Monday, September 18, 2017

Blogger's Quilt Festival 2017

It's time for the Fall Edition of the Blogger's Quilt Festival put on by Amy's Creative Side. So here is one more post about my Deconstructed Coins quilt. (I hope you can stand one more. It's the quilt I'm most excited about of the ones I've finished so far this year.)  

Here's the summary and some of my favorite pictures. Well, this isn't one of my favorite pictures, but it's a place to start--the whole front:

 And the back:

My inspiration for the quilt came from two sources. One was a set of three fabric sample panels from a giveaway from Hawthorne Threads. I wanted to use them in a quilt but wasn't sure how. Then Kaja from Sew Slowly and Ann from Fret Not Yourself presented a challenge to the Ad Hoc Improv Quilters to make an improvisational quilt based on the Chinese coin pattern. The fabric samples were already in the shape of coins, 

so I cut them apart, split some of them randomly with solid strips 
and sewed them back together with a navy edge. (The navy was a suggestion from Louise from My Quilt Odyssey. I'm thrilled because I don't think I would have thought of that myself, and it really was a significant design element in the success of the quilt.)
 Then I added improv-pieced sashing and borders. 

As you saw above, the back is made with mostly leftover solids from the front. I quilted the whole thing with loose waves with my walking foot.

This all seems pretty straight-forward, but it was a long process--intentionally long because I wanted the design to unfold bit by bit without frustration.

Now for my favorite pictures. Here are some of the details showing the fun, quirky prints:




And on location, in the back yard

and in a nearby town:




I hope you enjoyed revisiting my quilt (or seeing it for the first time). It really helped me discover what my improvisational piecing style is (structured) and taught me to slow down and enjoy the process. If you'd like to read all about it, click on the Deconstructed Coins label on the right sidebar or the label at the bottom of this post in the web version of this post.

Thanks to Amy for hosting this festival again. I know I'll enjoy seeing what everyone else has to share this week. I hope you have fun at the festival, too.

15 comments:

KaHolly said...

Never tire of seeing this quilt!

Karen S said...

You came up with a great way to use these fabrics. Your quilt is wonderful.

Slice of Pi said...

Love the colors in this quilt! The navy was definitely the right choice too. Thank you for sharing your process!

TheEclecticAbuela said...

I love the fabric with the goats! Beautiful work.

Preeti said...

SO happy to see this quilt, again. I love everything about this quilt - from the choice of fabrics to the fun border. The simple quilting and the photoshoot - which inspired me to step out of my own backyard.

Linda said...

I love this quilt so much and really enjoyed revisiting the opportunity to see those fabrics up close! My favorite photos are the ones with the statue - classic! :)

Mari said...

I love your "on location" shots!

Karen @ Pieces of Contentment said...

A fun way to showcase these lovely Hawthorne Threads samplers. I recognise some of the prints too :)

Pamela said...

Love the fun prints! What a great design to show them off, I love the design!

audrey said...

Love this quilt! The fabrics are so fun and it's obvious you enjoyed the journey. I really like the border/sashing piecing especially!

Kaja said...

You can't show this one too many times for me!

Tu-Na Quilts said...

OH, so pretty! The back is as nice as the front. Love the pic with the lady statue.

Susan said...

I love the photos with the statue and the bench. This was a great plan, and it came off beautifully.

The Joyful Quilter said...

I love the back of the quilt as much as the front!! It really shows off your quilting.

Louise said...

This quilt feels like an old friend now! You know the kind of friend where you're always glad to see each other and the conversation picks right up where it left off, even if it was years ago :)