GVQC 2009 Raffle Quilt - Group Work Day

Mary Wieser, Janet Root, Beverly Kondolf and Jeanne Simpson concentrating on the direction we are taking with the beginnings of the quilt up on Pat's design wall.


This is the first iteration of the center (how it was designed) with the large lighter colored center flower.
We tried a second iteration which had four flowers with the center between those flowers being green and we didn't care for that one at all.


This is the third iteration of the center where you have a suggestion of a flower in the background but only four real flowers. We all liked that one the best. (Of course we were all auditioning it with our digital cameras as well!)


Progress is quickly being made on the magnificent quilt which was created for our 2009 GVQC quilt show (http://www.geneseequiltfest.com/). This is Pat Pauly Chris Wickert and Mary Wieser concentrating on design.

This quilt started with some ideas thrown around in a meeting a few months ago. After agreeing upon some general design ideas, Pat Pauly designed the specific paper-pieced patterns which were used in creating the quilt. We then asked for fabrics to be donated by quilt members in certain color families (dark and medium blues, all shades of green and all shades of red and red/orange). Adding a whole bunch more from several of our stashes, we made up a number of kits to be handed out at quilt meetings. The kits contained the pattern and fabric for one element of the quilt. There were small flowers and at least two leaf patterns for the background.



This is the first iteration of the background of the quilt. While it was aesthetically pleasing, the piecing looked like a nightmare so changes were made to make up rows.

We actually had one new volunteer who joined us this time as she LOVES taking the paper out of the backs of paper piecing . This was Jenna Darlak and she was a much welcomed addition to the team.

A second team started trying to arrange the background leaves and flowers above which were all done using 60 degree diamond shaped foundations. After a couple of iterations, it was decided to work on a quarter of the background at a time and arrange the diamonds so that the stitching would be simplified. To do this, we had to make a lot of plain diamonds as well as well as 60 degree triangles so team 3 set out to make diamonds and triangles to use as filler pieces in the background. I worked this effort. When I saw that there were lots of scraps, I started sewing the scraps together and then cutting out diamonds and triangles from those which added a little more interest to the background. Pat saw that and requested that I add some very small pieces of medium green into these randomly pieced fabrics. They really added a lot so I have a pile of fabric now to start doing some more.



This is the center medallion where the rows are starting to come together and are sewn. It is really stunning in person!




This is the final iteration of the background closeup. A team was sewing these background pieces together in a long row to determine if we had the right number of pieces yet. The final dimensions of the quilt will be 84 x 96. A great challenge will be inserting the 90 degree angled center medallion into the background made of 60 degree shapes!!

A pattern using the central medallion set on a blue background with a border will be offered for sale in conjunction with the quilt show.