Blogger's Quilt Festival - Spring 2010!

Update: I was finally able to get a picture of the full quilt while it hung in a local quilt show:

 

This is my entry for the Blogger's Quilt Festival - Spring 2010, hosted by Amy's Creative Side http://www.amyscreativeside.com/2010/05/bloggers-quilt-festival-spring-2010.html.

I designed, pieced and quilted it myself!

The idea for this quilt was born on my first shop hop, back in '05 or '06, I think. The first shop we visited had the most beautiful collection of batik fabrics and I found myself drawn to them. 10 little bags of fabric later I had this group of fabrics. I originally had planned them for a bargello, but after hours of starring at them another idea formed.

The fabrics just kept making me think of stained glass and I've always loved Frank Lloyd Wright's stained glass windows. I don't yet own any fancy quilt programs, but was able to sort of get a general idea of what I wanted to do using the columns of a spreadsheet (probably sounds crazy, but it wasn't so bad). Calculating and double checking all of the individual measurements was the trickiest part.

I completed the top some time in '09, put the layers together and then it sat in my closet for a year. I had started hand quilting it and realized that if I finished it in another 10 years I'd be lucky. I really wanted to quilt it myself and originally thought the only way I could manage it was to hand quilt it because I don't own a long arm. Then this spring I decided to just take it in and get it quilted. I got my estimate and then brought it home so I could save the money to quilt it and take out the hand quilting I'd already started. That night I thought, "why don't I just try and see if I can get it in my machine..." and I did! And I taught myself meandering quilting in the process! I finished it in March of this year... probably 4 years in the making. It is 100 inches square (so it is rather difficult to photograph the whole thing at once) and currently resides on our bed. It brightens the whole room! These days I just call it my Stained Glass Quilt.

Here are a few more pics of it...

I love the way the sunshine hit this last image...

Hope you enjoyed my entry!