Blogger's Quilt Festival - Flower Burst Wonder

When I first read about the Blogger's Quilt Festival in this post , I knew exactly which quilt I'd enter!  It's a One Block Wonder I started over a year ago.  Today I named it Flower Burst Wonder.  It measures 64" x 75".

One Block Wonder is a technique from Maxine Rosenthal's book titled One Block Wonders.  Personally I think the book should've been titled One Bolt Wonders, because you use lots of one fabric to make these amazing quilts!  I used "koto" by Alexander Henry.



This is the second One Block Wonder I've made.  Originally it was to be a quilt for my king size bed, but after adding wide borders, I hated it!  At that point I decided it wasn't going to be a quilt for my bed after all and put it in a closest where it sat for many moons.

I finally figured out what to do w/it a couple of months ago.  It would become a large lap quilt and gift for my mom's b-day November 3. I had to make it a lot smaller, so after removing the wide borders, I removed several rows of hexies to shorten the center.  Then I added narrower borders and FINALLY I started liking it again!

I'd always wanted to quilt it w/orange colored thread and that's what I did. I wanted a softer, comfier quilt and didn't want the orange thread to be overpowering, so I did minimal quilting; lazy, wavy lines in the center and a meander in the outer border.  You can see it better from the back view.

The 3 in" binding was made from the rows I removed when shortening the quilt top.

I'm extremely pleased w/how it turned out and I hope you are too! If you can figure out how to vote (it's kind of a painful process), please vote HERE  (I hope the link works) for Flower Burst Wonder as Viewer's Choice now thru Oct 31st AND for Favorite in the Large Quilt Category on Nov 1st.  I thank you in advance! The process that was kind of painful, was the nominating part.

Thank you Amy Ellis of Amy's Creative Side for organizing such a delightful event.  This is my first time and I'm entering Flower Burst Wonder in The Large Quilt Category.   I'm super excited to be a part of the Blogger's Quilt Festival this fall!

A Thread for Life

Rejoice in hope; be patient in affliction; be persistent in prayer. Rom 12:12

Linking up at:
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Linky Tuesday at Free Motion by the River
Let's Bee Social at Sew Fresh Quilts
Needle and Thread Thursdays at My Quilt Infatuation
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Can I Get A Whoop Whoop?

Finishes and Christmas Countdown Progress

In case you didn't already know, there are 67 days until Christmas.  With that being said, I'm making great progress.

In this post, I mentioned all of the projects I'd like to get completed by/before Christmas.   I've already finished the 2 charity quilts, both of which I did FMQ on. They both measure 36" x 36".

I've already started quilting mom's quilt.  Ever since I started making this One Block Wonder, well over a year ago, I planned to quilt it in orange. I'm using the color Pumpkin from Connecting Threads which is no longer available.

However, I'm not doing FMQ. I'm doing wavy lines which I've also seen called the Serpentine stitch. Mine is a lazy serpentine. You can see the quilting better from the back of the quilt. I really like it so far. I will do fmq/meandering in the borders.

back of quilt

 When mom's is finished, which should be by the end of this week, I'll get busy on my kid sis' quilt. Then I'll start knocking out the small quilted gifts, I've got 3 of 40 done so far.




Lastly, I'll start quilting Diamonds and Purples. I'm making it a quilt w/o binding AND keeping all the points. I'm trying something I've never done before and I'm excited to see how it turns out. It might even turn into a tutorial.  Stay tuned!

I spent some time this weekend organizing my stash. I usually get overwhelmed trying to figure out where to sort/file the multicolored prints, but this time...I just did it! I didn't touch the shelf on the right, but it has batiks, Christmas fabircs, pre-cuts and other miscellaneous stuff.

And since I was taking pics of my stash...I decided to straighten up the lab (that's what I refer to my sewing room as) to share some pics.

I guess that's all for now. I've got to get back to the lab.

Until next time, Happy Quilting and God Bless!

A Thread for Life

Where the spirit of the Lord is, There is freedom

Lift Your eyes to heaven, There is freedom

Freedom reigns in this place, Showers of mercy and grace

Falling on every face, There is freedom

If You're tired and thirsty, There is freedom

Give Your all to Jesus, There is freedom

Freedom reigns in this place, Showers of mercy and grace

Falling on every face, There is freedom

If your burden's heavy, He brings freedom

If you're hurt and broken, He brings freedom

Freedom reigns in this place, Showers of mercy and grace

Falling on every face, There is freedom

Great is Your faithfulness

Freedom Reigns by Jesus Culture

Linking up all over the place! 

Anything Goes Mondays
Freemotion by the River
Val's Quilting Studio Tuesday Archives
Let's Bee Social
Free Motion Mavericks
Needle and Thread Thursday
Can I Get a Whoop Whoop
TGIFF!

Visiting Greta

Last week I finally got the chance to meet Greta of  Material Detachment where she lives in Iowa.  For the past year we've been texting, talking and emailing.  I had planned to go to Iowa in August but then saw that AQS would be there in October, so I made plans to visit then instead.  Greta picked me up from the airport, we stopped for a quick bite to eat and then we were off to the show.  Here are a bunch of photos from the show.  Enjoy!

I can't even begin to think how much time was spent creating some of these amazing quilts!  Here are my 2 faves! Both were blue ribbon winners and rightfully so!

 All of the quilts had me oooing and aaaahing though.

After the quilt show, we went back to Greta's house in the country.

This is the view from the room I stayed in.

We spent most of our time sewing or quilting. You can read about what we made here.  I practiced FMQ on her longarm.

We went to the Berry Patch Farm and picked apples from the orchard and made homemade apple pie.

Greta picking apples

 Greta and her husband are wonderful cooks. Vegetarian never tasted so good!
It was a lovely and relaxing time.

Greta sent me home w/pounds of fabric...

and a beautiful quilt that she co-created.

I arrived back in AZ to happy mail that I won from 2 different giveaways!

Until next time, happy quilting and God Bless!

A Thread for Life

Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Matt 11:28

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