Heritage Park Here I Come!

Every year at the end of May, Calgary's Heritage Park hosts the Festival of Quilts.

Heritage Park is a historical village, set in what is one of the most beautiful locations in the city.

This photo is from a few years ago, and shows the Wainwright Hotel, with all the quilts.  They are also displayed in the houses, draped over fences, hung on clotheslines and hung under tents.  On a nice May day, it is a spectacular show!

I haven't ever entered a quilt.  It isn't a judged show, but all the same, I didn't think my quilts were good enough.  But this year, I picked up an entry form, and noticed that this year, they have a special call for appliqué quilts.  And this year, I have this one:

This is Stars Around the Garden.  I've shown you this before.  It was a Saturday Sampler, that was started a few years ago, and finished up last fall.   It was quilted by the wonderfully talented Chelsea at Pins and Bobbins.

So, I've sent in my entry, and will deliver my quilt on May 21, and be looking for it at the Festival, May 25 and 26.

Linking up with The Needle and Thread Network

Stars Around The Garden - Finished!

I've got the binding all sewn down on Stars Around The Garden.  I couldn't be happier with the way this quilt turned out!

The pattern is by Bits and Pieces Designs.  I did it as a Saturday Sampler at local quilt shop that is, alas, no longer in business.  They provided all of the fabrics for the blocks.  I bought the sashing, choosing brick red instead of the green they had in the shop sample.  The quilt is huge - this is a queen size bed.  I'll have to measure it again, but I think it's around 96 x 108!

The quilt was quilted by the very talented Chelsea, at Pins and Bobbins.  Here are some close-ups of her quilting.  Click on the pictures for a better view.

She echo quilted the applique, then some free motion stippling around that:

The pieced blocks each had a stencilled design that mirrored the gorgeous feathers in the sashing:

In the borders, she quilted leaves and flowers to mirror that applique, then echo stitched around them:

More of the border, and you can see the feathers better:

Thank you Chelsea - you have helped me create an heirloom!

Goodbye Quilt (for now)

Well, I boxed up this quilt today:

and sent it off to Chelsea at Pins and Bobbins for quilting.  As you'll recall, Chelsea had a giveaway a while ago, and I was lucky enough to win her "grand" prize - she is going to custom quilt this baby!  I've never had a quilt professionally quilted before - I can hardly wait to see how it turns out.

The pattern, if you're interested, is called Stars Around the Garden.  I don't know who created the pattern, as I got it as a BOM at my local quilt shop, and it was just photocopied pages of instructions for each block, with no identifying information.  But I just googled it, and several online shops are still selling it as a BOM.

Great Giveaway at Pins and Bobbins!

Chelsea, over at Pins and Bobbins is having a wonderfully generous giveaway!

Her giveaway is that she will quilt your quilt for you!  Wow! The details are on her blog.  She lives in Canada, and while she doesn't say, I expect that you would have to pay the shipping costs.  I would be happy to!

What would I like her to quilt?  Right away, I thought of this quilt top.

I made this in a Saturday Sampler a couple years ago.  It isn't 100% complete - there are scrappy borders that go on what looks like the top and bottom here - to match the sides.  Again, I was hoping to do a quilt as you go technique and attach those two borders later.  But, if Chelsea picks me, I have have those borders on lickety split!  The quilt will finish up queen size.

I do have ideas for the centre and for the borders.  The centre would be the usual applique treatment, stitching around the applique, then meandering through the neutrals.  In the scrappy border, I wanted to do some quilting that was similar to the applique flowers.  But then, I'm stuck.  What to do with all of those pieced blocks is beyond me.  And the sashing too - who knows??  So, maybe Chelsea will have a good idea.

Thanks, Chelsea, for running this amazing giveaway!

Saturday Sampler

This is the only Saturday Sampler I have actually completed.  It is the first one that I ever participated in - it was probably back in 2005.  I have participated in, I think, 4 others, but the blocks are still waiting to be put together.

It's a big quilt - I think it was 76 inches wide.  I have a midarm machine - a HQ16 and when I bought it, it could be set up on an 8 foot table or a 12 foot table.  At the time, I thought I would never need a 12 foot table, so I set it up at 8 feet.  What I didn't realize is that you can't quilt an 8 foot quilt on an 8 foot table.  Six feet tops.  This one was too big.  I went on a HQ forum and asked for tips. The only one I got was to cut it in half lengthwise.  Since I had already attached the borders, I didn't think I could do that.  I folded over one edge, but then when you roll it on the rollers, it ends up skewed.  I ended up shoving bits of batting in to minimize the skewing, then quilted one quarter of the quilt at a time.  It was very nerve-wracking.  Amazingly, there are no tucks in the back!

Here is a close up of some of the better quilted parts.

I used a wool batting, which was very nice.  It quilted up much puffier than cotton.  You have to wash it in cold water and can't use the dryer, but it is very light and warm.  A good choice, in my opinion, for a larger quilt.

This was my daughter's graduation quilt.  She graduated high school in 2005.  She got it in 2008.  I named it "Patience is a Virtue".