Bloggers' Quilt Festival

I finished my Hand Drawn Garden Plus quilt a couple of weeks ago but have been saving its reveal for the Bloggers Quilt Festival over at Amy's Creative Side - one of my favourite online events which happens twice a year.

I am a huge fan of anything Anna Maria Horner and unlike many people I have no problem taking my rotary cutter to my favourite fabrics! So a few weeks ago, I decided to make a simple patchwork quilt from my FQs of her Hand Drawn Garden line.

But when I laid out the 5 1/2" squares it didn't look quite how I had seen it in my head. So I decided to try a plus block layout and liked it. I've made a plus quilt before and don't normally repeat blocks but I broke a personal rule and I'm glad I did.

The plus design isn't always immediately obvious due to the eclectic designs and colours in this line but I quite like that!

After finishing the main panel, I decided to add a border of low volume fabrics in varying sized squares and rectangles. Then I added a second border of 2.5" x 3.5" rectangles of Hand Drawn Garden.

I backed and bound it using fabrics from Anna Maria Horner's True Colors line - so pretty and they work perfectly together. The batting is my favourite -  Dream Orient (a mix of silk, bamboo and cotton), which is beautifully soft and has the perfect drape.

I quilted it in straight lines, vertically and horizontally echoing the squares. This is the largest quilt that I have made, measuring 75" x 85" and will be perfect for snuggling under in the cooler months.

Oh and it seems my hubby is finally becoming more comfortable with quilts these days.  Here's a shot of him walking us back to the car after bundling up the quilt in his arms.  Happy Days!

Quilt Stats
Quilt Size: 75" x 85"
Quilt design - Plus blocks using 5 1/2" squares
Fabrics for Quilt Top - Anna Maria Horner's Hand Drawn Garden and various low volume fabrics
Fabric for quilt back -  Medallion in Aquamarine from Anna Maria Horner's True Colors
Binding Fabric - Sealing Wax in Amethyst from Anna Maria Haorner's True Colors.
Batting: Oriental Dream

Thank you so much to Amy for hosting this fun event. Now to hop over there myself and get me some inspiration!

Blogger's Quilt Festival : Field Study Triangles (Throw Quilt)

If you are visiting from the festival then a huge welcome to this comfy corner of the blogosphere! I am a Brit living with my family in N.Africa and I have been quilting for about 3 years.

A triangle quilt has been floating toward the surface of my bucket list for a while now.  I love colour and dense saturated colour at that! When I was thinking about how I could best show off my beautiful FQs of Anna Maria's Field Study, I plumped for 6" triangles.

So a few weeks ago on a dreary afternoon and completely on a whim, I cut up my treasured 24 FQs in to lots and lots of equilateral triangles.  I didn't use a special ruler - I just used this tutorial.

I then randomly pieced them together. No solids. No negative space. Just a riot of colour and designs in pinks, purples, mustard, orange, greens, blues and brown and not forgetting a little leopard print - the way Anna Maria Horner does best.

Did I mention this is a quilt for me? Oh okay, perhaps I'll let the family have a snuggle!  I know it will be used, loved and appreciated. So I went for something pretty special for the backing; I used a gorgeous Loulouthi voile - so soft and luxurious, which I found for a bargain $6 a yard.  The burnt orange and duck egg blue Coreopsis flowers are beautiful and work perfectly with the front!

I used Dream Orient for the backing - it was the first time I had used it and it is gorgeous - a mix of bamboo, silk, cotton and botanic tencel (a man made fibre from wood pulp apparently) and it gives the most perfect drape and is super soft.

When it came to quilting, I realized I was running low on thread! Living where I do, it's impossible to buy good quality thread locally. Luckily, I didn't want the quilting to be too dense as I wanted to maintain the softness of the quilt. So I reckoned I had just enough of some taupe Gutermann thread to quilt it in vertical lines 1 1/2" apart and then go over every other line with a wavy line.  I did but only just!

I love all things blue at the moment and so bound it in Amy Butler's Folly in zinc from her Cameo line.

A couple of days ago I finished the quilt - just in time for the festival!

It measures 62" x 73" and it's being suspended here by my 5 year old son!

Unusually, it was a dull and miserable day here yesterday but the quilt definitely added some colour!

Thanks as ever to Amy for hosting this fabulous bi-annual event.

Bloggers Quilt Festival

I've been loving seeing everyone's entries to the fall edition of the Bloggers Quilt Festival hosted by Amy over at Amy's Creative Side timed to coincide with quilt market each year.

Since the last Bloggers Quilt Festival, production has been a little down to say the least for one reason or another and to be honest I had decided not to enter a quilt. But then with Round 2 of the Modern Christmas Tablerunner Swap kicking off, I thought of the tablerunner I made for my partner in Round 1 at the end of last year.

This is still one of my favourite makes. I wanted to created something that would look the same from wherever anyone was sitting at the table. I love it because to me, it manages to feel Christmassy yet none of the fabrics used are Christmas fabrics. I used a palette of deep reds, greens and blues.

It turned out pretty much just like my preliminary sketch!

 

On the back of the runner I made a large central starflower so that it was a reversible tablerunner...

...and I tried out some random free motion quilting, which was a first for me and appliqued a small Fatima's hand, the symbol traditionally used here in Morocco to give protection against the 'evil eye'...

...before packaging this tablerunner off to my swap partner in Canada.

So this is my small entry in the Blogger's Quilt Festival. If you are visiting for the first or umpteenth time, please leave me a comment!

The tablerunner measures 18" x 36" approx.

Special techniques - free motion quilting, applique

Quilted by me!

Best Category Favourite mini quilt

Bloggers` Quilt Festival Fall 2011

I`m so happy to be participating in the Fall Bloggers` Quilt Festival being hosted over at Amy`s Creative Side!  Hi to anyone visiting for the first time - you are very welcome so take a look round and I`d love you to leave a comment if you have time!

My entry is the Marrakech Rose Quilt, which I only finished a couple of weeks ago.  I hope my regular followers will bear with me but this quilt is special to me and I love it very much.

It`s big and it`s bold and I`ve always known that it wouldn`t be everyone`s choice but it was heavily influenced by the city which is my home, and which gave it its name - Marrakech in Morocco.  Perched on the north western tip of Africa, Morocco is a hot, noisy and colourful place and the city of Marrakech is no exception.  Like my quilt, you`ll either love it or hate it.  There`s no room for indifference here.

I`ve been quilting for a couple of years now and I started this quilt back in the spring as a quilt to cheer up our bedroom. It was the third quilt I started and the fourth quilt I finished and the first for us. I love to use colours clashing together. Because of the light here, bold and colourful quilts really work. My husband says he loves it but it`s not really a man quilt is it?

I hand pieced the sections as when I started it I had no working sewing machine. That all changed a few weeks ago when I got a lovely new Janome with a walking foot.  I straight line quilted it with a square spiral in the central block leaving a puffy space in the centre. For the other concentric squares, I echo quilted and I like the effect it gives to the backing too.

Here are its stats.

Started in March 2011

Finished in October 2011

Hand pieced

Machine quilted

Fabrics for the top are Kaffe Fasset, Amy Butler, Jennifer Paganelli, Anthology and Alexander Henry

Backing fabric is Songbird in Lime by Diane Kappa

Binding is Heirloom by Joel Dewberry

Made for my husband and me

A huge thank you to Amy for hosting this amazing event where we can see so many beautiful quilts laid out in all their glory just like a regular quilt festival.  So go visit and see the amazing creations being exhibited.