One of my favorite quilts hangs on the Living Room wall most of the year so I can enjoy it.
For several years I made "Round Robin" quilts with two friends, Ellen and Sharon. In 2004 on a trip to Alaska I bought the same fabric in three colorways for one of those projects. The fabric is the one used as my outer border. Each of us made a center block of our choosing, then we passed that and our fabrics on to each other for the next border to be added. We could add fabric to the quilt, it just had to look like it belonged with the other fabrics.
I started with my beloved Feathered Star, a block I have used several times in medallion style quilts. I love the elegance and challenge of this block with many pieces.
Ellen added the large poppies and border beyond the poppies. Sharon added the sawtooth border and the gold area. When I got it back I loved it so much and knew it deserved to be larger.
Over the next 7 years I worked on the appplique border, inspired by a Nancy Pearson design. I drew all the flowers, cut all the templates, made miles of narrow bias stems, and hand appliqued for years to get it done.
Then I hand quilted it. Wool batt is lovely to hand quilt on and I enjoyed every stitch. But it's time consuming and life was busy then so it was 7 years before I finally finished this quilt.
The timing was perfect. It was ready for my guild quilt show in 2011. It was awarded Best of Show that year. The following year it was juried into the American Quilt Society show in Paducah, KY. In 2014 it was selected as one of the 500 best Traditional Quilts featured in a book by that name. And it was included in the Special Exhibit of many of the quilts from that book at International Quilt Festival in Houston 2014.
Here are some detail shots:
Not my usual colors, but this quilt just came together, one step at a time, and I love everything about it.
I am not sure if I will ever hand quilt a bed size quilt again so that makes this one that much more special.
Let's quilt.
Barbara
It is so beautiful, Barbara! A very special quilt. No wonder it is one of your top favorites!
ReplyDeleteThe bed quilt I have in my hoop has been a work in progress for years. With the shoulder and back trouble that hand quilting aggravates, it is probably the last large quilt I will hand quilt--if I ever get it done. :)
That is quite a story - hope it is written out several places and goes where ever that quilt goes for prosperity.
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