Getting Closer

I have spent the past few weeks quilting my Dresden flower quilt.  I started working on this quilt last year.  It seems there's been lots of interruptions, but I can finally say it's almost done.

I love this pattern by Edyta Sitar.

First I outlined all the appliqué. 

Then there was some hand quilting. Actually, there was a lot of hand quilting.

And a lot of pink thread!!

Then it was time for some machine quilting.  This quilt is going in our guild quilt show in April so I'm saving the big reveal until then.  But it's a happy quilt and has been a joy to work on.

Happy stitching,

Karen 

Drumroll Please

After months of planning and hard work, I am proud to present "Vintage Blooms" - the Opportunity Quilt made by the members of Pensacola Quilters Guild. 

Below is a picture of the entire quilt.  As is almost always the case, a picture does not do this quilt justice.  The colors are rich and wonderful.

I remember starting out last June when I did this post.

I owned the book "Hop To It" and was very intrigued with Edyta Sitar's method of combining batiks and prints.  I knew I wanted to try this method and decided to base the quilt on her Love Letters fabric line.

I also had fallen in love with Di Ford's version of the Phebe quilt.  This quilt was originally made by Phebe Warner in 1803. 

I found several shops that carried the Love Letters line and started with these fabrics....

and then pulled these from my stash.  The palette was just what I wanted.  After only a few days, I had completely designed the quilt using EQ7.  Little did I know that was the easy part!!

Very slowly the rows came together, and then I stalled.  I just couldn't make decisions as to what colors to use for the sawtooth borders and the inside sashing borders.

Many different scenarios stayed on my design wall for weeks as I kept waiting for inspiration.  Slowly but surely, decisions were made and at last I had the center and a plan.

A wonderfully talented friend of mine (Alice) agreed to applique the center for me in what I called "Baltimore Albumish".  It looked exactly like the picture I'd had in my head.

Each row brought more joy as I watched this quilt emerge from my imagination to something very real.

Block by block...

little by little......

until it was finally ready for the big reveal at our guild meeting.

As you can see, the appliqued vine border was still unfinished.  But many hours and many months later, I am looking at this. 

I wanted this quilt to be a combination of hand quilting and machine quilting.  I wanted it to look like an antique, but by using the batiks, I knew it would have a slightly modern feel.

Fellow guild member, Sheree, did all the machine quilting.  It is beautiful and exactly what I wanted.  I didn't want the quilting to be the "star of the show" but I wanted you to see the design and the fabrics first.  And then I wanted you to notice the quilting.



Alice did all the hand quilting in the center.  I really wanted that to be all "her baby".  The cross hatching is at 1/2".  The flowers almost look 3 dimensional.

Various other members did the hand quilting in the green borders as well as the 1" cross hatching in the vine border.  My friend Lisa Jo did ALL the construction of the quilt top as well as the blocking and binding.

So this part of the journey has come to an end.  I couldn't be more proud of our effort.  This truly is exactly the quilt I set out to create :).  The quilt show is April 11-12, 2014.  In the meantime, this quilt will do some travelling as we promote the show and sell tickets.  Since I'm the Quilt Show Chairman, I know you'll be hearing more about it as the time draws near.

Now that this is off my plate, I can get back to "my" things.

Enjoy the day, we've got sunshine!

Karen

A Few More Rows

"In Full Bloom" is moving right along.  Here's a close-up of the next few rows.  The red/gold square in a square row finishes at 3".  They were paper pieced - all scrappy centers and corners.

After the vine border there will be a row of these - double four patch blocks - these also finish at 6" like the 16 patch.  This row will have a constant  batik for the corners the same as the 16 patch.  It is absolutely perfect!!  A blend of brown and gold that reads as a solid the farther away you get.

Because I didn't like the way this block looked at the corners, I drafted a square in a square variation for the corners.  Instead of trying to commit to one fabric - I decided to use a four patch to mimic the blocks.  This totally goes along with my motto that if 1 is good, 4 are better :).

Here are the 4 corners.  Most of the fabric for these blocks came from Edyta's line "Love Letters" so it blends perfectly and continues to tie the rows together.  Designing a large medallion quilt is not as easy as I thought it would be.

So here it is at the moment.  My friend Lisa Jo who is piecing this came by this morning to get the vine rows and these corners.  So the next time I share pictures, it should be completely pieced.  I feel like I'm giving birth or something.  It's a wierd feeling to see this quilt come to life after just being an idea on paper for so long.

