Bloggers Quilt Festival -October 2014

I hesitated to enter this as my second quilt in the Bloggers Quilt Festival. I didn't enter it last time around because it felt a little bit like cheating because I didn't do the whole thing myself. Then I suddenly realised that lots of people don't quilt their own quilts , they send them out to be done professionally and that my Mrs. DeWitt Quilt is just a variation on that theme. Mrs. DeWitt did all this beautiful and time consuming hand piecing and the universe sent it to me to be finished. So if it wasn't for both myself and Fontella doing our bits this quilt would never have come to be a finished thing and I like the idea of having made a collaborative quilt with her , even if it was decades after she finished the top. 

All of this started because once upon a time I decided it would be a good idea to rescue a vintage or antique quilt top that needed some love to bring it back to it's former glory. After many months of searching I found an unfinished vintage Martha Washington Flower Garden quilt top that I fell in love with and had it shipped 10,000 miles across the world, holding my breath almost the whole time lest it not be as lovely as the picture I bought it from had showed. 

This quilt was started in the 1930's or 1940's by a lady named Fontella Holmes DeWitt in Iowa. Mrs. DeWitt was born in 1905 in Winterset, Iowa and passed away on Christmas Day 1985. I'm assuming that this quilt lurked around in an attic somewhere for the next 30 odd years while someone thought about finishing it. It was in pristine condition so it had been stored very carefully for all those years. Her hand work on this quilt is absolutely exquisite and she was obviously very skilled at paper piecing. I wondered why she didn't finish this and the only thing I could come up with was that she got totally fed up with hand sewing hexagons. By my reckoning there are about 8000 of them in this quilt. 

The plan was to finish the white borders on the edges ( never mind that at that point I had no idea how to paper piece hexies) and then turn this into a useable work of art. This was a huge quilt at almost 80 by 90 inches and I had visions of me hand sewing minute little one inch hexagons like some pioneer woman and actually being serene and happy about it. 

It lobbed at Maison Pyjamas via the grace of USPS and Australia Post. It was gorgeous. It was perfectly square. The hand sewing of all those teeny tiny hexies was perfect. Angels sang and trumpets heralded it's arrival. 

And then I hung it in a cupboard and there it stayed for 4 or 5 years while I contemplated trying to find cream fabric to match, and the agony of hand sewing 400-500 teeny tiny hexies to finish it off. Occasionally I'd take it out and stroke it lovingly and reassure that poor unfinished top that one day it would be a finished functioning quilt and that we'd be together forever. 

Sometimes inspiration hits you like a bolt of lightning. While I was off work on vacation earlier this year, I pulled that quilt top out for it's annual foray into actual light and out of nowhere I decided the time was right to finish it. The sticking point was whether I was going to hand piece more hexagons or come up with another plan. I consulted with QuiltyGal at lunch that very day and decided to go for it. 

I laid it out and basted it with about 500 pins. I used a wool batting with a higher loft than I usually use and I really enjoyed working with it. It was almost as if the hand of Mrs. DeWitt was helping me along wanting me to finish her wonderful unfinished work of art. And as I worked and got to see all the fabrics in detail I weaved wonderful stories in my head about where they had all come from and what they had been used for before. That fabric there had come from a Summer Dress, and that one from a weekday working skirt. I could see her Sunday best outfit and fabrics from her babies  clothes all dancing through my head and as if I could see the life that Mrs. DeWitt had lived through her fabrics. 

I started quilting using a serpentine stitch because I didn't want to detract from any of Fontella's beautiful work.  Sometimes simple is best. It took 5 spools of bobbin thread to get through this baby, because I quilted it very very closely together with a serpentine stitch. I have to say there were points where this was not fun to get it all through my machine. And the whole time I was terrified that I was going to do something  to mess it up! 

Then oh horror of horrors I squared the quilt up and cut all those pretty unfinished points off to bring this quilt down to 70 x 80 inches square. If I hadn't sacrificed those points it would have sat in the cupboard for another 30 years unfinished. Sometimes you have to make the tough calls.  

I picked a plain fabric that was as close as I could get to the original cream hexagons for the binding, in keeping with the original colour scheme of the quilt. 

And finally I put the last stitch in and she was finished, approximately 70 years after she was started. I'd venture a guess that this was one of the worlds oldest WIP's. And I was seriously thrilled. 

More gratuitous fabric shots. Aren't they pretty?

Quilt front

And the back ...I love how this looks!

I'm so happy with this finish. I'm prouder of this than anything else I've ever made. I like to think that somewhere Mrs. De Witt knows that her beautiful work is finally being used the way she hoped it would be all those years ago. Yes- I use this quilt a lot. And it was a no brainer to name this quilt in her honour. 

