Blogger's Quilt Festival - Hand Quilted Category

I've entered my Stash Baskets quilt into the Blogger's Quilt Festival at Amy's Creative Side - 

Hand Quilted Category. 

72 x 84

I've done regular hand quilting in the ditch between blocks and did big stitching in perle #8 navy thread. 

I actually used a 10 inch Cake Stand block but switched direction on the two HSTs closest to the basket. 

I also used a variety of fabrics from my stash in blues, purples, reds and yellows. 

It was a lot of fun finding things to put in my baskets. I hate to admit I had all these things to fill the baskets already in my stash too. 

I enjoyed big stitching but need to work on keeping my stitches even. 

After a go in the washer it didn't fall apart so there must have been just the right amount of quilting. 

This was a lot of fun to make and to quilt.  

I'm ready to do more hand quilting!

Blogger's Quilt Festival at Amy's Creative Side

Blogger's Quilt Festival - Scrappy Quilts Category

I'm entering my Sister's Choice quilt into the Blogger's Quilt Festival at Amy's Creative Side-

 Scrappy  Quilts Category. 

80 x 90

It consists of 288 - 5 inch Sister's Choice blocks. 

I don't believe there are any fabric repeats in any blocks. 

I started with 3 inch 9 patches and then added scrappy WOW fabrics and scrappy blue star points to each block. 

I quilted it on my plain Jane DSM with loops and stars. 

I'm really surprised that most of my star points matched up! 

But, no bother if they didn't. 

It's a nice warm, soft, cuddly bed quilt.

Blogger's Quilt Festival at Amy's Creative Side

Blogger's Quilt Festival - Original Design

Don't Set Sail on Someone Else's Star

72 x 90

Machine Quilted

For my granddaughter's hope chest- a quilt for High School graduation. 

In the making August 2013 - February 2014

Original post. 

Entry for Blogger's Quilt Festival Original Design category. 

This was my first attempt at making letters for a quilt. 

I thought the African proverb "Don't set sail on someone else's star" was good advice for a high school graduate. 

Actually, the quilt started out with a Block Lotto win of some "Tall Stars".   

I made several blocks to add to the winnings then

I added strips to the side of the 6 x 9 inch blocks to make them 9 inch square. 

It just so happened that a month before I joined Block Lotto the block of the month was a "Tall Ship".  And I thought a few of those would go well with the quote and stars so made a few of those blocks and added strips to the sides to square up to 9 inches.  

I machine quilted stars in the star section and made an attempt at waves in the filler blocks around the ships. 

This quilt was a little outside my usual box.

 I'm glad I crawl out of it every once in a while to try something different. 

Blogger's Quilt Festival

Blogger's Quilt Festival - Hand Quilting

Double Wedding Ring

70 x 85

Started Feb 2013

Finished Apr 2014

First attempt at hand quilting.

A wedding quilt for my granddaughter's hope chest. She's 9. 

Previous post about quilt. 

I learned a lot in the making of this quilt. It was a challenge that, quite frankly, I didn't feel I was up to.   The piecing of the quilt with all it's curves and different type of construction (no even rows) was the first challenge.  The second was the hand quilting.  I had to try different types of thimbles before I found the one that worked for me.  I had to learn the proper "rocking motion" in order to get smaller, even stitches so I first stitched in the ditch around all the arch pieces. 

I used a template and experimented with different marking methods until I found chalk worked best for me with the templates I used. 

I'm pleased with the results of my first attempt and will definitely be doing more hand quilting in the future. 

I hope I'm still alive when it comes time for my granddaughter to receive her wedding quilt but if I'm not I will be at her wedding in spirit. 

And so that is my entry for the Blogger's Quilt Festival - Hand Quilting category.  I would like to encourage you to try hand quilting. It's very relaxing after you get over the initial fears. I didn't think I could do it.  I can't believe I did it. 

Blogger's Quilt Festival

Visit and be inspired. 

Blogger's Quilt Festival - A Hand Quilted Rainbow

Let me tell you about my entry in the Blogger's Quilt Festival going on at Amy's Creative Side.    I couldn't decide whether if I should enter my Rainbow of Favorite Things quilt into the RYOGBV category or the Hand Quilted Category.  I finally decided upon the Hand Quilted. 

43x60

6 inch hexagons

It is completely hand pieced and quilted. No machines were involved.

It was paper pieced and then hand quilted with perle #8 in a rainbow of different colors. 

And the quilt is a rainbow of my favorite things. I started in the middle with black - the absence of color and some crayons, then a mix of colors in some of my favorite things - buttons, ice cream, cupcakes, butterflies, candy...

Red is for valentines, strawberries, zinnias, roses, cherries, tulips, tomatoes, candy canes...

Orange is for pumpkins, peaches, oranges, carrots, daffodils...

Yellow is for bananas, daffodils, lemonade, sweet corn, roses, sunflowers...

Green is for Christmas cookies, kiwi, broccoli, peas, shamrocks,  Irish, basil, pears...

Blue is for blueberries, butterflies, merry-go-rounds, unicorns, iris, fairies, aprons, hoarfrost...

Purple is for pansies, plums, clematis, fairies, grapes, hydrangeas...

 The back is a multi-colored batik I picked up on sale.  I sometimes don't have very even stitches so I didn't want them to stand out too much on the backing.

Blogger's Quilt Festival - A Humble Scrappy Quilt

Let me tell you about my entry in the Blogger's Quilt Festival going on at Amy's Creative Side.   I've entered my Depression block quilt in the Scrappy category because that is just what it is.

896 HSTs sewn into 56 -12 inch Depression blocks. Finished quilt 84x96. 

This quilt is for the bed in the guest room. It gets pretty darned cold in this old farm house in the winter so I will use it to keep the grandkids warm when they sleep over every other weekend. 

I worked on this off and on for several years. I love Depression blocks and thought frequently of Grandma when I worked on it. She taught me to quilt and she told me many stories of how she survived during the Depression years on a farm in rural Iowa with Grandpa and 5 kids. I've used some of her tips myself during hard times.

I think quilts are meant to be used. I think quilts are meant to keep you warm when you hear the winter winds blowing and whistling outside your bedroom window.  I think quilts are meant to make you smile. 

You never know what things you will see in a scrappy quilt if you look at it up close.  And if you look at it from far away you will see something completely different. 

It is backed in a nice soft flannel blanket I found at the thrift store and simply but adequately quilted on my plain Jane DSM. 

Blogger's Quilt Festival - Scrap Quilts

My entry into the Scrap Quilt category of the Blogger's Quilt Festival organized by Amy of Amy's Creative Side is called Hi-Ho Cherrio after a game I loved playing as a child and play now with my grandchildren.  The pattern is Japanese X and +  by Amy Gunson of Badskirt blog.  I love this pattern and plan on making another one some day soon.  I quilted it on my DSM with swirls. 

Hi Ho Cherrio!

Japanese X and +

69x77

Machine quilted

For me

Blogger's Quilt Festival - Hand Quilting

I've seen so many gorgeous quilts at the Blogger's Quilt Festival  hosted by Amy's Creative Side that I hesitated to enter any of my quilts. But I took a deep breathe and plunged right in and entered my Dandy Garden quilt into the hand-quilted category. 

It's called Dandy Garden because the block is called Dandy from Quilter's Cache.  Since I used floral fabrics and most of the flowers featured on them I grow in my garden I named my quilt Dandy Garden.   

Dandy Garden

56x67

Hand quilted with purple perle cotton #5