My Favorite Quilt – Bloggers Quilt Festival
Amy over at AmysCreativeSide.com is hosting the Blogger’s Quilt Festival October 29th – November 5th. This is the second time I’ve participated. Last fall I showed the Blue Applecore quilt I gave my husband. This year I’m entering “Music Lessons” – another quilt I’ve made for my husband.
This quilt started off with a casual purchase “oh, look music fabric” and an innocent remark by my husband. “Wouldn’t it be cool to make a quilt with nothing but music fabric – just a single repeat of each fabric?”
It was the Spring of 2003 and I was still a machine knitter and a want-to-be-quilter. I had quilt patterns and magazines, and a little bit of cotton fabric, but I hadn’t really been bit by the “Quilt Pox’. In fact I purchased my first music FQs the Spring of 2003 in at Silks & More Fine Fabrics – now Appletree Quilting Center in Columbia, Missouri, while I was making arrangements for a statewide gathering of Bond Machine Knitters.
Isn’t it funny how we can remember where we purchased some of our fabric. Or is it just me?
Anyway I showed the fabric to my husband and the comment about a quilt and the idea for a music quilt was born. Although I didn’t like his idea of chunk of fabric – I wanted to piece something.
Over the next five years I began to collect music themed fabric. It was given to me my by my mom and friends. I bought music fabric on-line that I couldn’t find locally. Since I didn’t have a pattern in mind, I kept collecting music themed fabric.
I think this picture was taken after I completed the quilt top.
Then one day while I was surfing the web, I spotted a picture of a quilt with lots of floral fabrics. Each one was different and the “piecing” was done in the sashing and cornerstones. I then had a design for my music fabric.
I started the quilt in September 2008 and finished the top the following April. It would take until the end of the year begin quilting on it. I needed a back!
So, I pieced the back from the “leftover” music fabric.
See that swag fabric in the middle of the back. That’s Andover Fabrics Marching Band by Gail Kessler. I searched the entire metro area for that fabric without success. I found it on-line, but didn’t want to buy a border fabric without seeing it. On the Iowa road trip (13 stores in 3 day) I found the fabric in one of the last stores we visited that weekend.
Music fabric still came into the house after the quilt top was completed. Some of it got worked into the back of the quilt. The top left corner is one piece and the last full square on the third row was a new fabric.
In total there are 168 different fabrics on the front of the quilt. Two different colorways of the same print count as two. I also included a block I printed which has a scan of one of my husband’s original piano pieces on it. The back contains at least three prints which did not make it into the front of the quilt – two were purchased after the top was complete, the third was the swag.
As I was finishing the quilting my husband and I started thinking about what to call the quilt. It had been known as “the music quilt” & “music star”, but I felt the quilt needed a more significant name. We came up with “Music Lessons”.
If you’ve gotten this far, thank you for reading. Check out other quilters’ favorite quilts over at Blogger’s Quilt Festival.
QA Progress Report
Just a quick note of my progress on this week’s goals so far.
- Get at least two rings on Row 5 quilted on the DWR – 1/2 of the last block on row 4 done.
- Quilt at least two blocks on my Cream & Green quilt – have one done
- Rip out the quilting I’ve already done on the Cream & Green quilt – have ripped out 3 of the six
- Write up entry for Amy’s Creative Side – Blogger’s Quilt Festival – written and ready to post tomorrow.
Off to work on the DWR. I wonder what I can find to watch on television tonight?
QA Wednesday
Maybe I need to put on my list of things to do is write the Quilter’s Accountability post each week. I didn’t get much done last week -and I can’t tell you why. So, let’s go back to the previous week’s goals:
- Quilt on the DWR – at least one hour a day – I’ve gotten distracted and it shows
- Piece the backing for the Row Quilt – Done!
- Attach the backing and quilt top to the HandiQuilter leaders – Done !
- Quilt the Row Quilt – Done!
- Piece the Sept & Oct KVQG BOM – still not done — maybe I’ll get all three blocks done by the Nov meeting?
So on to the goals for this week.
- Get at least two rings on Row 5 quilted on the DWR
- Quilt at least two blocks on my Cream & Green quilt
- Rip out the quilting I’ve already done on the Cream & Green quilt
- Write up entry for Amy’s Creative Side – Blogger’s Quilt Festival
The DWR is self explanatory — I want this quilt done by our wedding anniversary at the end of November. 2 rings won’t get me there — I think I need to quilt one ring a day, but I don’t think that’s realistic. This quilt is on several of my UFO challenge lists, so if I miss our anniversary I would like to get it done by December 18th – the last day to turn in finishes for the UFQ project at Heritage Fine Fabrics. This is the last quilt on that list. It is also on my list for the Finn’s End of Year UFO Challenge & one of my on-line e-mail lists.
The Cream & Green quilt is on two UFO challenge lists. I have until the end of the year to finish it. There are twenty blocks, so I need to do at least two blocks a week to get it done. Additionally, I’ve decided I’m not thrilled with the way the quilt came out on the first six blocks I’ve quilted .
If you click on the picture you should be able to enlarge it to see the quilting on this block. This was done with just a few registration marks. Needless to say the quilting is not consistent on all of the blocks. I could go with it, but I tried something different tonight which I like better.
I’ve drawn out the quilting on a full sheet label (contact paper could work as well) and put it on the block to stitch around. I’ve done this in the past, so I’m not sure why I didn’t consider it this time.
