The next hand-quilted project: The Naked Forest

This "Naked Forest" quilt already has a story.

I used a great tutorial from Film in the Fridge. Her work is always fresh & modern - it was a perfect choice for all of the green print fabrics I'd collected.

Once I completed this quilt top, I knew I wanted to hand-quilt it.

I sent it to Melear Fabrics to baste on their longarm quilting machine.

They shipped it back to me, but the address was read incorrectly by the postal service. It ended up three states away, sitting in a holding area. Fortunately, the folks at my local post office were able to track it down.

There were a few very uncertain weeks.... Luckily, it arrived 27 days after it was shipped, unharmed.

Here, you can see the black basting thread up-close.

I started quilting it on Sunday, December 18, 2011. Today, I have 4 of 169 blocks quilted.

Let's see how long it takes for this to finish!

(If anyone wants to help the hand-stitching....)

details: 104x104, backing: Kona Tarragon, expected binding: Kona Basil Green, Batting: White Quilters Dream Request Loft W3K

The Tupperware Quilt is Complete

It's been a long time coming and this is finally complete. I've blogged about this quilt here and here. I'm so glad to be done with it! Here you can see its crinkly goodness after its first washing:
Here's few closeups of the hand stitching:

I've been feeling so good about the hand-stitching on this that I've decided to start another hand-stitched quilt.
I fell in love with this quilt on Film in the Fridge and decided to make my own.
I have 169 blocks -

Here's an almost-finished top on my bed:

I will add a narrow white border to this before it's basted. For the back, I've chosen a solid Kona tarragon. The binding's not yet decided - I am leaning towards Denyse Schmidt's Sugar Creek Kitchsy Tile Cornflower. Looking forward to some hand-stitching! Anyone want to help? At 102x102, there's enough room for a lot of hands to quilt this....

It all started with tupperware

Amy, from Amyscreativeside.com, is hosting a Blogger's Quilt Festival to coincide with Quilt Market. To see some amazing quilts by bloggers everywhere, click on the link below:

I'm pretty sure that my love of orange is directly related to my love of all things from the 1970s.

What really epitomizes the color palette for me is, and always has been, my mom's funky set of tupperware:

I've always loved this set!

It's still in pristine condition, too. That handle really keeps the set together.

My name is on the bottom of the yellow bowl, made with a labelmaker much like this one:

I can't think of one thing that wasn't labeled with that label maker.

Coming up with a palette for a quilt for myself wasn't too hard. I usually start with orange.

Above is a shot of all of the blocks together, but not in the final arrangement.

Below, all set together:

The best part of this quilt, tho, isn't the color palette.

(even tho they're all my favorites)

The best part about this quilt is that it is just my second quilt hand-quilted piece.

And, it is the quilt that brought all of these fabulous people together to put it in a frame and help me start hand quilting.

We put it up in the driveway - on my grandmother's frame.

We used the quilt stands my granddad made.

Above, the backing is pinned to the boards first.

Then (below) the batting and top are attached.

And the quilting began.

These two great gals took me into their quilting circle!

Some quilt-enthusiasts showed up to support us:

Here's a great picture of one of my grams' best pals, showing me how it's done:

It was a perfect day to start a fun 70's tupperware-inspired quilt!

Particulars: 42 blocks, log cabiny, cotton batting

Progress to date: 29.5 blocks complete, binding machine-stitched to the backside.

Quilt Story for the Blogger Quilt Festival

Here is my entry for the quilt blogger festival.

This quilt is special to me because it marked a turning point in my own sewing.

My grandmother taught me to sew and the joy of making quilts. For years, I had been working hard and improving my skills, but it wasn't until the few quilt tops leading up to this one and this quilt that I believe my grandmother was proud of my sewing.

Throughout my apprenticeship with grams, she was part of a hand-quilting network of women in the community. She would tell me about it, but it was this quilt top that she allowed to be hand-quilted by her group.

Here's some photos of the quilt in the frame - with me and grams at the library where she quilted:

And the finished product, with prairie points:

Bullseye/Log Cabin Quilt in the Frame!

What a great day!

The gals came over to put my quilt in the frame.

It was too big to put in the house, so we set it up in the driveway.

Here's the quilt in the frame, in the driveway:

Here's Pat and Evie laying the top on the frame.

After we had it on the frame, we rolled both sides so it would be a manageable size to go into the house.

Before it went into the house, we did some quilting outside.

It was a perfect day for outside quilting!