Dutch Comfort--2014 Spring Bloggers Quilt Festival

Dutch Comfort is my second entry into the Bloggers Quilt Festival. This is a quilt that I finished up earlier in the year although once again, it was one of those quilts that has been patiently waiting its turn in the hoop for a long time. My stack of quilt tops just continues to grow and grow until my poor fingers will never manage to keep up!

Dutch Comfort

Yes, this quilt was hand quilted, but I decided to put it into the scrappy category because of the many different fabrics included in the quilt. When making this quilt top, I dumped out my fabrics totes trying to find every single complementary red/yellow and pink fabric that I thought would work well with my quilt idea. I tried to add in a lot of florals, homespuns and 'pretty' prints, hoping that would add to the feeling I was aiming for with the overall quilt concept of coziness, romance, comfort, and an antique scrappiness that I always seem to be striving for.

Sorry, that's where I fold my quilt
 to lay it on the end of the bed!

I started off with a picture of a Dutch looking quilt as inspiration, changing the colors of blues and browns over to reds and yellows--a combination I'd been wanting to play with {again}. When that seemed too harsh a look, I added in the softer, more mellow looking pinks which definitely gives (I think) a more romantic look. The centerpiece is a block from a Blackbird Design pattern that I love, but didn't really want to make an entire quilt of. The use of monochromatic fabric choices makes for a very strong looking centerpiece in the quilt without taking anything away from the scrappy quality of the rest of the quilt--something very important to me. Does it sound ridiculous to say that I thought it a brilliant combination! lol Thank you to Blackbird Designs for the inspiration!

Dutch Comfort  in different lighting

This quilt was started impulsively on a weekend where I was trying to cheer myself up from the often disappointing and harsh realities of life. It turned out to be a great method of therapy (surprise, surprise!) and honestly, I think it's one of my favorite quilts just because of all the angst and emotion worked into the seams. Funny how life seems a bit sweeter when we are able to immerse ourselves in the beauty of fabric and color for just a little while.

The Blackbird Design block

Although there is nothing about this quilt that I could say is an 'original' design, it definitely feels like a me quilt. I drew out a rough draft, figured the proper measurements, made sure the borders to the centerpiece were mitered correctly and spent all the time playing with my many fabric possibilities to end up with a pleasing combination of lights, darks, mediums and brights. I completely used up lots of little odds and ends of fabric bits to include every potential print I could get my hands on! The pictures definitely do not do this quilt justice as the quilt literally sparkles in the right light. (It's quite possibly the coziest looking quilt I've ever managed to make too.)

Dutch Comfort in the more natural light of
my quilting room....

Oh yeah, for those that always want to know the size, Dutch Comfort came out of the dryer in all its crinkly goodness at approx. 77 1/2" x 93 1/2".

There's always a lot of stiff competition over at the festival, but I don't include my quilts thinking I'm going to win in any particular category. Mostly I just do it for the fun of showing off a couple quilts I'm proud of and hopefully share my love of quilting with other interested quilters. A big thanks to Amy for her genius at setting up such a great on-line quilt show once again!

You can check out my other festival entry here if you like!