100 Follower Giveaway - or Should I Say QUILTAWAY!

I've been looking forward to this post for a little while now.  A couple months ago, I realized that within my stash I had a group of fabrics that accidentally went together beautifully for a quilt and decided that I would use them to make one for one of you.  With time running out before school starts for me, I knew it had to be on the simpler side and this is what I came up with...

I named it Over the Garden Gate.  The white bars remind me of a fence and the color combinations remind me of a flower garden.  I also was trying to capture the feeling of how, as we click our way through blogs and link parties, it can feel like we are peeking into someone else's craft room or living room or kitchen - just stopping by for a minute to chat before heading out to the next link down the street.  There is a sense of community out there that I just wasn't expecting to find at the outset.

I all but stumbled into blogging at the end of May, basically deciding I wanted to do it because I found out there was something called the Blogger's Quilt Festival.  What I could not have known was what a warm, generous and creative group of people I would find on my travels through blog-land and how the very act of blogging itself would push my creativity and give that part of my life focus, definition and goals.  As I was cutting and sewing and quilting this quilt, I was thinking about the many comments I've gotten from some of you on my various projects, your insights into your own crafts and some of the beautiful things you guys have made and shared on your blogs.  It is amazing to me how we just keep putting ourselves and our projects out there and how often someone has something lovely to share with us because of it.  This quilt is for each of you, even if I could only make one.

On a personal level, it's nice to finally have a group of individuals that are truly interested in all of my crafts and not just humoring me because I just dragged them up to my craft room, again, to show them things that they just don't get or can't understand the amount of hours I just "lost" creating whatever it was.  I thank you and my friends and family thank you.  :)

I decided to give the back a little interest using some of the scraps from the top.

The quilting is difficult to see in photos since it is white on white, but it's an all-over meandering pattern.  I originally planned on quilting it more tightly, but I used a higher-loft batting and I thought it looked better more widely spaced.  I finished the binding by hand. 

The quilt measures 62" x 76". 

This quilt is washed and ready to be sent to one of you.  It still needs a label and I promise it will have one before I send it out.  I just haven't decided what I want it to say yet.

Thanks for reading my blog and a special thank you to all of my followers - you make blogging fun.  :)

Here are the giveaway quiltaway rules...

You have 3 chances to enter.  Each comment is considered an entry (no more than three per person):

1. Leave a comment about this quilt or what you might do with it if you win it or about what blogging has meant to you.

2. Become a follower.  Just leave a comment, whether you're a new follower or old, just saying that you are one.

3. Blog about this quiltaway or post one of my buttons (located in my sidebar) on your blog.  Let me know which you did and post the link in the comment.

Please make sure there is a way for me to contact you by email!  This quiltaway will run from now through Sunday, September 12th at 6:00pm.  The winner will be drawn by random number generator and announced Monday, September 12th at 9:00am.

GOOD LUCK!!  I hope YOU win!

Linking up to Atticmag's Giveaway Friday.