Margarita - The Elements quilt is just beautiful! So glad that we could see the scale of the piece! and I sure wish I could see it in person! Really a powerful modern art piece! Congrats on such a wonderful art accomplishment! Mary Kay

Margarita, I wish there was a close up of the quilts. Are they appliqued? They are just phenomenal and I too wish I could see them in person.

Margarita, your Elements quilt is stunning. I am so glad Alex shared them with us. Beautiful job!! Sandi in FL

Margarita
Your quilts named the Elements is quite stunning, remarkable workmenship. Designs that make the imagination wow in wonder.
Beautiful work.
Kathy

Margarita they are absolutely fabulous!! I wish I had been able to see them "in person"!! What a treasure!

Hi everyone:

On Alex's blogs on December 14th about my quilt "The Elements". Take a look and see what you think. As Joe said on a comment there, it started as wondering if it could be done, then turned into a spiritual experience. It was really a "way out of the box" work for me. It took us almost 2 years to get them done. We brought them home today for a quick freshening up. Will take them back to the center tomorrow. (I need to run a "lint roller" to remove any dust, etc from them then I put them in the dryer on air for about 20 minutes. Then run the "lint roller" over them again. They really look great, just get dusty after a while. Then we take them back and hang them for another spell at the center, before we do it over again.

Margarita in Auburn, CA

I vote for making 2009 "The Year of the Quilt" and maybe, just maybe I'll join the BOM squad. I'm not a traditional quilter, though, and have a ton of quilts I want to make, but I'm still thinking about it. Whether I do or not, I plan to do as much quilting as possible this coming year and push my skill level up a few notches in the process. I can hardly wait to see everyone's results! Cheers, Betty Jo

Thanks, Margo. I guess that instead of buying ahead, I will wait and study it for a while. I have a big stash, but it's not a stash of large pieces!

Carole, I did not check over Sue's yardages, just the instructions, but I do know that she always gives generous yardages in her patterns. As for the background, it probably does take nearly that much because there are a LOT of little pieces in this quilt (which finishes at about 85"x85") which means there is a lot of fabric in the seam allowances. If you want the entire background to be the same fabric, I would probably go with the recommended yardage.
However, there is nothing wrong with changing up the backgrounds!! I was using fabrics from my stash and didn't have enough of my background fabric, so I decided from the beginning to use several different background fabrics. The background fabric around the first border (4-patches on point), and the flying geese border on my quilt were done with two similiar fabrics, but they are not the primary background fabric.
You could use different backgrounds for every design element if you wanted to! I think I would try to use similiar color VALUES for the all of the backgrounds, but that's just my personal preference. After seeing the wonderful variations of the 2008 BOM, who am I to say what color and/or value to use?
As for the other colors, you can see from the photos in my profile that I used more colors than come in the kit, but it was because I really like scrappy quilts and most of my stash is smaller pieces of fabric. Except for the background, the sizes of the required pieces are not very big and can easily mix and match.
This quilt design is just a starting place. It will be easy to change parts of it to suit your fancy and or your stash!
Hope that helps!

Margo, since you've made the 2009 BOM, does it REALLY take over 6 yards of fabric for the background fabric? I read somewhere that the kit contains 22 yards of fabric and I can't begin to understand how it could take that much fabric to make a quilt top. I really wanted to do this BOM, but 22 yards of quilting fabric is too expensive for me. I'll use my stash when I can, but I think I'll need to purchase the background and larger pieces. Lilo gave us this info in chat last night and I just can't understand why the background requires so much fabric:

"TQSWizard: CaroleD. I looked up the fabric requirements for the larger pieces of the BOM . 6 1/2 yds. background,1 1/4 yd. -feathered star setting triangles & setting triangles, 3/4 yd. for 6" star blocks, 1 1/2 yd.-(feathered star feathers, four patch, pinwheels, star blocks, flying geese, floater borders, log cabin blocks), 1 1/2 yd (center of feathered star, floater border). The rest of the fabrics are 3/8 or 1/2 yd pieces. Hope this helps."

If you could explain this to me, I'd really appreciate it. Thanks!

I don't think of myself as "artsy". I love to take a design I've seen and make it my own, like I did turning Sue Garman's MAMA SAID design into GRAM SAID and including things that make it personal for my grandchildren. (It's in the SHOW & TELL section of my profile). I'm still working on the borders!

Hopefully everyone who is planning to make the 2009 BOM will make the effort to make it their own quilt, by changing the fabrics, or changing the blocks and using some of Sue's alternate designs in the patterns, or even using your own blocks in the place of the ones that Sue has designed. All you need to do it substitute a different block that is the same size!

I love the idea of making 2009 "The Year of the Quilt"!!! Maybe it will mean cutting back some things to free up more time? It's a matter of priorities, and planning, and commitment.....not just wishful thinking.

I use patterns and sometimes I put my own twist/spin to them. When I make my very own patterns it ends up being a pattern that someone else has created at one point in time. I come across many patterns by accident by making my own." A pattern can be created by many more then once". I can sketch out many patterns and find it has already been created- I just throw in afew twist and turns-then it mine! I Love patterns,kits - I can add my own design. When it comes to quilting there is not much that I don't Love.
Happy Holidays,Kathy

I just went thru my 'stuff' and found two more tops which need to have borders on them. And a box of blocks which have been done and need to be put in some sort of quilt.
I would love a buddy to encourage me to finish all things. I use to pride myself in finishing what I started. I just don't know...sometimes I am easily distracted by things bright and shiny in the distance!! LOL

FW

FabricWhisperer wrote:
FabricWhisperer, I've been suffering from the same problem, unfortunately for the last 4 years I've quilted some at church but the things I've wanted to work on just seem to be on a backwards track. I too am planning to make 2009 the year of the quilt! Maybe we can encourage each other along
Charlotte