Challenge 2015

Are you ready for the next guild challenge?? Anyone in the guild can participate! All you need to do is follow the guidelines, make a quilt, and have it finished by the due date.

The due date for your finished quilt is March 1st. Bring your finished quilt to the first guild meeting in March to show it off! We would like to show the quilts as exhibits at quilt shows next summer. We need to meet this deadline for finishing our quilts to meet the deadlines for these shows, and also to decide on which of the quilts will be shown in which shows.

The updated due date is January 29th 2015.

This year, after watching the Gee's Bend video, we were inspired to have a guild challenge inspired by the quilts of Gee's Bend.

This challenge will be a little 'looser' in the criteria in that there is no set rules to follow, other than 'inspired by Gee's Bend quilters'. The only requirement is that the quilt be lap-sized (50 inches to 70 inches in width).

Bear in mind some of the recognized characteristics of Gee's Bend Quilts:

• not squared up
• improvisational
• bold colors
• use old clothing or other fabrics, different types of fabric (cotton, denim)/li>
• made to be used
• bold, geometric designs
• inspired by things around you (house tops/bricklayer)
• hand quilted

Your quilt should probably incorporate at least a couple of these characteristics. Can you think of any other characteristics of Gee's Bend quilts that speak to you?

For more inspiration, do some research!

Your fellow guild members:  A few of us in the guild have taken classes from the quilters of Gee's Bend before. Ask them to bring their quilts to a meeting, or talk to them about what they learned in the class. As we're all working on the challenge, let's have discussions at our meetings about what our inspirations have been.

Here's Kristin's quilt that she made in a class from them!

Books: there are a few published books available at the Deschutes Public Library.

Videos: there are some amazing documentaries available.
Here's the one we watched at Christy's a few months back, called the Quilters of Gee's Bend.: http://video.aptv.org/video/1724622078/

And a Martha Stewart Video: http://www.marthastewart.com/910995/gees-bend-quilting-techniques-and-history

Internet Search: search for "Gee's Bend Quilts", or do an image search, or look at Wikipedia.