Bloggers Quilt Festival: Fall 2016 Large Quilt Category

It's time again for the Fall Bloggers Quilt Festival hosted by Amy Ellis of AmysCreativeSide. 

It wasn't hard to decide which quilt to enter, but it was a bit hard deciding which category it fit best in.  I finally decided that the Large Quilt Category fits best for my quilt, Lily Pad.

Lily Pond from the Back to Square One Quilt along designed by Judy Laquidara

  
The quilt was started in 2013 as part of the Back to Square One quilt along sponsored by Judy Laquidara of Patchwork Times.  The pattern is still posted on Judy's blog, but you'll have to search for the individual posts as she doesn't have this one on her patterns tab.  It took about two and half years to finish it.  Drama Teen early on said that the colors reminded her of a lily pond with the blues, greens and whites.  That's the name that stuck.  

Trudy Lindemann did the quilting using blue thread.  It looks like a whole cloth quilt from the back.  The quilt is 84" on each side. 

The quilt became a late Christmas present for the family that hosted a writing workshop DT attended in the summer of 2015.  DT "met" the oldest daughter while participating in an on line creative writing class.  Four of the girls from that class have meet weekly  using various on line meeting platforms since the fall of 2012.  The 2015 writing workshop was the first time three of them met face to face.  I tagged along as chaperone and chauffeur.  

It was a memorable trip.  

Bloggers Quilt Festival Fall 2015 - An RSC Quilt for the ROYGBIV Category

The temps have cooled down and Quilt Market is coming up so it's time again for the autumn Bloggers Quilt Festival hosted by Amy of Amy's Creative Side.  

My entry for the ROYGBIV category this time around is the quilt that's featured in the header.  It's my first finish from playing along with Angela's Rainbow Scrap Challenge.  Last year she decided to offer a scrappy sampler project as part of the challenge.  The sampler blocks used up lots of scraps so it wasn't hard to justify starting another project.  

The blocks were constructed using Angela's tutorials, but the final setting was up to me.  The black sashing really made the color in the blocks pop,  but a solid black border seemed a bit bland.  After a bit of searching for some inspiration, the idea to add the chevron blocks to the corners was found in Sunny Steinkuhler's book on "Blocks, Borders, Quilts!"  

The color progression in the chevrons is the same as the color progression across the quilt.  The 4 strips added enough color to perk up those bland borders.  

Trudy Lindemann did a wonderful job with the quilting.  She matched the thread color to the block colors and used black in the borders.

Drama Teen wanted something swirly for the quilting and Trudy nailed it.  

Deciding on a color for the binding wasn't going real well. It was hard to pick just one color.  Then I found some yardage left over from backing Drama Teen's first rainbow quilt.  

The rainbow stripe really framed the black while echoing the colors in the blocks.  

Before I could finish adding the binding, the quilt needed a name. Naming quilts is always hard for me and this quilt was no exception.  Drama Teen came to the rescue, she'd just finished a lab in chemistry where they used a flame to identify substances by their color.  You can get just about every color in the rainbow from burning the various elements in the periodic table.  So the name Flame Test seemed appropriate.  I had a lot of fun with the label.  

When I finished photographing the quilt, Drama Teen immediately whisked it away to be her couch quilt.  As you can see in the header picture, Flame Test is already in use and well loved. I've already been informed that it's going to college with her.  

I'm looking forward to checking out all of this year's entries. The rainbow quilts can be found here, while the main festival post is here.   There really is something for everyone.  Thanks for checking out my entry.  

Blogger's Quilt Festival - Pieces of a Rainbow

It's time for the fall version of the Blogger's Quilt Festival sponsored by Amy's Creative Side.

My entry for the ROYGBIV category got started as a request from my daughter, Drama Teen, to make this pattern, Jigsaw by Alyssa Clancy,

in rainbow colors as a bed size quilt for her room.  Here's what came out of that request.   

It took a couple of years for me to gather up the fabrics for this quilt.  Even then there was an awful lot of switching in and out of fabrics as I got to the bottom rows.  Getting the color change to flow from the orange to the red-violet from upper left to lower right as the shades moved from lighter to darker from left to right was probably more of challenge then I was really ready for.  The whole fabric selection process was an education in color theory.  I'm still not sure I got the flow quite right, but Drama Teen loves it, so it works.  

