Knoxville Modern Quilt Guild: Challenge

Showing posts with label Challenge. Show all posts

Sunday, December 4, 2022

QuiltCon 2023 Community Outreach Challenge: Radiata

The Knoxville Modern Quilt Guild is thrilled to reveal our submission for the 2023 QuiltCon Community Outreach Challenge! This quilt is called "Radiata," and it will hang at QuiltCon in Atlanta in February 2023.

In the summer of 2022, the MQG released the design and color prompts for the annual Community Outreach Challenge quilt. The design theme is Color Shift, and there was both a cool and warm color gradient to choose from. A committee of KMQG members began brainstorming design ideas for the challenge. Committee leader Emily reached out to Melissa, the guild's source of quilt inspiration for previous QuiltCon challenges, and, once again, she didn't let us down. Turns out she was exploring the Knoxville Zoo when she received Emily's text, and she had just seen a radiated tortoise sporting some striking shell markings.

With these images and a sketch from Melissa, Emily switched on her design brain, zeroed in on the cool color gradient provided by the MQG, and drafted an idea involving circles and rays:

Nancy drafted a foundation paper piecing template, Emily and Pat prepared solids, and members stayed after a monthly meeting to piece the components with a controlled improv approach to color placement (lights, mediums, darks).

The blocks were sewn together, and then Nancy sewed on the applique circles. The finished top and backing went to Pat for longarm quilting -- Karlee Porter's Wiggle Worm pantograph -- and Sandy sewed on the binding. The finished quilt measures 64 x 86 inches. We've named it "Radiata" in honor of its inspiration, Astrochelys radiata (aka radiated tortoise).

We are very happy with how our quilt turned out. Because QuiltCon 2023 is in Atlanta and within driving distance of Knoxville, many of our members plan to attend, and all look forward to seeing it hang with the other Community Outreach Challenge submissions.

Wednesday, January 30, 2019

KMQG QuiltCon Charity Quilt Challenge 2019: Friendship Bound

Each year, the Modern Quilt Guild issues a challenge for QuiltCon Charity Quilt submissions. For the 2019 QuiltCon in Nashville, the challenge theme is small piecing, and the color palette is

Last year, noted quilt historian and KMQG member Merikay Waldvogel observed that the work of KMQG members often reminded her of the wild creativity and inventiveness of the Tennessee quilts from the late 19th century that she and Bets Ramsey documented in their book, The Quilts of Tennessee: Images of Domestic Life Prior to 1930 (Rutledge Hill Press, 1986). That comment was rattling around in our heads when we learned of the charity quilt challenge for the first ever QuiltCon hosted in our home state. 2018 Events Chairperson Michelle Bolt reached out to the Modern Quilt Guilds in the state of Tennessee and invited them to consider using a historic Tennessee quilt from the book for their 2019 challenge quilts. Several guilds took her up on the idea.

KMQG chose as its inspiration the cover quilt, Friendship, made by Elizabeth Matthews Baxter in rural Cocke County, TN, in 1871. It seems to be an original pattern and is not found in documented encyclopedias of quilt patterns. With elements of fine points and curves as well as an interesting interplay between squares and arches, there was a lot to be inspired by!

The KMQG officers collaborated on a group design, starting with Founding Director and resident quilt designer Emily Doane, who extracted elements of the inspiration quilt and played with the scale. Together, the officers chose the colors and placement, creating a modern quilt design that riffs off of the 19th-century original. Using a combination of paper piecing and improv tiny piecing to create monochromatic slabs, members pieced the quilt at both a Saturday sew-in and our annual quilting retreat in Sweetwater, TN.

The result is Friendship Bound, a quilt made in 2018-19 that is inspired by Friendship, a quilt made in 1871.

