Des Moines Modern Quilt Guild Sews Up a Retreat

jill here...This past Friday night and Saturday, Marny and I had the good fortune to retreat with the Des Moines Modern Quilt Guild.  The setting was the Waukee Arts Center, converted from a nearly century old church.  It was the first time a sewing group such as ours tested out the electrical output!  The circuit breaker was attended to just a couple of times...Oh those irons!

The format was easy!  There were about 10 of us, meals on our own, snacks to share, a book and a fat quarter to exchange.  Some members brought tables and ironing boards and we settled in.  It could have been for a long winter's nap except the temperatures outside were unusually warm for January.  It certainly made the comings and goings much easier.

The best part was getting to know others better.  That is hard to do with just a short monthly meeting.  Having the time to chat while sewing is relaxing.  And one always picks up tips and information even if we don't accomplish what we had envisioned. 

Jill M.  with her modern fabric, half square triangle baby quilt.

Our new Bow Tie Pasta with a Twist....more  later after its quilted.

Linda with her paper pieced rainbow stars!

Linda's Web.....she had to literally show us the method.
Perhaps she'll give a tutorial on her blog site Flourishing Palms.
It's a super organizational plan for sewing blocks into columns and rows.

Doris and her cheerful blocks prior to a mathematical  border

Beth and Doris sewing under the ray of light.

Penny's  chipping away at numerous blocks

Emily....two versions of the same baby quilt.

Thanks to the members that made the retreat possible.  It was a fun time and a great way to enjoy a warm winter weekend.  'Till Tuesday....

Road Trip with Modern Quilt Relish Finds!

Marny here...We had lots of fun last Thursday.  We headed south to Des Moines to squeeze in a bit of quilt shop therapy along with the January meeting of the Des Moines Modern Quilt Guild.

We found several fun surprises at The Quilt Block in West Des Moines.  Thank you very much!  We love to see samples!!

Here is our pattern, TV Dinners made up.  Notice they still have fabric if you are interested!

Here is one version of our Brioche & Baguette pattern, throw size

And here is another version of Brioche & Baguette, under construction.
It makes good use Sole by Valerie Wells.  If you are super observant you'll see they turned the center large rectangles a different direction to feature their particular fabric.

Our eyes lit up to see this fabric in person.  We'd admired it in a magazine,
but up close and in person it is wonderful!  Malka Dubrowsky is the designer.
Visit her blog here and read about the fabric selling out!  Hope Moda prints more.
The Quilt Block had quite a collection last Thursday!!  We might go back for more.

This weekend we have a Des Moines Modern Quilt Guild retreat---an evening and a day of uninterrupted sewing...what a luxury.  We look forward to getting to know our fellow Guild members better and to getting some samples sewn.

See you Tuesday... 

Andover's "Primativa" Process

 jill here...We spied a wonderful new fabric collection designed by Jane Dixon.  It's an Andover fabric named "Primitiva" and Andover was gracious to send us some.  This contemporary floral is one of our favorite color schemes: a tetradic ( four colors that form a rectangle on the color wheel) in orange, fuschia, lime green and periwinkle blue.  It's particularly pleasing because its on a great taupe background with some pops of white.  In addition to the floral, there are many fun accompaniments in the collection.  Small scale geometrics, organic stripes, stylized leaves and zig zags all add to the fun.

So....We have plans to make a new Bowtie Pasta with a Twist.  Even more fun is the fact that the Des Moines Modern Quilt Guild is having a retreat in a couple of weeks.  Samples (pre-cut, of course) are the perfect quilts (for us) to make in a social setting.  Not too much thinking and Marny and I have a great system to team sewing.  There will be some preliminary decisions to make.

1.  We plan to make the quilt in the kid size.  This size is easier to show and ship while still giving the viewer an accurate representation.

2.  The large scale floral is such a great pattern that we will use it in a larger proportion, specifically more often.  

3.  If you look at the above fabrics, you will notice that there are three of lighter value...the oranges.  One of these will be the accent.  We want it to pop, not blend,  so the top right circle print, as cute as it is,  will not work due to the pattern.  It is not enough different from the large scale floral.

4.  We'll try some mock ups before we make our final decisions.

5.  Lesson: If you're not certain which fabrics will work best, buy more.  You can always use them in a creative backing!

Stay tuned. We'll take pictures and report back as to the design process.  If you have any comments on process, we'd love to hear them.  Sometimes it's lonely on this side of the blog.

Till  next Tuesday....