The quilting was done by Trudy Lindemann, who never disappoints.  She varied the thread colors to match the colors in the quilt. 

The free hand flowers echo the quilt back and look just as good on it as they do the front.

The colors in the backing fabric match the colors on the front and it has the same shifts in color as on the front, so it worked really well.  
 Hand stitching the binding for Drama Teen's rainbow quilt was completed a few days after she'd had knee surgery to repair a torn ACL that ended her high school volleyball season just a week before their first game.  She told me that the quilt reminded her that even while she was hurting, that she was loved.  Her quilt felt like one big hug from Mom when she most needed it.  

This quilt goes pretty much everywhere with her.  So I'm pretty sure it will be well loved.  That's the best gift she could give me.  

There's a lot of eye candy over at the Blogger's Quilt Festival.  I'm going to go get a second cup of coffee and indulge in the best quilt show one can enjoy from the comfort of your recliner.  Thanks for stopping by my entry.  Enjoy the rest of the posts.  

Spring 2014 Bloggers Quilt Festival - A QOV

Wow, it's Mid-May already!  Which means it's time for this year's spring installment of the Blogger's Quilt Festival hosted by Amy's Creative Side.  

Thankfully this will be a relaxed weekend at home, so I'll have time to "ooh" and "ahh" my way through the festival posts.  

I only have one finish for this year, but it's a quilt I've really come love. 

I'd been wanting to make a Quilt of Valor for a while, but just hadn't found the inspiration to start one.  I bought a fat quarter collection from Connecting Threads called "Firecracker".  They were just perfect for a QOV.  These fat quarters just sat in the stash until I found the pattern "Mon Ami" from Miss Rosie's Quilt Company.  But this pattern was for a mini, which is too small for a QOV. So I redrafted the blocks to finish at 9" and started cutting.  

The quilting was done by Trudy Lindermann.  The pattern is a meander interspersed with shooting stars.  

The backing is left over yardage which includes a red and white strip that I could never work into one of the blocks, the stripe just stood out too much. 

The binding is the same red tone on tone used in the blocks.  

The finished quilt is  67" X 76"

Mon Ami
Modified from the pattern by Miss Rosie's Quilt Company
Started December 2012/Finished January 2013

Unfortunately, one of the reds bleed a bit during the final wash.  It's very, very faint, but I know it's there.  Hopefully, I can make that go away and then get this on the way to it's new home.  

Thanks for stopping by and checking out my entry for this year.  Enjoy the rest of the Blogger's Quilt Festival.  

Blogger's Quilt Festival - Fall 2013 Edition

The crisp fall days have arrived in this part of the country, which means fall is here and so is the fall version of the Blogger's Quilt festival over at Amy's Creative Side.  

It's so hard to pick just one favorite quilt to show for the festival. After quite a bit of dithering, I finally decided to post my version of Judy Laquidara's Sweet Treats pattern. Judy posted the first picture of the pattern on May 2nd 2012.  I just fell in love with it, but I already had so much going in the sewing room, I told myself starting a new project was just not an option.   (Yeah right, you probably already see where this is going).  I'd been working on getting the stash closet organized.  Every time I pressed and folded a new bit of yardage, I'd put it in the closet and have to move one of the two stacks of the 1930 reproduction fat quarters in the process.  

Contrary to what you might think based on the size of those two stacks, I'm not a big fan of that style of fabric.  These fat quarters are left over from a quilt shop BOM that required everyone to use 1930 reproductions to participate.  Every time I had to move those left overs, I'd think they needed to be moved out of the stash completely.  Hmm, a new project I was dying to start and fabric that needed to be used. What better reason to start a brand new project? 

Sweet Treats
Pattern by Judy Laquidara

Definitely not a traditional quilt using 1930 reproductions, but somehow it works. Trudy quilted lazy daisies across the whole quilt.

When I made the 1930's BOM, I ended up buying yardage of a couple of different blues for the borders, but only used one of the prints.  I had enough of of the border reject to use on the back.  Even better in terms of stash reduction.  

The red binding echoes the middle red border and adds a nice bright frame for the quilt. 

