Modern Solids Quilt Along: Block #1 & The Inspiration

Hi Everyone, well here it is the first block for the Modern Solids Quilt Along. At first I wasn’t sure how this was going to work out because I don’t normally work in all solids, in fact this will be my first all solid quilt top so this could be interesting. I love the color combo I was able to create and the construction of the first block works so well with it.

Now a little about my inspiration for this block. As I wrote in an earlier post I learned quilting initially when I went to an adult Girl Scout camp program for quilting. The second year I went there was a mix up and I was not able to going to the in town meeting so even thought I knew which book we were taking the quilt pattern from I had no idea which quilt was picked for the weekends project so I just picked one only to find out that it was the wrong one. The quilt book we used was Quilting Season by Debbie Caffrey but I can’t remember which quilt the group picked but the layout I picked is called Cinco de Mayo. Needless to say I never finished that particular quilt but I did later make a wall hanging from the same design for my daughter’s bedroom you can see below. She picked out the fabric herself. She liked the brilliant colors and I fussy cut the fish fabric to make it look more like a fancy fish bowl.

You can see the components I used for my block.

Well that was it, that’s is where I got the idea for my block. As I don’t have permission to publish any part of the book I made the decision to not post my step-by-step photos or any part of the book. If you are interested in checking out the book or any of Debbie Caffrey‘s other work please check out the her website.

My block is currently posted to the Flicker group for the Modern Solids QAL. So go check it out along with all the other fabulous blocks posted by the group members.

So until the next block, happy sewing.

Playing Catch-up: Quilt-along Project Review

Hi everyone looks like I let time get away from me again. I meant to have my update on my block-along blocks as I went along but I had other things, called life, change my direction. So here is my follow up post for Bloggers’ Block-a-palooza and the Cherry House Quilt-along.

First off I have to say I had a ball with these block a longs. It was so much fun waiting in anticipation for the next block/instructions to come out so that I could work on it. It was also fun to see everyone else’s interpretation through their choice of fabric and the little changes to design. It is always good getting feed back from others about how they saw my blocks or their reactions to how I saw their’s. All in all I thoroughly enjoyed myself.

I want to thank John from Quilt Dad for hosting and arranging the Bloggers’ Block-a-palooza and for all of the quilt artist who took the time to create the block designs used for this quilt along. I was able to learn a few things, perfect a few techniques and get to know a few others within the quilt world. So I am very grateful for this experience.

I also want to thank Cherri from Cherry House Quilts for hosting her quilt-along. The design was very interesting even if it appeared to be very simple. I understand that creating a quilt like that is not easy but her instructions were straight forward and easy to follow. So I am also very grateful for this quilt along experience.

Neither of my quilts are finished at this point, because of budgeting reasons, but I will surly post them up as soon as they are so stay tuned.

I have recently begun a new quilt-along with Ryan and Charley at Patchwork2 called Modern Solids Quilt Along. At first I wasn’t sure if I was going to participate because I knew I didn’t have that many solids in my stash. As I’ve written in past posts I haven’t been quilting for a while so my stash is filled with fabric from the past and at that time I did not use a lot of solids. I am trying to use to use these quilt a longs not only to help me hone certain techniques but to help me dwindle down my stash before I allow myself to by any new fabric unless it is absolutely needed for a specific project.

I have to admit I am finding this modern quilt movement very interesting. I was not sure how I felt about it at first because I have never been a fan of solid fabrics, however I am finding that solid fabrics have improved since the last time I bought some, so we shall see what my quilt outcome will be. As I said above I am trying to work only with my current stash of fabric and luckily I was able to find a group of solid fabrics in my stash that work very well together in my eyes so we shall see how they work out in the end.

Now head over to the Patchwork2 Modern Solids Quilt Along Flicker group to see what everyone else is doing. See you there.

So until the next block, happy sewing!