Blogger's Quilt Festival ~ Spring 2015

Welcome to my entry in this Spring 2015 Blogger's Quilt Festival.  (And please excuse the far from Spring-y photo!  This quilt was photographed and gifted at Christmas time.)

All the fabrics in this king size quilt are from Kansas Troubles by Moda and I used the Farmer's Wife Sampler Quilt book.  I made a few tweaks, adding setting squares and triangles to make the blocks larger, and so setting alternating blocks on point.

This quilt was made as a gift for my mother and father and took me about 3 years! I really enjoyed putting the blocks together, it was like an interesting puzzle every time. However, I tend to like chain piecing and letting my mind wander, so this took me a long time to do and I didn't alway choose to do it as it was a brain bender and not the meditative calm of chain piecing and simple patterns. (I quilt to relax!)

Then, I quilted this myself on my home machine!  Here is a link to my original post about this quilt if you would like more information.  Enjoy all the rest of the entries in the Blogger's Quilt Festival!  And please consider casting a vote for me here, in the Large Quilts Category!

QUILT STATS: 

 Pattern: Farmer's Wife Sampler Quilt 

Fabric: Various lines from Kansas Troubles by Moda 

Thread: Aurifil 50 wt in 2325 for piecing and quilting the top (2021 in the bobbin for quilting) Backing: Kona Premium Muslin in Natural 

Batting: Quilter's Dream Blend 

Size: King

LINKS TO MY PREVIOUS ENTRIES:

Fall 2014- Hand Quilted Category (winner!!)

Fall 2013 - ROYGBIV category

Fall 2013 - Baby Quilt category

Spring 2013 - Bed Size Quilt category

Fall 2012 - Quilt Photography category

Happy, Happy, Happy!

I received an email this afternoon from Amy Ellis at Amy's Creative Side, host of the Blogger's Quilt Festival!  My quilt was a winner in the Hand Quilted Category! Hooray! Thanks to any of my friends and blog followers out there who cast their little vote for me.

It was such a lovely surprise to come home to after a little getaway celebrating 20 years of marriage to my handsome fella. Our anniversary was on November 6.  Here we are on our 2 day date to Banff.

Blogger's Quilt Festival Fall 2014

Welcome to my blog and my entry into the Hand Quilted Category in the Fall 2014 Blogger's Quilt Festival at Amy's Creative Side.  I present to you my king size, hand quilted, Swoon quilt for your consideration, and hopefully your enjoyment....ta da!

If you follow me on Instagram or here on my blog, you will have seen this quilt before.  If you have been watching VERY closely, you will remember that I postponed washing this epic mass of quiltiness.  Not sure why I did that.  I premonition of evil, perhaps?*  Well, folks, I've washed (and dried) it.  And here is a close up of the results...

Well, nothing evil in *this* picture!  Just mounds of soft and squishy, beautiful fabrics, textures and stitches on my bed!  Would you believe my first experience touching with my own hands the exquisite smushiness all over hand quilting produces was with own hand quilted quilts?  I live in a virtual world, people.

Shall I tell you a little bit about this quilt?   I began with a well known pattern by Camille Roskelley called Swoon.   The blocks in the original pattern are 24" square each.  I reduced mine to about 16.75" square.  I used Essex Yarn Dyed Linen in Flax as background fabric, and used my little collection of Denyse Schmidt prints.

I've used prints from several Denyse Schmidt collections in the quilt.  You'll see one print from Katy Jump Rope, several from Flea Market Fancy, Shelburne Falls, and some from Hope Valley.  The binding is from Chicopee and the large scale blue peonies on the backing are from Greenfield Hill.

The final dimensions are 107" by 90" and it fits nicely on my king size bed.  I added the border of 3" square scraps to use up all that pretty goodness, and make the quilt larger. The border was not original to the pattern.  I do love a scrappy border.  

And as I mentioned above (um, a couple of times, I'm so proud) I hand quilted the whole quilt.  This wasn't the first quilt I've used hand quilting in.  There was this one.  It was a lap quilt and I quilted it very minimally with big perle cotton stitches in several straight lines.  And this one.  A baby quilt.   And just as an accent on a few others.  This Swoon quilt was a bit more of a challenge!