Check in next week to see if I got any of this done, and follow the links on Bari’s blog to see what others are planning to accomplish.
New Year’s Eve UFO Challenge
Finn is having a New Year’s Eve UFO Challenge. No prizes, just the satisfaction in seeing how many projects collectively the participants can get done by the end of the year. I’ve listed three as my challenge number. Admittedly, two of these quilts are on other UFO lists, but I’m all for all the support I can get to see that I get these quilts done.
#1 – The Double Wedding Ring
This is from a couple of weeks ago. I think I have one more ring to quilt and I’ll be half way through the quilting. (I’ve just about given up on having this quilt finished by November 29th, so the next date would be December 18th).
#2 – Cream & Green Quilt
This is the other quilt on one of my other UFO challenge lists. The blocks are from a swap I participated in the Fall of 2006. I’m quilting each block and sashing then setting them together. There are 20 blocks and this one is due December 31st.
#3 – Compass Lone Star
This is another quilt-as-you-go project. I need to get the background quilted and then start adding the pieced borders. The plan is to have a border of LeMoyne Stars and who knows what else — I’ll have to pull my pattern and see. This quilt is not on any UFO list –this year. Both it and the Cream & Green were on a list 2 years ago and as you can see I didn’t get them done.
Come join the challenge. The button on my side bar will take you to Finn’s blog for more information.
What’s on my Design Wall
It’s something new — sort of . My Blue Ridge Beauty blocks which I started back in May in Bonnie Hunter’s class. I’m making this roughly twin size. I’m winging this as far as block placement goes. I’m starting at the top of my stack of blocks and sewing them according to my layout diagram I printed from EQ7.
This was my leader/ender project, so now it’s time for a new one. I’m leaning toward Color Play in Volume one of Sew Scrappy Better Homes and Gardens Creative Collection magazine. (I looked for a link on the BH&G website and couldn’t find one. This link is the first one that came up when I did a web search).
I’ve gotten as far as dumping my 2 1/2″ precut squares on the ironing board. I can’t decide if I want to let it be “anything goes” and just sew a lighter square to a darker square (probably the fastest way to get started) or pick a “theme”. The quilt in the magazine used green, red, yellow and blue prints, stripes and polka dots. Regardless of what I decide, I’ll have to buy the sashing and border fabric. I don’t have 3 1/2 yards of a “solid” in any color — well, maybe bright yellow, but I don’t think that’s the answer.
See what’s on others’ design wall by following the links over at Patchwork Times.
Stash Report
This week there was more fabric in than out. The week started off with quilting the Row Quilt, but both the backing and bind was counted last week. Monday night was Guild where Sally Collins was our guest speaker. Between seeing her exquisite quilt and the Guild auction in the spring, I decided to try my own hand at making a mini quilt.
Mini blocks just don’t take a whole lot of fabric. I’ve got the fabric cut for another dozen of the 1″ stars — well into strips. If I cut the actual pieces, they might end up in the trash they are so small!
Mini quilts also require fabric with tiny prints. This required shopping. I have more than enough fabric to complete my mini quilt, but I want variety. So, over the next few months I’ll need to pick up another 4 or 5 FQ.
Saturday I got to meet Mary of Quiltn’ Grandma’s Blog.
Mary was in town visiting her son last week and on Saturday while he was at work we went to the Sewing and Quilting Expo and to Peddler’s Wagon in Parkville, MO (do not trust Yahoo! Maps for this store). That’s where I picked up the white and cream fabric for my redwork snowmen.
So, here’s this week’s damages:
Fabric Added this Week: 3.5 yards
Fabric Added to Date: 154.011 yards
Fabric Used this Week: 0.257 yards
Fabric Used to Date: 
86.901 yards
Net Stash for 2010: 67.11 yards
Check out how others are doing over at Patchwork Times.
The Row Quilt is Finished!
Last week I prepped the binding so I could start putting it on when I got home from Butler Sunday afternoon. I took a nap when I got back, so I only got the binding attached. I finished sewing it down (on the machine) during my lunch break, then tossed it into the wash. I pulled it out of the dryer as I was leaving for quilt guild (what an amazing program by Sally Collins — I think I want to do a small/miniature quilt now).
This evening, just before I lost all daylight, I had my husband hang the quilt on the gutters — I’m no longer allowed to do this since I fell off the ladder in the spring cleaning the gutters.
Since he was out there with me, here’s a picture of the backing –ignore the stuff in the garage:
Finally a closeup of the quilting — it’ won’t win any awards, but I’m very happy with it:
Cross a UFO from 2005 off my list!
What’s on My Design Wall
It’s a blank wall today. The Row Quilt is on the sewing machine so I can attach the binding and of course the DWR is in the hoop for continued hand quilting. There are a few pieces of Blue Ridge Beauty on my sewing table to use a Leader/Enders and I think there are only 20 block left before I can start playing with layouts
See if anyone else has something on their design wall by following the links over at Patchwork Times.
It’s Quilted!
This afternoon I drove down to Butler and used the HandiQuilter 16 at Rocking Chair Quilts to quilt the row quilt.
The batting is Warm & White. I used Güttermann 100% cotton 50 wt in the top and a Superior prewound bobbins (1 1/2) in the bobbin. The quilting is an all over free form flower — the same one I used on the baby quilt I practiced on a couple of weeks ago. Now to get the binding on it.
