More Moose Challenge Results!

Even though the MooseChallenge didn't get many entries, the ones that were submitted are outstanding!

Below is the entry from Judy Damon. The circles are actually cut out from the quilt. Judy told me that she had lots of fun browsing around in antique shops looking for old keys. The quilting is unique, too. The wallhanging is quilted with sayings that all have to do with "keys".

Notice how Judy incorporated the large and small Churn Dash Blocks through her clever use of color.

Another creative entry is the one pictured above, submitted by Muriel Corcoran. She calls it "The Key of G". Muriel explained to me that when you sing the notes the way Julie Andrews did in "The Sound of Music" (Do, Re, Mi, Fa, So, La, Ti, Do...), the note on the quilt is "So", which sounds like "sew". How clever is that??!! I never would have figured that one out on my own!

Thanks for your participation ladies! I love them all!

Moose Challenge Results

Hello readers!

Back in March of this year the Moose Challenge got underway and we had about 20 people express an interest in participating. The design elements were randomly selected, and the deadline was set for August 10th.

Even though e-mail reminders were sent to the challengers, I am disappointed to share that this is the only photo that has been sent in as of today. (The original plan was to post photos of all the quilts on this blog and have the public vote for viewer's choice.)

This whimiscal rendition was designed by Marie Seroskie of Katie Lane Quilts. The design elements to be included were: the colors green and fuschia, a circle, a Shoo-Fly quilt block, and a "key". For those of you who know Marie, she is not only an accomplished quilter, but a talented pianist as well....so it is no surprise that she chose a piano key rather than the type of key that unlocks a door.

Thank you, Marie, for accepting the challenge! You did a great job!

The "Moose Challenge" process of designing can be a good one if you are stuck for an idea and need a jump start when designing your next quilt. Here is the process:

1. Set out 4 or more empty paper bags.

2. Fill the first bag with individual slips of paper that have names of colors on them.

Fill the second bag with slips of paper with shapes on them.

Fill the third bag with names of quilt block designs.

Fill the fourth bag with names of "things" that could be included in your quilt.

Additional bags could include more colors, quilting techniques such as "applique" or "paper piecing", etc. Allow your imagination to run wild!

3. Draw one slip of paper from each bag.

4. Now try to combine some or all of those elements into a quilt design. Even if you never actually make that particular quilt, the design process might just be the jumping off point that gets your mind thinking in new directions.

I know that somewhere out there, other Moose Challenge quilts have been completed. Even though we won't have a viewer's choice vote, please send me your photos so I can post them for all to enjoy. Send them to chickensoupdesigns@yahoo.com.

Sincerely,

Kristi Parker

Chicken Soup Designs

Amherst, NH

http://www.chickensoupdesigns.com/

International Quilt Market Update

I returned recently from my very first International Spsring Quilt market, held this year in Pittsburgh. What an incredible experience and WHAT A BLAST!! I was there at the invitation of Nancy Dill, my publisher at QuiltWoman.com to introduce my new book "Moon Dance" to the professional quilting world.

There is so much to tell about those five jam packed days that I will only mention a few of the highlights. My purpose, in addition to promoting my book, was to network, and network I did! I took a workshop with Jennifer Chiaverini, the authour of so many wonderful Elm Creek Quilt novels, met Mark Lipinski (who gave me a big hug), fabric designer Amy Butler, the president of Kona Bay fabrics Douglas Eagleson, Vicki Dar, editor of Asian Fabrics magazine (a division of Kona Bay and Seattle Bay), The editor of McCalls Quilting magazines, and dozens of designers, distributors, fabric company representatives - the list goes on. The show was so enormous it began to feel pretty overwhelming at times., but the connections I made were wonderful and I could never have made them without being invited to take part in this biannual Market.