I learned quickly that hand quilting across seams is tricky. I had originally intended to quilt a line around each star and each outer ring...and...well, it wasn't a fully formed plan.  As you can see, I ended up quilting the inside of every piece of every block, except for the narrow points in the ring, where I did stitch across seams and "united" the two pieces (you can see in the block above, in those orange "points" in between the blue sections).

This photo above was taken while quilting was in progress.  For thread, I used primarily Aurifil thread in a 12 wt.  This is a rather thick thread but not as thick as perle cotton which is an 8 wt (which I did use in a couple of blocks).  I used a variety of colours and just matched them to the block I was working on.  If you could look closely, you would see orange, aqua, stone, green, brown, blue, coral and white threads in the quilt.

Here is the back.  I didn't have enough of the lovely blueberry Greenfield Hills peony fabric, so inserted panels of a multi-floral from the Shelburne Falls line.  Can you see all the dots of the stitches showing on the back?  Don't look too close.  I also learned that it is hard to make the back look as pretty as the front does when hand quilting!  

This photo was taken this summer as soon as quilting and binding was done, and before washing and drying.  And if you want to know how long it took me to hand quilt it, I spent 6 months from start to finish.  I figure it was about a block per week, and then a couple of weeks to do the sashing and border.

Ok.  I think I've blathered on about this quilt long enough.  You probably could have scrolled straight to this section and have been done with it!  Here are the stats in a nutshell:

QUILT STATS

Pattern:  Swoon by Camille Roskelley for Thimble Blossoms (resized to my own dimensions)
Print Fabrics for Blocks: Various Denyse Schmidt lines, including Katy Jump Rope, Hope Valley, Shelburne Falls, and Flea Market Fancy.
Background Fabric for Blocks: Essex Yarn Dyed Linen in Flax
Binding: Chicopee Simple Plaid in Black by Denyse Schmidt
Backing: Greenfield Hill Preservation Peony in Blueberry and Multi Floral from Shelburne Falls by Denyse Schmidt

Piecing Thread: Aurifil 50 wt. in 2325

Quilting Thread: Aurifil 12 wt. in various colours, DMC perle cotton
Batting: Warm & Natural
Dimensions: 107" by 90"

LINKS TO MY PREVIOUS ENTRIES:

Fall 2013 - ROYGBIV category

Fall 2013 - Baby Quilt category

Spring 2013 - Bed Size Quilt category

Fall 2012 - Quilt Photography category

*Oh!  Now to the aforementioned premonition of evil.  Go look at the third photo above (the one of the whole quilt on the log wall).  See the block in the first column, third one down?  The one with the aqua star and orange print?  See the discoloured orange squares?  Go ahead, and look close, I'll wait....  Hmmmm, right?  It seems the navy backing nicely shared its excess dye with *some* of my pieces of orange/red medallion fabric and not some others.  (I bought that orange fabric from two separate suppliers, but I have no other explanation).  You can see problems elsewhere in the quilt.  One star that has the orange/red print (3rd column, second down) was entirely stained with the blue dye, one was entirely NOT stained (upper right corner).  There is more: the white flowers in the Katy Jump Rope fabric took blue dye, as did the checked Shelburne Falls print, and the multi- floral Shelburne Falls as well.  But the white flowers in the Flea Market Fancy print is as bright as ever!  So weird.  And yes, I did use colour catchers.  Four of them to be precise!  But no, I did not pre-wash any fabrics.  I have never done so before, and I have never had a problem before this quilt.  Anyways... I shared my woes on Instagram, as one does.  I received some great and hopeful advice of some product to try.  Well, life has been busy and I haven't tried it yet... and I might not even bother ordering it.  The little "flaws" are kind of growing on me... :)

Blogger's Quilt Festival, ROYGBIV Category Quilt Entry

Welcome to my blog, and my Blogger's Quilt Festival Entry in the ROYGBIV Quilt category!

This scrappy quilt top emerged from my machine last spring after colour sorting all my string sized scraps!

 You can find the tutorial I used to construct the string blocks over at Film in the Fridge. Or, a similar method is shown in Elizabeth Hartman's book, Practical Guide to Patchwork, under the quilt "Valentine".