I'm entering this quilt in the scrappy category because it has several hundred different fabrics in it and I don't think it gets much scrappier than that. Thanks for dropping by and having a look at my post. And if you know the Holmes - DeWitt family please tell them their Mom's quilt is in good hands, a lot further away from Iowa than they ever imagined. 

Bloggers Quilt Festival - October 2014

For anyone who reads my blog regularly (thank you - you're already ten shades of awesome) you've already seen this quilt and heard the story of it's existence . You were right there beside me through every blog post where I whinged , whined, griped, bitched and moaned about pretty much every stitch that went into this quilt. You got excited along with me when I finally cracked FM quilting with this quilt and was so darn proud of myself , because lets face it - I didn't think it was ever going to happen.  So I wont be offended if you back out slowly without making eye contact with me , and go and do something more exciting - like folding your socks. By all means stay - but you know the rule, you have to drink a cocktail while you're reading this post, which could be very interesting for some of you since while it's night time here as I type - its breakfast time on the other side of the world. 

For anyone who happens to visiting from the Bloggers Quilt Festival - Don't you go anywhere ...I have fresh blood to show off this quilt to and I'm so glad you dropped by to have a look. I won't impose the cocktail rule on you. Pull up a chair - help yourself to tea or coffee and sit for a bit. I'm a chick that loves to spin a tale or two and no quilt I ever make comes without a back story.  

Compared to lots of other people I haven't been making quilts all that long - I think I properly started about 6 years ago . I'm still learning all the time and trying new things sometimes with disastrous results. In August 2013 I decided to make an orange peel quilt and a couple of the girls in my sewing group showed me how to freezer paper applique (mainly because the way I was trying to do it was totally irritating them )and this quilt was officially started. 

The plan was to use scraps and leftovers from other projects. This quilt went a lot of places while it was being made including work, family functions, in the car (obviously when I wasn't driving ) to Brisbane when I went and visited my friend Little Miss Sunshine (whose scrap bin I coincidentally raided while I was visiting )  and also all the way to Vietnam.  I actually became a bit of a scrap scab while making this , constantly pestering people for their scraps so I could incorporate different fabrics from some of my favourite people. 

Sometimes I would get a bit tired of it and ignore it for a few weeks, but mostly I worked on it fairly consistently. There are 144 peels in this quilt, and sometimes it felt like this was the groundhog day of all quilts and that I was doing the same thing over and over and over. I'm pretty sure I heard angels singing when I put the final stitch in the final block.

But eventually, after  months of hand sewing this project was ready to be made into a quilt top. Isn't she pretty? Can you tell I like colour? 

So - once at the flimsy-is-basted-and-ready-to-be-quilted stage, I was faced with the dilemma of exactly how to quilt it. Straight lines just weren't going to cut it and that's pretty much all I knew how to do. Free Motion quilting and I were not friends owing to a few bad practice runs in the past that had severely crushed my confidence. How to do this quilt justice? Well - you just put on your big gal panties and decide to kick some FM butt . Not for me a practice sandwich or a mini quilt to start the process. Nup - that's not the way I roll- I decided to jump right in and start meandering like an old pro all over that quilt. Sometimes not thinking about stuffing up is the best way to go. 

I love vintage chenille and have approximately half the world's available supply stashed at home. I decided it was time to cut into some of the vintagey goodness and put it to use so I backed this quilt in soft pink chenille.  

Add some spotty binding and you can't go wrong. Spots and stripes are my very favourite types of bindings. 

I meandered ( and sometimes stippled if truth be told ) everywhere except the peels , which really made them stand out. And when It was done I stood back and couldn't believe that I had actually finished something so pretty! (and that I had broken the back of free motion quilting - GO ME!) 

Every year I end up with a favourite quilt and for 2014 this is my very favourite one. Its kept me warm while I blob round on the sofa at night in my living room all winter and gets dragged to bed with me each night. Thank you for stopping by and having a look at it. And a big thank you to Amy who hosts this fabulous shindig for us twice a year so we can be inspired and get our fill of eye candy! 

Im going to enter this into the applique category for the festival ...and cant wait to see what all you other clever people have chosen as your quilt to showcase. 

Bloggers Quilt Festival- May 2014

My regular readers are well aware that this quilt has been a long time in the making. I suspect they will be as glad that it’s finished as I was to put the last stitch in the binding at 1.27 pm this afternoon! Not bad when you consider I started this in mid 2011....

If you’re visiting from my link at the Bloggers Quilt Festival- welcome to you and thank you for taking the time to swing by when there are so many fabulous entries for you to look at . Feel free to have a squizz at the rest of my blog while you’re here and make yourself at home. 

