madison modern quilt guild

Flowers In The Garden, Art Piece 116

| Cindy Anderson

Back in 2014 I belonged to the Madison Modern Quilt Guild. As a member of the guild I was entitled to participate in a Michael Miller fabric challenge. Each participant received a predetermined quantity of the challenge fabric. From my allotment I created the art piece I call Flowers In The Garden.

Take One of my Flowers In The Garden Art Piece # 116

Pictured above was my initial attempt at transforming the challenge fabric. As you can see not too much had happened. Had I left my piece in that state it would have been rather unexciting. From there my improvisational fiber art quilt morphed into what it is today.

  • Flowers In The Garden, Art Piece # 116
  • Closeup of Quilting on Flowers In The Garden, Art Piece # 116
  • Back of Flowers In The Garden, Art Piece # 116
Flowers In The Garden, Art Piece # 116

Flowers In The Garden, Art Piece # 116 was pieced together using the Michael Miller challenge allotment along with fabric of my own. Comparing the first photo with those directly below you can see how drastically the art quilt changed. The center panel, which was surrounded by a coordinating gray border, was then quilted on my long-arm quilt machine (center photo) using a geometric pattern. The last photo shows the back of the art quilt. Rather than making it from a single piece of fabric I decided to incorporate the leftover scraps along with other matching specimens. Also visible on the back are four fabric corners. The corners were used, instead of the typical hanging sleeve, to allow the piece to be displayed on a wall in either a horizontal or vertical orientation. The last item I will mention is the label identifying the piece. Flowers In The Garden, Art Piece # 116 measures 26 1/4” x 19 3/4”.

Flowers In The Garden, Art Piece # 116 is a wonderful addition to my fiber art portfolio. I am thrilled that you were able to be present for its unveiling. If you feel inspired to share your thoughts please feel free to add a comment.

With warm wishes for a wonderful day!

© 2012-2020 Cindy (Olp) Anderson and In A Stitch Quilting

Block of the Month Quilt

| Cindy Anderson

The modern quilt guild I belong to offers a monthly block of the month pattern to all interested members. The pattern and suggested fabric colors are chosen by one individual. Typically my schedule is jammed so full of activities that I seldom participate. On one rare occasion I found myself with time to spare. I used the lull in activity to assemble and submit an entry in the block of the month group activity.

Members of the guild can make as many blocks as they desire. The blocks are gathered once a month at the guild meeting. Names of the participants are placed in a hat. The person whose name is retrieved is the lucky recipient to take home the blocks. The winning seamstress assembles the fruit of her bounty in what ever manner she chooses. The blocks can be stitched together, untouched by a creative imagination, or they can be refashioned into a new design. The masterpieces that have evolved from a pile of donated quilt blocks into works of art have been absolutely amazing.

My oldest daughter is also a member of the same guild. She just happened to be the lucky winner the month I participated. Her finished product, as with so many other specimens, was a fine example of what can be created when a creative imagination and talent collide.

My daughter allows me to quilt about 80% of her projects. This block of the month quilt was one of them. She gave me the artistic license to quilt it as I saw fit. The freedom to quilt as I desired always makes me giggle inside.

My imagination instantly kicked into overdrive formulating a mental plan. This quilt was the culmination of many hands thus I felt it necessary to embellish it with a variety of stitch patterns as well as complimentary thread colors. The quilt itself was modest in size so from start to finish the amount of time spent quilting wasn’t long at all. My daughter is not particularly fond of applying bindings so I did that for her as well. I absolutely had a blast working with this project.IMG_7259

I hope you don’t mind but I had a very difficult time weeding out the myriad of photos I had in my media library. It was so difficult choosing which ones to share so I think I may have gone a bit overboard. Do you like it?

IMG_7187Vital Statistics:

  • Hours Quilting – 4.25
  • Quilt Stitch Patterns Used – Bubbles, Paisley, Geometric, Lines, Swirls, etc.
  • Number of Quilting Stitches Applied – 63,973
  • Thread Colors Used – Perma Core White, Blue, Red and Yellow

These Four Blocks Avoided the Rotary Cutter

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 A Closeup of Some of the Quilting Detail

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Thanks so much for visiting!

Cindy Anderson @ In A Stitch Quilting

A Challenge It Is!

| Cindy Anderson

I belong to the national Modern Quilt Guild as well as the Madison Modern Quilt Guild. For the past three years the Modern Quilt Guild has held a members fabric challenge. This would be the first year I had the opportunity to participate. Fabrics for this year’s challenge were provided by Michael Miller. A bulk shipment of fabric was received by the local modern quilt guilds and then distributed to the members. How awesome to have the privilege to receive FREE fabric. I can’t think of any quilters that would want to turn it down.

The fabric line for this year was Petal Pinwheels. The rules of the challenge were pretty simple. Create anything you want, provided it is quilted, using all or some of the fabric pieces received. Solids from other manufacturers could be added to the project but no prints. Additional yardage of the Petal Pinwheels could be purchased at your own expense.

To be eligible for the prizes a photo(s) of your item had to be posted in the Modern Quilt Guild Forum. The deadline for posting your photo was July 25, 2014. Three lucky winners would be chosen by early August. To recognize their achievement each winner would receive a year of free fabric.

The Madison Modern Quilt Guild received and distributed six fat eights to its eligible members. I consider myself to be lucky to be one of those participating. The real challenge was deciding what to create. Originally I used the fabrics to make a simple but pretty table topper. Although I was pleased with the outcome I wasn’t quite sure it was putting my best foot forward. I set the project aside for a while to ponder its fate. After much contemplation I arrived at the conclusion that my project needed a bit of tweaking.

The best way I know to make improvements is to lay my project on my cutting table, grab my rotary cutter and begin zipping away. Some people wouldn’t have the heart, even though they might not like what they see, to subject something they had made to such drastic measures. Instead they might give it away or hide it in their UFO (unfinished objects) box. As far as I am concerned, if I don’t like my project’s current status I have nothing to lose by changing it. Zipping my rotary cutter through the fabrics and seams is the best way I know to accomplish an improved outcome. Besides, I tend to like free form quilting better anyway.

I labored at deconstructing my original creation until I was satisfied with the pieces. Then I set about re-assembling the various segments into a new design. The rehabilitation process was slow but fruitful. What eventually transpired was a brand new wall hanging.

Watching the flower, as I prefer to call it, unfold was pure joy. I was so totally pleased with its appearance and so very thankful that I had made the decision to press on towards perfection. I chose to surround my new blossom with a solid border fashioned from fabric I had on hand. Having fabric in my stash that complimented my project was a bonus.

After quilting my refashioned creation, on my long-arm quilt machine, adding binding and a label I declared my project finished. I paused a moment to step back and admire my wall hanging. A big smile washed over my face. This was one project I was proud to say I had made.

Not much time was wasted taking photos and uploading them to the Modern Quilt Guild website. There was no way I was going to miss out on the opportunity to gain recognition as well as compete for one of the three prizes. Although I certainly would love to win, in my heart I already consider myself triumphant. I have a brand new wall hanging to add to my collection.

Now the big reveal…..I present to you

F L O W E R S   I N   T H E   G A R D E N

An Original Design Sewn and Quilted by Cindy Anderson

Using Michael Miller Petal Pinwheels Fabric

July, 2014

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