Recycled Swap

Our small group from the Dallas Modern Quilt Guild held another swap last week. It was to fit on a 8 1/2 by 11 inch acrylic frame and be made with something recycled. The idea of putting it on the frame was great. You just make the quilt and bind it with a sleeve that the frame fits into. Very fast and easy.

I did my swap out of the new Denyse Schmidt line. It was a recent topic on twitter and blogs and Ellyn decided we needed some since there was a bit of controversy involved. Using the flip and stitch method made the quilting so easy. My daughter doesn't realize I used one of her t-shirts as my recycled requirement. The flower and the BLOOM were made from the back of a her shirt.

Angie loves to embroider and I was the lucky one this time to receive one of hers. The hexagons are from one of her antique shopping adventures. The saying is perfect for this time of year and I love how it looks vintage.

Richard claims these Crown Royal bags were given to him. What a great way to re-purpose these nice bags. And we all know who is the best quilter around so, of course, his quilting is amazing!

Just by looking at these colors, those who know Sarah would pick this one out as hers in a heartbeat. I definitely have to try a dresden plate someday. The recycled buttons are perfect for the center.

Janet was working on some blocks awhile back not knowing what she was going to do with them. She decided to chop them up and use them for this swap. I love how modern it looks with the clean lines.

Swaps are really fun and it is nice having to play by a few rules. We had a great time at our small group and we looking forward to playing again in July. With Quilt Market coming up, our group is busy scoping out how they are going to stock the stores so we are taking a small swap break.

Valentine Swap

On February 28th our Dallas Modern Quilt Guild small group participated in a doll quilt Valentine Swap. This is our second swap as a group and we have a 3rd one planned for April. Our next one is to incorporate a recycled fabric or item into the doll quilt.

We all stuck to hearts for our theme but they turned out so different. I did some beading and embroidery on my swap along with some fun fur to add character. It wasn't exactly how I wanted it to turn out but I did learn a few things in the process.

I love the color combination that Kristie chose. I drew her number and so this is the one I received.

Susan made this quilt using a weaving technique. It turned out so cute and I think she should make a tutorial on this technique.

Some people are overachievers! Pam did a design on both sides of her swap.

Angie participates in lots of swaps and does such a great job on them. She always goes the extra mile.

If you ever want help with color, Sarah is your ticket. She always has fun color combinations.

Janet did a lot of beading on hers. The pictures probably do not do it justice but it looked like a lot of work.

I am always amazed at how much these ladies get done. They all have families and very demanding jobs and seem to always find time for their passion.

"Who Am I" Swap

I joined up with a small group from the Dallas Modern Quilt Guild and we decided a swap was something we all wanted to do. The theme was to make the quilt about ourselves which was way too hard for a first swap. We all seemed to struggle a bit with the idea of portraying ourselves somehow in the form of a small quilt. We drew numbers to see who got what quilt and once they were opened and explained we couldn't wait to decide on a new swap. The next one will be simply "Valentine".

Kristie made an applique quilt and her inspiration was Pat Campbell. I love Pat Campbell's designs as well and am still finishing Jacobean Christmas that I had started in Oct. 2009.

Daisies from Janet's wedding was her inspiration. She wanted Daisies and was told that they would be too ugly for a wedding but her mom put one in her bouquet.

Angie loves redwork, little girls and vintage fabric and she was able to incorporate all of these into this darling wall hanging. I know there were some other things she talked about but I can't remember what all represented her.

Sarah is all about hearts, funky and bright. She had so many things on her quilt that told who she was and was even able to find fabric that was printed with things she loves.

Susan designed the quilt that I received and it had triangles, english paper piecing, wonky log cabin and crazy quilting with scraps. She named it "Hoot Am I" since that is the name of the fabric line she used. I just love it and I happened to use the same fabric line for the quilt I made.

My inspiration was a rooster. I have always loved roosters because my grandmother collected them so that is what I remembered most about her. I used gray as the background since that has always been one of my favorite colors. I found fabric that had eggs on it which was so appropriate and quilted it using a hexagon to make it look like chicken wire. Kelleigh designed the layout and insisted it had to be 3D so the squares were actually made and quilted and then sewn onto the quilt. And I used scraps to piece the back.

We had such a great time swapping and are excited about the next one at the end of February.