Quilt Top Remix at the Chattanooga MQG meeting

The glue sticks, scissors, crayons, pastels, colored pencils and grid paper came out in full force yesterday as the members of the Chattanooga Modern Quilt Guild [ChattMQG] created design mock-ups for a Quilt Top Remix. 

Slicing and dicing color photocopies of a quilt top to create a new design.

Last year, I moderated the ChattMQG's annual brainstorming session to generate ideas for the 2017 meeting programs. One of the topics that came up several times was that members wanted more instruction or practice with designing modern quilts. What better way to learn, understand and put into practice design principles than to actually design a quilt? 

"One day, I want to be a real quilt!"

At one of the meetings of the guild steering committee, I suggested using an existing quilt top as a starting point for a quilt re-design exercise. My fellow committee members agreed this could be a fun and educational group exercise... and we'd use the resulting quilt to support our guild community service project—quilts for Habitat for Humanity Chattanooga.

This is the quilt top that I offered to sacrifice for the Quilt Top Remix design exercise. Fellow fabric reps and area quilt shops may recognize this fabric line—Mosaic Garden. It was a popular fabric collection from 3 or 4 years ago, and I believe it went into at least one reprint.

This quilt top was made as a sample to showcase the fabric line as well as a pattern—called Miller's Quilt—by the talented pattern designer, Julia LaBeuve, of JML Colors. Until now, this top was destined for quilt top limbo and would not likely be quilted and finished. So, this exercise was its opportunity for a new life—as a "real quilt."

Wanna try this exercise with your quilt guild or group? Here's what we did...
I put the top up on my design wall and took a photo. Photocopies were made from the photo and each guild member received two copies to cut/slice/fold/tear/color and somehow come up with a new design layout that would be re-pieced into a new quilt top at the next guild sew-in. Here is the meeting notice that went out to guild members.

Photocopies of the quilt top.

For reference, the original top: 40" x 60"    Blocks: 8" (finished)   Outside border: 4"

For our guild's community service project, we make quilts approximately 60" x 72"—a generous lap size.

Here are a few of the approaches members took with the design remix.

Coloring...

Coloring.

 collaborating...

Collaborating.

folding...

Folding.

 tracing...

Tracing.

 tearing...

Tearing.

and drawing.

Drawing guidelines.

Presenting the new designs

When the glueing and taping were complete, each member presented their design mock-up, with considerations for the background fabric and color and quilt top construction. Oh yes, designs can be fabulous, but the piecing and construction needs to be considered as well!

Martha (left) and Ann (right) present their mock-ups.

Denise (below) explained her clever approach that she calls the "magic number." It employs units that are multiples (or divisibles) of a base number.

Denise explains how she designs with her "magic number" approach.

The final mock-ups were just as innovative and diverse as the design approaches.

Zig-zags and fractures.

Improv cutting and piecing.

Pieced or appliqued?

Diagonal or straight sets.

Borderless or partial borders.

What color should the background be?

How did we decide? 

Well, everyone gave their "two cents worth!" (Actually, it was one cent). After the presentations, the design mock-ups were lined up and everyone placed a coin beside the design they thought was the best option for the new quilt top. Here is Vista's 8-penny Mosaic Garden re-design.

Vista's design received the most pennies (votes.)

As Pinocchio finally became a "real boy," so will this top find its way to becoming a "real quilt." Rather than preserve a quilt top "as is," it is far better to deconstruct, remix and reconstruct a top so it can be quilted, finished and enjoyed. Don't you think? I do! 

Guild members indicated they enjoyed the exercise and I think they were more fearless in their designs since personal emotions were not invested in the top that got deconstructed. (It's easier to cut up a top that you didn't make yourself.)

Thanks to the members of the Chatt MQG for contributing their time and talents to this Quilt Top Remix. We'll have another Habitat quilt coming to fruition in the future.

Quilt bindings: Do you stitch the miters?

Do you stitch closed the miters on a quilt binding? 

Binding.

There's no way out of it...
(unless someone else does it for you).

Either you love attaching binding or you tolerate it because it means your quilt is almost finished.

Binding: cutting binding strips and attaching them was one of the topics in the "Viewpoints and Q-points" panel discussion at the February ChattMQG meeting. There are probably as many variations for making and attaching bindings as there are quilters:
:: single fold
:: French (double) fold
:: attaching by hand and machine
:: attaching all by machine
:: with piping
:: with a faux piping or flat piping (this technique has various names such as "Magic Binding" or "Reveal Binding," etc.)
:: fused binding

... not to mention the various methods for joining the beginning and ending binding tails as well as faced bindings and other edge-finishing techniques. Whew! Quite a smorgasbord.

