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: Happy Campers Jump Rope Quilt

I finished binding up this quilt in the car on the way back from our Day Out With Thomas on Saturday.

At the Texas State Railroad, my train loving twins decided they wanted to meet the conductor. Here's how that conversation went:

Middle Son: HI! I'm H**** Brown!
Youngest Son: HI! I'm J***** Brown!
Oldest Son: Hi...I'm Embarrassed.

When did 6 year olds become pre-teens??? Everybody had a great day, though...even my oldest cut loose when he realized his school friends were nowhere in sight!

On our way back to the car, I joked to my husband that he should take pics of my then half-bound quilt on the steps of a little chapel.  Knock me over with a feather- he agreed! It's made with Happy Campers by Sandy Klop (American Jane) for Moda...with a little Katie Jump Rope by Denyse Schmidt thrown in.

This quilt is a double hourglass done using Cluck Cluck Sew's strip method.  After facing some serious wrist pain (I moved my wrist too much cutting the angles)  I decided it would have to be done checkboard style to reduce the number of pieced blocks I needed.  I actually think I like this better.  It made tons of white hexagons in the negative space!

It's a full size quilt and I tried a new-to-me batting called Mountain Mist Cream Rose that is 100 percent cotton and cheaper than Warm & Natural (what I normally use).

I ordered this Happy Campers Basic Stripe fabric for $3.98/yd from Hancock's of Paducah.  I cut off the darkest stripe (a brown pindot) to use for the binding of this quilt.  When I laid this quilt on the bed I realized the American Jane multi-stripe Fabrics (she usually does stripes like this for each line of hers) are the PERFECT backing fabric.  See...

Doesn't that make the prettiest turned down bedquilt?  I love that little detail!

I added a cracker block for a label.  I went all out on this quilt because I want each of my sons to have a bed quilt that I have put a lot of love into.  I don't always do backings this nice or a label, but they added a nice touch and I think I'll do it more in the future.

Thank you all so much for the kind words on my Moda Bakeshop project.  It was such a nice ending to such a perfect day to come home to such encouragement.  I have a couple of other projects in the works at the Bakeshop and I hope you will enjoy those, as well.  I also ordered fabric yesterday for a tutorial here: My Single Charm Pack Quilt...it's a 50x60 lap quilt.  I hope y'all like it!

I will also post a review of the new batting for those who have never tried it- it was very scary to break away from Warm and Natural!   What kinds of batting have you tried and how did you like it?