Quilt of the year - Part 2

The next step in this quilt was of course the quilting.  

I sent it to the wonderful Rosalie of Rose Quilting

The lovely fan style quilting in the 'circle' blocks and the 'square fans' in the outside of the circles

a feather in the border

cross hatching over the pretend embroidery blocks

a larger feather in the external border

The whole quilt on my bed

and hanging at the quilt show over Easter.  You can't really see it here but I bound it with a wavy edge to mimic the effect of the ricrac in the quilt.  The binding is the 3 colours in a random placement.

and from a distance while we were setting up.

To see some more of Rosalie's quilting on my other quilts look here and here.

So in case you can't tell, I love the quilt.  At a healthy 90 x 99" it is great on our bed & when hubby rolls over and takes the quilt with him, there is still some left for me.

Catch you again soon with some quilt show photos.

 

My Quilt of the Year

It would seem that I make one 'serious' quilt each year.

This quilt was started in October 2013 from a stunning layer cake & jelly roll.

"Full Circle" by Kathy Schmitz for Moda.

I fell in love with this fabric when it was released a couple of years ago.  The jelly roll & layer cake were Christmas presents. They sat in my cupboard waiting for the perfect project.  I purchased matching panels because they looked so much like hand stitching.

Image from http://www.kathyschmitz.com/

 One of my UFO craft ladies asked about the drunkard's path and that was all the motivation I needed.

I played with a couple of layouts

(Opera House)

 and jumbled disks - which obviously I chose as here I am holding the pieced center.

 This beautiful piece then just sat in the cupboard while the Christmas rush happened and inspiration to strike for borders. 

Come February I decided it couldn't sit there any more.  I had to finish it.  Our Quilt show was coming up and I have always needed a deadline.

The tan border you can see below came from the panels I had purchased. The panel had little squares surrounded by ricrac with a broad border at the bottom.  As luck would have it, I had enough borders from panels to encircle the whole centre with what looked like a ricrac border

 I was then able to piece the border with  little "embroidered" panels from the larger panel print.

At this point I loved it and here was where I could use my Jelly Roll.

 Now I knew I wanted piano keys, but I couldn't work out what size 'chunks' of colour I needed.

In this photo you will see L-R - 2 strips wide, single strips, big chunks of colour.

 

I liked  the single strip piano keys but felt they were a bit busy for the 'embroidered' blocks in the border, the big chunks were just too chunky, so it was the 2 strips that won.

Sew, sew, sew

 oops a little reverse sew

 and like magic - it was a flimsy.

 

and it looks soooo good on our bed.

 I am so excited by this quilt.  I will give you the next installment tomorrow.

The Challenge Reveal

Well after a long wait (sorry about that) I can reveal my whole challenge quilt & the winners of the challenge.

As much as I had to have my quilt finished by the 14th March, the quilt show was only held over the Easter weekend, so I couldn't reveal anything until after then.

The last week since Easter has been a little busy, but I have had time to sort through the photos now.

Now a reminder - the challenge criteria.

 

my sneak peak (sorry, but I couldn't give too much away)

 

My finished quilt

There are 30 pieces of fabric in the background to represent the different projects we start. Some are quick to make & others take much longer, sometimes one comes along to send us off on a diffferent path.

The hands represent the club  nurturing and supporting. 

 

There are 30 words quilted into the background, they represent what craft gives us and means to me.

The 30 buttons represent the tools of our trade and fruits of our labours. The question mark represents the unknown of what will come next.

 I am very proud of my little quilt and look forward to hanging it in my sewing room.

Now, the challenge was judged and the winners chosen.

Here they are: - 

First by Sue Pukallus

 Second by Gayle Steinohrt

  Third by Merryl Sheppard

  Highly Commended by Cecily Hamilton

 

Highly Commended by Debra Schefe

 

Highly Commended by Tracey Regan

There were 11 entries for the challenge and the ladies all enjoyed being 'pushed' outside their boundaries.