Blogger's Quilt Festival

I have seen the Blogger's Quilt Festival on many of the blogs I read and decided that this is the year I would try it for myself. I have been "making things" most all of my life and decided to try my hand at longarm quilting 5 years ago. I think I have found my creative place. When I first started I was scared that I wouldn't know what quilting designs to use, now I see designs as the third and final layer of the quilt's big picture!!

This past summer I was part of McCall's Quilt Design Star contest. This quilt "Created to Complete" is my interpretation of Opposites Attract, the theme in the final challenge round.

My husband and I are total opposites--but together we complete each other. Blue and Orange are opposite each other on the color wheel, yet together they complement each other perfectly!!!

 

My husband's side of the quilt--very structured and predictable--log cabin block in a Field and Furrow setting is perfect for my farmer husband.

 A freeform hand drawn random circle design is perfect for my sometimes CreativeADD mind!!!

Yet together it works just as it was meant to!! CREATED TO COMPLETE
Thanks for stopping by. Enjoy yourself on this Quilt Festival tour!!!!

Blogger's Quilt Festival Stats....
Created To Complete
Designed, pieced and quilted by Terri Vanden Bosch --me
Size 36 X 48
Traditional and curved piecing, ruler work and freehand quilting, photo transfers, crystals,piped binding
Best Catagory--2 color, Art, Professionaly quilted

Created to Complete

Wow--after a few 2:30AM nights--I have a finished McCall's Quilt Design Star Final challenge quilt!!!

With the theme of Opposites Attract--I went with the Compliments Complete theme--same thing just a little different.
 On the color wheel Blue and Orange are directly opposite of each other and therefore called Complimentary colors. They were each created by the Master Designer in such a way as to fill in the gaps for the other color. Always working perfectly together to bring out the best in the other color. The cool blues of bone chilling ice and the warm oranges of a cracking fire make for a great word picture to understand just how wonderfully Complimentary colors work. How would an orange snowstorm feel--or a blue sunshiney day--that just isn't right!!
The definition of Complimentary--mutually supply each other's lack; serving to fill out or complete.
With this definition in mind, Loren and I are the perfect complimentary colors. Both created by the Master Designer in such a way to combine our strengths and weaknesses to totally completely understand and "get" each other.
In the opposites that follow see if you can pick out the pattern---optimist/pessimist, dreamer/realist.random/controlled,procrastinate/prompt,calm/wound-tight,spiteful/forgiving and this last one should give it away--oldest/youngest.  Yes, I am the first one in all the opposites...

 

So just a quick little overview of "Created to Complete!!"

Almost there!!!

The quilting is finished!!! Now for the embellishment and binding race!!! Must keep working--but the early 4:30 mornings of loading hogs this week is catching up with me--must keep working!!!

Almost there....until Sunday....keep working....

Final Design Star Challenge Teaser...

Oh man....one week left--and I am almost there--next week will be quilting and finishing touches!!!

Opposites attract.....until next week!!!!

Opposites Attract!!

Wow what an amazing McCall's Quilt Design Star 2012 contest has been!! I have learned many new things and stretched my designing skills to the max!! Who knows what the Lord has planned next!!!

The concept for Opposites Attract came pretty quickly--go figure--you never know how a design will come together. This one could have went in a multitude of directions--but I have my plan and I am sticking to it:):):)

I have worked ahead on my customer quilts and have a big chunk of time set aside now to get busy and sew!!! There may even be some hand stitching required for this one--and that doesn't count the binding.
Watch for more inspirations.....

Quilting interuppted!!!

