Xmas at the Guild

2011 Xmas Guild Swap

 I picked the largest bag of fabric I saw out of the gift exchange bag. Then I checked the name to make sure it wasn't one of the Queen Bees or Wannabees (every group has a couple) in our Guild. It contained a MoMo HoneyBun solids and a great piece of a Feed Sack reprint. I loved the idea of using an old print with moderns.
 Turns out it was my pal Kim, I wouldn't say that we are super close but I know her and she always so nice to everybody. I tried to hide her bag from her so she wouldn't know I had it. I didn't think I had time to do what I did last year and I didn't want her to have expectations.
for cherri 















I looked on Flickr and saw that she had favorited a technique called Strip Race (see more about it here and here
What ever I did, I wanted it to be fast, easy and simple. We had 2 months to make our gift but with the Habitat Quilts and family obligations I hadn't started till about a week before it was due.
While my husband was gone to the gym I produced the top... Yes it was that fast! no joke! petal to the metal! balls out sewing! bam! I read that it only takes 90 minutes and its true.. it does.
This border treatment is one that I have used on my Jackson School quilt and I've been drawing it for years and years... so it was super simple and fast as well ..
Next came the quilting:
I'd been doing this on a previous quilt Here so I had lots of practice and it goes so fast. Its basically "S" quilting. The quilt is pretty small at 50 x 60, a size that is very similar to Passage Quilts and I've had lots of practice.
Took a couple hours total over a couple of days.

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 I call this Awesome Blossoms- Mostly, because when I first started making them I would stop and marvel at my genius and whisper "oh wow, that is so awesome". I freehand quilt and wanted flowers that spoke to the old quilting patterns but were more free and organic. I view my quilting as sculpture, something that changes with use, and also as an expression of my femininity and of the connection I feel to women past and present.
A lot of my work shares its vocabulary with nature, being non symmetrical, using natural images rather than a grid based motif system.
detail of quilting






















Awesome Blossoms














See the whole set over at flickr  ...  and the Habitat quilts too























 Next came the Label.  As Treasurer/Membership of the Guild this/last year my duties included sending out the new cards and I asked for a stamp for the envelopes. I inked it with Fabric Ink and used it with my usual stamps... I think it turned out great.
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All in all, it took only about 6 -8 hours which I'm sure was pretty average.
Late in the evening before we all went home I finally managed a snap.  
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Heres Kim with her Xmas Swap Gift. I hope she will enjoy it as much I did making it..
Quilters Rock!

4 comments:

Pétra said...

You are so talented Rachel! Fortunately you've upped the bar for our swaps there were so many beautiful things this year. Love the label!

machen und tun said...

wow, what a great quilt! and i love your quilting, too. the recipient is sooo lucky to get such a beauty!!
have a great new year,
Claudia

Christina said...

The flowers are really stunning. I keep thinking about them. Your organic style is something that I really want to try playing with myself. Your quilting looks so relaxed and I love that.

Paula said...

Absolutely amazing quilt - love that I was able to see your work in person!!