I am so thrilled to share the finished Mid Century Modern quilt I have made for my friend, James, who will be celebrating his 50th birthday next month. Rebecca with Rebecca Grace Quilting outdid herself quilting this 60″ x 60″ quilt with a Square Meander Edge-to-Edge design in Aurafil 3-ply 40-weight thread in Dove Grey. Read a little about the quilting and her thread choice here.
Below is a close-up of the quilting:
And a cool on-point close-up taken by Rebecca:
I was inspired to make this quilt for James when I saw his bathroom tile during a visit to his spectacular Mid Century Modern home. Below is one of the pics I took in March. I became very excited when I pulled back the shower curtain to take a shower because I knew many of the images would translate wonderfully into quilt blocks. So I postponed my shower for a few minutes and went to grab my phone from the guest room to take a few pics.
I’m only a basic Electric Quilt 8 user, but my skills improved while drafting blocks for this project. What I found is some blocks were much easier to draw in EQ8 than to make! I ended up selecting the 16 simplest images to replicate in EQ8. Please see my MCM Update #1 post for close-ups of the first eight blocks I made and the details about this project and my MCM Update #2 post that shows close-ups of last eight blocks. For a photo of the finished quilt top, click here.
I am considering entering this quilt into QuiltCon 2024 in Raleigh, NC and possibly the American Quilter’s Society Quilt Show in Paducah, KY. The only reason I’m considering the AQS show is that I have plans to be there next April. My MCM quilt seems like it would be a much better fit for QuiltCon. When I give the quilt to James, I’m not going to wash it first, and I’ll ask him to not really use it until I hear if his quilt has been accepted into either show. If it does get accepted, I’ll get it back from him and sew a hanging sleeve on it before shipping it off. I know the odds are not in my favor of having MCM accepted, but it’s been an item on my quilty bucket list for awhile to enter a quilt show. I also know that I need to seek permission from the tile manufacturer to submit this quilt into a national quilt show. It took me awhile to find the tile online, but I finally did. See it here. I’ve sent two emails so far but have not heard back. Wish me luck, and please pass on any quilt show submission tips you might have.
Linking up to Duck Creek Mountain Quilting: TGIFF.
Quilting is in my Blood 
Oh, Mary! The quilt is fantastic! He is going to love it! I hope you have success in making the connection with the tile company – I don’t have any tips to offer.
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Oh, that turned out beautifully, Mary. Rebecca’s quilting is perfectly Mid Century Modern, too, and I wish you a lot of luck with your submission. I hope that you can get in touch with someone at the tile company who is helpful quickly.
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It turned out great, Mary! You know, while it’s probably “better to be safe than sorry,” in my opinion your quilt is so far removed visually from the tile that inspired you that you may not need permission. If you’d created something that more closely resembled the tile, like a solid white background with couched black yarn to mimic the heavy, wobbly “hand drawn” looking lines instead of piecing different colored fabrics, if you’d replicated more of the tiles and hadn’t separated them with sashing or borders, that would be a different story because you would have been recreating their design in a different medium. Really the tile manufacturer was inspired by quilt blocks and ancient mosaic patterns that are in the public domain and their unique design contribution was to eliminate color changes and use wobbly lines instead of straight lines, neither of which you incorporated into your quilt. Their design influence on your work is indirect and subtle. Not saying you shouldn’t try to reach someone at the tile company, just that you shouldn’t let it prevent you from entering the quilt if you can’t get anywhere with them. But don’t take my word for it — there’s probably someone you could contact at QuiltCon or the national MQG level that you could show them the photo of the tile and photo of your quilt and get their official judgement call on whether permission from the tile company is needed to show the quilt.
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Best of luck! It’s a beauty and I’m sure will impress everyone!
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I found that the Ivy Hill Tile website has an email, although you may already have tried it: Help@ivyhilltile.com You are much more ethical in seeking permission than I would be – lol!
Your quilt is spectacular! From the inspiration to the designing to the completion, it has been a fun process to watch. Rebecca Grace’s square meander is just perfect for it! I wish you great success if you enter it. IMO it should win first place. 😀
This is the quilt that prompted me to consider making something modern-ish for my childhood friend. She complimented a photo I posted on Facebook recently for a “sampler” quilt and said it was her favorite by far, so I’m pretty sure she would love this style of quilt.
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