My Great Grandmother's Quilt

While I was over my parent's house for the Super Bowl, my mom pulled out my Great Grandmother's cathedral window quilt.  I had seen this quilt before, but it had been a while, so I spent some time (okay, a lot of time) studying the quilt.

She made this quit entirely by hand, and, according to my mom, it took her ten years to complete.

It was so much fun to look at the different fabrics used in each window. I was pleasantly surprised that the only sign of age was that some of the windows became un-sewn.  I haven't seen any holes or signs of the fabric coming apart.

My mom said that some of the fabrics were from dresses that another one of my great grandmothers wore.

I love how you can see how the pattern got it's name when you shine light through the back of the quilt.

There are some areas that need some repair.  I'd like to fix a few of the windows that have come undone, but I'm not sure the best way to go about doing it on an older quilt.  I'm not sure if there are protocols I should follow, special materials I should use, etc. I've made cathedral window blocks before, so I know the technique, I'm just not sure if I would impact the integrity of the quilt.

Also, when I mom received the quilt from my great aunt, it was folded and there are some creases in the quilt after being folded for so long.  Anyone know if I should iron the quilt, steam it or refold it using acid-free tissue paper?  Also, the quilt has no label, so I was thinking about adding one, again, as long as it didn't impact the integrity of the quilt. I'd like to document that my great grandmother made this beautiful quilt so that the story of the quilt doesn't get lost.

Any advice anyone has would be appreciated.

Another "Baby" Quilt

Using this same pile of fabrics, I am in the middle of creating another "baby" quilt.  I say "baby" because it really isn't for a baby.  It's for a sibling of a "still-cooking" baby.  I'm all about being equal.

This is the start of this one.  I'm hoping to make this more of a throw or twin size.  The squares in the first picture are 5" square and I sew on either side of a center line to create two 4.5" HST blocks out of one set of fabrics.  I have a ways to go with this one, but I think it will be really great once it's finished.  I'm really linking how this one is coming out.

Dreaming in Color Quilt

Well, here it is in all its glory, my Dreaming in Color quilt!  I finished putting the binding and hanging sleeve on the quilt the night before it needed to be hanging for our special exhibit at the Lowell Quilt Festival.  If that's not cutting it close, I don't know what is?

I only had time to quilt the dark grey and not the octagons.  I did some dense quilting of straight lines and pebbles throughout the dark grey.  I might go back later and do some quilting in the octagons, but I'm not sure yet.  I had originally done a little quilting in one of the octagons, but hated how it looked, so I spent three hours taking it out.

Here's the back.  It's a print that I got at Marden's for $3.50 a yard.  I really love the print, and wanted to use something from my stash, so this is what I ended up using. 


It's hard to tell from these pictures, but the binding is a bunch of different colors.  I think it shows up best on the picture of the back of the quilt.  I really like how that compliments the scrappy nature of this quilt.

All in all, I'm really pleased with how this quilt came out and I can't wait to find a place to hang it at home.  I'll have to get some better pictures once I get the quilt back from the show. 

Dazzling Diamonds Finished

Last weekend I finished quilting and binding my Dazzling Diamonds quilt for the Boston Modern Quilt Guild's mini quilt challenge at the Lowell Quilt Festival.  You can read all about how I designed this quilt here.

I'm REALLY pleased with how it came out.  This might be my best machine quilting work thus far. It's also, easily, one of my favorite quilts, although I feel like that's claiming you have a favorite child. 

See what I mean?  It's far from show-quality machine quilting, but I still think it's awesome. 

Before I got to work on machine quilting this, I used a printed version of the quilt and tested some designs for each different section.  I tried a bunch of combinations and settled on what you see above and below as my first choice.  I also had a second choice for each section.  Why?  Because I needed to see if I could actually quilt what I wanted to.  Sure I've done straight lines before, and pebbles.  But I needed to make sure I could quilt the pebbles on such a small square.  It was also my first time doing the figure-eight quilting motif.  By planning, I was able to relieve some of the stress that I associate with free motion quilting.  I was able to practice the quilting on some scrap fabric and batting before jumping to the quilt.

I really love how the back of the quilt came out.  I love when you can tell what the quilt pattern is by looking at the quilting from the back.  As usual, I used just one fabric on the back as opposed to a pieced back.  While I love the look of some pieced backs to quilts, I have always preferred to use a single fabric for the back.  In this case, I think it really shows off the quilting.

I will say that over the past year, my confidence in my machine quilting skills has grown exponentially.  Practicing really does help, and I've been practicing for quite some time now.  One of the things I love about quilting is the ability to try something new and move out of my comfort zone.  Last year I really spent some time learning needle turn applique.  This year I've really honed my machine quilting skills.

