Saturday 11 April 2015

Catching Up

Hey there, it's been a while, eh? As I mentioned in my last post, there's some not-so-fun stuff going on around here. Long story short: My mom had a bleed in her brain on March 6th, which prompted brain surgery and more exploring, which found lung cancer, but no brain cancer. She's recovering well from the surgery and more tests this past week will tell us whether her lung cancer is treatable. Yeah, it sucks. Really, really sucks! At least she's here in Ottawa so I can help her and bring her to appointments, etc.

All of this has meant no sewing until this past week. It's been frustrating not to be able to do what I know will help me relieve the stress. Some deadlines and overdue bee blocks are starting to wear on me so this week I carved out some time to myself and got back to the sewing machine.

First up was our Ottawa Modern Quilt Guild Block Design Challenge/Montreal Meetup Challenge. They are separate challenges, but I'm combining mine!

The Block Design Challenge is what I'm running for our guild. The idea is to challenge people to design modern blocks. Each month for nine months, I provided a starter block that has one or two lines in it for people to finish. There are three levels to this challenge:
1) Finish drawing the block any which way you want to.
2) Colour in the block.
3) Make the block and turn them all into a quilt.

Because we want to share the challenge quilts in May at the OVQG Quilt Show to showcase modern quilting, we put all nine months up in Flickr back in the Fall. A few people have already completed their blocks/quilts - huge kudos to Heather and Krista for leading the charge!

The Montreal Meetup Challenge was to design a quilt that is 30" by 40" and displays one or more modern quilt design principles. Our guild is meeting with the Montreal Modern Quilt Guild next weekend for a one-day retreat midway between Montreal and Ottawa. I can't tell you just how excited I am to meet up with the MMQG folks and just breathe quilting for a day. :)

Here are my OMQG Block Design blocks drawn out and coloured:


I had planned on making it in black and white, but the night before I started making it, I decided I needed some colour.

This is looking more like white and fuchsia, but it's actually a bone and wine colour. My blocks are pieced together either by paper foundation piecing or standard piecing. Don't let the simple design fool you, there are several partial seams in there! I think the blocks are arranged in the monthly order too.


Then I added an asymmetrical border to get it to the 30" by 40" size for the Montreal meetup. 


Modern quilt design elements at play here: Asymmetry, high contrast graphic areas of solid colours, negative space, alternate grid work, and minimalism.

Kind of looks like it's a code of some sort...hmm.

I doubt I'll get it finished in time for next week's meetup but at least I'll have a top to share. Now to those bee blocks!

26 comments:

  1. It looks amazing! Sorry to hear about your mum and I hope she recovers well xx

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  2. Blessings to you, your mum, and your family, M-R

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  3. Wishing your Mom well, M-R. Nice to see you back!

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  4. Hi MR, sorry to hear about your Mom. I hope her cancer fight will go smoothly.

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  5. So sorry to hear about your mum. Mine had lung cancer too. Even though I was heavily pregnant/had a babe in arms at the time, I really value the extra time I got to spend with her, taking her to appointments and treatment. She lived hours away from the city so would stay with us for weeks at a time. And she got to enjoy her new grandson. Hope it all goes well.

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  6. I hate to hear that you and your family are going through this. I love the block though, and I think the fuchsia is perfect!

    :) Kelly @ My Quilt Infatuation

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  7. I'm so sorry to hear about your mom... I hope you will have answers and her treatment will go well. You are all in my thoughts and prayers.
    I hope I can make it to the meetup next weekend. I love your quilt!

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  8. I forgot to say I really like your quilt too. In both the neutral sketch colours and the fuchsia/wine.

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  9. I am so sorry to hear about your mother's health concerns. I will keep her in my prayers. I'm glad you made the time to sew as taking care of you is so important. Thank you for sharing. I really like your challenge piece.

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  10. Sorry to hear about your Mom. Prayers that it can all be treatable. Sewing is a great stress reliever.

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  11. Your quilt blocks are always so interesting, M-R. these times of illness ar so hard to cope with...hope things go well for your Mom. I knw hee is hard right now too...Merrill had a simple knee surgery and ended up with tons of blood clots in his leg. I am scared all the time, that they will go to his lungs before they disappear.

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  12. Love the bright background you decided to go with for your challenge piece. Nice work bringing it all together and the offset border was brilliant. Praying for your mom and your family.

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  13. SO sorry for what your family is going thru! ;-(
    I love your little project - inspiring!
    Take care!!

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  14. So sorry to hear about your mother - I'll be thinking of you and sending positive thoughts. Love hoe you've combined the two challenges - what a great concept and fabulous quilt! Enjoy your retreat

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  15. So sorry to hear about your mom, MR! It is a tough time to go through, but glad you can find the positive of getting to spend some time together during this. Hope treatment goes well. Will be thinking of you

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  16. Thinking of you and your mom as you deal with these health challenges. Love your design for your too! Awesome.

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  17. Sorry to hear about the health issues. Fingers crossed for good news. Your quilt top looks great. It's like secret message coded in there ;)

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  18. Sorry to hear about your mother. Hope she is feeling better. Great finish!!

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  19. I hope your Mom's upcoming test results are all good. Let me know if you need a hand with anything while you're being pulled in 10 directions.

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  20. Sorry to hear about your mom. I'll be thinking of you also.

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  21. Sending your mom healing thoughts, and some warmth your way too. Great blocks!

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  22. What terrible news about your Mum. I hope she gets some good news in terms of treatment options. Sending you positive thoughts

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  23. Very sad to hear about your mom. Will be thinking of you. The block is great.

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  24. Sending you positive thoughts as you await to hear treatment options. Glad to see you had a little time to sew take care.

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  25. So sorry to hear about your mother - I do hope that all will be well. Great design idea. xx

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  26. I hope your mother will get better and that she'll get positive news sonn about treatments. I'm looking forward seeing you on Saturday. I love what you have done for your blocks and the challenge. Great idea to combine both projects. I love the result.

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