All of my quilts seem to come together a bit like a greek tragedy ...there’s love(Ooh I like that I think I’ll make one) and hate (I'm so fed up with this quilt – why wont it go together the way it looks in my head) , pathos (Oh woe is me , will this ever be finished?) and tragedy (Crap! I just sewed over my own finger –again).  But in the end every quilt feels like a triumph just for the finish factor if nothing else. I'm pretty sure I heard angels singing and trumpets blowing this afternoon!

I should point out for those that don’t know me- I’m that loud, brash, swearing Aussie girl your mother probably didn’t want you to hang out with in high school. And my quilts are usually a lot like me too. An abundance of colour, modern, big personality quilts, so when I decided three years ago to make this quilt I was as surprised as anyone that a traditional design had caught my fancy. I had very real fears that I’d get to the end of it and not really love it.

But my fears were unfounded, – I’m totally and utterly in love with everything about this quilt and I’m so happy to share it with you all. I'm utterly dreadful at naming my quilts (and quite often get my blog friends to name them for me) so if you have any suggestions I’d be glad to hear them. 

I also tend to waffle a lot (Really ?You hadn't noticed ?) but today I'm just going to let the pictures do the talking for me. 

Daisies in each block corner 

With a daisy in each centre 

The quilt back 

The whole shebang

Finished Size: 60 x 86 inches 

Pieced by: Moi!(I still cant believe I made that!) 

Quilted by: My amazing quilting fairy. 

Dresden fan blades: made from 4 charm packs. Its been so long since I started this quilt I cant recall exactly what the fabric was (sorry !)

Backing Blocks : Old recycled bread sacks that I got from Freecycle(seriously)

Sashing and Binding: Pretty sure this was a Darlene Zimmerman fabric...

Backing : Something I got on sale at Spotlight and it was cheap but perfect for this project. 

Entered in: ROYGBIV Category. 

Thanks to Amy for hosting this little soiree . She really does an amazing job of coordinating it all and giving us all the opportunity to revel in each other’s creativity. I'm really looking forward to seeing a ton of eye candy this week. Thanks for dropping in to see mine. 

PS.  This is my second finish in Katy’s Finish Along for the 2^nd quarter of 2014 (two more finishes for this quarter are looming but  fortunately I haven't shot my big mouth off about any more nudey runs if things on my list don't get finished ) and I'm linking this post up to Elizabeth’s "A Stitch in Time " Finishes linky party for May. YOu can see my original goals for the quarter in this post . 

Blogger's Quilt Festival October 2012

It's time for the Blogger's Quilt Festival hosted by Amy from Amy's Creative Side.   There's so much eye candy out there I go into sensory overload.

My name is Shay and I suffer from PCS. (Pattern Challenge Syndrome) I read instructions and they always looks like they're written in gibberish. So my usual modus operandi for quilting is that I eyeball a quilt I like and decide in my own head how it makes sense for me put it together. Then I cross my fingers, warn my husband that things are going to get scary so he can leave the house for a few hours, days,  weeks,  whatever , lay in a supply of endless swear words and jump in where angels fear to tread. 

But when I saw this pattern, I desperately wanted to make the quilt and I had no idea how it was done. So I realised I was going to have to suck it up and learn to read Cantonese, or Aramaic or whatever language it was written in because I was totally in love. And love can triumph over anything. Even language barriers. You can imagine my excitement when I discovered that the pattern for Merry Go Round was written in honest to goodness English. Bless you Sandy Klop.  You're my hero.

This quilt was full of firsts. First quilt from a pattern, first try at angled binding (I could have taught a few sailors some new swear words during that part of the process) and the first time I ever used Batik fabrics. Don't let anyone tell you they're grandma and horrible because they aren't.

Because a pile of seemingly Grandma Batik strips managed to morph into this.

I love finding the perfect backing on sale for 4 bucks a metre. 

 I picked something soft and curvy for the quilting as a contrast to all those angles and sent it out to my quilting fairy so she could really make it shine.  By the time I got to the quilting stage I was packing death that if I touched it with my machine I'd ruin it forever.  The quilting fairy used rainbow coloured variegated thread to match the colours in the quilt.  

This is my most favourite quilt ever.... 

Vital Stats:

Quilt Name: Merry Go Round 

Size:  74 inches by 80 inches 

Quilting: By Sharon Parkinson at Patchwork on Parade 

Special Techniques: Angled binding, AND I used a pattern! 

Best Category :Favorite ROYGBIV Quilt

A huge shout out to Amy for hosting and to everyone who is stopping by from BQF. Its lovely to have you visit. Please feel free to have a sticky beak around while you're here. I'm off to take a squizz at what everyone else is showing off !

