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!
I

sewtopia

It's Thursday and I'm finally catching up from the most amazing weekend.  I am so pleased that I was able to attend Sewtopia in Chicago.  Registration was last August and signing up was similar to that of a popular marathon.  Set your alarm so you remember to be at your computer when it opens.  Then type as fast as you can and hit enter.  It took me about 20 minutes but I got in!  

We started Thursday with a shop hop in and around Chicago.  Here is our leader and one of the organizers of the weekend, Amy Newbold.  She has got it goin' on! 

My favorite stop was The Needle Shop in Arlington Heights.  This sweet little shop reminded me so much of The Cloth House in London.  Really beautiful displays, fabrics, trims and notions.  Can you see all the tiny drawers in the counter?  They were full of all sorts of unique buttons.  We had fun opening many of them. 

Can you believe I'm shopping with Latifah Saafir? 

Can you believe I'm in class with Rita Hodge? (She used my pins to show us how she bastes her quilts!!!)

I conquered curves with Latifah and Y-seams with Rita.  I'll share more about these projects as I finish them.

  

Not only did I get to take classes from Rita and Latifah, but also in class with me were the first bloggers I ever followed.  These women introduced me to modern/fresh quilting and it was so exciting to meet them.  Here are Lee, Faith, and Angela catching up after a long day.  

I took their books and got autographs!  

So many "sewlebrities" this weekend.  Everyone delightful.  This is one amazing community and I'm so happy to be part of it. 

Thumbs up to:
Bernina USA for supplying us with very nice sewing machines and 3 helpful reps.
The Drake for beautiful accommodations.
Mega Bus for clean, timely, and affordable travel.