be submitting this beauty comprised of various Valori Wells’ fabrics as a raffle quilt for the Walk for Breast Cancer Research and Fundraising.

I'm already looking forward to the next meeting (and learning everyone's names to make these posts more accurate!).

Happy Holidays and Happy Quilting!

awww! sweet!

Look who got a giftie today? This little guy took home a Quilt! Thank you for your donation! ;-)

BumblebeansBASICS.com

More pics of today's deliveries are here:

http://bumblebeansbasics.com/blog

Member Spotlight: Barbara Peterson

This is a Q & A series to get to know our members.  Today, Barbara Peterson talks to us about her experience as a quilter.

Tell us about yourself.  Where are you from and how long have you been in our guild?

A: Grew up in Los Angeles – traveled around a bit, got married and ended up in Manhattan since 95.  Retired from Metro North Railroad as a locomotive engineer in 2008 and have been quilting ever since. Join Mod Quilters in November 2012.

Have you always been crafty?  What other things do you make?

A:    Was a big time knitter but since I discovered quilting….

Where do you sew?

A:    At home in my living room and when I attend my Bee.

What is your favorite type of project?

A: Making a new block real rings my bell – putting it all together not so much

What’s your favorite quilting tool?

A:    Needle point tweezers

What type of fabrics do you use most often?

A:  Cotton

Who or what inspires you most in quilting?

A:  Art quilters amaze me

What are you working on now?

A:  Baby quilts for charity – I use up my stash and can then buy more fabric for a new quilt.

 

What kind of projects would you like to tackle in the coming year?

A: Will take a class at CQ on shibori dying with Susan Sato, this type of class is not in my comfort zone

(Thank you Barbara!   Good luck with your shibori class~  If you would like to be interviewed for this series, please fill out the questionnaire and email it to jessunderquilts at yahoo dot com)

Bee Blocks for Dorothy!

Oh my goodness!

Dorothy, I'm so sorry I am late with these, but they are in the mail to you now.

I hope you like them.  They were fun to make.

Bee Blocks for October (!) and November

I could try and blame this on our loss of power during Hurricane Sandy, but there's really no excuse for my tardiness!  I enjoyed doing some research about the ikat fabric - I've never worked with it before.  And I always love a stripe . . .

Quitl Alliance QUilts

Bette-Anne's Quilt Alliance quilt is up for auction this week, hop over and see what other beauties are up!

"Sketch" Group Quilt

It was so good to see many of you at our meeting Saturday!  I always leave so inspired.

If you were at the meeting, you received some Sketch fabrics and a charm pack of solids.  Here are the instructions for the block to make for our newest group quilt.  The blocks are due at our February meeting, so we can get them put together and quilted in time for Spring market.

NOVEMBER BEE BLOCK FOR DOROTHY

A few days late but, nevertheless, here is my November Bee Block.  I will get it in the mail to you tomorrow, Dorothy.  Sorry it's late but hope you like it.

December Mod Challenge

This was a great treat... An opportunity to play with stuff around the house... Used dryer sheets, scraps from a project, ribbon, and inktense pencils and I have my block#2. Thanks Michelle for the challenge.

P.S. so great to see folks and get comfy in our new digs.

Quilt Alliance

Hi All! I mentioned to you today, a bit about the Quilt Alliance Quilt Auction that is up right now...
Have a look, and hear Andrea M. talk about her quilt!

http://www.allianceforamericanquilts.org/about/

Please keep in mind the challenge to make a quilt for next year's auction! Could be fun!

Have a great day!

Victoria

A day late...but done

I like how the Mondrian design makes the eye move from area to area.  The simplicity of straight-line piecing is much appreciated as well. 

November Block for Dorothy

This was a fun and quick project. Hope you like what I came up with, Dorothy. It measures 13" X 18". Sorry for my tardiness. I'm putting it in the mail as soon as I'm done posting this entry :)