Thursday, May 17, 2012

Quarter Reunion





Thank you Amy for sharing your talents with us, enabling us to share ours.  I first stumbled onto your festival in the fall of 2009,  just as I was starting to quilt.  The festival had just occurred.  I was so moved by it, that I quickly decided that I wanted to be a part of it.  It became my motivation as an early quilter.






I've come a long way since that first quilt.  I'm so glad that I started quilting in this extraordinary age of electronics, I would not have had the patience to lug a machine around for classes.  Google blogs from the comfort of my own home have been my classroom.  My home has become a quilter's haven, with rooms and closets adapting to my new found addiction.  My good husband thought that after the experience of that first quilt, that we were going to have our house back again, that everything was going to be put away . . . poor thing.  He has learned much patience :)




I'm so excited to share "Quarter Reunion" with you.  Thoughts of this quilt have been rolling around in my head since last summer.  I started it in the fall, but other quilts seemed to push their way to the front of the line.  The size even changed at one point. 

Measuring at 84" square, this quilt fits a double or queen bed as a comforter.


Surprise!  For my fabric I chose Reunion by Sweetwater for Moda.


Stats:
84" x 84"  - washed
25 - 8.5" blocks sashed with 4" kona bone.
Fabric is 1 Reunion jellyroll and 5 yds kona bone for sashing.
Back is 6 yds kona bone and left-overs.
Batting is Fairfield Nature-Fil, 50% bamboo 50% cotton.
Quilting is organic straight line.
1.25 yds fabric for bias binding.



Quarter Log Cabin Tutorial:

Cut 7 - 4" squares for block center.

Follow the instructions from this blog post to create a scrappy log cabin block.  Basically you just keep adding another random strip onto the next side.   Sometimes I carried the fabric on to the next side for a nice affect.



Continue adding logs until you have added 4 logs past the center square, per side.



Quarter the log cabin block.  You should now have 28 new blocks.



Add 4 inch sashing on each side of 25 blocks with kona bone.  (Keep the 3 extra blocks for your backing).
Lay out blocks and arrange randomly.  Sew blocks together, 5 across, 5 down. 




Create backing.
Quilt as desired.



Tallgrass Prairie Studio has a nice organic line quilting tutorial in this post.



I've had some questions about the HQ Sweet sixteen.  I'll write up a post on it soon.













At the bottom, I quilted:  

"A pebble held close to the eye appears to be a gigantic obstacle.  Cast on the ground, it is seen in perspective."

Unfortunately, it takes us years of painful experiences to learn this concept.  The trick is to learn patience, and not act irrationally until we are ready to cast our trial down, and see it with life's big picture.







Circle back around to the Blog Festival to see the other entries.




44 comments:

  1. What a wonderful quilting story. I love the quilt as well - very simple and clean and pretty.

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  2. I love your quilt and the story with it.

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  3. that is so lovely. I adore the negative space.

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  4. This is a wonderfully simple quilt! Love the graphic appeal!

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  5. I absolutely love the quilting you did on this, I want to touch it! I would love to try the organic line quilting on a future quilt. Your fabric choice is awesome - love it!

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  6. I really like the bits of background fabric in the blocks, it makes the blocks really appear to float!

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  7. I love it - simple but elegant. A fresh take on an old favourite..

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  8. This is a great quilt and thanks for sharing how you made it. I love the Reunion line and your quilt shows it off very well.

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  9. What a beautiful quilt - and a beautiful quote. A great reminder to be sure. Happy BQF!

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  10. fun quilt!

    Margaret
    http://quiltsoflove.blogspot.com/

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  11. Loved your style. very nice post with great tutorials

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  12. I love how simple this quilt is, but how striking! Great work, glad you've caught the bug.

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  13. Very nice quilt! Your photos are really cute too.

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  14. Beautiful quilt! The reunion fabrics look great against that white background!

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  15. I love your quilt! Quartering the log cabins is a smashing idea.

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  16. I like the crispness of the colours against the white background, and I really love the quote written in stitch.

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  17. A beautiful quilt!! I love the photo of it in the back of the green truck.

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  18. What a simply beautiful quilt. Thanks for the tutorial! I have a jelly roll I can use and make into a similar quilt. Thank you so much!!!

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  19. what a gorgeous quilt and love the quote
    Ann

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  20. Oh, i love the message you quilted into this gorgeous quilt!

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  21. What a gorgeous quilt and a great tutorial. Thanks for sharing!

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  22. BTW I love the name of your blog. I took a class in grad school and we learned to identify ferns. They are so cool and so many great ones. Maidenhair is one of my favs

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  23. A lovely quilt with a good story - and a great tutorial. Thanks for sharing!

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  24. What a pretty quilt! Thanks so much for the tutorial too!

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  25. I'm a Sweetwater fan as well. Beautiful quilt, and love the back too!

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  26. great quilt--love how everything floats on the white! never have seen any sweetwater lines i didn't love! thanks for sharing and have a great day

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  27. What a simple, artful, refreshing quilt!

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  28. A wonderful quilt. What an inspiring version of a traditional pattern! Thanks for the tutorial.

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  29. So fresh and pretty - I love it. I must get some Reunion!

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  30. I love your quilt..it's so fabulous. Glad to know I'm not the only one slowly taking over the house.

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  31. Ooh, a quilt and a tutorial! It's a two-fer! Love this quilt!

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  32. WOW!! I love that quilt and the quarter log cabin is such a great idea. Great job and the fabric is to die for. I love sweetwater :) They are some of my most favorite. Thanks for sharing.

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  33. I saw the photo of the quilt and thought "wow, I love that!" then kept reading and found you'd given a tutorial as well! Thanks so much for sharing.

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  34. Great job on the quilt and the tutorial, very informative.

    Come see my entries 64 (repro. applique) and 85 (antique appliques).

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  35. I like how you made the blocks...and it turned into a beautiful quilt!

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  36. a beautiful quilt - and I especially love the quilted quotation in the border. Well done!!

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  37. Love your quarter logs, very unusual and more modern than the classic version.

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  38. great quilt and quilting. And you did even a tutorial ! Thank you.
    Btw I think my husband hasn't any hope left either ;-)

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  39. What a great use for a great line of fabric! Love it!

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  40. Love the look of this quilt. And the fabric you used is so sweet! I'm afraid my quilting has taken over our house, too!

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  41. I love this! Thanks for sharing, and providing the tutorial. I'm ordering Reunion right now....

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Thank you for your comments.