Fall 2012 Blogger’s Quilt Festival

( *I know I have shared this before, but this is my favorite quilt that I’ve made since my mother’s Swoon quilt. So I am sharing and linking up with The Blogger’s Quilt Festival over at Amy’s Creative Side.)

We have some very dear friends, who’s daughter got married in the beginning of June. I  often look on her as my own sister for 3 reasons:

1. Her parents are my parents age, and yet we are really good friends.

2. She is the same age as my younger sister.

3. She actually has the same first name (Amy) and middle name (Catherine/Katherine) as my younger sister!

I was so excited for her! Her older brother, Jonathan, married Lisa, who is the younger sister to Micah, the soon-to-be husband to Amy, June of 2011. Kind-a neat, huh? We helped in the food department (go figure!), making 1,500 cheesecake bites and 150 pounds of pulled pork, along with directing the kitchen on the big day. There were 450+ people coming, so there will be lots of food!

Because she is so special to me, I wanted to make her a quilt. Not knowing what size they will have, I made them an extra-large queen sized quilt. I used to pattern from Little Miss Shabby, posted on the Moda Bake Shop called “Organic Elements”. I used Quilter’s Candy little stars from Connecting Threads and a simple white sheet for the quilt top. (To give you an idea of it’s size, the bottom of the fort that is is being displayed on is 7 feet off the ground. To the top of the railing is 10 feet off the ground.)

  

I chose this pattern because I thought it would lend itself beautifully to show casing their favorite verses. I made the blocks, then quilted-as-you-go (QAYG) the verses into the large white portion. This was my first time QAYG-ing and it was an okay process. There are some things I’ll do differently next time, though.

I used a blanket stitch around the petals because it give is more of a traditional look, as opposed to raw edge applique.

  

I will admit this: I cheated. I did not use a light box or the window to get the font onto the fabric. I printed out the verses individually in the font I wanted from the computer, then pinned it to the fabric and sewed over each letter (at a very small stitch length: 1.6 I think). It was a bit tedious to tear off the paper, but I like the way it turned out. The only thing you have to be careful of is not ripping too roughly, otherwise you can rip the stitches out.

  

In the blocks where there are no petals or verses, I needed to quilt something. After thinking about it some, I decided on quilting the fruits of the Spirit within them, hiding in the stippling. This was done after the back was attached to the front.

  

The back is, of course, pieced. My husband is convinced that the back should “match” the front. Not me. I think the back is a separate entity and should be interesting, too. That way, you can essentially get 2 quilts in 1! If you ever get tired of the top, flip it over and enjoy the back! I sewed along side each of the sashing, both vertical and horizontal, to connect the back to the front. I really love this yellow vintage sheet!

  

I was indecisive about the binding. With the many colors in the quilt, it was hard to decide which color should be used. I thought of white, but I didn’t have enough of it and I didn’t want to go to the store. Upon my husband’s suggestion, I used the left over strips I had from making the blocks and I really am glad I used them! I like the look of scrappy bindings and it “plays” well with the quilt top.

Amy was so excited to see it! She admitted to being sad because she didn’t think they would be getting a quilt. I was so happy to surprise here!

  

Quilt stats:

size: 85 x 100

pattern: “Organic Elements” from Little Miss Shabby

fabric: Quilters Candy Basic’s little stars from Connecting Threads and a white sheet. The backing are 2 sheets.

techniques used: piecing, applique, quilt-as-you-go, FMQ, strait-line quilting

Quilted by: me

Best category: favorite appliqued quilt, favorite home machine quilted quilt, favorite bed quilt

*As read from Amy’s blog post:

Blogger’s Quilt Festival is for our online community!  Young and old, all styles are welcome.  There’s no judging, just inspiration with each and every click!  I have timed it to coincide with Quilt Market in the fall and spring each year.  Our festival runs for two weeks, with the opportunity for your quilts to be nominated to win by your peers.

We have categories to consider and nominate favorite quilts in.

The schedule of events is this :

October 26 – 31 Linky open
November 1 – 4 Nominations are made
November 5 -8 Vote for your favorites
November 9 Winners announced

Even if you don’t sew or quilt, go on over and take a look. There are some beautiful works of art being show cased!! And be sure to remember to come back and vote for your favorite!