Some of you may know that the MQG held a QuiltCon block challenge that lead to the QuiltCon fundraiser quilt and also a TON of extra blocks. All of those blocks are being used to put together a quilt for every bed in the Austin Children's Shelter. The LAMQG is putting together two of these quilts and I sewed up one of the tops. I received these great blocks:
Then it was time to make some decisions about how to use them in the lay out. Since the quilt is going to be long armed, I thought I'd leave lots of negative space that can be filled up with some beautiful quilting. This bright vivid blue is also perfect for kids.
You can see my process in this photo. I use Illustrator and design to scale. This makes it easy for me to sort out how big the fabric surrounding the blocks needs to be.
Another lil' note about this photo - those two bits of sewing in the upper right of my design wall? I leave those there all the time as a constant reminder about what I should focus on with my quilting. The wonky log cabin was sewn up with Denyse Schmidts' fabrics (I was sure she wouldn't mind!) that she had brought for the LAMQG workshop and that I had in my house for about a day before mailing them all back to her. The A was sewn up in Elizabeth Hartman's workshop using her freezer paper method. These two bit of sewing, to me, represent the 1) the freedom of design and sewing without thinking and 2) the importance of good craftsmanship. Having those there as a constant reminder is a good thing for me.
Anyhow - here's the finished top and now it's off to be quilted!
I don't know about you, but I'm certain these quilts are going to add a lot of vibrancy to the shelter. So thrilled that together the MQG can do this great charity quilting!