Bloggers Quilt Festival : Oakshott Scandinavia Challenge Quilt

I'm just squeezing into the Bloggers Quilt Festival this year!  If you hurry there's still about a day left to enter your quilt.  Visit Amy at Amy's Creative Side for all the details!  I decided to enter my Scandinavian Quilt into the Original Design category this year amid some tough competition no less.  You can see the original post on this quilt here if you missed it, otherwise keep reading.  

This Scandinavia inspired quilt was made as part of a challenge sponsored by Sew Mama Sew and Oakshott Fabrics to create a quilt using their new Scandinavian collection of fabrics.  And, boy oh boy, these fabrics are are gorgeous!  They are all shot through with a creamy white that gives them the most amazing soft shine.  Pastel without being too Easter-y or babyish.

I wanted to do something original to honor by Finnish heritage, via my paternal grandmother (or Farmor).  She grew up in Finland (and Sweden during WWII), a country I have had the opportunity to visit three times in my life, twice as a child and once as a teenager, and hope to visit again very soon once we can find the time and money.  Each time I have visited I find great inspiration in the simple, clean designs found in the region and really wanted to be able to create something that could reflect both the design and the memories I have of visiting family there.

After some research I had several ideas sketched out, and ended up texting my "more Finnish" (as my Farmor says) cousin for help narrowing the choices down.  In the end I pulled out the Ittala dinnerware that we received for the wedding two years ago and used that as a jumping off point.

Feeling inspired at the moment. #oakshottscandinavia #iittala #inspirationeverywhere #thanksforthedishesGram #FinnishQuilt - See more at: http://iconosquare.com/viewer.php#/detail/1058925302181042470_1222082853

At first I thought I would make a large quilt inspired by the black and white dinner plate and mug pictured above.  I pieced a couple of arrows and then laid them out to take a picture but what I saw changed my direction completely.  I spent two days piecing the rows and top, finishing it at around 1am the day before it was supposed to go to the longarmer.  Ideally I would have quilted this myself but given the time crunch I was under I thought it was best to have someone else do.  The quilting is simple.  Katie Smith of Home Hearth Quilting quilted it for me in a simple birch tree-esque design following the direction of each row of piecing.  I love how it adds texture to the quilt without distracting from the overall design.  She did a great job and I highly recommend her if you're in the NH/VT area. 

Thank you little brother and Dad for holding this for me!

The pattern came together really quickly since it's all row based piecing.  I really love how the simple Kona Charcol and Kona White let the beautiful Oakshott fabrics shine in all their glory.  While piecing I took a really ad hoc approach to adding in the colors, letting them fall where ever they would in the final top.  The scattered colors are perfect and I love how the various sized strips add additional movement to the quilt.

a glimpse into our bedroom with the quit in it's new home. notice the nicely coordinated pre-existing paint swatches...

in love with this quilt.

quilting detail

The quilt is backed in a Lotta Jansdotter print and a large scale Windham Fabrics print.  I chose these because of how they played into the simple, clean lines I was going for in the overall design.  This quilt finishes at 90" x 86" and will hopefully be plenty big enough for the two of us to sleep under.  I didn't set out to make such a large quilt but once I got started the fabrics and pattern made it easy to keep going.  Plus, I had the added encouragement that my husband gets genuinely upset when I make small quilts.  

I'm so glad that I had the opportunity to make this quilt.  The final quilt is really true to my original vision and reflect the emotion I was hoping to convey.   I think my Farmor would be proud.  I plan on showing her the quilt at Thanksgiving later this year to see what she thinks.  My Finnish relatives tell me that I captured Finland perfectly.  Currently there is no pattern for this quilt but I hope to write one up in the next year.  

Thank you for visiting and I hope that you like my quilt!  Linking up with Amy for Original Quilt Design at Bloggers Quilt Festival!

Blogger's Quilt Festival : Two Birds, One Stone

Its time again for the 2015 Blogger's Quilt Festival.  I'm entering my favorite finish yet: Two Birds, One Stone into the Original Design category.

For those of you that follow the blog, are you sick of seeing this quilt yet?  I'm not!  Every time I walk into the living room I'm happy to see it sitting there on my couch with the kitties.

Well don't these two look comfy? Apparently they like my quilt also. #birdsintheairquilt #challengequilt #martincat #agentarcher #catsofinstagram #pantonequilt2015

A photo posted by Jennifer Fullerton (@neverjustjennifer) on Mar 22, 2015 at 11:10am PDT

This quilt was made for the 2015 Pantone Color of the Year challenge and for my local quilt guild's annual challenge.  It is an original design comprised of two different sized Birds in the Air blocks.  I set the blocks on point and then played with the layout until I had something I was satisfied with.  The real challenge here for me was creating something modern out of a more traditional quilt block.

I've had so many requests for a pattern for this quilt and I've heard you.  I hope to have something done by the end of the summer, though it's my first foray into pattern writing, so who know's how it will go.  (Any tips from you experienced pattern writers out there?)

This quilt also hung at my local quilt guild's biennial quilt show this year and received a very warm response.

You can read more about this quilt here, here, here, and here.

Link ups are open until May 20th, voting is open from May 22nd to May 29th, and winners are announced on May 30th.  Good luck to everyone who is participating!

Blogger’s Quilt Festival - Friendship Quilt

Its time for the 2014 Blogger's Quilt Festival, and though I'm a little terrified, I've decided to participate this year. Link ups are open until May 23rd (this Friday) and then voting is open from May 24th (Saturday) to May 29th (Thursday) with winners announced on May 30th and 31st.

If you follow my blog, you've seen these quilts before.  I was inspired to make them after being asked to make two larger versions for one of my hive mates in the We Bee Learning bee.  She asked for wonky pinwheel blocks (using this tutorial) in green and aqua with accents of grey and yellow.  I loved the colors and the look of them so much that I decided to make a mini version for myself.  When I got all the blocks done, I didn't like how big it all was and decided to split the blocks up into two matched mini quilts instead.

These quilts measure 20" x 12" and were made entirely using scraps from my scrap bucket, with the exception of the solid white background.  Since I was on a role, I decided to dive in and try my hand (pun intended) at hand quilting.  I picked up some aqua and lime pearl cottons and dove right in.  Granted it's not perfect but I couldn't be happier with the final products.  The hand quilting adds just the right amount of texture to them and really helps ground the otherwise free-spirited pattern.

The backs are pieced using larger pieces of fabric I had left over from the front of the quilt.  I love the little added interest it gives them.  The one on the right is bound in solid, light green of unknown origin, and the one on the left is bound in a citron/chartreuse print on white.  And my absolute favorite part is that these were the first quilts I got to sign with my married name.  

I called these quilts Friendship Quilt 1 and Friendship Quilt 2 because the matched set reminded me of the matching friendship bracelets we used to make and exchange with our best friends when I was in grade school.  One of these quilts went to live with my good friend Jenn and the other one resides on the wall above my sewing machine.  It serves as a little bit of eye candy inspiration for when I'm feeling uninspired.  I hope you enjoyed this trip down memory lane!  Be sure to check out all of the other entries for the 2014 Bloggers Quilt Festival.  You'll find these two in the mini quilt category.

You can read more about these quilts here, here and here.  Happy Quilting!!