Friday, April 24, 2015

michael miller challenge

About one month before Sewtopia, the Michael Miller fabric company sent each of the participants 6 fat quarters.  We each received the same fabrics and were given a challenge to make something, anything, with them.  The only rule was any fabric added must be a Michael Miller fabric.  I made a quilt.
Inspired by Lee Heinrich's Sugar Snow Quilt from Vintage Quilt Revival (page 63) I made various sizes of flying geese and put them into "Migration Remix" blocks (from Love Patchwork and Quilting, issue 11).  The remaining geese I sewed into rows.
I worked with graph paper to arrange the blocks into a 60 x 72 inch grid.  And then the fun began! 
I quilted this over about 3 days with lots of thread (Aurifil 2021) and had a blast.  Not perfection...just fun!
I used a bit of each of the challenge fabrics in the otherwise white binding.  I sewed a Michael Miller selvage, along with my label, into the binding.  I used cotton batting from Pellon because they were a sponsor of Sewtopia.  It drapes beautifully and I will use it again.
I'm calling this quilt Making Friends for two reasons:  
  • First - the obvious - I made lots of new friends at Sewtopia.  
  • Second - after 15 months I have finally made friends with my Handiquilter!

 Linking up with Crazy Mom Quilts Finish it up Friday.  Have a great weekend!
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18 comments:

  1. KittyApril 24, 2015 at 1:13 PM

    Lovely! I really love the look of quilts with lots of negative space. Lee Heinrich is a great inspiration for those style quilts. Yours turned out beautifully!

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    1. Karen @runsewfunApril 25, 2015 at 6:57 AM

      Thanks so much Kitty. This is the first time I really played with negative space. It was so fun.

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  2. GiniaApril 24, 2015 at 6:33 PM

    Karen

    This is beautifully done. Love it!

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  3. KatherineApril 24, 2015 at 11:14 PM

    I love flying geese with negative space! Your quilting is beautiful.

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    1. Karen @runsewfunApril 25, 2015 at 7:00 AM

      Thanks Katherine. Flying geese have always been my favorite and now negative space is, too!

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  4. MajaApril 25, 2015 at 1:16 AM

    Hi, Karen!
    Thanks for your kind comment in my blog!
    What a fantastic quilt you made!
    I just LOVE it!

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  5. Lorna McMahonApril 25, 2015 at 5:53 AM

    Beautiful quilt, Karen! Love the way those fabrics pop against the white background and the quilting is lovely. Nice work!

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    1. Karen @runsewfunApril 25, 2015 at 7:06 AM

      Thanks so much Lorna. This is my first time with so much negative space. I plan to use the quilt and am wondering how long all that white will stay white! I really appreciate your stopping by and your comment.

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  6. UnknownApril 25, 2015 at 6:35 AM

    Hi Karen, Just wondering. Do you do the different stitching patterns on all of the white areas? are they separate blocks? I'm glad you had such a great time in Chicago with your new "stitching buddies".

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    1. Karen @runsewfunApril 25, 2015 at 7:13 AM

      Hi Janet. Good question. In this quilt I organized the colorful blocks on graph paper then used the dimensions of the empty space to create blank (white) blocks to connect the colorful ones. I chose a different quilt patterns for each of the blank blocks. So the answer to your question is YES. I quilted the same pattern (meandering) in each of the colorful blocks and tried to scale the quilting to the size of the block. Hope that makes sense.

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    2. UnknownApril 25, 2015 at 8:08 AM

      Love how the varied stitching alone creates a wonderful and creative texture to the quillt and doing it on plain white makes it easier to see!! You are an artist. J

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  7. JenApril 25, 2015 at 1:58 PM

    Wow. Love your variety of quilting - makes the colors pop!

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    1. Karen @runsewfunApril 29, 2015 at 5:31 AM

      Thanks Jen. I didn't quilt in any of the colors so that helps, too!

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  8. Quilting StoriesApril 28, 2015 at 9:37 PM

    What a fabulous quilting Karen! congratulations, your quilt looks wonderful!

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    1. Karen @runsewfunApril 29, 2015 at 5:35 AM

      Thanks so much Christine. I want to learn hand quilting so I can add that to my quilts as well.

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  9. valentinegirlMay 1, 2015 at 11:55 AM

    This is gorgeous. Both the design and the quilting. LOVE!!

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