Butterfly Quilt Top

It’s finished!  Hip hip hooray!  This quilt top spent far too many months sitting, but now is complete.  I stitched the borders on a couple of weeks ago and talked my husband and son into holding it up for a quick photo.  It’s huge!

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I’ll share more photos of this quilt after it’s quilted – there is no way I’m doing this one myself.  The color scheme is very similar to Tula Pink’s original, but I used fabrics from many different designers  to make it my own.  I really love how it looks and will be sure to share when it’s done!

I’m not doing too great on my 14 quilts in 2014 goal, but if you count quilt tops I’m close.:)  It always feels good to get a project to this point, especially a project like this.  Yay!

Jennifer

Winged Blog Tour: Flight Quilt


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Welcome to Day 7 of the Winged Blog Tour .  I feel like one lucky girl to have this opportunity!  This blog tour celebrates the beautiful Winged fabric collection , designed by Bonnie Christine of Going Home To Roost .  There have been some fun and creative things made so far, including the lovely tote yesterday at May Chappell .

Bonnie’s fabrics have been among my favorites since the release of her first collection, Reminisce.  I made my Scrappy Hunter’s Star quilt from that line, and you can find my Sweet as Honey Hexagon Beehive mini quilt here.
This new Winged collection is no different.  The colors are vibrant and beautiful and the designs have a lot of movement to them, which made sewing with them a delight.

With that, let me introduce you to my Flight Quilt:

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I have always loved watching birds.  Not only are they beautiful, but they inspire in me a sense of potential.   Most of them are small and fragile, yet when they take flight they seem capable of anything.  They remind me that I, too, can do great things.  Even before I saw the fabrics in Bonnie’s collection, I loved what she had to say about them:

“this feeling of spreading one’s great wings and soaring is one that connects with me deeply. a long time ago i decided that i would pursue my dreams no matter what. i would make great sacrifices, journey into the unknown put my heart and soul on the line to live my creative dream.

that is what winged is about.


spreading your wings and flying into the unknown.

”  – Bonnie Forkner Her words resonate with me, as this theme has been much on my mind in recent months.  I believe her fabrics capture this idea beautifully and I wanted to sew something that would elevate my thoughts and remind me of my own potential – of the potential within each one of us.

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As I explored ideas for sewing with these fabrics I was drawn to the traditional circling sparrows block.   The problem was, most of them are quite small, designed for English Paper Piecing, or requiring a lot of Y seams.  I wanted to showcase the beautiful prints with a larger block and simpler construction, so I drafted a foundation piecing pattern that worked with my vision.   Each of the blocks in this quilt are 26 inches square, so they are big and beautiful and allow each fabric to shine!

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To unify the blocks I quilted the quilt in a spiral, lines about 1/2 inch apart.  This was my first time quilting this style and I enjoyed it immensely.  The spiral echoes the circling pattern of the “sparrows” in each block without competing with the fabrics.  The finished quilt measures approximately 52 inches square.

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The quilt back is a vintage sheet I purchased a while ago.  The birds sitting among blossom-covered branches were the perfect compliment to the quilt top, and the colors a great match!

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As the weather turns cold and blustery, these fabrics bring cheer to my heart.

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The green flyaway petalums print makes a perfect binding for this quilt.

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These photos may be my favorites; I love the cute little fingers of my daughter peeking over the edge of the bench.  She was so patient while I took photos, but was definitely feeling done by this point!

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As I was taking these pictures a bird lighted on a branch in the tree above.  The words of Victor Hugo came to mind:

“Be like the bird, Who Halting in his flight On limb too slight Feels it give way beneath him, Yet sings Knowing he hath wings.”

My wish today is that all of us will spread our wings, rejoice in the abilities we have, and soar a little higher.



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Many thanks to Bonnie for putting together this blog tour!  I’ve been hopping along with the schedule and seen some beautiful things.  Tomorrow’s stop will be with Jessica at Snickerdoodle Stew and I’m sure she’s got something awesome ready!

Thanks for visiting!
Jennifer

Scout Quilt


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Meet my Scout quilt!  It’s been a year since I finished it, but somehow I managed not to share it here.

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The pattern for the quilt is Scout by Cluck Cluck Sew , and you can purchase it here .  It’s a strip pieced quilt and comes together very quickly. For my version I used mostly Art Gallery fabrics with a few other favorites added in.   Lots of saturated color and flowers in this one!

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For the backing, I took the leftover pieces of my strips and made them into a scrappy strip to add to my backing.  This large music notes print is an IKEA print that I stumbled upon.  I haven’t seen it there before or since, but it makes a great quilt back!  As you can see, I quilted it in a simple chevron pattern horizontally across the quilt.  Nothing fancy.

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The binding is a scrappy one and makes me smile.  I think it compliments the quilt well.

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Much as I loved it, I chose to gift this quilt to an old friend of mine, who also taught violin lessons to my daughters for a couple of years.  It felt like an appropriate gift of gratitude to offer her, especially with that quilt back!

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As the days grow short and the weather more blustery, I’m grateful for warm quilts to wrap around loved ones.  I really love this hobby!

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Thanks for visiting!

Jennifer

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