Blogger's Quilt Festival Fall 2010- Autumn Hourglass Quilt

For my first entry in the Blogger's Quilt Festival, I just had to share my favorite quilt ever. I was going to our church's monthly craft night in September and I knew I couldn't waste that opportunity to make something. Autumn is my favorite time of year and I wanted a quilt that reminded me of that time of year.

On my way out the door I grabbed my stash of Katie Jump Rope, a couple of coordinating dots, and a black and cream floral print from American Jane Peas & Carrots. The black fabric was a last minute addition, but I think it totally made the quilt.

I did a few quick google image searches for scrappy hourglass quilts and saw one where a lady had used reds for the border. I loved how it framed the quilt so I decided to use the black floral I had to be the "frame" or "insta-border" for this quilt since I don't really like doing traditional borders.

I took 9.5" squares and just sliced them diagonally twice and sewed them back together. That's it. I made there were no duplicate fabrics in each square (4 triangles per square). I also made sure I had enough black triangles for each side piece and I used 1 large black triangle for each of the corners.

Loopy Free Motion Quilting

The quilt is bound in Katie Jump Rope Orange Stripe and Katie Jump Rope Bandana dot. I love absolutely loved this quilt and I'm so glad I decided to take advantage of my time to make it.  It has been dragged to bed (by me) like a lovey, been stolen by my 6 year old (and stolen back), helped a whole preschool full of toddlers (including mine) not get scratchy booties from sittin' on hay bales at the pumpkin patch and will serve as decorations in our "It's the Great Pumpkin" Trunk or Treat Car this year..  This quilt has already carved a place in our autumn traditions...I call that a success.

To see more quilts in the festival, go to www.amyscreativeside.com !

Finish: Autumn Hourglass Quilt

I have been dreaming of Katie Jump Rope fabrics for a long time and recently I hit the motherlode in Lake Jackson, TX at the quilt shop there. They had it on the clearance bin for half off and they gave you an extra 20 percent off if you finished the bolt! I went home and found some additional prints on etsy for $3.33 to $3.99 a yard. I also used a dotty piece from stash and bordered the whole quilt in that black flower print from American Jane's Peas and Carrots. I went to our church's monthly craft night knowing I could not just waste 5 or 6 hours of sewing time, so I carried this stack and cut out 9.5" squares, split them diagonally twice into quarter square triangles, and sewed back together randomly. I finished the blocks 2 weeks ago all during that craft night, but I just finished the quilt last night.

I'm really excited because this is going to be a good quilt for putting on top of hay bales when we visit the pumpkin patch. We go to a pumpkin patch at a local church every year and they have lots of cute spots for photos. Usually the scratchy hay bales the kids have to sit on makes for some unhappy campers, but not this year! I can also use this quilt to line the back of one of our vehicles for Trunk or Treat at church. My theme this year is "It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown!" Any excuse to break out a quilt, right???

I just realized I never took close up shots of this quilt or a shot of the back. I used the Katie Jump Rope Orange Bandana Dot print for the entire back and the Orange Stripe from the same line for the binding. I just can't get excited about piecing backs...once I am done with the front, I wanna be done period!