I only just discovered the Bloggers Quilt Festival hosted by Amy's Creative Side a year ago. And I know what you all are thinking: Where have I been? Under a quilt probably.
I loved seeing all the wonderful quilts from around the world. I would hem and haw over which quilt to vote for. And I would visit all the blogs and find inspiration. This time, I've decided to enter a quilt! So exciting.
This is my "Painting the Roses Red" quilt I made for our Utah Valley Quilt Guild Challenge. I chose the name after a lovely commentor said it reminded her of Alice in Wonderland in the rose garden painting.
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Our challenge was to make a quilt with the theme of "I looked out the window..." It could be anything you see out your window--it could be your car window, house window, workplace window, whatever. It also had to have a traditional block somewhere in the quilt.
Can you find my traditional block?
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My windowsill is a churn dash! (I'll admit I thought I was pretty clever.)
The little ladybug makes me smile. I found her in my stash and had to piece her in somehow.
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This is only the second quilt I have machine quilted myself. I admit I was very nervous about ruining my wonderful quilt top with my beginner quilting skills.
I quilted the flowers in wavy circles to mimic the flower petals. The green leaves were quilted in a pointy stippling to make it look like foliage. The sky received spirals. Then, I did a spiral feather thingy in the churn dash border and a loopy figure 8 in the blue border. Overall, I'm very happy with how it turned out.
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I had to improvise with my thread choices. I had planned on using the same green varigated thread all over the backing. However, when it came to quilting the white churn-dash border, I couldn't get my tension right and the green kept pulling up to the top. It was so distracting. (And frustrating!)
I finally threw my hands in the air and quilted both sides with white thread. I was under a deadline and didn't have time for this nonsense. Now, when I look at the backing, I LOVE how it turned out.
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You can read the original blog post about the design process here, the finished top here, and the reveal here.
Quilt Stats
Finished Size: 34" x 34"
Fabric: Assorted 100% cotton fabrics
Batting: Warm & Natural 100% cotton batting
Thread: Superior Threads Fantastico line, polyester variegated thread
Techniques: Machine piecing, Machine Free Motion Quilting, Hand Sewn Binding.
I've decided to enter this quilt into the Art Quilt category. (Kinda shocking to me because I wouldn't label myself as an art quilter. I would never have made something like this if not for my guild's challenge.)
Linked up with the Bloggers Quilt Festival Art Quilt here.
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