Photos shared with Modern Quilt Relish

We have recently received several photos of quilts made from our patterns.  We LOVE getting photos and sharing them with you all!

Here is a Supper Club throw version shared with us by Quilt Expressions in Boise, Idaho . It was a hoot meeting up with the Quilt Expressions staff at Market.  They are warm, fun and extremely businesslike and helpful.  Go to their website and watch the video about their store if you want to get a feel for what we are talking about.  The big news is that they are offering kits of this quilt!  Find out details here.  This Supper Club is made from a couple Kona Cotton solids and some of the Echo collection from Windham Fabrics.  A single fun fabric was used in the large rectangles rather than the pieced rectangle option.   

Quilt Expressions Echo Kit of Modern Quilt Relish's Supper Club

Annie of Studio Sequana shared this tempting Narrow Quilt Version of Salad Bar.  Annie has joined our Flickr group so perhaps you have already seen this photograph she posted there.  

Annie also sent us a wonderful email with this photo.  Here is what she had to say.

"I want to make the larger size now......I just love this pattern.  Interesting that you just did a baby quilt, since I have one to make soon too....I think this will be my choice for that.  It's so much fun putting the fabrics together."

She ordered two different patterns after Salad Bar!  That is such a compliment to us.

Annie of Sequana Studio's version of Salad Bar

Below is a totally different version of the same quilt!  Now can you see why we love to get photos?  We get the opportunity to see our designs in different fabrics, and we didn't have to do the sewing!  

This one is extra special because Andrea will be teaching Salad Bar as a class.  We are very excited.  Andrea teaches at Fran's Sewing Circle in Wilmington, North Carolina.  Here is where you go to find out more about the class.  It is being offered February 22nd.  Hope we get some photos of the class and their projects!  (Hint, hint...)  Check out their website--they also had fun at Market!

This was sent in by Yuri.  This is her version of Brioche and Baguette.  It is most intriguing to see it in batiks.  We think we might just have to try that!  

Yuri's version of Brioche & Baguette

We'd also like to point out that a couple of the above received their patterns and rewarded us with photos in as little two weeks!  Wow!!!


Thank you to you all for sharing,
Till Tuesday...

Monaluna Taali Makes Up Two Child Supper Club Modern Quilts

Marny here...
Hope all of your New Year's are off to good starts.  We are off and running because we completed two new quilt tops New Year's Day, but more on that a bit later.

One of the great perks of having Modern Quilt Relish is meeting interesting, creative people you've admired and establishing relationships with them.

I had ordered this incredibly cute Scooter fabric from Monaluna awhile back.  The owner's personal touch and attention to my order really struck me.
It is Scooters from her Monaco collection.  I also ordered Circles and Double Dots in both Teal and Green.

We actually got to meet the talented designer, Jennifer Moore, briefly at the Salt Lake Quilt Market.  Her vehicle was parked near ours as we attempted to load all our booth belongings into the car in a 40 mph wind.  It was rather comical.  We each had our challenges, but we all saw the humor in it.  It was such fun to meet a designer we'd admired up close and personal.  Yes, I still get a bit star struck.

In Houston we spent a bit of time in her Monaluna booth and fell in love with Taali.  (Along with all her fabrics I might add.)  We pounced on the idea of using the line in our Supper Club Pattern.  Jill approached Jennifer with the idea, and she kindly supplied her wonderful fabric.  So when Spring Market arrives in Kansas City, we each will have a sample for our booths!


The two quilt tops are ready to be quilted.  Supper Club works up very quickly in the child version using a single focus fabric in the large rectangle.  Here is cover of the Supper Club Pattern.

We will show you the completed projects when we get them back from April.  They are cute!!!

But here are my pictures of the Taali collection to satisfy your curiosity until that time.  Please visit Monaluna for more information about her fabric and we encourage you to order some for yourself.

Her fabrics are all 100% Organic cotton printed with AZO-free dyes.  The fabric itself is a medium weight poplin that is easy to sew and press and looks great in completed projects.

The fabric we chose as the focus fabric in the large rectangles of Supper Club.

So cute!  A medium value so great to use as the horizontal stripe in the pattern. 

Vertical stripe in a darker value.  Because it is a directional print we cut it out thoughtfully.

Fun stripe to be used as binding we think!  (also used on one back)

Dot we used as the background in our Supper Clubs and on a back in one.

Taali, Such a happy collection!
More on these quilts and Monaluna in later posts.
Till Tuesday.
Check out Jennifer's photos of Taali!
There are more pieces in the collection on her site.