It was a fun quilt to make.  And it did make a significant dent in my 1930 reproduction stash.  There is still probably enough left to make at least one more quilt.  I'm thinking about making a quilt of valor from what's left over.  That will have to wait till next year though.  I really do have to much going on to start anything new now.  

Elements (aka Sweet Treats)
Pattern by Judy Laquidara

This quilt became a retirement gift for Drama Teen's middle school science teacher.  DT spent three years in Mrs. B's class and made two trips to state science fair with her, as well as, a week long school trip to Colorado one summer.   DT just adored her.  DT decided that the boxes looked a bit like a periodic table, so the name was changed from "Sweet Treats" to  "Elements".  Mrs. B. loved the quilt.  

I've never blogged about that original BOM that was the reason for the scraps and left over fat quarters.  If you want to see what that quilt looked like, there is a picture of it posted on my Flickr account (click here).  

That's my scrappy entry for the Fall Blogger's Quilt Festival. Thanks for stopping by Life in Pieces.  Go check out all the entries, though you'll have to pace yourself, there's a bunch.   

Blogger's Quilt Festival - Fall 2012

It's time for the fall installment of the Blogger's Quilt Festival, hosted by Amy of Amy's Creative Side.  This is the largest quilt show I get to attend during the year.  I'm certainly looking forward to seeing all the eye candy that will posted over the next few days and meeting lots of new blogger friends. 

My entry for the Fall installment spent significant time as a UFO.  In fact, this was a UFO that almost didn't become a quilt.  The first 3 blocks were finished in a class.  I didn't like them, so put the whole project away.  That was in 2005.  In 2009, I pulled out the box and still didn't like it, but decided to make 3 more blocks before I consigned those first 3 to the orphan block bin.  Adding a few new blocks to the design wall showed some promise, so the cutting and stitching continued.  I finally finished the project in July of this year. 

Pattern by Judy Turner and Margaret Rolf

From the Book "Successful Scrap Quilts"

This project was known as the "purple and yellow scrap quilt" while it was under construction.  When it came time to name it, the colors made me think of pansies, but My Guy was pretty adamant that was a really wimpy name for this quilt.  Someone suggested naming it Johnny Jump Ups, which is a common name for the viola tricolor.  Another variation on that nick name is Jump up and Kiss Me Jack.  My Guy's nickname in certain circles is Jack, so it just seemed right to christen this quilt "And Kiss Me Jack".  

The finished quilt is 77" x 94".  Trudy Lindemann quilted the top with a floral motif using a variegated purple thread.   The floral motif fits right in with name of the quilt.   

The backing is a rather bright purple and yellow floral that was found on the sale table.  It definitely carries on the bright floral theme from the front.   

I don't usually like to use light bindings, but the yellow binding on the dark purple border really framed the quilt nicely.

In the 12 or so years that I've been quilting, I've never entered any of my finished projects in a show.  At the urging of My Guy and Drama Teen, And Kiss Me Jack was entered into the new for this year "commercially quilted" category at the county fair.  

Definitely a surprise at how well it did.  Our county fair is pretty small, I don't think there were more than 10 entries in the whole class.  The monetary winnings were used to buy ice cream to celebrate. 

That's my quilt that almost wasn't.  Check out all the other beautiful quilts on "display" in the Fall 2012 Blogger's Quilt Festival. 

Best Categories:  Scrap Quilt, Two Color Quilt, Professionally Quilted

Blogger's Quilt Festival - Spring 2012

It's that time again.  The spring version of the Bloggers' Quilt Festival over at Amy's Creative Side.  What a great way to see a quilt show and never leave your recliner. 

This is my 4th time to join in the festival.  It gets harder every time to pick just one quilt to showcase,   I've loved the creative process with each project and to date haven't made a quilt where "What was I thinking?" has been the first thought that came to mind when it was completed.  The subject of this post was a long time in the planning stages, but the end result was worth the wait. 

Have you ever come across a piece of fabric that just speaks to you?  You see it and know it's just the perfect focus piece for a project for someone special.  About 5 years ago, I spied just such a special fabric when I was innocently pursuing fabrics on line. 

