Blogger's Quilt Festival

And, even cooler than the International Quilt Festival, is the Blogger's Quilt Festival!

Here is my "entry"...

"The Be Attitudes", pattern and fabric by Nancy Halvorsen. Hours and hours and hours of tracing, cutting, fusing, hand embroidery, blanket stitching and quilting by me!

I first saw this quilt on a postcard that came to the quilt shop I worked at at that time. I fell in love instantly!! I HAD to make it.

I worked... and worked and worked and worked at this!! I thought I'd never get it done... but I focused on the "Be Patient" block and kept at it. I cut out, pieced, fused and appliqued one block at a time, usually one a week until they were all done. Then- I had to quilt it.

Quilting quilts is NOT my forte. If I can't do it with straight lines on my little machine or a pantograph on my GrandQuilter, I ain't doing it! That's what people like Paige are for :) But this quilt didn't lend itself to either option... and I really wanted to be able to say I made the whole thing myself.

So, I hauled my little machine to the dining room table, where I'd have more room. I quilted this little guy first:


I wanted to free-motion around each applique piece, and I had never done anything like that before, so I practiced on something small first.

And that's how it's quilted! I stitched in the ditch for all of the background, and then each and every applique piece, no matter how small, is stitched around, to help make it stand out.

It hangs in my entryway to remind Hubby, me, and everyone who comes to our house about the attitudes necessary for happiness!

Please head over to Park City Girl's blog and look at the ever growing list of people participating! There are links to almost 100 blogs already... and it's the first day of the festival!!