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!