Blogger's Quilt Festival: Spring 2013

Most of you have seen this quilt before, but if you haven't, you can find all the details about my Heather Ross improv quilt at this post. It currently hangs on the wall in the bedroom shared by my three daughters, and I love to look at it when I'm sitting on the floor in there at night singing them to sleep. Every quilt is made for different reasons, and this one holds a special place in my heart. It will always remind me of these crazy, exhausting, happy days when my girls were little...days that are slipping away oh so fast...

Linking up with the Blogger's Quilt Festival.

Quilt Stats
Name: Once Upon a Time
Size: approximately 45 x 46"
Fabrics: various Heather Ross prints along with other scraps and pieces from my stash
Pattern: my own
Quilting: quilted on my Brother home machine
Date Completed: February-March 2013
Festival Category: Wall Hanging Quilts

Blogger's Quilt Festival: Fall 2012

My entry for the Blogger's Quilt Festival this fall is a piece I made last July for the Modernista swap. I call it Perspective -- you can read the original post here. This mini quilt is actually one block from Elizabeth Hartman's Looptastic quilt pattern in her beautiful book Modern Patchwork. All of the fabrics for the two circles are from Anna Maria Horner's Lou Lou Thi and Innocent Crush collections. The background is Antique Architecture from Etchings by 3 Sisters, and the quilt is bound in Acorn Chain from Modern Meadow by Joel Dewberry. The circles were sewn together and then appliqued to the background using a simple zig zag stitch. I then hand quilted the piece using red embroidery thread around the outside and inside of the circles.

Just looking at this quilt reminds me of quiet evenings spent with my husband, laughing together over favorite movies while I cut out shapes and worked on hand quilting and binding. This was the first time I had ever taken so much time on a quilt before, and the enjoyment I took in that slow process led me to name the quilt as I did.

The past month has given me even more perspective on how and why I sew, to slow down and truly enjoy what I'm doing rather than just hurrying from one project to the next. Though I considered several quilts for my festival entry, in the end, it seemed appropriate to remember this little quilt which helped me take my first step toward a more peaceful creativity.

Blogger's Quilt Festival Stats
Finished quilt measures: approximately 22" square
Special techniques used: applique, hand quilting
Quilted by: me
Best Category: Doll/Mini Quilt, Wall Hanging, ROYGBIV Quilt

Linking up to the Blogger's Quilt Festival at Amy's Creative Side as entry #177.

Watercolor

A while back I won a special prize package through a giveaway by Kate Spain herself. She included some sample packs containing 2.5 inch squares of her Terrain and Central Park collections. I've been saving them for something special, and here it is: Watercolor.

Last Wednesday, I pulled all the squares out of their packages and played around with them for a while, finally settling on this simple color spectrum design.  I've always loved the way that Kate Spain integrates such a wide variety of color into her designs, and you can see the result right here. It reminds me of a wash of watercolors on paper. Once I sewed the blocks together, I decided to hand quilt it using a variegated purple thread by Aurifil. I enjoyed the process immensely. You can see the quilting far better in the picture of the back of the quilt, which is a print from the Central Park line. It's bound in Kona Coal.

While I had hopes of featuring a larger quilt for the Bloggers' Quilt Festival, this little mini quilt -- in all its simplicity -- is my entry. It was a delight to make, and it gives me pleasure every time I look at it. I can't think of a better way to represent the hobby that I've loved so much this year.

Update: Linking up to the Kate Spain Blog Hop at Blossom Heart Quilts!