Quilt stats:
"Friendship Bound"
Made by the Knoxville Modern Quilt Guild 2018-19
Designed by Emily Doane, Mary Beth Meadows, Jennifer Grace, Michelle Bolt, Christy Cooper, Sarah Elliott and Elizabeth Rea
Pieced by members of the Knoxville Modern Quilt Guild
Quilted by Jennifer Grace
Bound by Elizabeth Rea

Friday, May 11, 2018

KMQG Mini Quilt Challenge Show on June 1

The Challenge

Quilters “paint” with fabric, and as a result, our color palette has historically been limited by the colors available in textiles. Quilt historians have observed that the colors quilters use are often influenced by home design and decorating trends. Excited to try a color challenge, the Knoxville Modern Quilt Guild reached out to students in the Color Theory class taught by professor Ashley Pace at UT’s School of Interior Design. Design students collectively chose one “on trend” color as the main color required in all the quilters’ designs. Then, individual students chose eight other secondary colors for their interesting interplay with the main color and relevance in modern design. Members of the Knoxville Modern Quilt Guild were required to work with the main color Pewter, and then they drew one of the eight secondary colors at random. The challenge asked the quilters to use any quilting method and design of their choice to create an interesting mini quilt (less than 24” x 24”) that incorporates Pewter and at least one other challenge color.

This show displays a variety of piecing and quilting methods, and the quilts are as varied as their makers.

Wednesday, February 21, 2018

February 2018 Meeting Recap

The February meeting of the Knoxville Modern Quilt Guild was packed with a lot of great information and new challenges -- plus a few new smiling faces. We're happy to welcome new members, so if you would like to join us, drop us a line at modknoxville@gmail.com! Dues are $40 for the year and include access to the Modern Quilt Guild website and all the amazing, inspiring resources available there.

Perkiomen Valley blocks for the Ventura MQG collection

After putting out a call for blocks just one month ago, we collected an impressive 20 blocks to send to the Ventura Modern Quilt Guild in Ventura, CA. They've organized a drive to collect blocks and quilts for victims of the Thomas fire and subsequent mudslides. You can read more about their efforts here. Thank you to all the KMQG members who contributed blocks!

Head's up:

The 24^thAnnual A Mountain Quiltfest will hang Wednesday, March 21 through Saturday, March 24 at The LeConte Center in Pigeon Forge. Information can be found here.
The Smoky Mountain Quilters of Tennessee are accepting submissions for their 2018 quilt show through May 7. The show will hang Friday, June 15 and Saturday, June 16 at the Knoxville Expo Center. Information can be found here.
Budding designers may be interested in Craftsy's 2018 Quilt Designer Fellowship. The deadline for submission is March 5. Information can be found here.
With the impending closure of FreeSpirit Fabric (including Westminster and Rowan), now is a good time to gather free patterns from the FreeSpirit website before it goes dark. The link is http://www.freespiritfabrics.com/coatsb2b/en/Inspirations/c/Inspirations
QuiltCon is starting February 22 in Pasadena, CA. If you'd like to follow along on Instagram, check out these hashtags:

#quiltcon
#quiltcon2018
#showusyourmqg
#quiltconfromhome
#notgoingtoquiltcon

The KMQG supports local nonprofit The Restoration House of East Tennessee by providing quilts to families that graduate from the organization. Our next charity quilt will be Julie Hirt's Color Weave pattern available from Moda Bake Shop.

Members are asked to make one or more blocks from the pattern available here using SOLID FABRICS in the palette below: teal/blue/aqua and neutrals (white/cream/beige/tan/taupe). Note that each block is 10" x 17.5" unfinished, with 1/4" seams. Blocks are due at the May 19 meeting.

And finally (well, finally except for a recap of show and tell), a mini quilt challenge was issued to members. The challenge grew from a study of modern traditionalism and modern art, and we're translating those concepts to mini quilts. The minis must incorporate two fabrics provided -- colors were chosen by the Color Theory class at the UT School of Architecture. Members may add any prints or solids, as desired, and may choose any pattern, design, or shape, as long as it hangs. Quilts must be quilted and bound, with foldover corners ready for hanging, and must measure between 12”x12” and 24”x24”. Minis are due at the meeting on April 21, and members may choose to have their quilts displayed at a small guild show in May (more info to come). Please send questions to modknoxville@gmail.com.