Well, last night was the one year anniversary of the LA Modern Quilt Guild, which happens to be the first modern quilt guild to set off this little phenomenon. How blessed am I to actually be a part of that! A year ago, if you had told me that I would be knee-deep into several quilts, I would've laughed, and said you had the wrong person. But thanks to Melissa and the people LAMQG, I'm quite obsessed with my new little hobby.
We had a great meeting last night. It was packed! There were a.maz.ing door prizes - none of which I won, but people all around me won (I'm not bitter) - donated by some great local shops; certificates (I got one of those...the 2010 Almost Perfect Attendance Award); and everyone who didn't get a door prize got a thread catcher made by Latifah, the President of LAMQG.
But the highlight of the night was the culmination of our scrap swap. For September's meeting, we brought in a bag of scraps. At the meeting, we swapped the scraps to take home, make something with, and bring the product back to the original scrap owner at last night's meeting. So that's how we spent our show and tell time. I was so impressed with everything being swapped! There is some serious talent in this group of people! Of course, I didn't bring my camera, but I'm hoping Emily will post pictures soon. In the meantime, here's what I made and what I got.
What I made:
I have to laugh at this, because why does this keep happening to me? Back in June, we had a mini-quilt swap, and Alissa got my mini-quilt. If you don't know who Alissa is, that's okay. It just means you don't read alot of quilting blogs. Because she is linked to all over the place in the quilt blogging world. She's also been published in quilting and sewing magazines. She's also the Vice President of our guild. You see now why I have to laugh? She got my first ever quilt. I'm still embarrassed, months later.
Which brings me to the scrap swap. Who's scraps did I get? Latifah's! Remember her...the President of the guild? Can you say pressure?! I asked her what she wanted, and she said something like, "I don't know...a mini quilt is fine."
I thought about it and really didn't want to do a mini quilt. I just felt like that was too obvious, or something. So I toyed with the idea of doing a coin purse. I even bought two zippers - one to practice with, and one for the real thing.
Then it came time to cut into the fabric, and I wasn't feeling the coin purse, at all. So, a mini quilt was it. But I challenged myself, and went the wonky route, which is something I'd never done before. I followed one of Quilt Dad's tutorials to help me out, and this is what I came up with...
Overall, I'm happy with it, except for the binding. I don't really know what happened there. What I love about it is the quilting. I used my walking foot for the first time and did wavy lines. I was very happy with how they turned out! Latifah said she loved it, so I'll just take her word for it.
What I got:
Since I had just finished up my Recentered Quilt, I was thinking it would be nice to make new pillow covers for it. So I took in scraps of the same fabrics I used for that quilt. All I asked for is a 20x20 block that I could turn into a pillow cover. Kelli (if she has a blog, I don't know what it is) got my scraps, and I'm SO happy with what she did with them. She made not one, but two blocks!
She said she thought I could use one or the other if I liked one better, or I can make them the front and the back. But I love them so much, that I'm going to make two pillow covers out of them (which saves me time, because I was going to make a coordinating one)! Can't wait to get started on those.
It was an awesome time, and I think I speak for everyone when I say I'm excited to see what the next year brings!
Of COURSE I love it Kelli! It's awesome! I hung it in my desk at work. It actually works well with the "decor". I'll take a picture of it soon. See you soon! Latifah
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