Spring Quilt festival 2012

If you haven't visited before a big, varm welcome to my little corner the blog world.

The past week I have been wondering if I should enter a quilt for the spring festival… and if so which one. Last year was a blast. I truely enjoyed reading so many interesting stories behind the quilts entered. And then I knew I of course had to participate again this year... the more quilts I see online, the more I appreciate that for each quilt there is a story.

I’m entering a quilt that I think captures the essence of the quilting community. I pieced the quilt but truth is it would never have come together without the kind help, guidiance and encouragement of others quilters.

I started (and finished it in spring 2012). My nephew wished for a quilt for his confirmation but come on... a quilt for a 15 year old boy. How do you go about that?  I aimed for something simple, modern, not frilly in any way and yet something that would look good in all sorroundings for years to come e.g. when he in a few years will move away from home and start his own life in a new apartment. He said he liked green so that was my starting point. Soon I added blues though… and purple… and yellow... and grey. The quilt ended up being far from green but a great variation of colors. The fabric came from all over - US, UK and Denmark.

After a while I had a pile of the blocks ready but couldn't decide on the sashing.  No matter what I tried it looked wrong. I started hanging some fabrics for another project on my design wall and the polka dotted fabric just seemed to blend in perfectly with my nephews quilt. An odd choice but I think it worked and made the quilt more modern and a bit different.

With all the polkadots it needed a daring border. I opted for a green zebra stiped Kaffe Fasset thinking if nothing else that would get the party going.

These are the people I owe thanks to:

• The pattern is Tamiko of Patchwork Notes box-in-a-box block.
• When I had doubts about the layout Stephanie, Betty and Tamara kindly nudged me to stay on track and continue.
• Molly suggested a circle quilting pattern and I loved that idea
• Betty was as always kind enough to guide me on how to make the circles and point me to several circle quilting resources
• The back was pieced with left-over blocks and dark grey – very much inspired by Faith’s of Fresh Lemons Modern Quilts. Her quilt is awesome and point-on modern. My back looks very different  - I had lots of the solid grey in my blocks and bordered it with a darker grey.

Below is my youngest trying to improve a photo of the quilting and the back. 

My nephew got the quilt in end of April 2012.

I’m happy to tell the quilt is already being used and loved a lot.