Blogger's Quilt Festival

It is that time again when the lovely Amy from Amy's Creative Side is hosting the Blogger's Quilt Festival. Although this is the 10th festival, it will be my 7th time! 

The virtual festival is great when you live far enough from other quilters and also when you know lots of quilters are having a blast in Houston for Quilt Market. There is always a great display of breathtaking work and great stories attached to the quilts presented. And you can browse at your leisure, it never closes. Even though I don't make any prize winning quilts, I like to participate from the comfort of my home and present one particular quilt I have made. I also like to browse and discover people and quilts I would have known about otherwise. They are great prizes too for the more successful ones!

This time, I have picked my latest quilt, my Autumn Quilt Plus. Of course if you read my blog, you have seen this quilt a lot lately and you have probably had enough by now but if you are new here, follow me while I present my fastest quilt ever!

I signed up for Sheri's Quilts in the Pumpkin Patch blog hop in August without a clear idea in mind. I initially thought I would do a small item or decoration. That was until about a week before my turn on the hop when I thought about a bundle of FQs I had bought a while ago to make some cushions that I had never made. 

So I had this stash of fabric sitting in my sewing room waiting for its turn for the show time. And I decided it was its turn to be on show. After all I bought the fabric because I really liked it. And instead of a few cushions, I thought an Autumn quilt would be a great idea. So here I was one week before my turn, planning a full size quilt that I hadn't even started. (I work 4 days a week so it had to be a simple enough pattern). I really like the Plus quilt I had seen over the internet and decided that it would be a great pattern to showcase those fabrics. 

So on Thursday night, I finally started to cut some charm squares to make a start on my quilt about 72H before show time.I planned my quilt on the floor. Mr Cars got horrified when the wind started to blow them away and quickly got the original layout back for me.

I continued the cutting on Friday and started my "extreme chain piecing" helped by the kids who were bringing the squares in the right order so I didn't have to get up to get them. 

Saturday was quilting time. Again I choose a straightforward quilting pattern, stitching lines either side of the seams but I think it is very effective.

And because I had to order more fabric for the binding, I finished my quilt the following Sunday. 

The quilt is only about one month old but it has already seen a lot of use. It has been used to warm the kids on the sofa when they were ill (which seems to be happening rather a lot at the moment). And all 3 of them like to snuggle underneath at the week-end when they get a little TV break-treat. Hubby and I are also using it to watch our weekly episode of Downton Abbey. 

I am really pleased with this quilt, I love how it turned out. I am so happy that my fabric is no longer hidden away in a box but on display. And I really like that it was so quick to make.

Now if you read my blog in the last day or so, you might have seen the beginning of this post. I started writing on Tuesday night and forgot to save it as draft. Apologies!

Quilt stats:
measurement: 13 x 14 squares = 58.5 x 63' (based on the stash available)
fabric: Michael Miller, Anna-Maria Horner, Riley Blake, Makower and others
special technique: extreme chain piecing
machine quilted by myself of course!
made in September 2013
time to completion: one week
particularity: my fastest quilt ever

Linking to Amy for the Blogger's Quilt Festival
Celine