Yay! Its finally here. Amongst the many deadlines (it feels like many) that I have been working towards, the Bloggers' Quilt Festival was way up at the top of my very crowded list. I've been working on my entry for a couple of months now I think. So without further ado, (and you know how I like a little ado) here it is:
Its funny because I did not actually start it with plans that I would be including it in the Quilt Festival. But it just turned out that the timing was right. I started it planning that it would be a mini wall quilt (that is a miniature quilt to hang on a wall, not a quilt to hang on a miniature wall. Ah grammar, how you confound me!) but it was so fun that I just kept patching and patching and it quickly devleoped into somthing larger.
But not too large, as I've recently done some rawther big, very time intensive quilts and quite frankly with my new baby and accompanying new-baby-bad-back, my body is just not up to the task of a large quilt. So I decided it would be a play quilt. You know, something I could spread on the floor or the grass for the New Baby to lie on during tummy time. That way I don't have to vacuum. Yeah, I know, making a quilt by hand seems to be an inefficient way to avoid housework, but there it is.
Alright, on to some details about the quilt. It came out to be 56" square. It was inspired by the fabrics I used for it. That's how my quilt inspiration usually works. Like many quilters, I am a fabric hoarder. But I'm also a vintage and thrifting enthusiast, so the fabric that I buy tends to be second hand and repurposed. Don't get me wrong, I love new fabric, but I find it expensive, so I really only buy it as a splurge. But I have a serious, serious collection of vintage bed linens. It all started during my undergrad in art school, as that is my preferred material for my artworks, but now I use it for almost everything I make.
Anyhow, these red and white fabrics are amongst my favourites. Most are old bed sheets, but some are also from clothes. That oak leaf and acorn pattern for example was a ladies shirt. Generally I prefer bed sheets though as they are almost always easy to work with (if you look for good quality ones). That acorn shirt, though a very cute pattern really sucked to work with. It was a very tight weave which you would have thought would make it easier, but it often stretched especially on the bias, and made for very wonky triangles.
I backed it with another vintage bed sheet that I love and have been saving for just the right project. This one really tied it all together.
I'd say about 80% of the fabrics in this quilt are vintage or repurposed. Only two of the patterned stripes are new fabric (the zig zag and the cherry blossom type floral that is next to it, just in case you are wondering).
As I said, the reds and whites were my point of departure, so I thought that a complimentary blue and turquoise stripes would really make it pop. I was trying to just use fabric from my stash, but at one point was in need of just one more blue for one of the stripes, but didn't have the right thing for it. And also, it was the Easter weekend, so I could not get to the store for anything. And when things get desperate, anything is potential quilting material. Such as this shirt from my Husbands closet. Just the right purple-y blue. He was kind enough to concede that no, he did not wear it often, and yes, it was very '90s and so it was donated to my cause.
The whole thing was machine pieced, and the patterned centre was hand quilted.
But when it came to the border, I decided to machine quilt it, because I really wanted the quilting to be obvious. I continued the pattern of concentric diamonds out into the borders, and pieced pinwheels from all white fabric for the corners and then quilted them in the ditch.
The border is made up of strips of the fabrics that I used for the quilt's pieced centre.
I really like the way a scrappy binding looks. I think its something I'll do more often.
And now, the best part of making the quilt: Laying my beautiful baby on it! That is, after all, its intended purpose.
And he seemed to enjoy his new quilt.
I try very hard to let my quilts be functional. With my art background, that doesn't always come easily to me. (Art works are supposed to be archival, and stay in pristine condition. Little white gloves to handle them and acid free paper to wrap them in an all that. It can get a little precious.) There is always the temptation to be too careful with the things that I've made. Since so much work went into them, its sometimes hard to let them get dirty, as I'm always a little afraid to put them in the wash. But I made this quilt with baby spit up in mind. With all that crazy pattern, hopefully a little bit of regurgitated milk shouldn't stand out too much, and I've promised myself that I'm going to let the cookie crumbs and drool fall where they may, and be very cavalier about just chucking it into the washing machine with a load of towels.
Now, go and see all the other quilts in the Bloggers' Quilt Festival. Either click on that link, or use the pink and yellow button in the top right sidebar of my blog. Today is the first day of the event but it runs until May 20th and by the end of the week there will be many, many quilts to see and blogs to visit, so check back there later too. Enjoy!
That's a really lovely quilt
Posted by: Alison | 05/13/2011 at 08:49 AM
Your quilt looks great - so bright and fresh. Love the use of the red and blue through the design. And your baby is totally gorgeous!!
Posted by: Karen | 05/13/2011 at 09:05 AM
I love the quilt. Wow is your baby a cutie (and I love pictures of baby feet!). This was very fun to read.
Posted by: liveacolorfullife | 05/13/2011 at 09:14 AM
Bellisimo! Thanks for sharing the process and making me giggle when you raided hubby's closet. Makes me want to get a husband. Wait, that's just crazy. ☺
BTW, Supercute makes a great model!!
