My Quip - EssbeeCon Awarded Judge's Choice at Denver National Quilt Festival VIII

Good Day,

Andy and I just found out that our EssbeeCon quilt has been awarded a Judge's Choice Ribbon at the Denver National Quilt Festival VIII.

Needless to say we're tickled pink.

The Denver National Quilt Festival is being held from yesterday through May 5 at the Denver Mart in Denver, Colorado.

Enjoy,

Jim and Andy

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My Quip - EssbeeCon Going To Denver

Good Day,

Mail arrived yesterday afternoon.

EssbeeCon has been selected for display at "Above & Beyond" at the Denver National Quilt Festival VIII, May 2-5, 2013.

The Festival will be held at Denver Mart at the Expo Building at 451 East 58th Avenue in Denver.

Details of EssbeeCon can be seen at -

Q107 - EssbeeCon - Quilt

My Quip - EssbeeCon Quilt - Top Completed

My Quip - EssbeeCon Quilt Progress

My Quip - EssbeeCon - The Piles of Fabric Converted To Blocks - In Progress

My Quip - EssbeeCon - A New and Original Quilt - In Progress

And we just keep working and learning.

Enjoy,

Jim and Andy

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My Quip – Our EssbeeCon Quilt Has Been Accepted at QuiltCon – February 21-24 – Austin, Texas

Good Day,

Andy and I just received notice that our new and original quilt EssbeeCon has been accepted to be displayed at QuiltCon this coming February 21 -24 at the Austin Convention Center, in Austin, Texas.

QuiltCon is the first international Modern Quilting Conference and Show presented by The Modern Quilt Guild. It is to be the first modern quilting event of its kind. Check out the QuiltCon press release.

Check out my postings regarding our journey with EssbeeCon –

- Q107 – EssbeeCon – Quilt

- EssbeeCon Quilt Redesign Revealed

- EssbeeCon Quilt Progress

- EssbeeCon - The Piles of Fabric Converted to Blocks – In Progress

- EssbeeCon – A New and Original Quilt – In Progress

- New Quilt – EssbeeCon

Continue to check back to Quilts SB to see what we’re working on and our current status and updates.

Enjoy,

Jim

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Q107 – EssbeeCon – Quilt

Good Day,

Our original design and 108th quilt is now completed; EssbeeCon. Our quilt title is a derivative of our surnames “Ess” – “S” and “Bee” – “B”; Smith and Brunhammer. It is an original of our joint effort, Quilts SB. “Con” stands for “Construction”. EssbeeCon; a Smith and Brunhammer construction.

The dimensions of EssbeeCon are: Width – 85” (216 cms); Length – 85” (216 cms); and Perimeter – 340” (864 cms).

Each block is paper-pieced from our original pattern design. The construction of EssbeeCon requires the piecing of each of the 100 blocks to be completed in fifteen parts. We used paper to create our foundation piecing. In this manner we were able to reproduce our block pattern and repeat exact copies. All pieces have been cut from the 11 Robert Kaufman Kona Cotton solid fabrics. Each individual block took approximately one hour to construct.

The top of EssbeeCon was bordered by three shades of grey fabric, also Robert Kaufman Kona Cotton. Also the backing is another shade of grey.

In order to maintain a complementary quilting to the overall design of EssbeeCon, we decided to quilt an arranged pattern of parallel lines using our Babylock Jewel longarm sewing machine. All blocks and the quilting pattern in the borders were sewn on our Janome Memory Craft 6300 domestic machine.

And here are some more images of our EssbeeCon.

To read and experience our journey of designing, creating, and constructing our EssbeeCon check out the following Quilts SB links. Also our EssbeeCon is a sister design to our original quilt, I Really Love Lucy.

- New Quilt – EssbeeCon

- We Are Working On Quilts – In Progress and Update

- A New and Original Quilt – In Progress

- EssbeeCon – The Piles of Fabric Converted to Blocks – In Progress

- EssbeeCon Quilt Progress

- EssbeeCon Quilt Redesign Revealed

If you have any comment, thought, idea, and opinion please feel free to contact us.

