Liberated Churn Dash QUILT

I'm finally finished! And just in time to share it in the Blogger's Quilt Festival.

The quilt measures approximately 90 inches square.

Most of the smaller liberated churn dashes were made by my bee partners in Sew Modern Bee, a Canadian quilting bee that I really enjoyed being part of over the last year. You can click on our logo above to see photos of the different kinds of blocks we've been making.




Last June I designed this block while playing with my stash. When it came time for me to pick a block to make for my bee, my husband thought I should use this one. I had already told him I would be making the quilt for him {because I haven't made him one in the 14 years that I've been quilting!}




By the end of June I had my quilt top planned out, but not measured correctly here! Each of the blocks my bee partners would make would be 15.5 inches square unfinished.

My husband also got to pick the colour scheme for the quilt.

No Orange!
Really.

Here's my post about that:)

Then it was time to start shopping for fabrics. You can read about how I kept track of what I had and needed to get here.





November 2010 was my month in Sew Modern Bee. I posted my tutorial for how I made my block. You can click on the image above to get to it. By February 2011 I found out that other bee's were making my block too! How cool! I did a post linking to a few of them - not sure if there's any more out there:)




Then came quilting. I quilted each 30.5 inch panel separately, then sewed them together. Once I decided on how I wanted to quilt it, I really enjoyed the process.





I joined the panels in rows, then sewed the rows together. This post goes through the process with photos, if you'd like to take a look. It made it a lot easier for me to quilt this queen size quilt at home on my domestic machine.





My husband picked out the backing fabric too! I used strips leftover from the churn dash fabrics for the binding. A couple of hockey games and chick flicks later - I had it finished:)

I have to put a special THANK YOU here to the quilters at Pat Sloan's Quilt Mashup Forum. Without their friendly prodding and prompting I'm not sure I would have this quilt done yet. I have become a quiltMAKER [not just a topper!] because of these ladies. Thank you!




My quilt was too heavy to hang on the clothesline, so I laid it out on the deck and took a photo from my daughter's bedroom window. I had every intention of 'cropping out' the toys later.

Until later.

This quilt was made with my children around. My son sorted my fabrics back into matching piles when all the blocks were received from my bee partners. My husband took care of the kids while I shopped for fabrics. Everyone was patient with me while I hummed and hawed over fabric choices and how to quilt the panels. I got 'mom time' to work on quilting the panels on weekends when everyone was home.

They surrounded me with love so I could complete this quilt.

I'm keeping the toys in the photo to remind me of what my life was like when I made this quilt.



Thanks to Amy for hosting this great festival once again. I hope you take some time to enjoy the photos and stories of the wonderful quilts being shared by bloggers in this festival.




With Joy,
Sarah Vee

p.s. I made a pattern so you can make your very own Liberated Churn Dash quilt too!

It's available in my online shop - and as part of the Inventory Quilt Project
get 20% off with the code IQ20 (I for Inventory and Q for Quilt)

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Blogger's Quilt Festival Entry - Fall 2010

It's that time again! The biggest blog tour of quilts thanks to Amy!


Here is my submission. A wallhanging I designed called, "Holiday Trees".
I'm finding it tricky to photograph - the tan is a much more sparkly gold, but I think you get the idea!

This quilt taught me a lot about myself as a quilter who dreams of being a quilt designer.

I can do it. I can do it quickly. But.
I don't enjoy making two - of anything (bags being the exception!)

I actually had this quilt top finished in time for last Christmas, but couldn't find the drive to write the pattern (still can't!)

I have finished quilting it now and binding it. It measures 32.5" x 26".

I used up some more of my husband's Granny's stash for the backing, and some other older fabric for the hanging sleeve.

This wallhanging will be a gift this Christmas.
And, while there is no pattern for this quilt, it HAS inspired me to make another tree holiday quilt. This time, I wrote the pattern as I pieced. It's almost ready!

Thanks for visiting today. Be sure to check out the many wonderful entries to the festival.
Thanks Amy, for all of your work!

With Joy,
Sarah Vee

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A Quilt For Me

Welcome to my Quilt for the Blogger's Quilt Festival being hosted by Amy.

My Birthday Baskets Quilt

This is the first quilt I have ever made for my house. I have been quilting for almost 14 years now. I finished it for my birthday THIS year!



It started over 2 years ago when I started making these basket blocks for a quilt for a new niece. But, I'm being honest here, I loved the blocks too much to give them away. Even to a nice home. I found the block on the infamous Quilter's Cache. {spend some time there - great blocks for quilt bees}




Then I needed to convince myself I could make a large quilt and finish it with my domestic machine. Georgia Bonesteel's excellent quilt-as-you-go method gave me confidence - and her book excellent instructions. {Click on the photo of her book to go to her website store where she has it on sale!}

I made my quilt in 3 panels. Here my cat, Mogli, is testing the width of a panel for me. This quilt was made for the wall though, so he doesn't get to snuggle with it normally.





I made this quilt to fit in our entry way. I used fabrics from my stash - some of them really old fabrics. I was inspired by antique quilts to come up with this setting arrangement - sashing with no borders.

I quilted each panel separately then sewed them together. You can sort of see here the zig zag effect I almost achieved!





I even tried really hard to match up the binding with the sashing strips as it went around the quilt.






For the backing I used the rest of the gold sashing fabric and this turquoise floral basket print.

This quilt doesn't look like most of the quilts I make.
But the tradition behind it is what started me in quilting.
I love getting to look at this quilt when I wake up in the morning!

I hope you enjoyed my quilt! There's more to see. Enjoy the festival. Click on the logo above to visit more blogger's quilts.



With Joy,
Sarah Vee

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