The story of Kate's Plaids quilt

This is the story of Kate's Plaids quilt. 

Kate is my co-worker. We live in and work at 2 different offices but in the same department of one company.  Kate is a person I escalate job related issues to when an additional approval is needed or when a particular negotiation needs another's expertise. She's my "go to" person and has been for a few years.

Normally, I have work acquantainces, a professional relationship that once we go our seperate ways, we aren't likely to chat with each other again.  Kate is more than that.  She has become a work friend and confidant. Kate has helped me through personal issues on the job, has been a good ear when I'm babbling on about family and has been a wonderful cheerleader to my quilting (and fitness) efforts.

Kate is, in short, a wonderful person and I've long wanted to tell her how much she is appreciated. I hope I've done that by returning the favor of being a friend, as much as she's wanted me to be, but I also wanted her to have a tangible reminder and thus, the idea of creating a quilt for her was born.

For many months, I pondered what to make her. I thought it would be great to surprise her but I could never quite settle on colors or design. Instead, I asked her. I told her I wanted to make her a quilt and she let me know her color and style preferences. Then it was on!

One night, after a guild meeting, several guild members and I set about to find the perfect fabrics to compliment the pattern I chose, "Plaid Parade" by Jaybird Quilts. Cutting and piecing went together fairly quickly.

I pieced the back to give her two minkee colors instead of just one and since this was to allow for lounging the AC in the summer, I did not include batting. Just the top and the minkee for a soft and lightweight quilt.

Then came the quilting.  What to do, what to do?  I initially thought to quilt in all the negative space but thankfully, common sense stepped in and reminded me I'd lose the specific kind of cuddly feel I wanted out of the minkee if I did that.   Instead, I quilted diamond ropes in the white sashing of the blocks and just an orange peel type of curve in the colored squares.

 I am more proud of how this quilting looks on the back of the quilt than the front.  I love it when a minkee has a quilted design within it!

Finally, I tried a new technique to label it. I took a leftover piece of binding and machine stitched "Handmade by" on one side and my name on the other.  Then I sewed it into the binding.  I like this method a lot. Simple and inexpensive.

There are numerous errors in my quilting (so much so I thought maybe I should rip them out and redo it all). I pushed myself to a perfectionist expectation because I wanted Kate to be blown away but that was (is) just foolish.  I'm not a professional and I don't mark up my quilts to quilt on them (well, maybe for the custom paid quilts). I also free motion everything. My quilting is always tied to my mood, how relaxed or distracted (or not) I am. So, I've had to remind myself a lot during this one why I quilt in the first place. I quilt to provide a gift that brings comfort and I send them with the sentiment to use them and feel the love and happiness that existed in creating them.  So, I sent it on as is. I'm not perfect and I know I will never have a quilt that is either. That's what makes them unique and special.

So, here is Kate's Plaids. I hope she enjoys it and I truly hope she knows, how much she is appreciated every day, even when we haven't chatted in a while. 

And Kate, if you are reading this. Thank you for being you.

Cheers!
Beck

The Monopoly Quilt won Honorable Mention

Holy cow! I don't know if there were only 3 quilts in the exhibited category or more but I'll gladly accept the quilt was good enough to win an Honorable Mention Ribbon at the quilt festival. 

I'm so tickled about this.

Hubs is very proud and now thinks I should enter quilt shows regularly.  He's determined I submit something to next year's IQFoI.  Personally, I believe he really wants to use it as an excuse to visit Ireland again.  An excuse I can't argue with! LOL

Anyway, last picture and brag. I just wanted to close out the "story" on this one with you all.  The quilt is now back at home and teen son has reclaimed it for his bed.

Cheers!
Beck

I have a quilt at the Int'l Quilt Festival of Ireland!

I was contacted a few months ago with an invitiation to put my Monopoly quilt in the "Games and Puzzles" exhibit at the http://www.iqfoi.com/.   How cool it felt that someone saw my quilt and thought it was nice enough to send that email! 

