Showing posts with label Blogger's Quilt Festival. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Blogger's Quilt Festival. Show all posts

Friday, May 15, 2015

'Chicago, 2007' QST Quilt--Entry for Blogger's Quilt Festival 2015


'Chicago, 2007' 
Quarter Square Triangle Quilt

Stats: Made from a 100% cotton mixture of 
whatever was in my scraps and stash when I 
started, plus a few special fabrics found just 
for this quilt. Contains more than 180 different 
fabrics. The final dimensions are 85"x95". 
The batting is Fairfield's 50/50 
bamboo/cotton blend. 

This marks the first time I've entered 
Nomination for viewer's choice runs 
May 15-21, and voting May 22-29. 
Winners are announced May 30, 2015.
I encourage you to visit, and see the 
collective talent of quilting bloggers
from around the world. You can 
find me in the large quilt category.

The setting triangles and pink backing are
both from Tula Pink's Acacia line. The sari
fabrics are cottons from Amy Butler.


Several years ago my youngest daughter and 
made a trip to Chicago to visit a dear friend, 
Betty. A seasoned tour guide, she told us 
there were a few things we must do while in the 
Windy City. One was visiting the Bahai Temple.
I've visited this sanctuary many times with her, 
and it's one of my favorite places. Popping up in 
the midst of a residential neighborhood, it stands 
like a beacon shining its light. It was my young
daughter first visit, and as she was quite taken in 
with it, we spent hours there.

Its gardens are amassed in flowers,
and the colors and lights are 
reflected in the pool.


Another of her goals was to find a lehenga 
choli for my daughter so the 3 of us headed 
to Devon AvenueDevon Avenue is a 
melting pot of mom and pop stores, groceries, 
and restaurants from many ethnic groups. We 
sipped mango lassis, and ate Hungarian 
pastries fresh from a beehive oven while the 
wind whipped by us on the sidewalk. We 
eyed up bolt after bolt of sari fabric, and my
young daughter tried on half a dozen little 
dresses before finally deciding on this one. 


That evening we sat in the garden of 
their brownstone enjoying Peruvian takeout 
and wine while reliving our perfect day. I
have frozen those memories in my mind.

 I believe that one day deeply imprinted
my mind and senses, and is expressed
in this very quilt these many years later. 
It wasn't until I was making the binding that 
it came together. My thoughts have been 
filled with memories of my friend these past 
months, and my longing to see her since
she's moved so far away.

Whether we realize it or not, something in 
our psyche guides our choices when we design. 
I believe it is important for me to focus on 
what is good, and beautiful, and true. Our
art and creations become an expression
of our consciousness at that moment. 

This quilt started as a simple experiment in 
making half square triangles, then continued to 
quarter square triangles. Visit these recent 
posts documenting the creative process, and 
 the many changes of direction.


I spent the morning with my domestic Janome
 FMQ the setting and corner triangles using 
my favorite pink Aurifil thread, #2425.
I turned the machine so I could work from
the end feeding smoothly through, and not 
have to push the bulk up and under it. I used 
a small, portable table to help support the 
weight of the quilt as I stitched, moving
it as necessary from one side to the next.
This is a very heavy quilt.



The pink Aurifil shows up nicely on the teal blue.




I ran into one small problem. Although I allowed
3 extra inches on the sides of the backing, I had
only 2 on each end to spare before quilting. The
long arming took up quite a bit of that, and left
me 1/4" short on this end. I trimmed the other
end as it was a match with the pieced fabric,
and sewed it to my short end. It was a pretty
close fit, but I was lucky.





 I love to machine stitch binding on. Or should I
say, I hate binding quilts by hand? I do. Here's
a trick. Sew it to the back of the quilt first, then
bring it to the front, and stitch it down. I used a
pale blue in my top thread to match my binding,
and a fushia in my bobbin to match the backing.



If you're careful to pin, pin, pin the front,
it works beautifully.



I was a little bit off where I sewed my
tag on, but I made sure to have it sewn
into the binding to make it extra secure.




I was cautioned against sewing on my binding
by machine, but it seems to be lying flat. I 
always cut my binding fabric perpendicular to 
the selvage, and that seems to be key.


This is a memory quilt sewn with love. 


Come on, Doxie girls.
Let's have us a snuggle,
and ring a friend today.

Creative Space Tag continues with
Judy at Quilt Paradigm. She's put a 
lot of time in analyzing her space,
and how she uses it. Wait until 
you see her design wall!

This also is a finish for
my list made for Adrienne's
2015 Finish-Along On the
2015 Finish-Along On the Windy Side.


Thank you all for the linking
opportunities.