Amy's Bloggers' Quilt Festival 2015 (part 2)

I think I've just got time to submit a second entry to the 2015 Spring Bloggers' Quilt Festival.  If you seriously don't know anything about it, just click here

My Second entry is this bright and fun Rainbow Quilt. 

 

I was involved in a rainbow charm swap a few years ago and waited until I knew the right project for them!

Amy has called this category ROYGBIV for the seven classic colours of the rainbow (red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, violet), but as quilters we know that a colour wheel has SIX colours and its only a short leap to understand that a rainbow has the same.  I was told that in the 15th century (or so) the church felt that as 6 was associated with the devil (the number of the anti-Christ being 666) it was a bit dodgy having six colours in the rainbow so they kind of added indigo!

Anyhow, I blogged about making it here, and my "rainbow" quit goes under the far less romantic name of "LJ 7R"  This is due to the conversation I have with myself as I'm joining the blocks together: "L, J, L, J, L, J" followed by "7, R, 7, R, 7, R". 

Look at this photo and you'll maybe see why:

Some people call it floating squares, I call it LJ 7R, but I hope you'll all call it bright and beautiful!!!

Bloggers Quilt Festival

If you haven't looked at any quilters blogs this week you might not know that there is s Bloggers Quilt Festival in progress, but you would be in a tiny minority!!!

Amy does a great job twice a year giving all quilters a place where they can show off their favourite creations.  You can visit by using this link 

I'm a bit late getting my post up this year, but I really wanted to enter this hand pieced and hand quilted quilt made for my best friend's first grandchild (I'm hugely jealous that she's got one and I haven't, but love that she, and her daughter, are happy to share him - to the extent that I am his Granny Benta!)

His quilt took ages - years in fact, but I'm really chuffed with it!

My original "it's finally finished" post is here

Finished for the Festival

I expect every quilter in the world knows about Amy's Bloggers' Quilt Festival by now, but if you haven't visited, make yourself a big cuppa and start looking at the entries for this festival - my gosh there are some fab quilts to be seen!

I usually find a new blogger to follow too - and have found some great ones in the past!  Thanks Amy for all the work you put into this

My first humble offering this year is my Irish Chain.

It was inspired by a quilt made by my non-blogging but awesome quilting bestie, Jackie, I wimped out of copying hers as it had too many HSTs, but I went with the sort of colours she is drawn to.  She's Irish, and this design is an Irish Chain and the fabric is Moda's Essential Dots - so it has the imaginative name "Essential Irish". 

 The Moda fabric is really soft, so I decided to back it with an incredibly soft fleece blanket (technically it is a coverlet not a quilt as it's two layers rather than 3)

(Edit: I'm really pleased with the result.  I love Irish chains, but not too keen on the ones with single blocks mixed with nine patches.  This way was a lot more work, but worth it!  The construction is a variation on the quilt as you go method, but a *really* quick version!  I taught myself to quilt (made it up as I went along) before the days of blogging, so I didn't know about the rules - just figured out a quick and cheap method!!)

The back story can be read in various posts:

• Cutting the fabric and starting the 9 patch blocks here last November
• More blocks and initial layout here in January 2014
• Final layout here in February
• How to quick piece/assemble/initially quilt a coverlet here in May
• Extra quilting here in June
• Making it into a Quillow and machining the binding here in July 2014
• And finally this week the binding has been hand stitched to the back (you can see I don't like to rush these things)

 It is lovely and big - I just kept going until I'd filled the fleece, and the few remaining blocks went into the quillow front: The whole thing is appx 50 x 78 inches (130 x 200cm) and oh so warm and soft and snugly - and in the warmer months when we don't need *another* quit on the back of the sofa . . . it can be a cushion

Bloggers Quilt Festival Post Part 2

I can lose hours and hours visiting Amy's online Bloggers Quilt Festival each year, she does an amazing job organising it all, and I always find new bloggers to follow, and to inspire me

Here is my entry to the scrappy section

These string blocks had been building up over many years with no particular purpose other than to reduce the bulk in the scraps drawer.  At Christmas I received a message from a childhood friend that she was dying of cancer; although I had already arranged to be visiting family in May, nearby her home, and therefore seeing her too, she wasn't sure she would still be alive.  

The feeling helplessness is beyond description:  I just wanted to be able to hug her, but even that wasn't possible due to distance.  So these blocks were joined (inspired by Nicky's fractured quilt) and bound and posted as substitute for a real hug

(I notice the photo was taken before I finished it - it did get finished and posted immediately! Hence no final photo)

Olaug received the quilt, and loved it.  She sadly died last month, so it's her mum I will visit next week, not her :-(

Rest in Peace Olaug xxxx

Bloggers Quilt Festival Part #1

I can lose hours and hours visiting Amy's online Bloggers Quilt Festival each year: she does an amazing job organising it all, and I always find new bloggers to follow, and to inspire me.