We've got some very special people flying in soon - they got stuck in Atlanta, but should be here in less than 2 hours. I'll give you a hint..... think grandbaby :).

Until next time,

Karen



Taking a Slight Detour

I've spent the last few days making some much needed progress on this quilt - In Full Bloom. It's the opportunity quilt I'm designing for our guild's quilt show next year. The vine borders were laid out and lots (and lots) of leaves were made - thank you Alice!!

I finally decided on the green batik (by Edyta Sitar, Love Letters line) to use for the inner borders.  The first sawtooth border was almost done.

Here you can see the second sawtooth border is almost finished - everything seemed to be humming along until.....

I got the doctor's diagnosis this morning - I have shingles!!  How did that happen??  He asked me if I'd had any stressers lately.  When I mentioned that I had gone back to work and was trying to learn Excel he laughed and said that would be enough to stress anybody!! (Not sure if he was serious or not!!)

So I've started the medicine and I'm hoping for the best.  I've heard horror stories about the pain, but I'm trying to stay positive.  Working on this beautiful thing is a good way to keep my mind off the pain.  I'm hoping I've caught it early.  So for the moment, I'm still appliqueing vines and leaves.  Wish me luck!!

Hope you're having a good Wednesday,

Karen

The First Sneak Peek

Our guild's opportunity quilt is officially under way.  It's name is "In Full Bloom" which is also the name of our show.  The center panel is done and today we had a cutting party with 9 members cutting their little hearts out!

Here are my plates full of little pieces!!

Most were 1 5/8" squares - hundreds of them.

There were also 1 1/4" logs cut for log cabin blocks.  Each size got stacked on their own plate, dark plates for the dark logs, light for the light.  It seemed to work great. Plus all the other blocks got their own plate.  I was worried they would fall in the parking lot on my way to the car... can you imagine how horrible that would be?  But they made it home fine :).

We used a lot of Edyta Sitar's fabric line Love Letters with stash added for variety.

We started here......

and here.  And while our quilt will look nothing like this one, it will our very own!  I'm very excited with the progress so far, and how the quilt looks just like the vision I had in the beginning.  Our sewing party will be next week.  I hope to have all the blocks done.  Then we will finish the applique row and put the top together.  It's a good thing I have LOTS of help! The quilt will finish at 100x100.  I know, I might be losing it.......

It's been a fun and long day.

-Karen

Looking to Edyta and Phebe for Inspiration

It seems most of July has been speeding by with grandchildren, trips to the beach and a week in the North Carolina mountains.  But I'm back now and looking to start on my next project. My biggest news to share is that I have agreed to be the next show chairman for the 2014 Pensacola Quilt Show.  I know, I'm not sure what possessed me, but I did say yes.  In addition to that, I have agreed to design our Opportunity Quilt (raffle quilt)!!  Yikes!!! I'm not sure I'm equipped to do that, but I'm just taking one step at a time!

The first place I started was with Edyta Sitar.  I only have one of Edyta's books (so far) - these other 2 I borrowed from a friend.  I love the way Edyta combines prints and batiks - she is one of the best.  By the way, her newest book "Scrappy Firewooks" is a must have - it's fabulous!

I've been seeing this quilt pop up around blogland and I was completely smitten.  It's been designed by Di Ford of Australia.  It's based on a quilt made in 1802. While I'm pretty sure I will never make this quilt, it became the inspiration for me as I started designing our Opportunity Quilt.  We have decided on a name for our next show, "In Full Bloom". So until our quilt is done (or at least further along),  that's what I'm calling the quilt.  I have designed it in EQ7.  It's still a work in progress, but I'll show pictures when I can.

What I can show is the fabric I've collected so far.  I have decided on Edyta's line of fabric "Love Letter" as my starting point.  I visited a quilt shop in Franklin, NC (A Stitch in Time) while we were up there.  As I walked in the door, there was a huge display of this fabric line!!!  I took it as a sign and bought about 10 pieces to get me started.  My friend found the charm packs at Kudzu Quilt Shop in Montgomery, AL.  I found a few more pieces at the Atlanta Sewing shop as we were on our way home.

These are some "maybe" fabrics I've pulled from my stash.  I'm meeting some of my committee members tomorrow to hopefully find a few "must have" elements for the quilt.

I've NEVER done anything like this before, it's really way out of my comfort zone.  But in the end, I'm just going to make a quilt that I would love to own, and trust myself.  I've got talented ladies around me and we are about to begin a great adventure.

Stay tuned - my goal is to have this quilt finished by the end of the year!!

Until next time,

Karen