So I had every intention of having Happiness is...finished so that it could hang in the Quilts and Vines show last weekend...well my machine had other ideas.  The needle fell out, bent the hook retaining finger into an "L", and lodged a broken piece of needle in the hook assembly. Yes that is a lot of techincal words that I now completely understand.
So I had my trusty employee aka Loren come and see what he could do. We removed the broken pieces and called APQS for the replacement parts. The new parts came a couple days later and we retimed the machine with the new parts and there still was a horrible clatter going on plus the fact that I wanted the needle to stay in and overtightened the screw so much that it broke off in the needle bar--so we called the service department to make an appointment. Tuesday morning I left at 6AM for a 9:30 appointment--we put the packing box in the trunk just in case they couldn't fix it while I waited.
But have no fear--Amy the service lady at APQS had my machine purring like a kitten in 30 minutes!!! She put in a new needle bar, dremmeled off a bump on the new hook retaining finger that was making the horrible clatter, and retimed it to perfection!! She then seatbelted in the back seat of the car and I was all finished!!
So of course I couldn't just go right home--I took the long way home and had my own little Iowa shop hop. Stopping at 5 shops on the way home. Had a neat little trip all by myself!!!

I had an afternoon of quilting time in before the major interuption--photos to follow....

So now that I am a week behind again--I zipped off Happiness is...to catch up on customer quilts.
Hopefully soon....will keep you posted.

Happiness is...

Happiness is....a finished challenge top!! Not only was this a challenge to design and piece, but since the pom poms are hanging through the center hole I wanted the photo to show the shadow so that you could see that. The challenge fabric is the multi-colored print around all the circles.

So there you have it...I have to clean my house this morning and sort hogs tonight--but I am going to quilt this for me today!! Finishing all 6 of the blue centers should be a challenge--not sure on how to actually hang the pom poms for real--as now they are just masking taped to the back!!!

Sewing process....

Next post...finished product....

Thoughts on Design Star Challenge 2

In 1970 I was 5 years old.Actually on the back of this photo in Mom's handwriting I am 5 years 3 months old. 

The cut of fabric from Timeless Treasures I was given to use in Challenge 2 has a 60's to 70's groovy vibe going on in it.

Lots of color, lots of designs. Many, many possibilities to design around. My head was swimming with ideas--do I take some of the motifs and design around them, do I take some of the designs on the motifs and plan around that--or should I go with the emotion of the fabric piece and go with that....plus add in the requirement that 20% of the quilt needed to be the challenge fabric and this one had me in a quandry for a week!! I just couldn't settle on a final choice...

During my "Designing"--desperatly thinking phase--looking through 70's images and concentrating on the Peace, Love and Happiness symbols I came upon a memory of grade school. We had worksheets called "Happiness is..." We were to fill in the answer and write a story. Well now I was getting somewhere!!

This quilt is my answer and story to the "Happiness is.." McCall's Quilt Design Star Challenge2. It was a struggle to decide whether or not to go with a photo quilt this time. I decided instead to create my own block and concentrate on my piecing and technical skills--but still have a personal meaning to me. Even though I grew up in the 70's, I don't remember using the peace and love symbols much--but that smiling yellow face always makes me smile--which brought up the song by John Denver...

Sunshine on my shoulders...I don't know if I ever knew all the words or even understood any meaning to the song--I just liked listening to John Denver sing.

So to the drawing board on EQ7 software I went--along with some traditional tools. There were several false starts--I really wanted to try get a tiedye effect in the block--and in a test sample it did work--but was a bit too busy with the focus fabric--so back to the drawing board. Eventually in the moments before I started sewing the final product I finished my final drawing of the "Happy Place" block.  The journey was often a struggle with this quilt--but always a learning process.

Bliss....

Waa-laa!! I love it--and we made it into the next round too!!!

One more Design Star Challenge 1 entry teaser...

Notice a pattern going on here?!?! Those were for inspiration--now for the teasers....

...All will be revealed on Tuesday...I am going to quilt it tomorrow--we had to have our entry photo unquilted---not sure why--as the quilting is usually the 3rd layer in my design process. But had to follow the rules--which is usually quite hard for me. Oh and isn't that the coolest verse from Jeremiah??

McCall's Prize Package!!

Wow--what a cool package to recieve in the mail. Lots of goodies to play with--and I have been known to drop and then step on that cool little iron--so I think I will be putting this one in a safe place in case that happens again!! Lots of variety in the fat quarters--the large stack from Moda is woodsy flannels, a stack of Halloween, cheerful blue and yellows and some cute Snoopy ones. Now to find the right project to use them in!!
Thanks so much to McCall's Quilting magazine for this Design Star contest and all the companies that sponsor it. I am having loads of fun!!