Friday, May 13, 2011

Blogger’s Quilt Festival – Spring 2011!

Once again many thanks to Amy for hosting what has become a huge online event. I look forward to seeing everyone’s beautiful work!

I’d like to share my latest quilt. I took a class in April at my not-so-L QS with Laurie Shifrin. It was a neat class: we spent little time sewing, practicing only the trickiest block portions, but instead cut our fabrics for ease of assembly later and focused on the technical and nontechnical aspects of quilting and fabrics. She actually went from table to table analyzing each person’s fabric selections, discussing the colors in detail and helping the students find the most appealing combinations. She was incredibly helpful: she helped four or five of us select our fabrics from the shop’s shelves, walking around with us, carrying bolts of “possibles,” and gauging the yellow-ness of this one or the grey-ness of that one.
Laurie is a veritable library of quilting knowledge and shared her wealth enthusiastically. She discussed color selection and theory, general fabric characteristics and manufacturing processes, tidbits of history and tricks for such things as efficiently lining up layers prior to cutting, proper ergonomics for sewing, and more. I brought home a bunch of tips. She even provided us with a trunk show! She’d done one at the shop the evening before, and at the end of the class she presented again just for us!
This is my finished quilt using the Queen Charlottes pattern from her book Batik Gems. It was a giant step out of my comfort zone in many ways but I love the finished product. It’s a generous lap size at 60x74”:






















The back:


















This quilt is going to the annual fundraising auction for a local domestic violence services provider.  It will be the first time a monetary value will be attached to one of my quilts (gulp); hopefully its cheery tones will encourage people to be extra-generous!

16 comments:

  1. What a beautiful quilt and you are so generous to donate it to such a worthy cause!

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  2. Oh this is so pretty. I love the front AND the back! Bet it will bring in a good price!

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  3. LOVE this! Great colors. Aren't batiks such fun to play with! Great pattern! Thanks for sharing and have a great day

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  4. Fantastic. You are so generous to create such a beauty for charity.

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  5. Beautiful quilt! How lucky you were to be able to work with Laurie Shifrin. And how generous to donate your quilt.

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  6. This is a beautiful quilt, I am sure someone will pay good dollars for it!
    It ooks like one of those quilt that you could snuggle in all day! :)

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  7. This is so beautiful - I know it will bring a GREAT price! How good of you to donate to such a worthy cause!

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  8. Great quilt. Love the way it has turned out using the colours and that design. Good luck at the auction!

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  9. I love your quilt...Laurie Shifrin's books are my favorite...I'm a batikaholic. I hope the quilt brings a good price!

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  10. What a big, gorgeous, colorful quilt!! I'm glad it's going for such a good cause and I'm sure it will be a huge addition to the fundraiser. LOVE IT!

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  11. Going to such a good cause, how could it not be worth a multitude? It's beautiful and it the photos it looks like you can see straight through it the colors blend so nicely with the trees.... okay, to me :) Thank you for sharing!

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  12. Great quilt! Good luck with the fundraiser!

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  13. What a lovely quilt you are giving away to a good cause. The class you took as part of the process sounds great.

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  14. Gorgeous, and how wonderful of you to auction it off. :)

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