It's Throwback Thursday again! Not sure what that is all about? Then go check out my friend Jenn's blog - A Quarter Inch from the Edge.
I don't know how that happened, I mean, I am so young and so is my sister, but somehow, I have a nice who graduated from high school... 6 years ago!
She had been visiting a few months before and when I took her to the fabric store, I had taken mental note of her favourite fabric:
I cannot tell you the designer, the manufacturer or the name of the pattern - I didn't care too much about these things in my pre-blogging days (and to a certain extent I still don't). But not only is this one of my favourite fabrics ever, I have also seen it over an over again in decoration magazines and other similar places.
Anyhoo, In anticipation of making a quilt for my niece, I went back to the store and bought whatever was left on the bolt. That was the easy part. The tough part was to find matching fabric. Not as in "perfectly matching" but something that "played well" with it. It proved extremely challenging. Don't believe me? I dare you to go in your stash and find fabric that plays well with this large brown floral. Go ahead. I'm waiting!
After a long search about 4 different stores (back in the day, before I ever considered online purchases) I found sufficient matching fabrics. Can you believe none of these are not from the same line or even the same manufacturer? All that trouble... and when I presented the quilt to my niece, she had absolutely no recollection whatsoever of having laid eyes on the fabric. Oh well.
Making the quilt was actually easy. The pattern is from a Kaffe Fassett book although I am not sure if I followed the pattern or simply used the idea of making squares of three different sizes (3", 6" and 9").
Oddly enough, I had a large chunk of my focus fabric remaining (one would think I should have used it in the front since it's the only fabric I truly love in this quilt), so the back went together quickly...
A little machine embroidered label...
Quilting is a bit rudimentary... this was probably my second or third time free motion quilting. I like to think I've come a long way.
On a trip to Montreal last month, I had a chance to take the quilt for a photo shoot. My nephew graciously agreed to be a quilt holder... Or perhaps he is just hoping he'll get a quilt when he graduates too...
Again, I think I am way to young to have a nephew that tall, but I have to say he came in pretty handy!
Thanks, Jenn, for providing the encouragement to revisit our quilts from the past!
***
On a completely unrelated note, a photo shoot is not the only thing I've been up to on my recent trip to Montreal. On my last day, I was able to catch this exhibition...
I was thrilled to meet the two Montreal MQG founders Cinzia Allocca (Deux Petites Souris) and Josée Carrier (Charming Needle). Always nice to meet quilty celebrities in person! The only bad thing is that I was literally on my way to the airport (and accompanied by a nine year old who does not dig modern quilt exhibitions) so there was not a lot of time for chit chat.
My pictures of the exhibition are not that great, so I invite you to go check out the Montreal MQG blog, or member Shannon Fraser`s blog for an excellent recap. Always inspiring to see other people's work!
On that note, time to stop blogging and go sewing! Cheers!
Wow, you did a great job of finding coordinating fabrics...they look like a 'collection'! Great photo shoot in the snow!
ReplyDeleteYou did a great job finding coordinating fabrics - they look like they belong together! I struggle to pick reds that work well together; they can go orange or pink on me and be not quite right.
ReplyDeleteYou did a great job with this quilt. I love picking out a focal print and then matching up random coordinating fabrics to go with it. The back of this one is just as great as the front. I'm sure your niece loves it tremendously.
ReplyDeleteWOW! Your search for the right fabrics was a huge success! Not only are the colors right, but the variation in scale and pattern works perfectly with your focus fabric.
ReplyDeleteJust saw this fabric on a destash on Instagram :) Alexander Henry Mocca! What are the odds of that happening LOL
ReplyDeleteWow! You have talent at choosing coordinating fabric! You should enter some of the online contests to curate a fabric bundle. Glad you were able to attend the quilt exhibit. I know what you mean about how your company effects your overall experience at the exhibit. Last year I took my dad and his wife to the local show where my Mixed Flock quilt was. Let's just say I'd have had a better time if I went by myself. Oh well, we all have things we appreciate.
ReplyDeleteI totally hear you on the "How on earth do I have nieces and nephews this old?" question! So cool that you made note of your niece's preferred fabric and made her something lovely with it. Thanks for linking up with Throwback Thursday @ A Quarter Inch from the Edge!
ReplyDeleteI like this. That bold busy print is intriguing. I understand....my nephew is 16 (and 6-feet tall) and in high school this year. How did that happen?????
ReplyDeleteYou did an awesome job matching up these fabrics, they look like a collection! And I love the layout, simple yet still interesting. Isn't it funny how we put so much thought into certain things, like picking the fabric she was most interested in, and she doesn't remember it at all? We have an eye for detail, that's my only explanation! Lol.
ReplyDeletea unique colour combination. Nice!
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