STLMQG at Quiltcon 2024!

Many of our members enjoyed attending QuiltCon 2024 this year on February February 21 - 25 in Raleigh, North Carolina. The guild was represented by four quilts in the show; the guild challenge quilt pictured on the right behind the group, two individual quilts and a collaborative quilt to which an individual contributed.

Pictured Top to Bottom, Left to Right: Jolene Grosch, Diane Graves, Lilo Whitener-Fey, Octavia Pitts, Marne Meredith, Melissa Eagan (sitting) Andi Barney, Tess McMahon, Pam Hartig, Gail Luther, Nichole Witushynsky, Laura Cox, Kerry Caverly, Leila Gardunia, Jessica Schunke and Angie Henderson.

The Quilts

Striking Strings - Community Outreach Quilt by STLMQG members

64" by 80" Traditional string blocks were the inspiration for the STLMQG Community Outreach Quilt Committee's quilt design. The committee discovered that endless symmetrical layouts are possible with just simple symmetrical string blocks. We experimented with varying the size and color of the interior wedges and after many iterations, decided on the final layout using all eight colors of the provided palette. Almost 100 members of the St Louis Modern Quilt Guild worked together to make the 6" foundation paper-pieced string blocks. The top was quilted by Emily Wall (@threadedspoolsstudio).

For more information about this quilt and the committee.

Joy Map - AP&Q Super Scrappy Quilting Challenge by Octavia Pitts, @theeighthchild

Joy Map is the culmination of data from June, July, and August 2023 wherein I intentionally sought and tracked the joyful moments of each day. That joy is presented as 676 shards of "sea glass" with the majority of them being unique pieces of fabric. Some pieces came from friends with whom I shared a particular joy which ranged from time outdoors, movement, creating, self-care, skill building, entertainment, new experiences, and the mundane. This quilt is a meaningful representation of sweet memories, being fully present, sisterhood, trying new things, and empowerment to seek joy daily, even when life is hard. I hand-cut the pieces to have sharp lines with softened edges to emulate the tumbled look of sea glass and gave special attention to the transitions between color groups.

Techniques Used: Machine applique, Machine quilted without a frame (domestic)

YMCA T-Shirt Quilt - Piecing by Mac Barnes, @macbarnes.art

This is my modern take on a T-Shirt Quilt. With the Logo hidden inside the design, this utilizes Tshirts, masks, gaiters and other fabrics from the Harris YMCA in Charlotte, NC. These found fabrics now tell the stories of those that wore them with the YMCA community I grew up in and has hung in their lobby as a way to spread messages of love through lived experience with others.

Techniques Used: Machine pieced, Machine quilted on a frame (longarm), Pattern designed by me in Pro-Create and then the template I used was created using a Cricut and freezer paper.

Exquisite Quilt #3 - Group & Bee Quilts by Abigail Vargas, Sacramento Modern Quilt Guild, @avargasdesigns - #3rd Place Winner of Group & Bee Quilts

Additional Makers: Aaron Ward, Annette Alberti, Anny Schomburg, Charles Cameron, Christine Westbrook, Constanze Toplansky, Debbie Kidd, Denise Henderson, Ellyn Zinsmeister, Emily Williams, Hannah Barker, Hillary Cooper, Karen Bolan, Marty Swank, Michele Oberlander, Nikki Constantine, Pat Fuller, Patti Baymiller (STLMQG member), Rebecca Swank, Sarah Goer, Sarah Ruiz

This quilt is based on the Surrealist artist's game, Exquite Corpse, where each artist creates part of the composition and hides their work except for a connector point. The piece is passed to other artists who each add to the composition without knowing what the other artists have completed. For this quilt, I gave each block contributor the 1" location to the connector points for each 9" block, a specific connector color and their choice of any shade of turquoise and white. Each contributor designed their own block using the piecing technique of their choice and designed the body and connector without others knowing what each created. After receiving the block, they were connected using a variegated color movement from the top to bottom of the quilt. This piece is machine quilted and contains mostly cotton fabric and wool batting.

Techniques Used: Machine pieced, Hand pieced, Improvisational piecing, Machine applique, Machine quilted with a frame (domestic).

Congratulations to everyone involved in the creating of these wonderful quilts. STLMQG is proud to be a small part of it.

Link to see pictures from QuiltCon 2023.

Snapshots!

Send any photos you would like to share to webdirector@stlmqg.org.

St. Louis Modern Quilt Guild is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization. 216 Parkland Ave, St. Louis, MO 63122