Friday, October 9, 2009

Blogger's Quilt Festival - my showcase

Park City Girl is having her second Showcase during Quilt Festival in Houston. It's for those of us who don't get to go to Houston. We're having our own Festival on our Blogs. Each participant is writing about and showing her choice of ONE quilt.

So here is my favorite from this year (so far):

It started with a challenge on the internet to make a Rail Fence quilt. I decided to make mine monocromatic, and use up a lot of my YELLOW fabrics.





When I was putting the blocks together I decided to put the lighter ones in the middle and the darker ones around the edges. Since this was in late June, all this yellow made me think of "Summer Sun", and it was going to be done to use THIS JULY!



The idea then was "Sun".


Therefore I made one block that was a Snowball for the center, and slashed some of the other blocks to insert "rays". It wasn't great, needed a better center. . . .







so I put WonderUnder on the back of a piece of white, cut a spiral, and then fused the spiral down to the Snowball block.

Catherine Martin does my quilting on large quilts. I asked her to use a "summer" weight bat and to quilt in radial lines from the center out to all the edges. She did an even better job by making those "flames" in the middle and on some of the quilted rays.


I used up lots of scraps and more of my yellow fabrics on the back. I wrote various song lines about SUMMER there with an orange marker. "Summertime, and the livin' is easy!"
"In the good ol' summer time, in the good ol' summertime!"
One of the sections also became my LABEL.





When the quilt was ready for the bed, I realized that it needed special pillowcases. There were enough scraps left to make cuffs for the two pillows and also my little knee pillow.

This quilt has been just a joy to me. Right now I hate to think that it has to go into storage as we need a heavier quilt for the fall, and our duvet for the winter.

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Sara
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Gratitudes:
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Enjoyed the quilt on our bed for three months.
Just home from a fun trip to Mackinc Island.
Reading Barbara Brown Taylor's Altars in the World in the car with Charlie.

27 comments:

Aimee said...

Wow! This is beautiful! I've thought for years (way before I ever learned how to quilt) that I would like to make a sunburst quilt. I love how you've done yours!

West Michigan Quilter said...

What a beautiful quilt. I've seen some of your other work too and you are an inspiration. I love your bright colors.

Zonnah said...

Wow, I love this quilt and how you quilted it.

Terri Stegmiller said...

What a lovely burst of sunshine for your bed.

Marit said...

Your quilt is so sunny and cheerful, it will brighten any room. Lovely!!

Barb in Mi said...

Just beautiful! I fully understand your reluctance of changing to a fall/ winter quilt. You gave me great idea for my yellow fabrics/ scraps - and here we go with another project on my quilts-to-do-list... Thanks for sharing!

Mom said...

It just radiates energy!
thanks for sharing,
Margaret
www.quiltsoflove.blogspot.com

Shari said...

This quilt will provide lots of sun for our Michigan winters!

Quilter Kathy said...

Gosh I love this quilt! And pillowcases to match...WOW!

Unknown said...

So sunny and happy! I love it. And the matching pillowcase really makes it :)

Kim said...

This should be hanging in Houston right now with a big blue ribbon on it! Love the starburst effect, just gorgeous!

SaraVictorious said...

This is really inspirational! I love how you took such a well-known, basic pattern, and made it absolutely personal, individual, and fabulous!

Katie B said...

This is so cool! I love the way it looks on the bed with the coordinating pillowcases.

Julie Bagamary said...

Very clever and beautiful!

Rebekah said...

Gorgeous! I love all the colors together. Your quilting in the sun pattern is beautiful!

Bev said...

What a wonderful setting for rail fence! The center spiral is perfect!

SewCalGal said...

Great quilt. Very nice colors & fabric selection. You did a fantastic job!

Thanks for sharing and for participating in the Bloggers Quilt Festival.

SewCalGal
www.sewcalgal.blogspot.com

Rene' said...

Beautiful. Love all the yellows and the combo rail fence with the center block. Thanks for sharing.

Leslie said...

this is amazing what a beautiful job!!! i love the way the color radiates outward!!! awesome

stitchinpenny said...

How creative you are to turn a simple rail fence into such an unusual quilt.

Jocelyn said...

Love it! So bright and cheerful. I am trying to make my way through the quilt festival. There are so many lovely quilts to look at.

Jocelyn
http://happycottagequilter.blogspot.com/

quiltmom anna said...

This is a wonderful happy quilt- It radiates light and makes one want to smile. Thanks for sharing your wonderful piece.
Enjoy the show.
Warmest regards,
Anna

Carol said...

Delightfully cheerful :)

Lynn E said...

Oh I just love your summer sun quilt!!!Its so cheerful and light.

dq said...

I absolutely LOVE your creativity with the rail fence pattern!! I'm linking a post from my blog to this quilt so I can re-enjoy it time and again!

Dresden Quilter said...

What a great quilt. I love how the colours, applique and quilting all work together to create just a burst of sunshine.

Casey said...

I love the colors. It's beautiful.