Our meeting this past Saturday marked the last one of the year while the guild takes a break for the summer. There were certainly many highlights-- it was our last meeting with Victoria as president and Earamichia as secretary, the guild's Challenge quilts were due, parting gifts were shared and shenanigans ensued.
To start, we had Show and Tell of the Guild's
Metro Quilt Challenge submissions. The theme was to interpret the word "metro" and the outcomes were just fabulous!
Earamichia started this quilt with a group and initially considered using the 33 words in the English language that incorporate the word "metro." The words are featured on strips at the bottom of the quilt. Toward the end of the quilt's completion, Earamichia finished it on her own and interpreted "metro" as an extension of her "metro "hood."
Victoria tried something out of her comfort zone and interpreted "metro" as visions of the NYC subway. She took a photo of the subway and blew it up in Photoshop. Then printed the image on fabric via Spoonflower. She used many different mediums and formats that she does not normally use and included lame and printed fabric in the quilt.
Emily made this quilt "quick and dirty just like NYC." She calls this quilt "Modtropolis" as incorporated fabric that shows taxis in motion that she purchased at the City Quilter. This is her very first "mod" quilt, which she designed herself and completed within four hours between teaching classes at the City Quilter. The quilt even includes a six-inch sleeve on the back.
Helen arrived in NYC in 1958 by way of Minnesota as was impressed with all the elegant men in suits. She met one of those men and married him. So "metro" reminds Helen of all these well-dressed men. Thus, her quilt incorporates fabrics from her late husband's suits, her new boyfriend's ties, and subway tokens from her brother-in-law.
Cassandra interpreted "metro" as our group within the guild which also to her, means diversity. She hand-painted the background. This is her first big quilt and she says she won't do it again.
Maria shared her quilt, which is near completion. To Maria, "metro" is about the single girl who is running late and is waiting for the bus because the subway doesn't come, which is why she incorporated single girl rings into the quilt. Maria used fabric from her stash and did not buy any fabrics for this quilt.
Sue wanted to depict the city at night and the city during the day and also how they came together. She used 800+ squares to complete this quilt and this time, she is really never doing it again! She liked the contrasts of the darks and lights and in the future, would like to do a quilt that is muted vs. bright. She pieced this quilt as blocks. The fabrics she chose do not have a front or a back.
Bernadette applied the quilt-as-you-go technique for her blocks. She has three unfinished minis that don't quite make a full quilt yet. Her thought behind the quilts was that in New York City, we often bicker about "ridiculous" things such as sodas and bicycles. She wanted to address the theme of public art in New York and mostly "Who put that there and why was there no discussion about public art?" The three (red) pieces she focused on can be found in real life on Jay Street (far right), at Astor Place (center), and Zuccotti Park (made infamous by Occupy Wall Street).
Margaret shared an abstract interpretation of "metro" where the blocks are supposed to look like tiles and floors in relation to buildings.
Chris made this quilt using the stack and hack technique and ran out of fabrics when she was almost finished with the quilt, so she had to buy more which left her with non-matching pieces. She does not really like the quilt, but the guild convinced her that it is quite a nice looking quilt! Members of the guild offered to hold it for her while she looked at it as a whole from a distance.
We took a break from Show & Tell to present Victoria and Earamichia with their parting gifts... guild members made 8.5" orange (Victoria's favorite color) and purple (Earamichia's favorite color) blocks featuring the letters "V" and "E." The blocks were laid out on two tables and brought out during our break. They all look so beautiful!
After the break, we resumed Show and Tell.
Andrea shared some of her drawings to practice machine quilting patterns. She had the Guild's Cheddar quilt stored at her home so she decided to learn from it and practice her feather pattern by hand. She shared that if she can draw it, then she can usually quilt it. A great tip for aspiring machine-quilters!
I shared my latest quilt composed of flying gees blocks. I am working my way through traditional blocks, first a log cabin, now a flying geese! The blocks shared postal colors, so I decided to name it the Airmail Quilt. The motif continues on the back where I pieced together an ombre red fabric with one featuring blue postage stamps. I also machine-quilted the chevrons myself.
