Broadway Mini Swap

The beginning.

Instagram has been a gateway to the world of mini quilt swaps. There are swaps for nerdy quilts, super hero quilts, zombie quilts, rainbow quilts, quilts featuring specific fabric designers. If you can dream it, there is probably a swap for it. While I resisted all of the monsters and heroes, I could not pass up the Broadway swap. I know it's a stereotype, but before I even knew I was gay, I loved Broadway and stage productions. The first CD that I ever owned was Riverdance! Wow, I can't believe I just admitted that. I quickly put my name into the sign ups.

If you've never participated in an swap on Instagram or otherwise, they are tons of fun. Essentially you fill in a form with your quilty interests such as fabric likes, dislikes, favorites of the swap theme and some information about allergies and snack weaknesses. You are assigned a partner and you get their information from the questionnaire. Based on this you get to search them out on social media and learn more about them. Then you create a spectacular mini quilt just for them!

My partner for the Broadway Mini Swap loves Grease, so I thought I would make a quilt featuring the female lead, Sandy. I referenced the packaging of a vintage clothing pattern to make a drawing of the the new girl at school. I thought I could simplify the lines to make it more angular and that I could make a paper piece pattern of the drawing. My drawing proved to be overwhelming to me and I could not figure out how to make the pattern. How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time. So I decided to create a grid over the drawing to break it into smaller more manageable parts. This worked well, but may have created some unnecessary seam lines. I wish I could better describe the process I took, but struggle to put my thoughts into words. Instead, here are pictures to show the girl coming together.

The bottom of the skirt starts to develop as I add row three.

With the addition of row four I was pleased to see the draping of the skirt match with the parts below.

Sandy gets some arms.

I took a break from working on her at this point, because I was disappointed by her wasp like waist and I couldn't figure out how to make the band at the top of her skirt. The lines of her cardigan and head were also bothersome to me. During this break, I was notified that my partner had dropped out of the swap! Eek! My new partner had a long list of Broadway likes, and buried at the bottom of the list was Bye Bye Birdie. Since I had already invested so much time into the design and creation of this mini I wanted to make it work instead of starting over again.

I used the wrong fabric as I pieced the top.

I had some struggles with the piecing, but enjoyed the puzzle of it all. In the picture above I had used fabric the color of the cardigan when it should have been the color of the blouse. I had to take it apart and insert the correct color and use some hand sewing to recreate the seams.

She's almost complete. Just waiting to 'get her hair did.'

A detail of the quilting. 

I wanted the quilting to help tell the story of the show as I transitioned this quilt from Grease to Birdie.  I imagined quilting other figures in the background holding signs expressing their love for the drafted rock and roll star. I simplified this idea and quilted hanging pennants that spelled out "WE  YOU CONRAD." I used crosshatch quilting to fill the negative space behind the girl to create a wall, I used larger diagonal cross hatching to create a floor for her to stand on.

With about half of the quilting done, I was running out of thread. Boo!

Another quilting detail. This shows the pennants a little better.

A hand embroidered label for the back. 

The finished mini all bound and ready to be sent.

The back featuring a crossword puzzle fabric I purchased at Pink Castle Fabrics.

She had to make it to the groves for a photo as well. 

I'm linking this finish up to TGIFF (Thank Goodness it's Finally Finished) this week hosted by Laura at Quokka Quilts.

Finish: Foothills Mystery

I'm linking up with the Thank Goodness it's Finally Finished link party which is being hosted this week by Janet at Simply Pieced.

  I wish I could remember when I first came across Cheryl and her blog Meadow Mist Designs, but all I know is that I found her before she started her Foothills Mystery Quilt last year. If you are not familiar with a mystery quilt, it is essentially a quilt whose finish is kept secret and has been expertly broken down into smaller steps that once put together create the predetermined design. Cheryl created this mystery to share with her guild, but decided to let her blog followers in on the fun. Each month a different step was provided which meant to me that I only had a small amount of work to do on this project before I could set it aside. I guess it made me realize it is possible to take a project just a little at a time and not all projects have to be completed instantly. 

My fabric pull for the project, which you can read about in an earlier blog post here.

 You may have noticed the colorful graph paper design that is hanging out with this pile of fabric, and I have to tell you that if you ever do a mystery quilt this is not a part of it! I made the process way more difficult than it should be. In the first step of the quilt, Cheryl broke down the fabric requirements for each of three different fabric groups. This is where I went completely overboard, probably trying to solve the mystery prematurely. I got out the graph paper to lay out the ratio of the three different fabric groups. From the blob of three colors on the left hand side of the photo below, you can see that there is more grey (3 yards total) than the other colors and much less orange/wasabi (5/8 yard) than the other colors. I wanted to see what this ratio might look like if it were randomly arranged in a quilt top. The left hand blob in the picture below shows one yard is 12 squares of the graph paper. The other rectangles are the same amount color, as squares or half squares to equal the yardage outlined! What?! Long story short, my brain doesn't know how to enjoy a leisurely mystery quilt along and has to complicate everything it comes across!

My fit of crazy trying to solve the mystery, instead of just enjoying it like a summer read.

 Cheryl was so kind to work with and she offered me some hints at this point in the mystery that allowed the wheels in my head to slow down just a bit. Month by month the quilt parts began to take shape. We made half square triangles (HST), square within a square blocks, hour glass blocks, and diamonds. There were several parts to the puzzle, but we still didn't know how they would all go together. During the month of the HSTs, I had to find an easy way to mass produce them, there were over 100 of them. You can read about my HST quilt hack in an earlier post.

This pile of triangles was actually fun to make after I made some modifications to my machine!

 This quilt was my second long arm quilting experience on Louise, my TinLizzie machine. I played with free-motion, pebbles and a little swirly design, all were hand guided.

Louise making pebbles until the cows come home!

 I took the photos below before this quilt was given as a thank you to the officiant of my marriage to my fantastic husband, and her husband who prepared all of the food for our intimate ceremony. 

I may have to change my blog to quilting among the pines! Pine trees seem to be taking over the orange groves.

A closer look at the pebbles.

 I used two different threads on this quilt, one an Aurifil in grey, and the other a verigated Superior Threads King Tut. The design that was created on the back of the quilt was an unexpected surprise that delighted both the recipients of the quilt and myself.

The secondary design that becomes apparent on the back of the quilt.

The Foothills Mystery has been solved. Stop back among the pines groves to see my progress on Cheryl's latest mystery the Midnight Mystery quilt along. Have you ever participated in a mystery quilt along? What have been your experiences?