Kona Challenge: My Modern Peel Quilt is Finished!!!

Almost a year later to-the-day... I finished my Modern Peel Quilt. Happy Dance! 

Kona Bright Charm Packs from Robert Kaufman

It started with one Kona Bright Charm Pack and a quick sketch made at a stop light. I wanted to take one of my all time favorite traditional quilt blocks and tweak it.  

I re-imagined an orange peel block bold and graphic. I wanted to play with the scale, separate the peels and then bring them back together with the quilting. The top went together quickly. It was fun appliqueing all of the peels down and playing with the color placement. And then it came time to quilt it.

Ugh the quilting. Talk about biting off more than you can chew. Wow. The quilting turned out to be so challenging. I found myself stuck in between an awesome idea and my own humble abilities. I did not choose, a meandering stipple, organic lines, bubble quilting, all over swirls, random rings... no, I envisioned all over interlocking spirals. 

The problems came from the fabric being pulled in all different directions and handling the quilt over and over for each spiral. There was a ton of pleating, folding and buckling. It was awful. I should have saved myself and just stopped. I didn't. I cannot even tell you how many times I unpicked the quilting and started over, got frustrated, and put it away. Ok, it was at least five.


I was happy to have it stay on the shelf indefinitely. It was a quilting mojo killer. We needed time apart.


Every once in awhile someone would ask me... whatever happened to that cool quilt you started? Then I would feel a little guilty and rattle off an excuse and then change the subject.


Lame.

Fast forward to April of this year, my guild mates decided they were going to enter their (finished) Kona Challenge quilts into the local fair. They wanted mine to be included. Determined not to let them down, I decided to try the quilting again. I received some really great advice from my friends on different ways to attack the problem areas and lots of support and encouragement to keep going. They are the best!

Armed with a stubborn streak, a brand new sewing machine, a seam ripper, starch, steam, a walking foot, and lots of determination, I made it through and I finished it. Phew.

If you're in the Bay Area, please check out our special exhibit at the San Mateo County Fair featuring our Kona Challenge Quilts. For our challenge, we made quilts out of Kona charm packs sent to us by Robert Kaufman. The parameters of the challenge were to feature the Kona charms, use only solids, and make at least a baby sized quilt.

If you aren't local, let your fingers do the walking! Here are some of the other quilts made by members of the Bay Area Modern Quilt Guild


Ruth
Tamiko
Colleen
Angela
Claudia
Jaye


My East Bay friends participated too!


Dan
Joel
Sharona
Margaret


Even more modern quilters participated in this challenge and you can see most of the entries in the MQG Robert Kaufman Kona Solids Challenge Quilts flickr group. What would you make with 43, 5" squares of color?  : )

Quilt Market: Slideshow

Photographs first, thoughts later... View the slide show here on the blog, or click over to my flickr page to view the photos individually. As I write this I am not done uploading all of them, but the slideshow will automatically show you the most current view. Enjoy!!  

xx Adrianne

Quilt Market: Goodbye Echino

I loved all the new Echino fabric in the Seven Islands booth!!  Zebras? Framed Owls? Stags with glasses?! They are all so great!  I can't wait until July.

Quilt Market: Sample Spree

I think they should hand out little buttons for you to wear wear as you exit. Or maybe a stamp right in the middle of  your dazed and confused forehead.

Seriously, you stand in line for hours, your rush into the sample spree room, you crowd around the tables, try to get your hand on a bundle you want, plant your feet firmly while you try to stay in one place and pay before you get pushed back out into the isle, move through the crowd to the next table, and do it all over again. You think you have a game plan? Check it at the door. It's every quilter for themselves one your cross the threshold. The madness is every bit as real and as crazy as they say. Why, why do we do it?

For the love of fabric dude!!!

Bella by Lotta Jansdotter, Good Life by Deena Rutter and Seaside by October Afternoon

Here's my haul this time. Three hours of waiting in line and three bundles of fabric. Totally worth it!!  : D

Today the market floor officially opens in an hour and a half and I can't wait to see the booths.  Keep an eye on twitter/flickr if your interested. I've got my phone charged and ready!

xx A

Quilt Market: Kansas City Here I Come!

I've got my new...

Little Bluebell Bag,

and a new Birdie Sling,

and I'm off to Quilt Market in Kansas City.  If you'd like to follow along, I'll be posting on flickr and twitter while I'm there.  I'm hoping to squeeze in a blog post too.  If there is anything that you want to see, send me a tweet!  I hear Denyse Schmidt will have her first booth and I'm hoping to see the new Nursery Versery by Heather Ross.

If you want to follow everything that is happening at Quilt Market, search for #quiltmarket on twitter.  Grab a snack first though because I guarantee you'll be there awhile.

PS: For those of you who wanted to see me wearing my new Wiksten tank (you know who you are!) stay tuned.  It's also packed and ready to go.  : )