Andrea shared her queen-sized quilt top for her home. She often makes quilts, but there are none in her home, so this one will be for her house. Her husband made the mistake of referring to it as the "brown quilt" when Andrea corrected him by telling him it is a "GREEN quilt. The backing will also be comprised of gren strips. She plans on getting it sent out to be machine quilted.
Jody shared a quilt she made for her granddaughter who is one of a set of twins and who will be sharing a room with her older sister who also has a green quilt. Her twin brother will also have a similar quilt but with a fish theme. Jody quilted this with her "tractor" AKA The Hanidquilter Sweet 16 which she bought at QuiltCon. Since her husband has multiple tractors and equipment for lawn work, Jody felt it was time to add her own "tractor" to her toolbox!
Tori* (a guest of the Guild) was getting rid of her stash and made these two quilts out of scraps.
Rossana took a quilt-as-you-go class at the City Quilter and started on this quilt for her father who loved Coca-Cola. The colors were Christmas-themed. It took her two years to complete and she finally finished it last year, the last Christmas her father was alive. She took it to Peru to share with her family, but finally got it back in the U.S. after she claimed that she needed to share the quilt with our guild.
Liz shared her first quilt-- a t-shirt quilt incorporating t-shirts from high school and college. The quilt features two t-shirts that Liz illustrated herself.
Anita shared a fabulous "old" quilt which features 60 degree quilt-as-you go diamonds joined with tailor tacks. Anita shares her method and process in the May/June issue of
Quiltmaker Magazine.The front of the quilt features 60 degree diamonds which are backed by hexagons (see third image above for a front/back comparison).
Susan's husband, Randy Duchaine, a photographer, will be exhibiting at the Brooklyn Public Library (Central Library) with
Created in Brooklyn and will also be hosting a series of conversations on Wednesdays, 6:30 - 8:00 PM June 19 & 26, July 10 & 17 at the Information Commons Lab at the Central Library.
Deborah, who often does not get to participate in Show & Tell because she gives away all her quilts, makes many anniversary quilts for members of her extended family.She started at age 8 and worked with her mother. She did get to share her favorite quilting technique, applique, with a few blocks.
Terri mounted the black and white squares she has been working onto batting to share with the guild.
Victoria shared a purse she made out of her new line of fabric,
Sonnet, from Newcastle Fabrics debuting in the fall. Congratulations, Victoria!
Aleeda shared these fabulous sneaks she custom colored with
Zentangles. She initially made a few pairs for a nieces and finally got around to making a pair for herself. The backs of each say: "What people do to you is their karma" and "How you respond is yours."
Aleeda also shared a qult made of African batik fabric that she complted in a day.
Jessica (sorry, I was not able to get a photo of Jessica herself, due to the size of her quilt!) shared another quilt from her book,
Quilting on the Go, on shelves June 11th. This is a throw-sized quilt, pieced using English Paper Piecing technique and backed with a UFO that was sitting in her closet. This quilt is a gift for her friend, Amy's wedding (Amy has been married for two years.) ;) Jessica will also be hosting a book signing at the East Meadow (Long Island) Library on August 19th.
Hayden shared a piece from her latest obsession, English paper pieced hexagons.
Hayden also shared the completed Sketch Group quilt that was displayed at the most recent Quilt Market. Victoria quilted it and Kim binded it.
Brian's youngest son is getting married this summer and he is hosting 50 guests for the rehearsal so he made these table runners for the event.
Brian also shared the first quilt he completed two years ago.
Dotty is part of quilting bee which meets every Wednesday from 12-4PM. She made this by hand while participating in the bee.
Well, that's all for the last Show & Tell of the year. I hope everyone has a great summer! Happy quilting and see you in October!
*Please let me know if your name or any information on your quilt was captured incorrectly or needs to be updated.
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