One of 100 Days of Modern Quilts

I'm trying to make a better effort to post a blog entry at least once a week.  Not much going on this week behind the sewing machine... or at least that is ready to be blogged about. 
In other news... To my shock and surprise Alissa Haight Carlton of handmadebyalissa contacted me regarding one of my quilts.  She was asking to feature my Single Girl quilt during the 100 Days of Modern Quilts - Week of Participation at The Modern Quilt Guild.  I was so honored, of course I said Yes!  Quite some time ago I took part in my first Quilt Along for Single Girl, a pattern by Denyse Schmidt.  It was a quilt I had wanted to make and finding the Single Girl Support Group in Flickr gave me the boost I needed.  You can see my finished quilt below and read a little more about my experience here.  Please make sure you check out all the other awesome featured quilts at MQG, they are so inspiring! 

There are 16 rings total, the top row is hanging over the fence.

A close up of the bubble quilting*... yum!

One lone aqua ring... love the pop of color.

*The quilting on this quit is one of my favorite parts about it.  My best friend Monica quilted it.  I'm so lucky to have her... she did a magnificent job and it was exactly as I had imagined it.  You can see more of Monica's lovely work at her blog.

Got Gray?

Yes I do... and a Rainbow to come.  I'm super excited to finally have found a Rainbow Charm Swap to join... my first.  Seems like I was always a day late (and a dollar short) to join this swap or that.  Elena decided to host a swap on her blog and I was lucky enough to get a spot.  Finally!  My color assignment was Gray... not my usual pick, but I was up for the challenge.  I quickly found some nice modern fabrics online here, they arrived quickly and are already cut and ready to send to Elena for distribution.  Since this is a 5 yard swap, we (56 of us) each purchased 1 yard each of 5 separate fabrics, one solid and four prints.  We will each receive 280 Rainbow Charm Squares.  Weee! 

Cut and collating...

All stacked up and ready to send.

Modern Mini Challenge - Complete!

I'm always up for a challenge!  Especially if it's fabric related.  I am a very devoted blog hopper and happened upon this blog some time ago.  Every couple of months I start again at the beginning of the list (there are only around 200 or so ;o) and just wander down the list till it's time to start again.  It's so inspiring to see what all the blogger folks are up to and I just love finding new blogs, I mean... things to make, a new technique to try... you name it, I love it all. 
A couple weeks ago I was checking in on Ellison Lane Quilts again and noticed there was a challenge to make a modern miniature quilt.  I have been wanting to make another tree quilt using a pattern for Lilly Pilly by Australian designer Kellie Wulfsohn/Don't Look Now.  I already made one regular size for my mom's 60th birthday and had all of her friends attending her surprise party sign a leaf.  It turned out very neat.  So... for the last year and a half I wanted to make one for myself.  I decided to reduce it to half size and had the pattern reduced and ready to go when I came across the Modern Mini Challenge.  I decided to kick it into gear and give myself a deadline to get it done!  Of course, the Flea Market Fancy FQ's were a wonderful incentive as well.  After some careful planning and discussion with my Robert Kaufman classic and bright charm squares, I knew what color all 148 leaves wanted to be.  There are 74 colors.
The quilting inspiration came along just a few days ago when I was on yet another blog.  The leafy branches really fit with the leaves of the tree.  I practiced it with paper and pen and I am pretty happy with how it turned out.  I used pebble quilting in and around the colored leaves and still need some practice on that... it's very "organic". 

So here is my Modern Mini Challenge entry...
Rainbow Tree
18.5" x 30"
74 Kona Colored leaves raw edge appliqued under white tulle
on Kona White background with Kona Black binding.