The rich colors of the Geisha caught my eye.  My brother's daughter loves the Asian culture.  This was just the right piece for a quilt for her.  Once it arrived, the thought processes went into high gear, picking the coordinating fabrics and trying to find just the right quilt pattern to showcase this piece.  The Geisha is about 20 inches tall, so the first thought was to use it as a central panel.  Everything I came up with was way to dark and heavy.  I wanted to use a dark blue and gold in the setting fabrics.  I'd come back to the design board every few months, but still couldn't come up with a setting that worked.  After about 4 years of playing around with the the formal medallion set, the idea to offset the panel and make it more scrappy came to mind.  That was the right path.  So about 5 years after I bought the fabric, the Geisha quilt was finished. 

Trudy Lindemann did the quilting. A beautiful all over fan design,

mainly in dark blue thread.  But spread out over the quilt is an occasional gold fan.  In the Geisha panel the quilting is a combination of outline and ripples that make the blue background look like water. 

I had hoped to give the completed quilt to my niece for Christmas last year, but I only managed to finish the top.  So she got the top with a note that I'd finish it for her after the new year.  Now it's all bound and labeled, just waiting till we make the trip back home so I can give her the completed quilt. 

Thanks for letting me share one of my favorite projects.  Check out all the other gorgeous eye candy posted on the Bloggers' Quilt Festival. 

Bloggers Fall Quilt Festival - Fall 2011

It's time again for the Blogger's Quilt Festival so graciously sponsored by Amy's Creative Side.  I'm a little late getting my entry posted this year due to photography problems.  This quilt was completed last week and has been dubbed "Texas Twilight" by My Guy. 



This quilt has made previous appearances on my blog while it was under construction as the Buck-A-Block quilt.  The light background blocks are made from Thangles Buck-A-Block #2 designed by Mary B. Hayes.  The black and dark blue setting was self designed.  These blocks were offered as a BOM by the local quilt shop when we lived in Texas back in 2006.  I didn't actually start working on the blocks until about mid year last year. 

This quilt was supposed to have green sashing with a blue bonnet print as the border.  But that proposed setting would not gel with the blocks.  I ended up going in a completely different direction.  The dark fabric in the Thangles blocks is actually bluebonnets on a black background, hence the black.  The blue is a good match to the blue dots in the light background fabric.   I like the finished quilt even though looks nothing like the original plan.  Sometimes the blocks just have other ideas than you do. 

Trudy Lindemann did the quilting.  She used diagonal lines in the blue setting triangles and wide borders.  In the narrow blue border she did a modified feather motif and then loops in the pieced blocks.   It turned out beautifully. 

Grab a cup of coffee (or tea) and hop over to Amy's to check out all the wonderful quilts posted as part of this fall's show. 

Bloggers Spring Qult Festival - 2011

It's that time of year!  Amy over at Amy's Creative Side has launched the Spring Blogger Quilt Festival! 

I'm very fortunate that My Guy is a pretty strong supporter of my quilting obsession.  He's tolerant of my requests for frequent stops at quilt shops when we are en route to just about any place.  A couple of years ago we stopped at one quilt shop.  He wandered in with me and poked around while I shopped. After a bit he pointed out a display quilt and asked me if I liked it.  I replied that it was a nice quilt.  About 5 minutes later he asked me the same question about the same quilt.  Then in another 5 minutes he asked again.  Obviously, I was missing something.  I finally asked if he wanted me to buy the pattern and make that quilt.  "Yes" was the response. 

The pattern was "Fractions" by Kari of MoutainPeek Creations.  It looked simple enough.  It was, but blocks had to be assembled just so and pressed just the right direction.  The assembly became a bit tedious.  So the project got put away for a bit.  Every few weeks, My Guy would ask about "his quilt".  I'd made two quilts for our daughter and one for his mother, but not one for him.  So the "guilts" set in and I finally finished it.

The quilting was done by Lesa Foreman.  I'm not sure it's the most "manly" quilting design, but My Guy has never seemed to notice that detail. 

The quilt was finally finished in June of 2010

It is his quilt, but he shares it with me since it resides on our bed.  I love the deep jewel tones he choose for the theme.  It's one of my favorite quilts. 

Thanks for letting me share one of my quilts.  I'm looking forward to checking out all the other lovely quilts at the Festival, hope you do too.