Chicago Modern Quilt Guild: Modern Art Challenge

Today was the day that we swapped our challenge quilts! Our Chicago Modern Quilt Guild meeting today was so fabulous! It was a love fest of amazing quilts and fun speakers! I'll tell you a bit more about the meeting in general (and the AMAZING quilt that I received later this week, but for now I want to show off the pretty little thing that I made for my partner!

Emily and I organized this swap (who's idea was it ladies? I don't even know)... and I blogged about it here and here (the details about the swap are in those posts. In short we each chose a work of art and a piece of fabric to inspire our partner. We brought them to the meeting in a bag and then chose a bag out of those that the other people brought. :) Random selection! 

Natalie & I and the finished quilt!

I chose Natalie's and I'm glad I did! First off she is a really awesome lady and it was a real joy to make this for her! She sent along a picture of a piece of art she has hanging in her home. I came up with this. Pixelated, ruffled, and wavy quilted! I was insanely inspired by the bag she brought her art in (pictured below), as well as Shruti's recent quilting piece here. 

Finished quilt, fabric sent (used as backing and for color inspiration), art sent, and bag.

For this quilt I tried some new things. It was a first for me to add a ruffled border (what's the technical term for that?). It proved to be a little challenging since my center portion was stabilized with interfacing.... But it turned out great! Also, it was the first time I've ever buried my thread tails. Yes, I know... I should be doing this all the time. I'm getting to the point where I have no excuse for it other than laziness. I used Ebony's method (video here) for burying them (there were a TON of tails to tuck under!

A simple label. 

I also added my little tiny prairie points to the side edge. I really enjoy those. My thoughts for this piece is that it's like the layers and layers of a lush garden. I highlighted some of the details. 

I'm really glad to have taken part of this swap. I feel like doing swaps like this with our guild helps us to form tighter bonds with each other. We grow as a community. I feel so much more connected to Natalie now, after working on this quilt for her, and I hope that that happens with all our participants (there were about 25 of us!)