Madrona Road Finish

Not only is this my first finish (and start) of 2013, it means I finished one in January too!  Whoohoo.

And I am entering into the MQG Madrona Road Challenge, with hours to spare.  

Madrona Mosaic

As of yesterday, here is where I stood.  I decided to add one more section of tiny tiny squares.  

If I had taken the time to determine how long it takes to build a block with 1" squares, I might not have gone this route, but here we are, at the end of the road with it done.  

I wanted to make this at least large enough for a baby quilt.  

The final dimensions are 42" X 50".

Our Modern Quilt Guild said that we could include one more solid, and I chose Kona white.  Each of the other fabrics in the line had white in it (except the yellow and blue solids), I felt I could pull from that with the solid white.  

And here I am when the power went out.  With just one day left to complete.

I was in the midst of deciding if I should pack everything up and finish the quilting somewhere else, when the power came back on.  And I said a little prayer to the binding goddess, and I believe that she was fair.

With only about 15 minutes of daylight left I was able to snap a few photos.  They aren't the best, but will have to do.  

I used the Morning Glory fabric provided on the back.  

 I did just a few bits of free motion quilting from the back, following the flowers in the Morning Glory fabric and using the variegated black/white thread I was using on the back so they would show on the front.  

I was undecided about how many of these flowers to use on the front.  I ended with the few across the bottom and 3 coming up the left side.  

I used Superior Threads King Tut white thread for the quilting on the front.  

At this point I would wash the quilt.  But I will wait to see if I hear anything from either contest before I do that.  

Fingers crossed.  

WIP Madrona Progress

I'm down to the wire now, only today and tomorrow to have this complete!  I spent yesterday deciding if I wanted to go larger or leave the top as it was.

In the end I opted for larger, so that I can use it either for a baby quilt or small lap quilt.  I don't want to just fold it up in the closet when the challenge is over.

I did not have a lot of time, and I don't normally work with a 'center'.  I don't add a lot of borders anymore, so I tried to figure a way to make the rest of the top branch off of the center, rather than just add borders.  I think that the corner of this one is what I am going with.  Which meant making 2 more of those blocks with the tiny tiny pieces.  I may (or may not) have to make the opposing corner the same way, I'm still dwelling on that, I just don't have the time left to be too picky.  Today, I have to be finished with the top and start quilting.  I know the quilting design I will use, that I have known all along.  And I have to use one more fabric in the top, I haven't worked that in yet, but it is on the drawing board.  

I love the way the back of the mosaic looks.  One day I may do something similar and use the backs for the front.  

Yesterday while I was thinking along the Madrona Road - I took care of a few bee items.  These are 9.5" strip blocks, the last blocks for the Running with Scissors bee.  While it's nice to be complete, it also makes me a little sad to not have those little packages coming every month.  

I also moved forward in the Quilt Around the World II group.

This grouping so far, on it's trip around the world, she asked for charcoal background and geometric shapes, these blocks are really coming together nicely.

I am now half way through the 25 sets of blocks, I have made 12 for others and my own starter block, 13 total.   This is a very diverse group, everyone wants something different.  The way the group works is everyone is in a loop order, and when you get the next package in the loop, you make a block and add to the package, send on to the next person in the loop.  In the end you will have 25 blocks in your theme.  

Mosaic of blocks I have made to date:

This was my starter block

Linking up with Freshly Pieced for WIP Wednesday.

On the Madrona Road

The Modern Quilt Guild's winter challenge uses the fabric line Madrona Road by designer Violet Craft for Michael Miller.

The deadline to be considered by Violet Craft and Michael Miller for QuiltCon is January 31.  Our local Modern Guild received our fabric packets on January 19, due to not having a meeting in December.  Eleven days to complete.  Now, for our local guild we have until March to complete, which is a more realistic time line.  

I am going to hit the January 31 deadline.  Even if it kills me, which it is coming close to doing.

 The fabrics, luckily one of the LQS carried some of the line, and I was able to get more than the fat quarters provided by TMQG.  

What to do?  That took me a day to brainstorm.

Making the sample block took another day and a half.

After completing the sample, I decided to change a few pieces in the block to make the gradation flow evenly.  

I made 5 blocks - which I was going to consider my 'complex' blocks for the quilt.  I did not even have a plan on how the rest of the quilt would go, just a vague idea after these blocks were completed.  

That is 320 little cut 1 1/2" squares, 1" finished.  With 3/4" cut white Kona strips, 1/4" finished.  

I was close to losing my mind yesterday.  

I measured wrong, sewed strips together wrong, and cut wrong.  Once my machine went ballistic and I thought I would cry.  When I had refilled the bobbin, I undid part of the top thread, and it wouldn't sew a seam.  It took about half an hour to figure it out, and when I saw it, it was so obvious.

I forbade anyone to disturb me.

I had a bagel and apple slices for dinner.  

There was no time for anything but tiny tiny squares.

At this point, I was so close to having the blocks finished.  Other days I would have stopped and come back another day. But with the fast approaching deadline, I pushed through and completed all 5 of these blocks.  It was a very long sew day.  

When I started playing with the blocks and the other fabrics to find a good placement, I did something I had not even considered.  I liked the medallion feel of this layout, but laying the blocks together I needed to add something to have them the same size - I added the yellow strips.  

This will be the center of the quilt, using 4 of the blocks I completed.  I have an idea for the rest of the quilt, building on the yellow strips, and  after thinking about it half the night.  

And I now have 3 days to finish the top, make the back, quilt and get the photo into the Flickr pool for consideration by Michael Miller.  I will be done.  I may have to apologize, drink and crash afterwards - but I will be done.  There are quilts and pillows and bags already in the pool, some great pieces, go have a look.