Guess what?!? While I haven’t been doing much sewing, I’ve been working on pattern writing. I am currently working on writing the pattern for Hypnotic Eye. Keep watch for it! It will be coming out soon and I also plan to offer it as a class!
Have a Happy Wednesday!
I have had a couple of quilts gallivanting around the country hanging up in shows and two of them have recently come home permanently. At least I think it is permanently…
This is Divergent. She has hung in 3 shows now and won one honorable mention and a judges choice ribbon on her travels. She came home today. I got some interesting feedback on her from the last show she was in. I entered her into the modern negative space category and the judges said that her quilting was not modern. Knowing how subjective the term modern is, I have not taken any offense to the comments, but do find them interesting. 
This is a back view of Divergent.
And this is a close up.
I did the main quilted section as a Zentangle pattern that I love and I found it interesting that the judges would say it isn’t modern. To be honest, I don’t find it to be very traditional either. Judge feedback always makes me evaluate where I fit into the quilting world, and I’m beginning to realize that I fit in right here, as myself. No more putting boxes around my work and trying to fit into some preconceived notion.
From now on, I am simply Melissa – Quilter/Artist.
How do you define your work? Are you modern? Traditional? Mod-traditional? Or simply, yourself?
This weekend I did some improv sewing. Improv is hard for me, I like the control that a plan gives you. In some ways, improv sewing pushes me outside my comfort zone in the best possible way. I tried some things I never would have done if I had a plan. The key for me is telling myself over and over again that it is just fabric!
I wanted to work on improv geese – which is my favorite improv technique and also improv curves, which I find intriguing and I love the movement they add. Do you see the wave on the bottom right and the big curve with an inset fussy cut on the upper right? Believe me, those are easier to do than you may think! I also wanted to do a couple of special fussy cuts, like the little fish that says “swimming” and the river ferry.
My friend Kim, over at Persimon Dreams, is taking over the Scrap Quilt Challenge for 2016 and I am one of the bloggers who will be giving some tutorials and inspiration on how to use those lovely scraps I just know you have hanging out in your stash!
On February 15th I will have a tutorial on scrappy improv geese and how to do that gentle wave at the bottom right. I am excited to share how I do it. I’m certain that my way isn’t the only way, but if you are new to these techniques, I will give you a good idea of how to do it! You can see the rest of the bloggers here.
In the meantime this beautiful blue mini will be quilted with some matchstick quilting for a friend of mine and I just hope she loves it as much as I do!
Happy Sewing!
Here it is! My first finish of 2016.
Now I can’t take full credit for this gorgeous quilt. It is my pattern of Stacked Pyramids, but the lovely ladies of the Trust Circle of Do Good Stitches made all but two of the blocks. I pieced 2 blocks, then pieced all the blocks together, quilted it and bound it. It is always such an amazing and heartwarming experience to quilt with these incredibly talented women. I feel so blessed to work with them.
After I finished writing the pattern, I sent free copies to all of the ladies in my quilting circle and asked them to make two blocks in Aqua, Raspberry and Kona Ash. My favorite part is how scrappy the blocks are. I could never make a scrappy quilt like this from my stash, but these women are all over the country and we have such varied stashes.
I quilted this at Sewtopia on a Bernina sit down long arm machine. It was an interesting experience. Here is a close up of the quilting.
Simple all over design. I used the backing fabric as the binding. What is most special is that this quilt was donated to a foster child at Anne’s school. I gave it to her Kindergarten teacher who, in turn, gave it to the school counselor to deliver. It makes my heart feel so good to be able to support a local foster child and someone who is in Anne’s community.
If you like the pattern, please visit my Craftsy shop to purchase it. The block pattern is $2.50. This is for the block only, it does not provide yardage or instructions to make the full quilt, though that might be in the works at some point in the future.
Do you have any finishes yet?
Even though I am no longer hosting A Lovely Year of Finishes, I have some goals each month for myself, and for personal accountability I am going to be sharing them here each month. Besides, even without A Lovely Year of Finishes, I still want to share what I’m working on!
This month I am working on a new pattern that will be coming out in May for Make Modern Magazine. Today I did my test block, it is a paper piecing pattern and I wanted to make sure my measurements were dead on because I am working with very limited fabric to make this quilt. I have only 30″ x WOF for one of my main pieces, which means I am going to be very close on this one!
Since it is coming out in a magazine, I can only post teaser pictures, please forgive me knowing that all will be revealed in due time!
As far as linking my goal up for the world to see…well Heidi from Red Letter Quilts has taken up the torch and started her own linky party for monthly goals! Her party is called OMG – One Monthly Goal. I just love the name! So if you are looking for a new place to declare your goals, head over and visit the OMG tab on Heidi’s blog or click the button below.
I am so excited to start 2016 with a finish and I hope you are too!
