Great Plans, God and Twilight's Garden

Pile of English paper Pieced Hexagons

I mentioned in an earlier post about working on a quilt for a contest hosted by the Modern Quilt Guild. The challenge was restricted to using the Riley Blake Cottage Garden fabric other permitted Riley Blake fabric. You can read about it HERE. Well, the quilt is complete and was entered into the contest just in time. This whole project has been kept under wraps, but I thought now I could finally share with you my journey in making this quilt. Enjoy!

Prepping hexagons for my original desing

I had great plans when I first saw the fabrics that were to be used. I had designed the entire quilt before the fabric even arrived! For weeks I English paper pieced hexagons. I ordered extra fabric to use and became a crazy hexagon making woman. I was just sewing along, convinced that I had it all in the bag. This quilt was going to be a breeze.

Letting go and letting God take over the design work

It was while we were vacationing in Hawaii that I realized I had over half my pieces done. So I decided to lay out what I had and see how awesome it all looked. With my detailed diagram in one hand and a pile of hexies in another, I put the pieces together like a puzzle. Once I had the quilt laid out, I stepped back to admire my work. And guess what? It looked like shit! WTF! I couldn't believe it. I had went into all that work drawing, graphing it out, I even used color pencils! Maybe it just looked funky because I was tired, or I had too many Mai Tais the night before. So, I shoved the pieces back into the suitcase and continued to just work on the individual hexagons. I knew my design was perfect. It had to be.

My pieced flowers

Back home, with all the hexagons finally done, I pulled out all the pieces and began putting them together again.  Every piece was right where my drawing said it should go. With the whole quilt together, I stood back again to admire my work. And guess what? It still just looked like a hot mess. I was frustrated and angry. Why didn't my design work? It was suppose to work. I did everything right. This was suppose to be my kick-ass design that was just going to blow away the competition. Now with this pile of mess in front of me, I just felt like giving up. If it can't be what I want, then I might as well not enter at all.

Sewing the pieces toghter

Then that small still voice that I've been learning to listen to started to speak. 'Do your work as if you were doing it for God, not for men.' I realized that I had entered this competition with the wrong frame of mind. I wasn't suppose to be doing this to prove I was better then someone else or to validate myself as a quilter. I already know that I am a quilter and all my work was to be a reflection of what pleased God, not someone else. So I did away with my need for the perfect design and my desire to
win.

Watching the quilt grow, piece by piece

I let go of any pre-planned ideas, tossed aside all my drawings and just started moving the hexagons around on the floor. I went into play mode and watched as the hexagons started to take the shape of flowers. Without thought, I moved the pieces until each found their home. In a short time, a completed quilt emerged. I was amazed at what I had put together. It looked nothing like my original drawings, but it was beautiful.

Binding the quilt

As I stitched the hexagons together, those creeping thoughts of doubt came into my mind. "What if this is wrong? What if I just needed to rework my original design? What if this quilt looks like an amateur made it?" I dug deep and committed myself to this design regardless of my doubts. I was already running out of time. I had to just go ahead and finish it.

The entire quilt was reverse tied.

There is this song by Anita Baker and the Winans called, "Ain't No Need To Worry". The lyrics in the song go, "Ain't no need to worry what the night is gonna bring. It'll be all over in the morning". It is a song about being in darkness and trusting that God will bring you back into the light. In making this quilt I felt like God had pulled me out of the darkness of the unknown, yet I wasn't sure if I was fully in the light of realizing His intention. It felt like I was in the middle of day and night. Not fully dawn. More like twilight. So, I decided to name the quilt, Twilight's Garden.

Twilight's Garden by Michelle Cali Mattingly

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MQG 2015 Fabric Challenge with Riley Blake Designs

Today I received a package that I have been anxiously waiting for. The arrival of this package would mean the start of my first ever quilt challenge.

The Modern Quilt Guild 2015 Fabric Challenge with Riley Blake Designs. This year we get to play with fabric from their Cottage Garden line.

The fabrics are more lovely in real life then in pictures. I noticed that there are a lot of dark grays used in this fabric line. I wanted to pick up on that darkness and push it even more. I'm feeling a bit Gothic with this challenge, so I'm going to let this vibe lead me to a great design.

If you are a member of the Modern Quilt Guild, you can still participate in the challenge. All you have to do is purchase fabric from the Riley Blake Cottage Garden line and any coordinating Riley Blake basics and solids. The entry deadline is the last day of July.

To learn more about the challenge, look in the Forums under the 'activities' and then look for MQG fabric challenges.

I wish awesome inspiration, great sewing mojo and the best of luck to all those who are participating in the challenge. 

