Saturday, May 18, 2013

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



30 comments:

  1. Wow! That's a very cool quilt!
    Carol

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  2. Brilliant!! I love this quilt!! Prayers under the binding is a very special touch.

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  3. I love that you tailored the design to be personal for her - and the hidden prayers!

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  4. it is just amazing! I'm so glad to see it again!

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  5. Amazing quilt! I love how you made it for your special Aunt and added the prayers.

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  6. Congratulations on a spectacular quilt. I love the design, all your hard work has really paid off.

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  7. "different" - yes. But accomplished and beautiful - absolutely! Thanks for sharing again - I must have missed it the first time!

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  8. Em I just love this quilt, such a great accomplishment for a great lady!

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  9. So gorgeous and full of love!!!

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  10. Wow, this is one cool quilt! Perfect for such an accomplished artist! I'm sure she loved. Thanks for sharing it with us!

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  11. Your quilt is absolutely fabulous!!!!!

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  12. It's very effective with the circles radiating out

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  13. Looks like it was a good thing that your Aunt gave you a sewing machine. Look what she would have missed out on if you had not started sewing!
    Your quilt is stunning!

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  14. This is spectacular, I love the offsetting of it all.

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  15. I'm glad you chose to share this quilt! It's one of my all time favorites and one of the reasons I started following your blog. :) All that hard work was definitely worth it, wasn't it?

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  16. This quilt is gorgeous! I love all the details.

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  17. Fantastic to see the coming together of an idea when you pushed yourself outside your comfort zone and it worked so brilliantly!

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  18. how beautiful is this. Love it.

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  19. This is absolutely fabulous! I love how you've taken the NYB and done something so different with it - a truly modern take on a "Medallion" quilt!

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  20. The quilt is beautiful. And I love the black and white pieces.

    Heidi’s Wanderings

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  21. YES! Something wonderfully and refreshingly original! Beautiful! And touching with the prayers!!! Hooray!

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  22. géant! superbe réalisation ultra moderne j'adore

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  23. it IS a very accomplished quilt! one of my faves from you. Good luck with the festival.

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  24. This is absolutely fantastic - I just voted for it, so eye catching and beautifully original. I'm a new follower too :o)

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  25. Very nice, great use of your colors!

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  26. Stunning quilt! What a creative person you are, and how lucky Kathy is!! Beautiful work...I am voting for this one!

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