Sunday, April 19, 2009

Quilt Festival!

This post is for the quilt festival that is happening on Amy's blog: Park City Girl. 
She has organized an online quilt festival where quilters from all over have blogged about a special quilt and linked back to her blog. Take some time to check it out. If you are coming here from the quilt festival ~ 

Welcome!

This is the quilt that I consider my most special. It is actually the very first quilt that I made. When I first moved up to the Adirondacks about 6 years ago, I decided that it was time to learn how to quilt. I had always been fascinated by quilts and living in a more rural area inspired me. I asked my mom for a sewing machine for Christmas and of course she came through. 

I immediately started sewing (I hadn't touched a machine since Home Ec in junior high (and that was way long ago).
I tried out a few things but had it in my mind to make a real quilt. A lovely,  scrappy, colorful,  beauty. 

Without a fabric stash how is one to make a scrappy quilt? My solution was bidding on 4" squares on ebay of course! I bid and bid and sewed and sewed! 

I used 2 contrasting 4" squares to make 2 of the diamond in a square blocks. After I made up many I decided I wanted some organization in the layout. I arranged them by diamond colors and sewed them into 9 patches. 

I was substitute teaching at the time and after I finished the top I showed it to a teacher who I knew quilted for some advice (like what do I do next!). She was a bit surprised when I told her this was my first quilt. She was also taken back by the weight. Apparently there is an easier, more efficient way to make these blocks and the way I made them uses a lot more thread!

She sent me to a proper quilt shop to pick out the backing material and then I had to decide how to finish it. I could have gotten someone to long arm quilt it for me but I wanted complete ownership over its making. Unsure of my experience with quilting the top I decided to tie it. I did sew the binding on and hand finished that. 

This quilt measures 68 x 82. The inside is warm & natural cotton batting.  It is exactly what I love about quilts ~ Color, simple shapes, a feast for the eyes, and warmth! 

This is my treasure, not in my etsy store, definitely not for sale!








27 comments:

  1. Wonderful! I like all the colors and everything about it.

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  2. That's a beautiful scrappy quilt! The colors are very cheerful. It's also a different way to go about gathering a stash. :-) Every time I see a scrap quilt I think that I should attack my fabric scraps as well. Especially when I see a successful one such as yours. Cheers!

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  3. Lovely just lovely great job thanks for sharing the picture
    hugs
    Susan

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  4. Oh my, I absolutely love this quilt!

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  5. Wow! That is a huge amount of small blocks for a first quilt. Very impressive.

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  6. that is quite the undertaking!! so many small blocks, but it clearly all paid off it is beautiful.

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  7. Amazing. I would not want to part with it either :)

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  8. That is one spectacular quilt. Love it.

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  9. Wow what a cool quilt. Very stunning.

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  10. Wonderful! I love scrappy quilts too! Yours is fantastic!

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  11. Great quilt! Can't believe its a first quilt! Super!

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  12. Your first scrappy quilt is fantabulous!

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  13. Wow that's quite a first quilt! Beautiful and colorful.

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  14. What a great story with your quilt! You did a fantastic job first time around. I think being ignorant works in our favor because when we don't know that we're not supposed to be able to do something, we're free to go ahead and do it! :-)

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  15. OH I doubt that I would part with this gem. LOVE IT, enjoy this most fabulous festival.

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  16. Good for you! Your quilt is so pretty it makes me smile, and so does your blog name too btw!

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  17. Your quilt is stunning! I can see how much work went into it. Thanks for stopping by my blog. i am most impressed with your work.
    Micki

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  18. What a fun quilt. And very ambitious for the first one.

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  19. WOW... your quilt is a sock knockeroffer! STUNNING and so beautiful. And I love your description of why you love it too.

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  20. What a fabulous first quilt! It is gorgeous!

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  21. Stunning! I love how you arranged the colors! Thanks for sharing :)

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  22. I LOVE LOVE this quilt and what a special story. It would have a prominent place on my bed.

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  23. this is wonderful. What an amazing way to start quilting.

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  24. I am just now on #318 and have enjoyed the process of seeing and reading the stories of the favorite quilt. Your quilt is quite amazing in the color and scrappy angle.... and to think you did it first. Thanks for posting.

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