Those Who Can, Do. And Those Who Still Can, Teach.

You ever get one of those feelings/thoughts that just keep bugging you? Something that started off as maybe a flight of fancy, but now keeps creeping back into your mind? I've been having that lately. It all started when I was checking out the Modern Quilt Guild blog and stumbled upon the Quiltcon call for instructors & lecturers.

I use to teach classes, both college level classes as well as classes at a local craft store. I enjoyed teaching and helping others learn a craft- any craft. Costume design, makeup, quilling, loom knitting, stamping, crochet, what ever it was, I was always willing to pass on my knowledge to others. So when I saw the call for instructors I had what a thought was just a fleeting thought of applying. I brushed the thought away quickly reminding myself that I could never compete with the top notch teachers they've had in the past.

Sure, I know my stuff and I strongly believe in what I do. I'm also very passionate about teaching and helping others. But I have no mass following. I don't have a single book published or even in the works. There are no fabric companies knocking at my door or sending me free fabric hoping I will work with them. And I have never had one of my quilts published in any magazine. So, what business do I have applying for such a gig?

Every time the thought entered my mind I'd run down the reasons why I shouldn't. Then I made the mistake of mentioning my whole mental drama to my husband. He listened to all my back and fourth chatter and all the reasons why it just wouldn't make sense to apply. And then he said the following words that would change everything. "So the worse that can happen is that they say 'no thank you'? Then why not go ahead and apply. If you don't, you'll always wonder if you should have. And you never know, you just might be what their looking for."

So here I am, sewing like a mad woman to get my samples ready to photograph and send in with my application. Even as I'm sewing blocks and working on class descriptions, I still can't believe I'm doing this. Do I really think I'll get accepted? Not a snowball chance in hell, baby. But that won't stop me from trying. At the very least, I'll have wonderful class descriptions along with class samples all ready to go for any future teaching opportunities that may come my way.

MQG and Riley Blake Design Fabric Challenge

It's official. Today I became a member of the Modern Quilt Guild. I've been thinking about joining for some time now. I went back and fourth on whether or not I should join as an individual member or join through the local guild.

The San Diego MQG meets at a quilt shop that's about 30 minutes away. Even though the group meets only one day a month, that's still a far drive for me. And the fact that their meetings are on Sundays during the time I'm in church, really put a damper on me joining. So I figured for now I will just be an individual member. Maybe there are enough quilters in the beach areas -Pacific/Mission/La Jolla- that might be interested in starting a guild.

To celebrate my new MQG status, I decided to sign up for the Riley Blake Designs Fabric Challenge that the MQG is putting on.

Just look at the fabric I get to play with. I get a fat eighth of each fabric below sent to me and can supplement with any Riley Blake solid / basic fabric or their Cottage Garden collection. I can't wait for the fabric to arrive next month. 

Did You Hear The News!

Hey, did you here the news? Quiltcon is going to start happening EVERY YEAR! And to top that off, they are going to alternate between West coast and East coast. On even years they will be on the West coast and on odd numbered years they will be on the East coast.

And guess where next year's Quiltcon is going to be? Pasadena, California! Boo-ya!

They already have instructors like Angela Walters, Alison Glass and Carolyn Friedlander lined up, with many more being added.

Go ahead and mark your calenders for February 18-22, 2016.(That's a Thursday through Monday, in case you were wondering). Registration will be opening this summer.

As Pasadena is only about three hours away from me, I definitely plan on being there.

To learn more about the West Coast Quiltcon you can click HERE. 

Mission Impossible

This mission, should you choose to accept it: Enter your quilt into Quiltcon 2017.

Well, maybe its not that serious, but it is my new goal. 

photo by www.freshlemonsquilts.com

I have decided that I will make and enter a quilt for consideration into the Quiltcon in 2017 show. Seeing one of my quilts hanging there at the convention would be a dream come true, But it is actually the process of getting there that I'm really excited about.

As the old saying goes, 'how do you get to Carnegie Hall? Practice, practice, practice.'. So how do you get to Quiltcon? Quilt, quilt, quilt.

photo by christaquilts.com 

Between now and the time for quilt entry in the 2017 show, I would hopefully have made several quilts and found my voice as a quilter. Now that I have a long-range goal, it's time for me to start breaking it down into monthly and maybe even weekly goals. These smaller goals will help me to learn new skills and fine-tune those skills that I already have.

I wonder who else out there has a goal for themselves to enter a quilt at the next Quiltcon? I would love to have others join me in this goal. Maybe we might all get a change to see our quilts hanging up for thousands to see. Who's with me?