Blogger's Quilt Festival - May 2012

Blogger's Quilt Festival begins today and I'm sharing my Bloom Strong quilt. I wasn't sure which of my quilts to share because I love them all for different reasons. I saw this one at my friend's house today and the sweet little girl it was made for and I remembered how much I enjoyed making it.

I love architecture, especially historical architecture. One night I was watching television and caught a local program that highlighted some buildings in my area. I was intrigued by the details of Strong Hall which surprised me because it's not a style that usually appeals to me.

In fact, I've had classes in this University of Kansas building and walked by it thousands of times and never noticed the clean and simple lines inside and out. I quickly started sketching and knew these details would eventually make it into a quilt.

While it's not the first quilt I've designed my self (I consider this one my first) it is the first pieced quilt I designed. It was lots of fun and it was great to stretch my brain in a new way. I quilted it with straight lines to keep it nice and soft for my friend's new baby girl.

The back is pieced with lots of Kate Spain Verna prints so that the quilt could be loved and used, even outside on the lawn. I'd love to try it again with scraps, perhaps in fewer colors just to see what how it changes.

Enjoy the festival! I know I can't wait to spend time perusing all the inspiring quilts and their stories.
Thanks for visiting!

Bloggers Quilt Festival Fall 2010 - Tennessee & Back

I just put the last stitch in the binding of this quilt! I came home after a busy day with my preschooler who had a field trip and a doctor's appointment. In between those activities we made a stop at the bookstore where I accidentally ordered a caffeinated beverage and I was feeling pretty motivated. On a whim I decided to finish the last side of binding and join the Quilt Festival. My sweet husband agreed to pick up pizza for dinner and was so nice to put our little one to bed while I stitched. 

I started this quilt in the summer of 2009. I was visiting my family in Tennessee and my mom wanted me to try her new long arm machine. She cut a stack of squares for me to sew together and the plan was for me to practice on this simple quilt. Well....I got busy visiting and only finished about half of it. So I took it back to Kansas and finished the top at a retreat in October. Back to Tennessee it went with plans to try the long arm during this visit. Again....too busy visiting so my mom offered to quilt it for me and send it back to Kansas in the mail. She did send it back (I believe it was in January of this year) and since I'd started several other projects it sat in the closet for a while. This summer I took it back to Tennessee and put the binding on while I was there, brought it back to Kansas and have been working on the binding a little at a time until tonight. So this quilt has some mileage! For this reason I've named it Tennessee & Back.

Even though this is a simple quilt, it was a stretch for me. My mom had me just pull squares off of the stack to sew them together instead of laying every square out and making a plan like I've always done before. It was really the beginning of moving towards a more intuitive improv process. It was also fun to play with colors I wouldn't have thought to put together - red, eggplant, lavender, peach, sage, olive. I love the mix and can't wait to put this quilt on my bed! Thanks Mama!

I have to thank Amy for hosting the Festival again. It's so much fun to see so many quilts and read about their stories. My entry in the Spring 2010 festival is here. And thanks to all of you for visiting! 

Blogger's Quilt Festival - 2010

 

I am so excited to share this wall hanging for the Blogger's Quilt Festival.

This all started when I received a couple packages of scraps from two Etsy shops. These darling little gnomes were tucked inside and the second I saw them I knew I had to do something special with them. Right away I decided I'd experiment and create some type of wonky project since I'd never made anything wonky (on purpose :).

I just happened to be in the middle of working on a different project but I couldn't stop thinking about the gnomes. So one stormy night when I couldn't sleep I found a tutorial from Quilt Dad and started cutting. This is the first quilt I've been driven to make for fun that didn't really have a purpose except just to enjoy.

I did learn that a new sharp needle is your friend when you start a new project. My machine was skipping stitches when I first started but a new needle solved that problem.

 

It was so much fun to work on this! I pulled from my bag of scraps and my stash of fat quarters. There's even a circle print that I spotted in my Mom's home studio stash and she was gracious enough to send it home with me last year! I just love the first little gnome with the rake. He looks in charge and ready to go and I need him to bring his friends to my yard! I've named this wall hanging Garden Friends in their honor.

Besides the gnomes, my other favorite piece is the Black Eyed Susans on the hot pink fabric.

When I try one of these again, I think I'd like to throw in some solids just to give the eyes a place to rest.

I love pieced backs on quilts but I knew this will hang on my wall where I sew, so I used a fun fat quarter for the back. For the quilting, I just stitched in the ditch in a spiral pattern around the wonky logs.

Thanks for visiting and I hope you enjoy all of the inspiration at the Festival. I love reading all the  stories and of course seeing the beautiful quilts. I plan on having my laptop open today to check out entries in between the loads of laundry I'll be catching up on today. I appreciate Amy putting this together for us to enjoy!