The fabrics are all Kona solids and the thread is all So Fine! by Superior Threads. I love the way So Fine! thread blends with the fabric but you can still see the quilting details.  It's one of my favorites. 

My Free Spirit Challenge Quilt

As you may have seen lately, Free Spirit issued a challenge to Modern Quilt Guilds across the country with using a stack of Jay McCarroll Habitat fabrics.  I wasn't crazy about some of the fabrics when I saw them in the photo, but I decided to go for it and try something out of my comfort zone. 

Here's what I was able to come up with.

I used a template by Sue Pelland Designs to make the petals.  Each petal is 2.75" long.  I created a grid of squares using a disappearing marker on the Kona white and placed the petals on top of the grid. I tried several different patterns before settling on this one.  After I pieced this, I saw several other layout possibilities.  I'm definitely going to make more quilts using this template.

Once I heat set the petals onto the quilt I stitched down along the edge of each one to quilt it.  I really loved the way the machine quilting looks on the back.

For not really loving the fabrics, I actually love how this turned out, of course I only ended up using about half of the fabrics provided, but still, it was a challenge. 

What I look at Every Day

About four years ago I made a quilt for my desk and it sits above my computer where I look at it every day.

The lighting is bad (well, isn't it always in an office building) and the photo was taken with my new iPhone, so it's not the best.  It gives me something bright and cheery to look at every day instead of the drab taupe walls and the cream colored walls.  I love color too much to go without some bright colors in my desk.

This was actually the second quilt I made with this pattern.  The first one I made in a class to learn about stained glass quilting. 

I did not do a very good job with alternating the value of colors in the first quilt and it looks very flat.  I used the same fabrics, except for the boarder, in the second quilt and it works much better in terms of value, but it still could use some variety, especially in the flower and leaves section of the quilt.  If I could re-make this quilt after more years of experience I would change things up even more. 

Accepted

I woke up this morning to the email that I had been waiting for, I learned that my Moonlit Sky quilt had been accepted into the Lowell Quilt Festival.  This was the first time I have every submitted a quilt into a juried show.  I'm not expecting to win anything, but will enjoy having my quilt displayed with some other amazing quilts.

I have the binding cut, I just need to sew it together and add it to the quilt.  I also need to attach a hanging sleeve and finish adding the crystals.

So, if you're going to be in the New England area in August, swing by the Lowell Quilt Festival to see my quilt!

NEMQG - Holiday Mini Quilt Challenge

Last weekend the NEMQG held a holiday mini quilt challenge with our pincushion swap.  I decided to make a small quilt using needle turn applique that we learned in our last meeting.  I knew that I was going to be busy traveling for work, so I saw that as the perfect time to work on a needle turn applique quilt. 

I designed the quilt myself after sketching up a few different designs and settled on a gingerbread house and a Christmas tree. 

I made it using the scraps that I had from the Fat Quarter Shop's Designer Mystery BOM except for the brown house.

Here are a few close-ups.

I added some crystals to the Christmas tree to look like ornaments.

Here's the house.  The windows and door knob are made of buttons. 

Here's the back of the quilt where you can see some of the quilting that I did. 

I was running short on time for the binding, so I ended up machine stitching it down using some metalic thread. 

Now for the competition.  There ended up being four quilts total entered into the challenge.

After seeing all of the quilts up there, I knew I had no shot of winning.  I mean, come on, look at some of those.  They're fantastic.  Everyone at the meeting was given a piece of paper to vote on their favorite quilt.  After the tally, quilts 3 and 4 (from left to right) were tied for third place and quilts 1 and 2 were tied for first.  I have to admit, I was a bit shocked when I learned I was tied for first.

Because there was only one winning prize, we had to have another vote off between quilts 1 and 2.

After the second tally, again quilts 1 and 2 were tied.  (I was shocked that I was still in it, much less tied for that awesome quilt on the left.)  Then, we realized that we were missing one vote, the deciding vote.  After all of the votes were recounted and the tally was final, MY quilt was dubbed the winner!!! Holy cow!!!  I seriously never expected to be the winner after seeing all of the cool quilts. 

So now this cute quilt is hanging in the hallway off our kitchen to our master bedroom. 

Vote for Autumn Comfort

I entered my Autumn quilt, Autumn Comfort, into the Quilting Gallery weekly contest.  Head on over and vote for my Autumn Comfort Quilt http://bit.ly/bhua8g

Here's a picture of the quilt before the border was added and before it was quilted.