Pin It Weekly #76

All of the pins on tonight's post are from Studio Art Quilt Associates quilt board. 

The Ann Peterson whose name appears in the copyright is a teacher for Craftsy.  It may interest you to know that her class "Quilting BIG Projects on a small machine" is now on sale for $14.99!  The link in this paragraph will go directly to the sale!

SAQA's Pinterest board and SAQA's website both are very good about giving credit to the artists for their work, so if you're really interested in a particular quilt, go to either source for more information on the artist and his/her website.

Silly String Sunday

Do you know about Silly String?  That toy, of sorts, that allows children to shoot not-so-sticky stuff from a can onto something or someone?  It's really not sticky but it does stick to the target person--and anyone or anything else it touches.  

It reminds me of sticky notes that stick to a wall or paper or book, then releases when you want it to.  The best part of both is that neither leaves a sticky residue.  The worst part of both is that they are unbelievably messy if you find yourself with too much.

 One Sunday afternoon while the children and grandchildren were visiting, Richard came outside with 10-12 cans of Silly String.  He'd bought it for me for a school project but we weren't allowed to use it.  Figuring that the grands would run off and play, he gave each a can of not-so-sticky.  Apparently he had no clue.

The kids started spraying each other, but adult laughter was more than the oldest could take.  A shot in her dad's face was especially funny and, when he retaliated with a shot of his own, the entire herd of young turncoats faced down their elders. 

It feels pretty good to mark all of the grands in one fell swoop, but it means running out of string pretty quickly.  Once out of defenses, I tried hiding behind Richard who had quickly fashioned a shield with the cardboard carrier the cans were in.  

Within 10 minutes the goop was completely exhausted and all that was left was the cleanup.   Grandmay didn't mind the cans but the sticky mess was another problem.  I combed it out of hair, picked it off of clothes, scraped it off of furniture.

The joy on the kids' faces says it all, though, clean up is a little thing after the many smiles and the laughter.  The look on Poppa's face when the first squirt of silly string went splat on his cheek was pretty priceless.  So if you're looking for a cheap, fun way to entertain the masses, run by the dollar store and pick up enough cans of Silly String so that every thumb-bearing member of the family gets one.  

If you want to extend the fun a bit and add a touch of creativity into the mix, give them each a piece of cardboard with directions to make a shield.   You won't be able to defend the stash of ammo, so don't tell them why they'll need it.  Do prepare yourself: the fighting will be fierce. 


REMINDER

Have you entered the giveaway for the AMB tote yet?  There's only one day left and you can enter as many times as you'd like.  All you have to do is tell others about Clothworks Farm to Fabric Challenge through your favorite social media.

Everything you need (rules, info, and entries) are on this link.

Fickle Quilter Challenge~~Save a UFO

Are you a fickle quilter?  You know, one of those quilters who has great ideas and then figures out that it wasn't so great? 

I am one fickle quilter, let me tell you!  My deal, however, is that I get tired of the working through part.  I start.  I get stuck.  I allow my brain to percolate.  My percolating brain begins percolating on another idea, and the original one gets put   

on the opposite side of the work table--the kiss of death!  After lingering in the defunct neighborhood for a while, it gets buried in the UFO cemetery--a basket in a hard-to-reach place in the closet. 

Wait! an epiphany...I could make something new.  Since I've been into Modern Quilts, I decided that using the blocks to make a impromptu modern quilt would work quite nicely.  

I decided to set some boundaries just to help me focus (who knows what could happen otherwise).


The Recipe 

• 2 or more UFO projects
• 2-3 yards of solid for background
• fat quarters that coordinate with the UFO's

Then I thought that, should this actually work, I'd want to be able to share with you what I did.  So I added directions.  

The Directions

• Rules are made to be broken.
• Cut/slice/chop or rip apart the UFO's into smaller squares (need not be perfectly square) 
• Add strips from the fat quarters to form an odd number of extempore blocks
• Connect the blocks with background fabric.
• Occasionally square up the blocks and add fabric as needed to fit them together into sections.  

An Example
These first photos are of a block I worked on for the quilt top I finished today.  As you can see I've added a cuts from different UFO's together to create one large block.  The black lines indicate the different sections.  Once I did, I noticed that the edges are not straight.

