Blogger's Quilt Festival Quilt Photography

I debated on writing a post about this quilt.  

I am totally in love with the photo I took of this quilt while in Traverse City.

I made this quilt for the MBS and you can find the pattern right here. 

 I love the fabric, Marmalade by Bonnie and Cammile, 

I love the quilting, done on my friend's long arm machine, 

and how could you not love Traverse City Michigan?!

It was raining lightly but I was determined to get a good photo of this quilt 

for the money shot on the MBS.  

I had seen this little church on the bay earlier in the day and 

asked hubby to drive me (and the quilt) back there.  

I leaped out of the car, flung the quilt over the fence, snapped two pictures, 

scooped it back up and off we went.  

All the while with me saying, I think I got *the* shot!  Of course he thought I was mad, 

but I really do think this is a beautiful shot of this quilt.

You can see some of the quilting better in this photo.

This one always reminded me of Jack claiming this quilt for his!

Probably my all time favorite photo of both Jack and this quilt.  

He passed away a year ago, but I think of him everyday and miss him so much!

I have entered the first picture in the Blogger's Quilt Festival in the quilt photography category.  

I would love it if someone would nominate it for a viewer's choice!  

If you would like to see more photos of this beautiful quilt please check out the MBS and my blog.

Have a great time visiting all the fabulous entries!

~XOP~

Blogger's Quilt Festival 2013 Throw Quilt Entry

This is my entry into the throw quilt for the Blogger's Quilt Festival.
Stop over and vote for me if you like this quilt.
It is in the throw category, or you could vote for it for Viewer's Choice.
Voting runs May 24-30th.

I have a quilt that I made for the Moda Bake Shop that was near and dear to my heart. 

 It was my first submission to the MBS and I was beyond thrilled that they accepted my quilt!
You can find the tutorial right here. 

 I was working on it like mad to finish the binding while I was away on vacation

 hoping to get the perfect cover shot. 

 I managed to find the perfect place and got a great shot with only the second photo.

I used my friend's long arm to lay in the beautiful feathers in every triangle, 

then used my Bernina to do all the straight lines on the inside and in the border.  

The circles in the inner border were done on the long arm also.

 It took me about 14 hours to do all the quilting!

This quilt is even more special to me because it is the last completed quilt I have with photos of 

my best friend, Jack.  

My Jack was in kidney failure and I he is now waiting for me on the Rainbow Bridge.

I miss  him every single day!

Jack NEVER left my side when I was home.  

He slept curled up in the crook of my neck or side every night.

He purred us both to sleep. 

This quilt will always remind me of him.

This is my favorite photo of Jack.  

I love you my Boo Boo Kitty and I miss you so much!

~XOP~

Nominations and Voting Begin Today

You have all seen the quilt I entered in the Blogger's Quilt Festival, Charmalade.  

Nominations are open beginning today for each of the categories.  

You can go HERE to make your nominations for each category. 

 I am hoping to get some nominations for best throw. 

 My quilt is #532.  

Please make choices for each category!  

Voting for Viewer's Choice are open also.  

You can go directly HERE  and vote for your favorite. 

 Be sure to click on the star directly ABOVE the quilt you want to vote for!! 

 Is it 532?? 

 LOL

So go and look at all the BEAUTIFUL eye candy, make your nominations and vote for your favorite!

Have a wonderful day everyone and happy quilting!

~XOP~

Blogger's Quilt Festival Quilt #532

I have been trying to decide which quilt to enter into the Blogger's Quilt Festival and 

finally settled on Charmalade.   

Many of you have seen this quilt over at the Moda Bake Shop, 

where I did a tutorial on how to make it.

Funny story, I took this quilt with me on vacation to Petosky, MI and had to apply the binding.  

I got the binding all done and thought it would be fun to photograph it 

in a beautiful setting near Lake Michigan. 

 It rained almost the entire time we were there and was incredibly windy.  

For the above photo I hopped out of the car, flung the quilt over the fence, quickly snapped 2 pictures and wadded the quilt back up and threw it in the trunk. 

 I was frantically hoping one of the 2 pictures would be "the one".  

This is the one I used and I love how it came out.

 I quilted feathers in the snow portion.  

I'm not sure you can tell but I used light aqua thread.

 I quilted straight lines down the colored lines and out into the border.  

My LAQ, Liz did the circles in the colored border.

If you know me you know that I have 5 cats, so everything has to be "cat approved".

 I think if Jack felt he could nap on it it must be good enough to stay!

 I love this photo as it looks like he is claiming it all for himself!

 

So this is Charmalade

A charm pack friendly quilt made using Marmalade.

If you want to make one too, please check out my post on the Moda Bake Shop.

If you stop over to the MBS, leave me a comment over there and let me know!

 

Bloggers Quilt Festival Stats:

Size is 56" X 68"

Technique: Pieced

Quilted by me on my friends long arm machine and my domestic machine, 

and one border by Liz Bowman

Quilt # for voting is 532

Best Category:  Best Lap size quit, best pieced, or Viewer's Choice

See I Told You

I'm not my usual self right now. 

 I completely forgot to share my nice surprise (so I guess it wasn't all death and dying this week).  

On Tuesday I clicked over to the MBS and imagine my surprise in finding this photo.

There was a little write up about HST and how to make them.

 As a Bake Shop chef you are invited to write your post on their blog so they make you an author.  This means you can write your post and save it as a draft but you can see other future posts.  

You can NOT open any that you are not the author of though. 

 So I did see the "Tips and Tricks" post and 

I did see that it had been labeled with my name but I didn't have any idea what it was all about. 

 I assumed they were linking to my post on Charmalade, since it was all about HST.

So when I went here I was heard to exclaim out loud, "Hey that my hand!!" 

 LOL 

 I went over to my friend Robin's desk and told her to go to the Bake Shop and we squeeled together, "Hey, that's your/my hand!!"  It was quite funny actually.  

I can't believe I forgot to tell you after I found out, but like I said I have been a little pre-occupied!

If you would like some additional trips on HST you can check out my post here where there are some good tips and some additional photos.

OK I think you are all caught up on my escapades for the minute. 

~XOP~

Introducing...Charmalade

The BiG day is finally here!!  

The day I can share with you what I have been working on. 

 I have a project on the Moda Bake Shop!!! 

 I can't believe it! 

 I was so thrilled when they accepted my quilt and now I get to share it with all of you too!!!

This is 

Charmalade

 I submitted the quilt back in May, had to wait for the fabric and 

you all know how much time I have spent at my dad's lately.  

The biggest hurdle for me was deciding how to quilt it. 

I chose feathers in the white space in the center of the quilt with straight lines on the colored part.

I used aqua thread for most of the quilting.  

I used cream for stitch in the ditch on the borders.

Quilting modeled by Jack.

 I did the feathers on Liz's long arm and all the straight lines on my Bernina.   

Liz did all the circles in the printed outer border. 

 I am in love with the quilting on this one.

The fabrics are Marmalade by Bonnie and Camille and Moda Bella Snow.

 

I love that striped binding.

Have you ever used the bias ruler to cut bias binding?

Made all the joined strips match perfectly!

Charmalade: directions on the Moda Bake Shop.  

What do you think??

~XOP~