 

The backing I finally chose is simple a turquoise sheet from Ikea, the binding is called Itty Bitty RicRac by Lakehouse Designs. I pieced it all and quilted it all with Aurifil thread, using a rainbow variegated thread on the back, which I love. The quilting is an all-over grid done on my machine, diamond-y like the blocks.

Quilt Stats: Dimensions: 59" by 71" 

Fabrics: scrap strings 2" and less, centre strips are made with Habitat Dandelions by Michelle D'Amore for Bernatex. Binding is Itty Bitty Ric Rac by LakeHouse Designs. Backing, Ikea sheet. 

Batting: Warm & Natural 

Thread: Aurifil 50wt for piecing and quilting 

Completed August 2013

  Thanks so much for visiting and enjoy looking around the Blogger's Quilt Festival!

Blogger's Quilt Festival

Welcome to my Blogger's Quilt Festival Entry in the Baby Quilt Category!

I made this little quilt this summer for my Etsy shop. It was purely a therapeutic exercise, beginning with a pretty charm pack (Happy Go Lucky by Bonnie and Camille), some coordinating solids (a white and Bella's Robin's Egg Blue), and then.... I just went from there. I saw stars, then I saw pinwheels, and then I saw stitches. It might sound like I hit my head, but I guess I saw this quilt!

I decided to round the corners of the quilt, and thusly got an education in making bias binding. Thanks to Jona Giammalva! So that was fun. The binding fabric is one of my favourites, a print from Silent Cinema by Jenean Morrison.

The stitches I envisioned were big, colourful hand stitches in thick Aurifil thread - in both 12 wt and 28 wt. These I added to the top and bottom borders.

And here are the stats in a nutshell:

Dimensions:  31" by 36"

Fabrics: Happy Go Lucky, by Bonnie and Camille

Robin Egg Blue, Moda Bella Solid

Winter White, Free Spirit Solid

Silent Cinema, by Jenean Morrison (binding)

Hello Pilgrim, by Lizzy House (backing)

Batting: Warm & Natural

Thread: Aurifil 50 wt (piecing) and Aurifil 12 wt and 28 wt (hand quilting)

Completed June 2013

So that's it for me here!  Hope you enjoy the Quilt Festival and have fun looking around at all the pretty!

Previous Quilt Festival Entries: 

SPRING 2013

FALL 2012

Blogger's Quilt Festival Spring 2013

Welcome visitors, to my woodland kingdom in the forest, among the lakes and rivers of Canada! I am queen in my realm, and my subjects are a worthy brood of handsome princes, a cat, a dog and several fish. My king has carved out from these wilds a home and castle most suitable for the raising of princes and the traditional pastimes of the queen who plies the needle and thread, making quilts to brighten and warm the cold winters in the deep woods.

My entry to this Spring's Blogger's Quilt Festival at Amy's Creative Side will count as just one quilt, since they are identical (think of it as a king size in two pieces!) and they simply go together. These were made last spring, and I call them Water and Woods. As these are for my two eldest princes, er, sons, who were 14 and 16 years of age at the time, I began with the most masculine fabric I could find. (Or maybe the fabric was first and said to me "make me into quilts!!")

Either way, I looked no further than the amazing Parson Gray. Totally hip, totally cool, totally masculine, and perfect for my very design conscious young men. (To see just how design-y THEY really are, check out their very trendy and popular You-Tube channel where they ply their artistic trade.)

The fabric line is Curious Nature, and the pattern is from the ultra talented Jeni at In Color Order. The binding is Kona Cotton Solid in Pepper. The backing is a charcoal and gray scrolly print from my LQS. The batting is Warm & Natural, and I used Aurifil 50 wt in a neutral 2325 to quilt straight lines 1/4 inch away on either side of each seam.

I am really very, very fond of these quilts and am eagerly anticipating Parson Gray's next line, World Tour, as I have several more princes to quilt for!  Here is also the link for my original post about these quilts!

