Thursday, May 16, 2013

Blogger's Quilt Festival... Proverbial Sunshine!

 Quilt stats

Name:  Proverbial Sunshine
Design:  Proverbial Quilt, Denise Schmidt
Size:  75" by 78"
Fabric:  Scrappy yellow and grey, with Wild Carrot in Straw, Madrona Road, Violet Craft for Michael Miller.  Bound with Haystack in Graphite from the same line.
Quilted: by me with Aurifil 50 wt in white

I started making this quilt last summer as part of a quilt along with Krista from Poppyprint making use of Denyse Schmidt's Proverbial Quilt pattern.  I had to think of something to say on a quilt.  It didn't take me very long to figure it out as this has long been something I sing... just because.  I knew it had to be in yellows and greys.  That just made sense. I wanted the letters to be scrappy grey and the background to be a mixture of yellows.  I added in some special yellow prints like the Seed Catalogue fabric, some with clocks and there are even some yellow prints with fleur de lis. My husband is French Canadian, a farmer and has a special interest in the big ideas around time and this one is for him.  I knew that the Wild Carrot print in straw from Madrona Road would be perfect to add into the quilt and that the Haystack in graphite would be the perfect binding.  I just had to make all the words.  So I did.  I worked away at it one word or phrase at a time.  I sang a lot.  How could you not? Then I had a quilt top!   I love it.  I backed it with a vintage sheet with faded yellow daisies.  But when I took pictures of the quilt just the other day, I forgot to take a picture of the back so you are going to see one I took when I finished the quilt with some snow on the ground back in December.  


 The quilting was a bit of a puzzle because I could not decide what to do about the words.  I ended up leaving them alone.  I quilted the sashing in straight horizontal quilting, about an inch apart in Aurifil 50 wt in white.  I waited to do the rest until I opened my Christmas book wish, Angela Walter's book on free motion quilting.  I used the u-turn quilting leading up to words and between words.  The quilting is quite dense in these u-turns and adds a great texture to the quilt.  I will say that the u-turns are not perfect but I really like the look. 







and the back with snow from last December when I finished the quilt....


  I made it for my husband and it brings with it sunshine, love and song.  Proverbial Sunshine.  And a perfect choice for me to enter in the Blogger's Quilt Festival.  It feels good.  Did you sing along?  Linking up with Amy for the Blogger's Quilt Festival Spring 2013.

Spring Blogger's Quilt Festival - AmysCreativeSide.com

19 comments:

  1. Beautiful! So happy to see this one again.

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  2. Yes, yes I did. Love this quilt, Cathy.

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  3. It's just so awesome Cathy. I think it's amazing on every level. Love the quilting too. I'm at Quilt Market right now and it is something else!

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  4. This quilt is beautiful and it is lovely to see it in the festival.

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  5. It's a beautiful and happy quilt!

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  6. This is so awesome! Piecing letters terrifies me quite a bit but if I thought it would look like this, I might just tackle it :)

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  7. So nice to see this quilt again Cathy! It's so wonderful!

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  8. Yay - one of my all-time favourites...! I just love this one.

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  9. what a beautiful quilt...and what a lot of work! I love the colors and the backing. Great job!

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  10. The yellow background is perfect for those lyrics :o)

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  11. You've got me singing along. Thanks for sharing such a wonderful happy quilt!!

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  12. I absolutely sang along! It's a beautiful quilt. I love the variety of yellows and greys you used and that backing sheet seems made for this quilt!

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  13. A perfect entry! Love this quilt! You can't help but feel cheerful looking at it.

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  14. What a great choice of background for this fun-spirited quilt!

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  15. I love everything about this quilt. Good luck in the festival.

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  16. I love it - such a great present for your husband :-)

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  17. Oh...yay! This is one of my favorite songs. And my sister sings it to her daughter every night before bed. So, when I see your quilt, it just makes me think of happy memories. What a perfect gift for your husband. Personally, I think it is so romantic to tribute that to him. But I'm pretty hopeless when it comes to romance. :)

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