One detail about bindings that I posed to the panel members as well as the audience was, "Do you stitch the miters closed at the corners?" In judged quilt shows, among the many things that judges may look at is the quilt's binding. Is it straight? Is it filled to the edge with the batting? And... are the miters stitched?

How did our foremothers do it? The miters on
the corners of this vintage quilt are stitched closed.

For me, I DO stitch the miters closed (tack them down, or sew together, if you will). However, since there was such an interesting reaction to this question, I decided to ask others in the quilting community and here's what I found.

Results from the Poll:
Not many ChattMQGuild members stitched the miters closed. The reasons cited include:

• don't think it's necessary; 
• hadn't really considered it; 
• don't want to take the time.

My students who took Beginning Quiltmaking with me said they do stitch the miters. (It warms my heart that they were paying attention in my class.)

Certified quilt appraiser, Holly Anderson, stitches her miters closed. She cited the following reasons, "... [stitching the miters] does have a practical purpose. It holds the corners together better and keeps things from getting caught in the binding and pulling it loose." She added this helpful tip, "You can also correct some not-so-perfect cornering with the hand stitching."

Modern quilter, Carolyn Friedlander, stitches the miters closed only on the back side of the quilt in one of her online class. When asked about the front side, she replied, "I don't stitch up the miters on the front, but you're welcome to do that if you'd like."

The corners on this antique quilt
are stitched down but are not mitered.

Three fabric representatives who are quilters each responded differently:

• I stitch the back miters.
• Not very often [do I stitch the miters together].
• Nope [I don't stitch the miters].

I then contacted Cathy Neri in Quilt City USA. She is a member of the Visitors Service Team at the Paducah Convention and Visitor's Bureau. The CVB has a rotating exhibit of wall quilts made by professional quilt artists from around the world. Cathy examined the quilts in the current exhibit and relayed the practises of the artists:

• Jenny Raymond, "Shine Down," 2006,  mitered corners, stitched front and back.
• Marla Yeager, 1998, "Collide-a-Scope,"1998, mitered corners, stitched front and back. 
• "Mariner's Compass" with no label/date/ID: mitered corners, stitched front and back.
• Helen Marshall, "Carnival," 2006, has curved corners (no miters needed) and bias piped binding.
• Helene Davis, "Big Blue Marble," 2007, no binding. This on is faced on all sides.
• Linda Lasco, "Grandma's Stars" (from a Timna Tarr pattern) no date, mitered corners and stitched front and back.
• Laura Wasilowski, fused quilt (no date, no name): fused, fold-over edges then decorative stitched.
• Untitled work (unknown maker, no date), mitered corners but left unstitched front and back.
• Caohagan quilt by a Polynesian artist, 2015, mitered corners stitched by hand on the back only.

And finally, Instagram friend, Tiffany Horn of @villageboundquilts posted my question to the online IG quilting community about tacking down the miters. I compiled the feedback in this pie chart.

Compiled responses from the InstaGram online quilting community
from a post by Tiffany Horn of Village Bound Quilts.

Again, the methods for attaching binding were diverse. Some quilters indicated that they chose hand or machine depending on the quilt's recipient or the quilt's use. If the binding was attached all or partially by hand, the miters were more frequently stitched together. What does this tell us?

Individual IG comments that I found interesting:

• "... For show quilts, always blind stitch mitered binding corners closed." —@dianavanderyar
• An interesting idea from @mamasan_gerber is to use a double needle when machine binding. "... It gives a nice front look and the zigzag back catches all, so no stray openings." 
• "... I sew down the mitered corners when hand binding, not machine." —@prettypiney
• "... I also sew the corners closed front and back... judges tend to like that!" —@quiltedblooms

So, there you have it... responses, insights and different approaches from various pockets of the quilting community about whether to stitch the miters closed on a quilt binding. Have you found this insightful?

Thank you. I appreciate everyone's input and help in gathering answers to this question. A few IG readers said they appreciated getting a look into other quilters' processes. We can learn things from each other all the time. I'll end with this comment from @sharon_drummond, an open-minded quilter on IG:

"... I don't stitch up the corners though I'm rethinking after reading responses." 