Enjoy,

Jim and Andy

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My Quip – EssbeeCon Quilt – Top Completed

Good Day,

The top of our new and original EssbeeCon quilt has been completed. The borders have been attached. Take a gander.

Thanks for the many suggestions regarding the possibility of quilting design. We have decided that in keeping of the geometric nature of EssbeeCon configuration that we needed a simple and complementary quilting configuration.

The approximate dimensions of EssbeeCon are now nearing 85” by 85” before the addition of the binding. The backing has been selected. It will balance the top, and again it will be a solid shade of color.

And a couple more images.

We will be using three methods of sewing to complete our EssbeeCon: freeform Longarm; freeform domestic; and hand stitching.

Stay tuned for our updates as we round the corner to completion.

Also check out, if you are interested, my two other blogs, A Genealogy Hunt and Jim’s Trek.

Enjoy,

Jim and Andy

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My Quip – EssbeeCon Quilt Redesign Revealed

Good Day,

Thanksgiving is done. Everyone is satiated… methinks. Now the next stages of the Holiday Season begin to unfold. And somehow we need to fit in the issue of the Mayan ideas of December 21st. Be considering that the December Solstice this year, the same time and date that the Mayan calendar runs out, is 21 December 11:12 (UTC)… Also the new moon reaches its peak on my 61st. Will we see each other on the other side? Which side?

Andy and I are now ready to begin the top of our next quilt. All 100 8 ½ -inch square blocks for our new and original quilt, EssbeeCon, have been completed.

Each block is a paper-pieced construction that includes a set that has to be sewn together before it is added to the paper foundation. Not including the framing borders, EssbeeCon will approximate 80” by 80”.

Here is a sneak preview of our original EssbeeCon design. The construction of the top has begun.

This is our ninth draft of our design, and we have decided that this is what we will settle on, even after the changes that we have made for our first draft. We are still working and developing the complimentary plan of the quilting.

Keep in touch with our status and updates.

Enjoy,

Andy and Jim

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My Quip – EssbeeCon Quilt Progress

Good Day,

The piecing of 100 blocks continues. Andy has been painstakingly piecing and sewing each individual block that eventually will be a part of the construction of our original quilt design, EssbeeCon.

Each block is paper-pieced from our original pattern… and the construction requires the piecing of each to be completed in fifteen parts. And we have tapped the term; segmented-piecing, sort of. Each block is pieced to only one drawn paper pattern.

There are two cuts that are sewn together from a created template prior to combining, sewing together with the block construction. In creating the block design we wanted the paper pattern to be a single unified construction. (It makes sense to us…)

Thanks to all, who have proffered thoughts and advice regarding the eventual quilting design. EssbeeCon is turning to be quite a challenge.

Stay tuned for our progress and updates.

Enjoy,

Andy and Jim

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My Quip – EssbeeCon – A New and Original Quilt – In Progress

Good day,

Progress is underway on our new and original quilt – EssbeeCon. (Check out my first introduction on My Quip on October 12.)

All pieces have been cut from the 11 Robert Kaufman Kona Cotton solid fabrics.

Our original block is a segmented foundation pieced block. “Foundation piecing is the technique of sewing fabric to a foundation in order to achieve very precise results.” (Quiltbug.com) One can use either fabric or paper. We are using paper to create our foundation piecing. In this manner we can reproduce our block pattern and repeat exact copies. Each completed block is a 8 ½” square, including a ¼” seam allowance. For EssbeeCon we are creating 100 pieced blocks.

After trial and error, we have discovered that a technique to construct each individual pieced block is to create three major pieced parts, or segments, and then connect or piece the three segments together. Hence our construction of segmented piecing. We used a similar technique in the construction of the blocks for our recent and original quilt, I Really Love Lucy.

Above are some images of some completed blocks.

The complete design for our EssbeeCon has been designed and a draft has been accomplished. I used CorelDRAW X6 to create the block and our original design.

Stay tuned for our updates and progress.

Enjoy,

Jim

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