Two fabric companies have asked me to make projects for them and have each given me very generous amounts of fabric in return (Kona Bay for Asian Fabrics Magazine and In The Beginning fabrics, using a brand new line: Folklorica); I have an "in" at McCalls and possibly Quilters' Home for submitting future articles or designs; made a number of new friends AND, best of all, my book "Moon Dance" is selling very nicely!

As you can imagine, it was a pretty intense few days but SO worth it! And it was fun to go out after Market closed in the evenings to try out different restaurants with Nancy Dill and her staff and designers. What a great group of women. In spite of being totally exhausted every night I have not giggled like I did with them in a long time. I took a lot of photos at the show and around downtown Pittsburgh and will post some of them soon.

Cary Flanagan, Designer

Something Sew Fine Quilt Design

http://www.somethingsewfine.com/

http://www.quiltwoman.com/

Quilt Block Dash - Serene in Pink

Purple Moose Designs is participating in the Quilt Block Dash “Serene in Pink” which runs from April 1-10. Quilt Block Dash is an online hide and seek game just for quilters. You dash to the participating shops and find the Quilt Block Dash creative image. With each found image you will reveal part of the instructions for a quilt block. If you visit all 14 shops and find all the images, you will have all the instructions and patterns needed to complete a quilt top. Your name will then be entered for a chance to win fabulous prizes (FREE FABRIC!!). Visit www.quiltblockdash.com to register – hurry, it starts tomorrow!

And just to tease you - I have seen the quilt that you will be getting the instructions for and it's beautiful! Quilt Block Dash is a lot of fun, I hope you'll join in.

Terri Sontra
Purple Moose Designs
http://www.PurpleMooseDesigns.com

It worked!

I am so excited to report that my experimental workshop to test out my Round Robin in a Day concept was a success! I had 10 vicitims join me for the day at Bunkhouse Quilt Shop and we had such a fun day of creating, designing, eating, laughing, and listening to me swear at and threaten my sewing machine at every turn (more on that later).



Everyone arrived at the class with a 8.5" block that was to be used for the center of the round robin. Most people had pieced a block in various levels of difficulty, but a few had opted to just cut an 8.5" block out of a pretty fabric. Either way worked perfectly.


My concept had been that I would pull a technique or element to be incorporated into each round out of a hat just prior to that round. My concept also included the idea of each round taking 1.5 hours. Both concepts were tweaked a bit as the day went on, but at least we started out that way. Best laid plans and all that.


The first technique pulled from the hat was "flying geese". Imagine my shock when my group of intermediate level and up quilters contained people who had no idea what a flying goose was. Thankfully a participant or two had brought along some books on borders, and we were able to show what a flying goose was. The entire border didn't have to be flying off to Canada in a gaggle, but there had to be a goose somewhere in there. The second round had to contain a triangle, and the third we opted to do as quilter's choice.


I got a rather interesting perspective on this class as I was not only leading it, but participating as well. I can definitely report that the timed requirement was as stressful for me as it was for everyone else, but unfortunately that can't be helped in a class like this. It was definitely a unique experience to see one of my classes from a student's point of view. I'm happy to say I think held my own against many other more famous teachers that I have had. If your shop or guild might be looking for a fresh new workshop idea, I'd be glad to help out!

Thank you to Joanna Martinez who took these photos and allowed me to steal them from her own blog. You might want to check it out for her perspective on the class as well! http://appliquetoday.blogspot.com/ Thanks also to Wanda Makela, owner of Bunkhouse Quilt Shop, for always encouraging me and allowing me to hold this class in her shop, and for arranging such a yummy lunch.

Because I was more than ready to throw my sewing machine across the room the entire time I was leading this workshop, I came home and finally began shopping for a new one. "It is about time", I know you are all thinking. "How long has she been complaining about the one she had? It seems like forever." It has actually been approximately 17 months and 20 days, about one week less than I have owned the thing. But it is all in the past now, as I am the proud mommy of a brand new Janome 6125 QC, which after 2 weeks is still on my nice list. It's a new record! My guild retreat/coming out party for my machine is next weekend, and I figure if I make it through then without incident, I will be able to fully open my heart to it and love it forever. Right now I am understandably relectant to fall completely in love with it after my last machine.

