Fall Quilt Festival Fun

Once again, it's time for the Blogger's Quilt Festival: Fall 2012 over at Amy's Creative Side!  I have only participated once before, but I am very eager to join in again.  So many quilts to view.  It's simply irresistible!

So dramatic!

This time around, I chose 'Almost Amish', completed earlier this year.  The idea for this quilt started from a picture of a small Amish doll quilt I found in a quilt magazine.  The mix of colors and value used in that quilt were fascinating to me and I wanted to see if I could duplicate the effect (in a much larger quilt of course).

Love the leaves on the trees.

Naturally, I had to use printed fabrics as overdosing on solids tend to cause instantaneous brain paralysis for me!  After studying the initial picture for some time, I came to the conclusion that the floating 4-patch pattern was not nearly as random as it first appeared.  Hmmmm...

This quilt oozes lovely scrappiness....

It took several tries (and lots of calculations) before I came up with a method involving percentages of colors and values to cut.  I divvied up my fabrics according to the proper percentages and cut accordingly.  Then, after I had all of my squares cut, I sewed 4-patches together using the same basic formula.  4-patches were sewn to 4-patches and eventually I had all my 16-patch blocks ready for layout.

Love the owl surveying his domain.....

At this point it became obvious that my pre-determined sashing fabric was not going to work out as planned.  I dithered about what color to use and eventually came up with the idea of using this creamy fabric that has an unobtrusive, very light blue and black print.  Bought initially for the backing fabric for another quilt, it seemed to make my floating 4-patch blocks come alive--much better than any other color I auditioned.

Hand quilting in better light.

At this point I decided that my quilt looked a little bit unexcited about being sandwiched and quilted just yet.  While blogging one day with my sister, I noticed an advertisement that had modern looking trees with a serious looking owl on it (possibly Urban Outfitters, I'm really not sure).  Instantly I started dreaming up ways I could incorporate part of that look into my quilt without ruining the basic feel for what I was trying to accomplish.  Funny where ideas come from sometimes!  And of course, being as how this quilt is made solely by me, I ended up veering completely off course from my original 'Amish' look.  Who'd have ever imagined?*wink

Blogger's Quilt Festival Stats

Finished quilt measurement:  71" x 89"

Special techniques:  needle turn applique and hand quilting

Quilted by:  Audrey Easter

Possible Categories:  Scrap quilt, applique, hand quilting