Blogger’s Quilt Festival – Out of Square

Here’s my entry for the 3rd Blogger’s Quilt Festival, brainchild of the ever awesome Amy of Amy’s Creative Side. What I love about the focus of this festival is the emphasis on what the story behind the quilt – such a neat way to encourage folks of all skills to join in, because there are no “quilt police” whipping out their white gloves to scrutinize if your bobbin thread ever got pulled to the front! 😉 (Here are my other entries from festivals past.)

This quilt was the 1st one I designed totally by myself. I had fallen in love with fabric dyeing, but I wasn’t able to do lots of dyeing as I didn’t have a dedicated dye area. The beginning of my journey towards becoming an art quilter started with this quilt – with the ability to (mostly theoretically at this point) dye my own fabric, I was beginning to want to have total control over every aspect of the design. In love with Amish quilts at the time (well, I still love them…) I took the traditional square within a square pattern and turned it on it’s side. I’m pretty sure I had just learned how to paper piece, which was a great help with all those little points. After I made the 9 blocks, they sat on my design wall for a LONG time, I was waiting for the perfect way to set them. When I finally figured out how I wanted to set them, it took awhile for me to get up the nerve to to it, what with the set in corners and all. Plus, I had to learn how to dye black!

After the top was done, I was so happy with it I was scared to quilt it for fear I would mess it up, so it languished for years. In the meantime, I learned how to free motion quilt from Melody Johnson and then practiced, and practiced. With a move to a house with a basement laundry, I also got to do a lot more dyeing. So much so, that at some point, those fabrics in the quilt didn’t look so fabulous to me anymore. So, combined with my increased skills in free motion machine quilting, it was much easier to layer up the quilt and put it under my Bernina!

As with everything I quilt nowadays, I do very little marking on the top – I MAY have drawn a curved line for the backbone of the 4 feathers in the gray triangles, but that’s about it. Geesh, I wish I’d been blogging years ago, all these details wouldn’t so fuzzy!

What this quilt represents to me is my growth as an artist. It’s proudly displayed in my living room, juxtaposed with another large quilt that represents another huge leap for me artistically, Lollipop Flowers.

55 Responses

  1. Aside from the fact that this quilt (as well as Lollipop Flowers) looks so fantastic on your wall, I really like the reminder of your creative journey that they bring. Thank you so much for sharing.

    Regards, Sue

  2. That’s fabulous! I love the clear colors, and the movement created by off-setting the blocks that way. It seems to be tumbling joyfully along. 🙂 I can totally relate to not wanting to quilt for fear of screwing it up–I practice every day but my free motion is still made of fail. One day…

    I also love the other quilt but for different reasons.

  4. This is stunning. I love the strong contrasts of color, the brights against the dark and the white in between. It also seems like a blend of new and old: the bold design and the delicate, traditional quilting. And your lollipop quilt is gorgeous! Your living room looks so nice!

  5. Truly amazing. I’m so impressed with anyone who quilts, but add the fabric dying and free motion quilting…I’m speechless. It is really beautiful.

    And, I love the lollipop quilt, too!! They look great in your sunny, colorful home!!

  7. Being askew really makes this quilt come to life along with your fantastic fabric and quilting. Your space is beautiful, too and I bet the quilts on the walls help the acoustics for your musicians whose instruments you can see in your photo.

  8. The quilt is stunning! You do it all and it’s very inspiring to me. The Lollipop quilt is just as beautiful 🙂
    Thank you for sharing.

  9. Love the quilting on this quilt! And yes I too am glad there are not quilt police for this quilt festival! Thanks for sharing.

  10. Love this quilt. The colors, the setting, everything. I really need to try some FMQ but it scares me. Time to put some ugly fabric under the needle.

  13. Love your story! This is truly a beautiful quilt for yourself and your family to enjoy in your living room!

  14. Your quilting is beautiful. I love how you arranged the colors to create the quilt block. I love the way you displayed your quilts in your livingroom.

  15. Thanks for sharing your story and reminding us that the process can take a long time. Worth the wait I think. Both quilts look lovely on your wall.

  17. I love it! The colors are lovely, the setting is striking and your quilting *rocks.* Thanks for the story behind this piece, it means a great deal to see how the process went.

  19. j’adore les couleurs,tout ce que j’aime ,ce festival permet de visiter de nouveaux blogs et je ne suis pas déçue ,félicitations

  21. So beautiful! I love the movement of the quilt and the bright colors. Looks gorgeous in your room opposite the other!

  24. You are crazy talented girl! I love how the lollipop quilt picks up on the circles in your gorgeous chair! 🙂 Love it love it love it! (and I love my wonderful scarf too!!) 😀

  32. In a traditional quilt show I wouldn’t have learned so much about you and your journey! Thank you for sharing Candy 🙂 I love your quilt and all that it represents – your quilting is beautiful!!

  37. Thanks for your explaination about your creative square and diamond quilt. I sure like the multi colored stitches in the background. It was a fine way to call attention to the beautiful stippling. Marvelous entry.

  38. Ohhh, I think those colors are fabulous and definitely catch your eye…..I can’t even begin to imagine what your new dyed fabrics must look like! Love your lollipop quilt as well 🙂

    Blessings,
    Tammy ~@~

  39. this is simply fantastic. the quilting is amazing. And its position as a focal point in your living room is superb! Great work!

  40. This post made be stop in my google reader and jump over here! Gorgeous quilts and thanks for sharing the story. Oh, which Bernina do you use? I assume you love it when you mention it by name!

  41. what a cool quilt! I love that you did everything for it! It looks great up on your wall. Thanks for sharing!

  42. I love the bright, bold colors and how you carried out the theme of the rotating squares throughout the quilt. Beautiful job and thanks for a lovely stop on my Blogger’s Quilt Festival tour.

  43. Candy, what a GREAT quilt!!! I LOVE the way you quilted it!!! Isn’t it fun to look back over your work and SEE your evolution. Neat-o! ; ) Thanks for sharing.

  44. That is just lovely! I love Amish quilts too,( and the saying that I’ve heard that they intentionally place a mistake in each quilt since there is nothing perfect other than God, since I always make mistakes.)

  47. Beautiful! Thanks for the explanation, too. It helps me because I leave some things forever, and sometimes ultimately unfinished, because I’m afraid of ruining them in the next step. It helps to know that that was an earlier step of development for someone I regard as highly talented.

  48. They are both stunning quilts!

    And also a good reminder to finish quilts up while you’re still in love with them! Luckily you ended up still liking the quilt, because it would have been a shame if you no longer wanted to display it because it was too old/not your style/not your best work now, etc. (this is all just a way of me saying I really need to finish up my UFOs!)

  50. this quilt looks fantastic next to the other quilt on your wall I really like the design and colours.
    Happy quilting.
    Georgie x

  52. this is just a fun and vibrant quilt. the quilting around the edge makes such an interesting contrast–really great

  53. Great job! Isn’t it fun to see your own growth through projects. I wish I didn’t give away my first quilt, but it is fun to see the progress through lots of practice! I love the pattern with the angles — such a fun quilt 🙂