Posted by: duff | 05/13/2011 at 09:18 AM
One of the things I love so much about this Festival is seeing how many young quilters there are out this, making some lovely, lovely, functional quilts like this one. When I had my babies, it seemed no one my age was interested in quilting. So it is great to see so many young people taking it up. I absolutely love your color combination here. So young and fresh, and perfect for that adorable baby!
Posted by: Angie Padilla | 05/13/2011 at 09:23 AM
What a cutie-pie baby! Great work on recycling and reusing. The quilt looks so pretty in red, white, and blue. I really like the design and perfect for a play quilt.
Posted by: Carla | 05/13/2011 at 09:41 AM
GREAT Quilt! Love the colors. The pattern is wonderful, such great movement. And your little "quilt tester" is adorable. That's a a quilt he'll love for a long time. Let him drag it around behind him, that's what quilts are for! Really fun.
Posted by: Lisa | 05/13/2011 at 10:04 AM
Beautiful baby and stunning quilt. Your art background definitely pays off because the order that you put the colors is really striking.
Posted by: Anne | 05/13/2011 at 10:10 AM
Oh, my goodness. You're so funny! Your post had me laughing out loud. Love the quilt. You did an incredible job selecting fabrics. And the baby? Could not be cuter!
Posted by: Katie B | 05/13/2011 at 12:51 PM
lovely quilt, great colours. Gorgeous baby, so cute, I also made my Bloggers Festival Quilt for my baby boy, and I use quilts on the floor instead of vacuuming too!
Posted by: Lotti | 05/13/2011 at 01:41 PM
I love everything about your quilt, your repurposed fabrics, the colours, the design, the quilting - and I especially love the backing fabric. Your baby is pretty cute too. :)
Posted by: Janet | 05/13/2011 at 02:07 PM
Repurposed clothes and bed linens is great--I love vintage bed linens myself. Thanks for sharing and precious baby!
Posted by: Sara | 05/13/2011 at 02:25 PM
I really like your quilt too, and enjoyed reading the story of it too. I laughed about you cutting up your husbands shirt for the "big" purpose. The result I think really worth it. I hope the little guy will enjoy it too. He seems to. :)
Posted by: Kornelia | 05/13/2011 at 02:26 PM
So pretty!! I love the whole aqua/red/qhite combination!! I have a few of these fabrics saved up for just the right day/project. Thanks for the wonderful inspiration to make good use of repurposed fabric as well.
Cheers!
Rachel
http://www.dewberrylane.com
Posted by: Rachel | 05/13/2011 at 02:38 PM
I love that you steal your husbands shirts for fabric, too funny! But worth it, that quilt is fantastic. And used quilts can still be art, think all the old amish quilts in museums now, lots of them were well used.
Posted by: Jill | 05/13/2011 at 02:45 PM
OH, I love to buy fabric at thrift stores. I made my granddaughter a dress out of a vintage sheer curtain last summer, and it was gorgeous, and only cost me about $3 to make the whole thing!
That quilt is very pretty,but that baby is gorgeous!
Posted by: Karen | 05/13/2011 at 03:28 PM
darling and vibrant quilt. wonderful story and best pictures are with your absolutely adorable baby!! congratulations. hope your back does better soon--can totally empathize.
Posted by: eileen | 05/13/2011 at 03:29 PM
I love everything about this quilt - the pattern, the colors, the repurposed fabrics, the backing, the quilting - but especially that precious little baby lying on it! He's adorable!
Posted by: Allie | 05/13/2011 at 06:45 PM
What a bright and cheerful quilt for your baby to play on. I had to laugh about using your husband's shirt. My husband has started being very protective about his closet since I raided it a while ago for old Hawaiian shirts. He wasn't wearing them anymore, and now he is excited about having them in a quilt so he can still appreciate them.
Posted by: Miki | 05/13/2011 at 06:55 PM
Gorgeous quilt, gorgeous baby!
Posted by: Liz | 05/13/2011 at 08:00 PM
Love the quilt, the quilting, the story, and the little punkin smiling on top of the quilt!
Posted by: Linda | 05/13/2011 at 08:12 PM
What a cute quilt! And with such an adorable model to show it off ;) I love the color combinations you chose.
Posted by: kelley | 05/13/2011 at 08:31 PM
I love these colours together!
Great work, I love that you cut up yoru husbands shirt to finish it! Now, thats a quilter! :)
Posted by: Kelli | 05/13/2011 at 08:33 PM
this was such a great post about your quilt and the process of it, love your style (cause it's similar to mine ;) glad I found you through the festival.
Posted by: Kelly | 05/13/2011 at 08:45 PM
Very colorful and I love the scrappy binding!
Posted by: Linda | 05/13/2011 at 09:23 PM