Blogger's Quilt Festival

Hello to all the visitors stopping by for the Blogger's Quilt Festival! I'm Emily and I love to sew. Check out my tutorials here, and my recent finishes here. I also love to make zip pouches, so you'll see a lot of those here too! Thanks for stopping by, and I hope to see you around!

This year for my Blogger's Quilt Festival entry I'm sharing my Bella Quilt for Kathy.

This is my one of my most accomplished quilts ever, my most intense quilt.

The quilt was made for my Aunt Kathy, who has been a crafter for all my life. She's always had a project for us kids to work on, and shared her passion. She went through a quilting phase before finding her real love: polymer clay. For the past 10 or so years she's been passionately creating spectacular beads and necklaces - she's taught and written articles in magazines. She really is talented. 

Back to the story, when I was a kid Kathy gave me her old sewing machine. I was maybe 12? I started sewing and never stopped. So I guess I owe it all to her? So I made her a quilt to show my gratitude. 

So how does one make a quilt for an artist? I decided to work with black and white prints since they are a staple in Kathy's clay jewelry pieces. (it was a real stretch for me!). I started with a standard New York Beauty block and then drafted arcs of blocks to fit around it. Each border was drafted by hand, and nearly all of them are paper pieced. Each bit of this quilt took a lot of work psyching myself up to it. It was scary working on such a different and new to me style! 

In the end I absolutely love the quilt. It's really exciting to see it all together after all the planning and drafting! :) 

And the sweetest final touches? I added prayers written under the binding. Aunt Kathy will always be wrapped up in my love and prayers! 

Stats: 

Size: about 55" x 65"

Techniques: foundation paper piecing, hand drawn paper pattern, raw edge applique.

Quilting: meandering stipple with inclusions of "love," "hope," and hearts throughout. Quilted on my beloved Juki TL98E (Janice). 

If you're interested you can read all the details of the story / piecing here.

Now go ahead and check out all the other great quilts in the Blogger's Quilt Festival!