Blogger's Quilt Festival, Spring 2013: Haiku Quilt

For this edition of the Blogger's Quilt Festival, I am entering my latest finish into the Bed Quilts category:

The quilt is a gift for a recently wed couple, Kevin and Colby. We went to visit them today and were finally able to give them their wedding gift. Yay!

The design is inspired by the quilts in the Judy Sisneros book, 9-Patch Pizzazz. I used her methodology to create my version. The largest blocks are 24" square. The nine-patches are 6" square. The finished quilt is about 96" square.

I had a lot of fun quilting this one too! I quilted it all with my Bernina 440QE. In the center, I imagined a breezy wind blowing and quilted a horizontal wavy design using a creamy variegated Superior Threads King Tut thread, #920, "Sands of Time." For the inner border, I used a dark brown Aurifil Mako 50/2, #1140, and quilted linked chain squares, a design I found in Angela Walters's fabulous book, Free-Moton Quilting. Finally, for the outer border, I stitched Elizabeth Hartman's dogwood quitling pattern in a 2" grid using Aurifil Mako 50/2 #2326, a taupe-y gold color.

I love how all of the various quilting designs work together in this quilt. And I am flippin' proud of the work I've done! My one regret is that I used too much pressure as I marked my gridlines in the outer border (I used a Sewline pencil), and some of the lines remain-- I just could not get them out (scrubbing; fabric eraser; multiple washes). On the bright side, they aren't really visible unless you know to look for them as they kind of blend in with all of the quilting lines. Also, after being washed for the third time, they are finally disappearing. So over time, I think they will all be gone. Eventually.

I went into this quilt not really knowing exactly how much I'd need of each fabric. So I just bought a couple of yards of each. I was able to use all of the leftovers in the back (plus a couple of others).

I've taken to calling this the "Haiku Quilt." I'm not normally very creative when it comes to naming, but in this instance, I felt inspired. I wrote a haiku which serves as the name of the quilt and that is written on the label:

Soft winds through the hills,

Petals and leaves atremble,

Cranes fly joyously.
And I have to give many thanks to my quilt photo shoot helper:

Every time we walk by that park (which is daily), he asks when can we go and do another quilt picture? Apparently, I need to get quilting!

The stats:

Quilt Measurements: 96" x 96"

Special Techniques used: none

Quilted by: Robin Zaback (me!)

I hope you are getting the chance to check out lots of other quilts in the Spring 2013 Blogger's Quilt Festival. It never fails to inspire me, and I find myself looking forward to the event each spring and fall when I can gaze at all of the shared happy eye candy and fabulous creativity.

Thanks so much for stopping by!