—@sharon_drummond

Moderating the "Viewpoints and Q-points" panel discussion

Chattanooga Modern Quilters will be sharing their viewpoints
about quilting at the February ChattMQG meeting.

Next weekend at the Chattanooga Modern Quilt Guild, I'm moderating a panel of four experienced quilters in a discussion about various aspects of the quiltmaking process. The presentation is called, "Viewpoints and Q-points." Q=Quilting.

I invited four guild members to sit on the panel. They each have their own "quilting super power," so I think we'll have a good diversity of insights, approaches and processes. It will be fun to hear each one's viewpoints and contributions to the discussion. Together, these four quilters have a total of 119 years of quilting experience. Now that's a lot of stitches!

This weekend, I've been reviewing my notes, polishing the introductions and fine tuning the list of questions I'll pose to the panel members. The topics run the gamut—from design inspiration and choosing fabrics through piecing, quilting and binding and the order of the discussion will parallel the quiltmaking process. Since it was part of the 2016 Brainstorming session we conducted with the guild last fall, I'm also including the topic of "Technology"—how quilters use technology (however they want to interpret this term) in their processes.

It will be interesting and enlightening.

Pre-exhibit process for TN Aquarium, IMAX quilt exhibits, QuiltWeek Chattanooga

On Monday, the Chattanooga Modern Quilt Guild Committee members were stationed at the Chattanooga IMAX Theater for the drop-off of quilts for the Tennessee Aquarium and IMAX quilt exhibits, in conjunction with QuiltWeek Chattanooga. All anticipated quilt entries were present and accounted for at the scheduled drop-off time! 

Susan Lawson shows "Sparkly Sunfish" to Joan Thornbury at quilt drop-off.

Between the aquarium River Journey exhibit, the Tennessee River Collaborative project, the IMAX exhibit and a special Friday night (September 12) after-hours reception, 5pm to 8pm, there will be over 50 quilts on display.

A big Thank You to all the CMQG members who contributed their time, energy, talent and cooperation toward making this outstanding exhibit a reality. Special kudos go out to my Co-Team Leaders, Joan Thornbury and Vista Mahan, for all your collaboration, hard work, and thoughtful and creative insights during the planning and execution of this project.

Here are several committee members diligently working on checking in quilts, handing out quilt pick-up receipts, tagging bags, and separating and packing the quilts for each exhibit.

We had a sneak peek at a few of the quilts that you can see at these exhibits.

"Jellies" (left) and "Otters at Play" by Brenda Cregger.

"River Storm" by Josie Dinwiddie.

Detail of "Sparkly Sunfish" by Susan Lawson.
The inspiration photo is attached to the plastic bag.

The boxes are labeled and ready for pick-up for the final installation. Please visit and enjoy these exhibits and the work by members of the Chattanooga Modern Quilt Guild during QuiltWeek Chattanooga!

Exhibit quilts ready for installation.

The River Journey exhibit and "Dewdle" quilt blocks during QuiltWeek Chattanooga

Since January of this year, I've been involved with the Chattanooga Modern Quilt Guild (CMQG) committee that is working with the Tennessee Aquarium and IMAX Theatre on quilt exhibits for AQS QuiltWeek Chattanooga, September 10-13, 2014. About 15 quilts will hang throughout the River Journey exhibit at the Aquarium. Here is a snippet of one of them, made by my friend, Vista.

"Glimpses of Fish" by Vista A. Mahan

There has been so much interest in the TN River Collaborative project that I wrote about here and here… that I thought I'd share a few more detail shots.

Detail: "TN River Project: a Collaborative"

Detail: "TN River Project: a Collaborative"

Detail: "TN River Project: a Collaborative"

Many members from various Chattanooga area quilt guilds are working with local businesses and attractions on exhibits and activities that would appeal to visitors—quilters and non-quilters alike—during QuiltWeek Chattanooga. I blogged about some of them. Here is a partial list:

QuiltWeek activities in Chattanooga.

Zuri Quilters exhibit and presentation at the Bessie Smith Cultural Center
Gee's Bend play at the Chattanooga Theatre Center
Quilts by children at the Creative Discovery Museum
TN River Collaborative project and quilt exhibit at the Tennessee Aquarium
"Quilts of Chattanooga" trunk show at Chattanooga WorkSpace
"Needle and Thread" art exhibit at Association for the Visual Arts Gallery
Quilt exhibit at Hamilton Place Mall

Pick up one of these brochures for a road map of activities and exhibits you won't want to miss during QuiltWeek Chattanooga. After you've spent the day admiring the AQS juried show and special exhibits, and supporting the vendors by shopping the vendor mall at the Trade and Convention Center, spend your evening at one of the downtown quilting exhibits.

