by Kate Cosgrove, Charity Challenge Coordinator
At our April meeting, the Wollongong MQG decided to participate in the 2017 MQG Charity Quilt Challenge. In the last two years, we ran two very successful Australian Modern Quilt Shows but, since we have temporarily handed that over to our sister guilds, we thought this would be a great opportunity to complete a guild wide project together. We regularly make quilts together for local charities, but have not previously worked on one in a MQG challenge.
Although we are the Wollongong MQG, our members live across the Illawarra region and, as this is our first entry in the Charity Challenge, members voted overwhelmingly to make a stylised representation of the region. Our design team divided the quilt into vertical sections to represent the escarpment and farms, the towns and the oceans and beaches.
We wanted to include as many members as possible, so decided to do an improvised quilt as this would allow for greater flexibility. Further, we wanted to give members the opportunity to learn a new skill, specifically free form cutting and piecing but we didn’t want to force people to work outside their comfort zone. As a result, the farms were done as wonky log cabins, the towns were a mixture of approaches and the ocean was constructed with free form curves.
Fabric was combined into bundles with instructions and members were able to choose which aspect of the project they wanted to work on. Some tried a few different blocks, some did the binding but almost 30 members contributed in some way. It was rewarding to have so many members hand in their blocks and tell us how much they enjoyed the freedom of just cutting and piecing. It is always fun to try new techniques!
During the project, we gave updates at monthly meetings and via email. This was a great way to keep in touch. All blocks were handed in by the August meeting so the construction team of Kerrie, Ros and Kate got to work on the design wall. It was surprising how quickly the quilt took shape. Filler blocks were constructed if needed, as we had decided to avoid cutting members’ work where ever possible. A second construction day put it all together.
The Illawarra is known for its beautiful beaches as well as the remaining pockets of temperate rainforest. It also has rich coal seams so the bush has rail lines and mines along the mountains. When we took the quilt to our quilter Jenny at AngelCake Quilting, she quickly grasped what we were doing and she made a huge effort to let her quilting reflect the region. Members were delighted with what she did. They had the chance to view the quilt at out November meeting and were very quick to play Spot-My-Block.
The final stage was sending the quilt on a camping weekend with some members who volunteered to sort out the binding while they were away.
This has been a lot of fun and I would encourage any guild which hasn’t tried it to give it a go next year.
In late spring 2016, Carole Lyles Shaw, put out a call on Instagram and to her own personal mailing list asking for MQG members who might be interested in joining a virtual team to make a charity quilt.
There are some things the world should know about Vermonters. One, we’re a hardy bunch (have you seen our winters?), second, we have a great sense of humor, and lastly, our sense of community is enormous. Each of these traits played a part in choosing our quilt design.
From the Guild that brought you an improvisational portrait of Woody Guthrie, comes “Good Morning, Tulsa!” — our entirely paper-pieced entry into the scale challenge for QuiltCon 2017!
The pattern was drafted in Adobe Illustrator, and fabric was generously donated by Brenda Shreve of Red Barn Quilting (brendasredbarn.com). Foundation piecing sheets were printed and then distributed to the 43 quilters who took part in the making of this quilt. Many of our members were new to FPP, so our first sew day featured some instruction. Though many of the pieces are quite small, even those trying paper piecing for the first time were impressed with their progress.
We are the “The Improper Bostonian Quilters.” Patty Bailey, Lorri Foley, Jeannette Tobin, Mary Willis, and Barbara Winrich met several times while planning the quilt. It became an additional enjoyable social event, and not an unpleasant adventure that group projects can become as remembered from Grad School. Although Lorri is still having anxiety attacks about the group process.
Overarching is our guild’s take on the most iconic symbol of the city of St. Louis, the Gateway Arch. A group of members took on the task of designing the quilt; when we sat down to discuss the theme of Playing with Scale, the Arch came to mind for many of us. One member presented a photo by Windy Sawczyn (used with permission of the artist with much gratitude) that showed just a portion of the giant structure shining and sparkling in the dusk light, and we knew it would be just right. Not only did the image encompass the grand scale of the Arch itself, but we then deconstructed the image into small improv units, so that the final whole is composed of hundreds of tiny pieces. The pieces do not translate exactly (nor did we plan for them to), but when put together, they recreate the essence of the original image — small scale writ large. 
To begin the work of actually constructing the quilt, we decided to break the picture down into smaller units (99 to be exact), which would each be translated into a block. Fabrics, both solids and tone-on-tone prints, were mostly curated by one member of the committee and supplemented by donations from other guild members. The small picture units were divided into sets of three and paired with fabrics that matched the colors in those sections of the image; these sets were then distributed to members to create the blocks using improv piecing. Most of the sets were distributed at our annual guild retreat, and it was such a pleasure to see so many members come together to add their part to the quilt. Through the course of making the quilt, many members tried improv piecing for the first time, and the idea of breaking down an image as inspiration took many outside of their usual routine. 
Our guild was eager to participate in the Charity Quilt Challenge, with QuiltCon 2017 “just down the road” in Savannah.
After fitting various blocks into a Fibonacci spiral Terry created a sample tiny curvy log cabin, and enthusiasm set in! Following an overnight flurry of emails our design was set. Randy assured us that a two-inch log cabin block was doable and that established the base for our Fibonacci spiral.
Our Block Kit Kaptain, Barbara Fowler honchoed a cutting and packing day at our favorite meeting place, Bless My Stitches Quilt Shop, in Murphy, NC. Maureen Ripper, Elizabeth Dyer, and Gayle Cowdin joined the design team and kits with carefully cut pieces, patterns and instructions were now ready for the members to sew! After ironing out a few minor challenges the blocks started coming in from Sue Leonard, Kay Stanley, Lynda Case, Joy Still, Terry, Brisbane, Ann Graham, Jeanne Hewitt, Diana Turkovics, Patty Singer, Randy and Janelle.
