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

January Meeting Recap

Thank you to everyone who joined us last Saturday! It was wonderful to see so many new and familiar faces at the first meeting of the year.  We covered quite a bit of information and had a great time.

Members filled out surveys with ideas for future programming. This information will be reviewed by the Board and will help us plan upcoming meetings and special events. Thank you to everyone who completed one!

There was a brief update on the  2019 KMQG Quilt Show. The show will be held at The Arts & Culture Alliance's Emporium Center on Gay Street. The opening will be Friday, April 5 and the show will run through the end of the month. Details were sent to members and more information will be posted here in the coming months.

We discussed the next quilt block to be used in our next charity quilt for The Restoration House.  Instructions for the Susannah Block and details, including the color palette and due date, can be found in this post.

Susannah block made by Elizabeth Rea

We took a few minutes to write down our 2019 quilting and sewing resolutions. This is an annual tradition for our guild. Each member lists 5 resolutions which are then handed over to the secretary for safe keeping until the December holiday party where we read them aloud and see how well we did. Prizes will be awarded for those who complete all their resolutions!

And of course we had Show & Tell!

We started things off with our completed 2019 QuiltCon charity quilt. The quilt is called "Friendship Bound" in honor of the quilt which inspired it. That quilt, named "Tennessee Friendship", is featured in the book The Quilts of Tennessee: Images of Domestic Life Prior to 1930 by Merikay Waldvogel and Bets Ramsey. 

Be sure to check out the spectacular quilting on our quilt by Jennifer Grace!

Friendship Bound

Pat Pike's Sampler Quilt from the 2018 Quilter's Planner

The back of Pat's quilt

Lori Gibson

Sarah Elliott

Sarah's last minute Christmas quilt

Misty Benson's Halloween blocks

Phyllis Dermer's mini quilt

Phyllis's cat blocks

Yvonne Fisher

Cathy Parks

Celia Shanks' house blocks

Erin Keegan

Ana Gonzalez

Next meeting: Saturday, February 16 from 10:15 to 12 at Westminster Presbyterian Church

TRH Charity Block: Susannah

Hello!

The KMQG's next charity quilt for donation to The Restoration House of East Tennessee will feature the Susannah block:

The tutorial for this block is from Annemarie Chany and is available here:
https://www.annemariechany.com/blog//2013/02/sisters-ten-modern-bom-february-block.html. Please note that the tutorial has cutting instructions for two sizes -- we want the 12" finished (12.5" unfinished) block.

For a bright, cheery quilt, we're using this palette of pinks and greens, paired with white. Please use only solid color fabrics and ensure that all selvages have been removed. Blocks are due at the meeting on March 16.

December Meeting Recap

The KMQG December meeting was also our holiday party and our 2nd annual gift swap. As you can see in the photo above, our swap partners made some amazing gifts with the fabric provided to them, and everyone enjoyed what has become an annual tradition for the guild.

We also elected our leaders for 2019:

• Chairman: Elizabeth Rea
• Secretary: Sarah Elliott
• Education Coordinator: Melissa Wilson
• Treasurer: Christy Cooper
• Founding Directors: Mary Beth Meadows, Emily Doane, Jennifer Grace

Our QuiltCon charity quilt is nearing completion and will be sent off soon to hang at the quilt show in Nashville in February. After some brainstorming, we've decided to call it "Friendship Bound" in honor of the quilt that inspired it, named "Tennessee Friendship" by quilt historians Merikay Waldvogel and Bets Ramsey. The inspiration quilt was made in Newport, TN, in 1880.

Finally, the KMQG is excited to announce that we'll be presenting our work in a quilt show in April at The Emporium Arts Center in downtown Knoxville. The show will open on the First Friday, April 5, and will hang all month. Members will receive information in January regarding entry submissions, with quilts due in late February. Quilts of all sizes will be featured.

It wouldn't be a guild meeting without some show and tell, so here we go!

Made by Jennifer for Michelle Bolt

Yvonne made two charity quilt tops with fabric in the guild's stash

Made by Ana for Sandy D.

Ana with her sweet Christmas sampler

Phyllis' set of placemats for Ginger

Yvonne's trio of nesting buckets for Elizabeth

Next meeting: Saturday, January 19 from 10:15-12 at Westminster Presbyterian Church

October Meeting Recap

Let's start this recap at the end and work backwards! The KMQG October meeting ended with a sew-in to work on our QuiltCon 2019 charity quilt. Members set up their machines and got to work making two parts of the quilt design: tiny-pieced slabs in shades of aqua and lime green, and spiky paper-pieced arcs in white and royal purple. We made awesome progress at the meeting, and those of us who went to the Fall Retreat continued the work so that member-extraordinaire Melissa Everett was able to finish piecing the top for us! Stay tuned for a post dedicated to the guild's submission and final reveal of the quilt that will hang at QuiltCon 2019 in Nashville in February!

Before we got to the sew-in, we had show and tell (of course), and our members had some gorgeous projects to share:

Pat Pike's Christmas plaid quilt

Pat Pike's stocking for her granddaughter, using her woven panel from Melissa Everett's workshop

Merikay Waldvogel

Melissa Everett's screen-printed yardage

Liz Upchurch

Sandy Donoho's tree skirt from Emily Doane's workshop

Michelle Thompson

Ana Gonzalez, who drove down from Kentucky to join us!

Michelle Thompson's bag with fabric weaving from Melissa's workshop

Ana Gonzalez

Part of a holiday table runner by Sandy Donoho

Next meeting: Saturday, December 15 at 10:30, Westminster Presbyterian Church (we'll have a brief meeting followed by our annual election, holiday party and gift exchange)