 I started trimming along the one long side, then rotated the block 1/4 turn and trimmed the next side.  The trick is to use the first cut to line up the next side so the block is square.  Continue until all four sides are square.  After squaring up this block, I added background fabric to connect several blocks together and continued working this way until I had a nice sized crib/lap quilt.

 And here it is.  There are five bow-tie blocks from one project, a windmill block left from my granddaughter's quilt, pieces of strips from another project and pieces of a couple of nine-patches from another.  In total I used leftovers or UFO's from four different projects.  Apparently having six granddaughters and several nieces means lots of pink quilts.  In fact, I have enough that I'm working on another fickle quilt in pink.  

Special thanks to my quilt top holder!  He's such a doll of a hubby!

Giveaway for Clothworks' AMB Farm to Fabric Challenge!

Clothworks Presents

Farm to Fabric Challenge

This post is a challenge and a giveaway! American Made Brand has a great challenge going on and some lucky designers will have their quilts in the Houston Quilt Show!  Now this is a challenge worth taking.  Plus, it's for everybody who creates quilts from their own designs!

AMB wants to get the word out about its challenge, so they've asked several bloggers to spread the word and are offering this great tote as a giveaway prize .

You can help spread the word and have a chance to win this useful tote (without the veggies, of course).  Because time is running short, I'm going to ask you to blitz the internet: use whatever social media you have--Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, your blog, Flickr, LinkedIn, Reddit, StumbleUpon, 3rdRevolution, etc. You have three days, so hurry!  Entries close on July 30 at 5 p.m. Wednesday evening  I'll choose a winner.

Get out there and blitz, buzz, and bark! Now I need to know what you do, so come back to this post and leave a note. Every, yes every, time you write about this challenge you can come back and enter!  So if you share on Twitter, FB, and Flickr, you have three opportunities!  It's that easy.

Info from the Clothworks website.

The Particulars [or the rules]

• Any techniques may be used – piecing, applique’, embroidery, photo transfer, whole cloth or manipulated fabric, etc.
• You may submit at most two quilts for our consideration.  Quilts must be a minimum of 25” x 25” and must have hanging sleeves attached.
• Quilts must be made specifically for the challenge and must not have been published in books, calendars, magazines, newsletters, websites, blogs or any other form of publication prior to November 2014.
• Completed submissions with visuals must be received no later than Friday, August 15, 2014. 
• You will be notified no later than Friday, September 5, 2014, regarding quilts chosen to be included in this exhibit along with shipping instructions. 
• If selected, quilts will need to arrive in Houston no later than Wednesday, October 1, 2014.
• Quilts will be returned by the end of December 2014 if quilt does not travel, or arrangements made to have a quilt picked up at the conclusion of the show.
• If you agree to allow your quilt to travel, your quilt will be returned by the end of August 2015.
• Open to US residents.

Timeline Overview

Announcement and preview – March 2014
Registration open – June 15 to August 15, 2014
Notification by – September 5, 2014
Accepted quilts arrive in Houston by – October 1, 2014
Quilts returned to owner – December 2014, or August 2015 if traveling.

How to Enter

Registration is now open. The last day to register is August 15, 2014 until midnight CDT.

To preview the registration forms, click here.

Please use a standard browser (i.e., Internet Explorer, Safari, Firefox) for optimum performance. We recommend Firefox and Safari as the most reliable browsers. This site does not support IE 10.

To submit your entry on-line, click this button to start: 

When you have completed your registration, be sure to print a copy of the confirmation page for your records.

Sunday Quilt Inspiration: F E L T

I'm fascinated by artistic objects made in other mediums. Felted art is one of those fascinations. 

Felting seems very creative and interesting, and I sometimes wish I'd learned a bit about this medium when I was beginning to quilt seriously.  I can see how felting and quilting would work well together, enhancing both experiences.  If you are a new quilter or if you're willing to invest in another medium, I hope you consider felting wool.  If you do, please let us know how it goes.  

Felted Objets d'art

Felt Sculptures

Wet felting

Needle Felted Animals

Wool Paintings

Today I leave you with just the felted art.  I am certain you can see a quilt or two in these beautiful pieces.