Welcome Spring!

What do hardy snow people do on the first Saturday night of SPRING to welcome in the new season? Why, have a cook-out of course! No problem that there's still enough snow on the ground to be measured in feet and that the fire pit is buried somewhere under all that snow - we will not be deterred!

Our family does a cook-out a little different than most. We cook over an open fire. Naturally, we have the usual cook-out fare but we also do fresh bread, stir-fry, cobblers and....well, the list is limitless. I take great pleasure in trying to figure out how to cook foods that would normally require a stove or oven and do it on the open fire.

We built our pit last year from granite that was reclaimed from a building that collapsed the previous winter from the snow. The building was part of a summer camp and had a massive fireplace. I also have some of the white bricks from the interior firebox of that fireplace. I plan to make an oven for our fire pit out of them this year. Then I will be able to do some serious baking!

This spring kick-off-cook-out had a simple menu, gourmet hot dogs, fire-pit potatoes and stir fry veggies with peach cobbler and s'mores for dessert.

Thanks to my hubby who spent 3 afternoons chipping away the hard snow to find the fire pit and thanks to our friends who joined us. Everyone had a fun time (even though only 1 was smiling in the photo!) and no one went hungry (as usual). Can't wait until the next fire pit!

p.s. That's me in the black sweater in the back fixing up some more s'mores for the kids - not facing the camera, as usual!

Terri Sontra

Purple Moose Designs

http://www.PurpleMooseDesigns.com

http://nequiltdesigners.blogspot.com

But look at this one! And a free pattern for you!

Here is my miniature version of the antique quilt pictured in my posting below. It was a fun project to work on during my snow day. Because I wanted to rotary cut it, rather than using templates, I fudged the dimensions a bit to simplify measuring and cutting. So- the patches are not true golden rectangles, but they are close.

To make this little quilt, which measures approx. 17 1/2" x 19 1/2", you will need two fat quarters (a fat quarter measures approx. 18" x 22") plus one 1/8 yard piece of fabric. Non-directional prints work best. You will also need a 20" x 22" piece of low loft quilt batting and a 20 x 22" piece of backing fabric.

Label one of your fat quarters Fabric A, the other one Fabric B. Your 1/8 yard piece will be Fabric C. In the quilt above, A is the medium fabric, B is the light one, and C is the dark fabric.

Cut 4 strips 1 3/4" x 22" from Fabric A for outer borders

Cut 27 pieces 2" x 3" each from A and B

Cut 10 pieces 2" x 1 3/4" from A only

Cut 2 strips 3/4"  x width of fabric (approx. 40-44") from C for narrow inner border

Cut 2 strips 1 1/8" x width of fabric (approx. 40-44") from C for binding

Referring to photo above, join 2" x 3" A and B rectangles into pairs. Join 3 pairs into a strip. Add a 2" x 1 3/4" rectangle to each strip. Press seams toward the darker fabric.  Stitch rows together so alternate rows begin with the smaller A rectangle. Press all seams in one direction.

To add inner borders, measure the length of your quilt top vertically down the center. Cut two 3/4" C pieces to that measurement. Stitch one to each side, press seams out.

Measure the width of your top across the center, Cut two 3/4" C pieces to that measurement. Stitch to top and bottom of quilt, press seams out.

Measure, cut, and stitch outer border pieces from A fabric in this manner.

Layer and baste your quilt top, batting, and backing. Quilt as desired (I free motion machine quilted a simple loop and leaf design- click on picture to enlarge). Bind. Quilt can be displayed either horizontally or vertically.

Happy quilting,

Barbara Chojnacki

Six Gables Designs

www.sixgablesdesigns.com

undersixgables.blogspot.com