Flash Block Party!

The Omaha Modern Quilt Guild will be having a "Flash Block Party" to work on quilt blocks and quilts for Quilts for Beaver Crossing, Pilger & Beyond.

Saturday, July 2, 2014

1:15pm - 5pm

Sunshine Stitches

525 N. 155th Plaza

(Pepperwood Shopping Center

next to Baker's Supermarket)

Bring your orphan blocks, UFO's and quilt projects to work on for the quilt drive. An OMQG member has generously agreed to bring her AccuQuilt Go! to help us make blocks and quilts in a flash!

Hope to see you all there!

June block(s) of the month

I'll be back later with more info from the June meeting, but I wanted to post the links for this month's block(s) of the month so you can get started.

Both blocks use half-square triangles (HSTs). The pink and green block on the right is a variation of flying geese made with HSTs. You can find the tutorial here from Jeni at In Color Order. If you'd like to use HSTs to make a zigzag block (the pink block on the left), you can find that tutorial here from The Sometimes Crafter.

Feel free to use the tutorials as a guide and alter them if you wish. I am overrun with 5 inch charm squares from participating in numerous swaps so I'll probably end up using those instead of 4 inch squares. Post pictures of your blocks in our flickr group and be sure to bring them to the July meeting!

QuiltCon quilt blocks

We received a set of 10 quilt blocks from The Modern Quilt Guild and they are beautiful!

Our job is to turn these 10 quilt blocks into a twin size quilt which will be donated to the Austin Children's Shelter.  We can do this by making additional quilt blocks, adding negative space, or a combination of the two.  The quilt must be machine quilted, bound, washed, and shipped to Austin before QuiltCon--the due date is February 1, 2013.

How can you help?

• Be a part of the group that will be piecing the top and backing.
• Donate your fabric scraps!  We need to provide all the materials to complete the quilt.  If you have solid scraps in the colors of the QuiltCon logo (plus gray and white) or larger pieces for the backing, we would love to put them to good use.

• Share your ideas for piecing the top by leaving a comment on this post, in our facebook group, or in our flickr group.  Nine of the blocks measure 12.5" square and one block is 12.5" x 5.75".  The completed quilt will need to be no smaller than 68" x 88" and no larger than 72" x 92".

In playing with some possible layouts I realized how bad I am at this!

Help us out with your suggestions!

the modern quilting bee

With the development of modern quilting, the quilting bee has also taken on a modern twist. There are numerous online quilting bees and one that I'm a part of is do. Good Stitches {a Charity Bee}. There are several different circles and each member contributes quilt blocks each month to be made into a quilt for a charitable group.  My group, the WISH circle, makes quilts for Project Linus. We've only been working on blocks since June but already have one completed quilt to donate. I'm amazed that 11 members from across the country can combine their unique blocks to make a beautiful quilt. It's a quilting bee gone modern!

In June, our group admin Erica decided our first blocks would be these scrappy kaleidoscopes from Don't Call Me Betsy. We were given instructions to make two 12.5 inch blocks using bright pinks, purples, and oranges with some light to medium grays/neutrals. The goal is to work from your stash and for my blocks I came up with these:

(This was my first attempt at a pieced block, and I was pretty happy with the results.) I was blown away when I saw a picture of the completed quilt:

It's wonderful what a group of quilters can come up with whether they "meet" online or get together in person as a guild or group. It's a great way to try new blocks and techniques, meet new people who share similar interests, and sometimes even benefit an organization in need.