Bloggers Quilt Festival-Spring 2011

The Bloggers Quilt Festival is being hosted by Amy's Creative Side (click on the button above if you want to be transported there ala Star Trek) this week. If you're one of my regular awesome blog readers  you'll know every quilt I make comes with a story that usually involves triumph over tragedy. There's usually pathos and comedy and some swearing chucked in as well. This quilt story is my own personal version of The Pursuit of Happiness.

Sometimes there's nothing like bringing a quilt finish down to the wire.Clearly I thrive on tight deadlines and a good dose of stress.  Bloggers Quilt Festival started yesterday and I finished this quilt at  5.00 pm Central Australian Time today.  A year in the making - it's finally finished...albeit without a label. What's even cooler is that for most participants it isn't even 5.00pm Saturday yet so many of you are reading a post about a quilt that doesn't actually exist in your parallel universe and has yet to be finished in your future.  ...Yep I'm messing with your mind.

I started this quilt as part of a Snowball quiltalong last May . The QAL fizzled out after a few posts and in  August my resolve fizzled after all the blocks were cut and sewn. I sent the quilt to the naughty corner (which is actually a deep dark cupboard in my sewing room )  and ignored it. It had plenty of company.  It sat lonely and forgotten for the next 8 months.  I'm good at ignoring stuff I don't want to deal with. I'm a mother.

 

Somewhere along the way I convinced myself the quilt was possessed and that I didn't like it. That meant I felt Ok about ignoring it because after all who wants to touch something that's possessed by Quilting Goblins.  Eventually  I sucked it up and stuck it on my PhD list and vowed to finish it by June 30th. Miss P spied the forlorn quilt bits in March and fell in love with the fabrics and I finally had a reason to finish it because constant nagging really makes my head ache.

 

The next phase was not without incident .  I swore and hated this quilt  some more when I realised I didn't have enough matching backing by a mere 10 inches. Quilter's stashitis saved my arse. I knew having a sewing room with 3456 yards of fabric would come in handy at some point.

With the top finished I still wasn't convinced that this quilt could ever be gorgeous  (or in my ability to make it look pretty given my rudimentary quilting skills- FM quilting and I have yet to develop a warm and cordial relationship ) So off to the quilter this quilt was sent. In music and theatre circles it isn't over till the fat lady sings. With quilts- it's never over until the quilting and binding are done. That's when the magic happens.

It arrived home this afternoon and I love it.  I finished the binding and I present to you "Snowballs in Hell" , because that's about as much chance as this quilt had of being finished a year ago.

My only regret is that this quilt is promised to Miss P - who is now pressing her luck by insisting I also make her jam donuts. Maybe we can organise a trade- donuts for the quilt? I mean after all I gave birth to her - what more does she want?

Bloggers Quilt Festival - Fall 2010

If you're a first time visitor who has landed here  due to the Quilt Festival - welcome to my crazy piece of Blogland. Feel free to have a look around  and please leave me a comment so I know you've been ! I'm always thrilled  to discover new blogs and I'd love to reciprocate by visiting you.

Amy over at Amy's Creative Side  is hosting the Fall 2010 Bloggers Quilt Festival. I missed this last  time, so this time I'm jumping in. A lot  of creative genius liberally sprinkled with profanity goes into every stitch I sew. I might as well share it.

Sometimes you see a quilt idea and you're immediately inspired.  When I saw this quilt at  Cluck Cluck Sew  and  then a similar design at  A Commonplace Life  I had to make it.  

Fabric choice was a no brainer. The moment I saw this quilt I  decided to use the Moda Oz I had in my stash. I'm not afraid of colour.  I like loud and bold. So does Sanae.

So I fused the fabric onto the double sided heat bond, then cut out about 81 circles , and then fused those onto squares. And then I laid it all out to see what it looked like. At this point I got nervous about whether I should cut those 81 individual blocks into quarters and started second guessing my original plan. 

But since the  original idea was for each block to have 4 different quarters I knew I wouldn't be happy unless I gave it a crack  and so I went with my gut and leaped.

I looked at the 324 bits, (which don't look anywhere near as scary neatly stacked  in this box as they did spread out all over my kitchen table ) and when I thought about all the seams I was going to have to match up I almost  vomited on the spot. Wonky seams upset my Virgo-ness.  And then I realised. It's just fabric. Quilting is about trying new things.  Enjoying yourself. Experimenting. Loving the creative process. Getting jiggy with the seam ripper if you have to.  

A journey of a thousand miles begins with the first step, so I started sewing.

And by the time I finished this is what I had...

This quilt isn't perfect. Some of the seams don't quite match. That's OK, I love the way it turned out.  This is my favourite quilt of 2010.  Thanks for stopping by and letting me share it with you.