If you are an early riser, experience artist Hollie Berry's "Dewdle" quilt blocks before the show opens (see video here).

Dewdle quilt block at Coolidge Park, Chattanooga, TN.

Hollie creates quilt block-inspired doodles using the morning dew as her medium.

Tennessee River Collaborative Project

I mentioned the special quilt exhibit, the "Tennessee River Project: a Collaborative," by members of the Chattanooga Modern Quilt Guild (CMQG) that will be on display at the Tennessee Aquarium during Chattanooga QuiltWeek in an earlier post. Thought you might like to see a few more peeks at some of the marvelous work of Chattanooga's quilters.

Detail: "Tennessee River Project: a Collaborative"

Detail: "Tennessee River Project: a Collaborative"

Detail: "Tennessee River Project: a Collaborative"

All of the quilted pieces are joined at points where the river flows from one map section into the next.

Detail of how the quilted sections meet.

I hope you will visit this quit exhibit at the Tennessee Aquarium during AQS Chattanooga QuiltWeek, September 10-13, 2014, as well as others around town.

Modern quilt Collaborative at AQS QuiltWeek Chattanooga

In conjunction with AQS QuiltWeek Chattanooga [September 10-13, 2014], area quilters are gearing up for the show and also working on additional quilt exhibits around town. I have been heavily involved with a committee that is coordinating quilt exhibits at the Tennessee Aquarium and IMAX Theatre.

Detail of my section of the Tennessee River Project Collaborative
from the Chattanooga Modern Quilt Guild (CMQG).

One of the projects that the committee initiated for the Aquarium exhibit was a group collaborative project with members of the Chattanooga Modern Quilt Guild (CMQG). This has been really exiting to watch unfold!

Twenty-three guild members (including me) responded to the Call to Action: "Tennessee River Project: a Collaborative." To begin, each participant received a map with a section of the Tennessee River.

A map of a specific section of the TN River was given to each participant.

Although color, fabrics, technique(s) and composition were the choice of the quiltmaker, the requirements specified that the entry and exit points of the river on each participant's map was to be maintained and the finished piece was an exact size (100% reproduction) of the map.

At the July CMQG meeting, the individual maps were revealed. Here is a portion of the project with the quiltmakers.

CMQG members display their portions of the TN River Collaborative project.
Photo by Martha Steele.

I am gathering information about other exhibits that will be on display at various Chattanooga locations—the Creative Discovery Museum, the Chattanooga Theatre Center (along with a production of "Gee's Bend"), to name a few—during QuiltWeek Chattanooga. I'll include this information in future posts along with additional snippets from the TN River Collaborative project.

Be sure to schedule time during AQS QuiltWeek Chattanooga to take in all the quilts! They are truly Art-in-Fabric.

Let the scraps fall where they may

I finally had an available Saturday that coincided with a guild meeting of the Modern Quilt Guild in Chattanooga. So, I decided to go. The meeting was well attended and the program was on free-form piecing. 

The program was a hands-on exercise with the goal of providing new quilters—or quilters new to free-form piecing—with an opportunity to experiment with this technique; a popular patchwork technique that is found in many of the modern style quilts.

Fabric scraps of various sizes were sorted into bags for free-form piecing.

Various fabric scraps were sorted and put into brown bags according to their relative size. Apparently, the guild members had been collecting scraps over the last several months with this exercise in mind because there were four work areas set up in the room. Through a blind draw, scraps from the "small," then "medium," and if necessary, the "large" bag were assembled with no forethought or angst over choosing a layout or pattern. The randomly chosen scraps were sewn together intuitively to form patchwork (note, I didn't use the word "block").

Free-form pieced patchwork.

These are a few of the pieces that came from the group I was with. These pieces are much like the "crumbs" patchwork that I referenced in this blog post. It's all about using random bits and pieces of fabric and sewing them together without a specific plan, with no heed to coordinating fabrics, styles, colors or prints, and just letting the bits fall where they may. Free-form!

Gwen Marston calls this technique "liberated quiltmaking" in her books of the same name. Whatever you call it, it's easy sewing and fun patchwork.