Quilt Stats: 

Size: 67" by 90" 

Fabric: Curious Nature by Parson Gray for FreeSpirit fabrics 

Binding: Kona Pepper 

Backing: Charcoal 108" wide flannel from LQS 

Thread: Aurifil 50 wt in colour 2325

Previous Blogger's Quilt Festival Entries:     FALL 2012

Blogger's Quilt Festival Part 2

Yay!  I was nominated in the Favorite Quilt Photographer category!!  Here is the blog post to vote for your favourites at Amy's Creative Side.  Scroll on down to Favorite Quilt Photographer and just click on my name!  Thanks so much to everyone who nominated me... meaning US!  Thanks again to my son who took the pictures.  Do you think he'll let me keep the Bella bundle if I win?  Hope so.

If you missed my entry to the Quilt Festival, look at this link!

Blogger's Quilt Festival

I'm excited to be taking part in the Blogger's Quilt Festival for the first time!  Amy Ellis over at Amy's Creative Side has been organizing this for a few years now as a way for quilters on the internet to share their quilts and creativity with each other all in one place!  Head on over and scroll down to see all the lovely quilts and then click on through to see the maker's lovely blog and the story of the quilt.  Great fun, indeed.  Well, without further ado, here is my entry:

I call it Chicopee Trails. The pattern is from Pat and Nicky Lintott's book, Antique to Heirloom Jelly Roll Quilts, and the quilt in the book is called "North by Northwest" I made the quilt a different size and added two borders, but this is pretty much it.

 

The fabric I chose is from Denyse Schmidt's latest fabric line, Chicopee. (Learning the name of this line sent my husband into frequent renditions of the main character of a movie from back in the 90s) Anyways, many, many, many half square triangles later (who am I kidding? I was sick of making HSTs, and decided to add the borders to reduce the number I needed to get the size decent enough to cover a person!)

 

The background is fabric is Caroline Chambray. It has a lovely texture, a little bit like linen but not as much. The secret to the texture is different threads in the warp versus the weft, like shot cotton. I love linen in quilts but wanted to try something different. I'll probably use it again!

  

I used other Denyse Schmidt fabrics to finish off this quilt. I had a lovely stash of some Katy Jump Rope I geeked out about finding earlier this year on a trip to Hawaii. Yes, I bought all they had left on the bolt! It became the backing to this quilt, and some stripe-y Hope Valley was with orange, purple and fuchsia waiting in my stash became binding!

  

I used a piece of batting from a huge section my hubby bought me for my birthday. (Wasn't that a great idea?) He splurged and got Warm and Natural from our local quilt shop. I haven't used it for a long time, I've been buying online and trying to save pennies, but I must say I love that batting. It washes up so soft. Then I stippled it all over with Aurifil thread in 2325.

  

After washing and drying, it came out at 48" by 68". I am really in love with this quilt and sure hope you like it too! Thanks to all of those who are sharing their quilts with Amy and the rest of us. Can't wait to curl up with all of those lovely images and stories and look at them ALL!!

  

Special thanks to my 14 year old son Ethan, who took these photos of my quilt. We chose to take the pictures at Rocky Mountain National Historic Site. The name of the quilt pattern, "North by Northwest" reminded me of the trappers and traders who travelled deep into the Canadian Wilderness, looking for a Northwest Passage to the sea. Their efforts led to the establishment of fur-trading forts which later became towns and are an important part of our history.

 

We are fortunate to have archeaological remains of one of these forts nearby our home. Rocky Mountain House National Historic Site is the location of a succession of forts established by the Hudson's Bay Company and the North West Company starting in 1799. (And it's also kind of fun, because my husband works there and I got to go with him to work to take these pictures!)

Speaking of my husband, he sweetly came outside our house yesterday to try and help me take pictures of this quilt. Unfortunately, none of them I liked except for one:

  

Here he is resting is arms after holding them straight up with the quilt for like 15 minutes straight while I tried to get a shot! God bless him :)

ETA:  Oops, almost forgot the stats Amy asked for!

Blogger’s Quilt Festival Stats

Finished quilt measures : 48″x 68″

Special techniques used : half square triangles

Quilted by : Me!

Best Category : Favourite Throw Quilt, Favourite Home Machine Quilted Quilt, Favourite Quilt Photographer
Entry # 389