I'm entering this in the hand quilted section:

It's a brick layout iSpy quilt that has been hand pieced and hand quilted and even hand finished - not my usual style at all! 

It started when I needed some hand sewing to take on holiday, and it finished when I was invited to a virtual baby shower for the lovely Sarah who blogs here, so this is now Molly's iSpy quilt.

EDIT: And here is Molly ON her quilt - isn't she a sweetie!

I hope you enjoy seeing it - I certainly enjoyed making it!!!  Do visit Amy's blog and see all the other entries!

Amy's Blogger's Quilt Festival

I first started blogging as a result of Amy's Bloggers' Quilt Festival, and am delighted that that time of year is here again.  Twice a year, at http://amyscreativeside.com/, Amy hosts a quilt festival.  No judging no categories, no postage costs or will-my-quilt-get-back-to-me worries, juts pages and pages of inspirational quilts and new blogs to look at.

Some of my Blogging Buddies (Victoria and Teje to name two) were met over at Amy's, do go and have a look.

To anyone who has come here FROM Amy's

Welcome!

My entry for this year's show is a quilt I made for a friend of my mum's.  Hilary is blind, and has been since her late teens.  She has felt a couple of quilts and cushions I made for mum, and has commented on features that sighted people have overlooked, so I decided to make her a quilt that was fairly bland to look at, but exciting to feel

The post about the finished quilt is here and shows all the individual blocks.  My favourite block is this one

I stitched out just the word Texture in Braille, (three different versions: just filled, just outline and both) and got mum to check with Hilary which version was easiest to read.  She had no idea that it was eventually coming back to her!

Well thanks for visiting, I hope you'll stay a while, but don't forget to pop back to Amy's and check out all the other lovliness that she is showcasing

Amy's Blogger's Quilt Festival

It was Amy's Quilt Festival that got me started on blogging.  I loved looking at the submitted quilts for a couple or festivals , and then decided that I wanted to play - so needed a blog.  Thank you to Amy, not only for the festival but for the introduction to Blogging too - I've made SO many friends!

To visitors FROM Amy's site, welcome.  To my guests who would like to see the wondourous quilts in the exhibition, click on the top box in the right hand column: make sure you have plenty of time, there is LOTS of lvely stuff to look at!!!!

The quilt I want to show you this time is this elephant of a quilt:

[hopefully you can move your cursor over the photo and it will zoom in]

This was made in 2004 as a leaving present for our Vicar and his wife.  They had been a big part of the lives of people in two villages for  about 12 years, and lots of people wanted to contribute.

It's about 6 foot high, and about 10 foot wide! Dozen of organisations and families contributed a small, medium or large block which where then all stitched together.

We didn't use the stitch-and-flip method, as the block were not uniform in size (tip 1, if you do a project like this, send out blank fabric squares for people to use, don't trust them to measure and cut accurately) and some groups had decorated right up to the edge (tip 2, draw a margin to give yourself a seam allowance).  Instead we joined two flat sheets, placed the blocks on the sheet wrong sides together, and used cotton tape over the joins. (tip 3, you need somewhere with a lot of clear floor space, and that is clean!)

A variety of decorating methods were used ... fabric pens

 

counted cross stitch

 

photo transfer

hand embroidery

Applique

We all have fun making it, and keeping the secret (300 children involved from the school where Mrs H worked -- and not one told them!!!) and they really loved the reminder of their time with us.

My favourite Quilt (for Amy's Quilt Festival)

I started blogging in order to join in Amy's Blogger's Quilt Festival last May, but I was too late, so this time I am going to be organised and early! Thank you so much for arranging this Amy - I love looking at other people's quilts and blogs, and hope that people enjoy looking at mine

The quilt I want to bring to the festival is this one ...














that I made for my Great Aunt's 90th birthday earlier this year - It is the family's summer house in Oslo harbour as seen from the sea. This yellow cottage and the two red cabins are a familiar landmark to anyone leaving Oslo by boat.










The cottage is much loved by my Great Aunt and the rest of the family. This was my first landscape quilt, and my first real attempt at free motion quilting, I loved making it, partly for the memories it brought back, partly for the joy of creating and partly for how much I knew she would appreciate it. 10 months on, mum and I still get random phonecalls to tell us what another friend said when they saw it, or that she has noticed some new detail!

An Uncle asked if I would be able to make him one for his 70th, but I think he will have to wait for his 90th!

Details in detail:

The sea wall, the tulips, the sea and the sand with free motion
quilting (FMQ)










The cabins and the cottage were done my machine embroidery:
designed from a photograph they were added to the quilt after
all the detail had been finished - a bit nerve wracking hoping
nothing would go wrong!











The flag was made on my embroidery machine as a free standing lace design (stitched onto water soluble stabiliser). it was stitched down along some side only so it could 'flap'. (It is missing from the photo of the whole quilt, no idea why!)