I pondered whether to send it, after all, it's a bed quilt and has been used daily for a few months by the teen boy.  After a good wash and examination, it appears P has been taking good care of it.  I did ask P if I could send it off to the show and it took him a couple days to decide it was okay.  Frankly, I think that was more of a compliment to the TRUE value of the quilt than even the invitation. Two good compliments in one week.  I had to be careful fitting my head through the doorways for a bit there! -wink-

Anyway, I decided to send it off and it's should be hanging there as I type this. The show is this weekend and if you are going or know anyone who is going, can you do me a favor (or beg a favor for me)?

Could you get a picture of "Monopoly" at the show and email it to me? I'd be forever grateful!

If you are going, have a wonderful time. Hubs and I have been talking about getting back to visit such a beautiful country again, it's too bad we couldn't make it work for this weekend.

Cheers!
Beck

Charity Quilts from one tragedy to another

In the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy, I had volunteered to be a team leader through The Quilting Gallery.  What that meant was I would collect blocks, piece them together, quilt and bind. The blocks started trickling in at the end of Dec. By the end of February, I still hadn't received quite a few even though I sent a reminder out.   I decided to make the remaining blocks myself to get these quilts completed.

Eventually, I reached out to the eQuilter Initiative (the group collecting and distributing the quilts) and asked if I should still send the quilts along once I finish them.  I think my email must have been overlooked and then I'll be honest, time ran away with me and I didn't follow up. I saw the quilts sitting there a few short weeks ago and decided I'd send them along should another need arise.  I knew that, unfortunately, there would be another natural disaster or the like. It's the sad constant of our lives, isn't it.  

I suspect these quilts will come in handy sooner rather than later now and in anticipation of a drive being organized in our quilting community, I wanted to show you these quilts.   It's amazing to me how scrappy fabrics and colors can all, eventually work together.

Quilt 1, one solid binding choice.

Quilt 2, scrappy binding.

May God bless, heal and provide strength to those who need it in Oklahoma, today. If you have a top that's in the WiP pile & without a purpose, maybe you will be able to complete it & donate when the call comes?

Becky

Swooning into the Blogger's Quilt Festival - May 2013!

Amy is at it again. I love that woman. Just in time to come back to the blog after a short break after the SMS Giveaways, Amy hosts the festival.

The main page to the festival is linked HERE.  On this main page, the individual categories will be linked since there are often so many entries.  The other bonus to that, in my opinion, is that it's more organized to see and link around to the sponsors. I love visiting and shopping at the sponsor sites, even if my wallet doesn't!

I have decided to enter one quilt in the festival and that is the Swoon throw quilt I completed late last year and measures about 54" square.  The original post on this Swoon can be found here but I can reiterate some fun facts just for this festival entry.

This pattern, Swoon, by Camille Roskelly, is a great little pattern. I enjoyed making it, I even had a brainstorm on how to simultaneously sew the HSTs for pinwheel blocks that can be used on the quilt as a partial border.

I chose the purple, blue and white fabrics first and then, searched for a background which was different but awesome. This green completely does it for me. I tested the waters a bit and quilted the various sections in different ways. I am so happy with the result!
What I'm most proud of, however, is that most corners in this quilt are as good as this one or pretty darn close.

Lastly, I choose a navy blue to anchor the whole quilt together and because this was a throw, I backed it with a lavender minkee for comfort. Isn't it neat to see all the quilting on the back? It almost looks like it was embossed.
Shortly after this was completed and mentioned my step-son's mom stopped over for a visit & mentioned she was participating in a fundraiser for her sister's support organization. It was a cancer support organization and I'm sorry to say I cannot remember which but I mentioned I just finished a quilt I could donate. When I pulled it out, it turned out the colors were the representative colors for the particular cancer support.  I would have loved to keep this Swoon but I'm much happier knowing it has helped someone who needs it.  I love quilting.

I hope you like it and if you do, please consider giving it a nomination nod. It'd be great to have it recognized but with so many beautiful quilts, I can certainly appreciate it may be a difficult decision. Thanks for stopping by and enjoy the rest of the festival.

Cheers!
Beck