Thursday, May 20, 2010

Bloggers Quilt Festival

Today starts the Bloggers Quilt Festival hosted by Amy's Creative Side. A fun way to visit lots of blogs and see some wonderful quilts. This is my third time participating in the Quilt Festival.

"Matthew's Quilt" was started back around 1986. I was a new quilter and had taken a quilting class at the local craft store. Back then we were taught how to cut out the pieces with scissors and used cardboard templates. Towards the end of the class, our teacher showed us a tool that looked like a pizza cutter. She told us this was a Rotary Cutter and would speed cutting time. Of course we all laughed and said it could not take the place of scissors! HA!

About that same time, my sister in law took a class at a quilt shop. She learned Eleanor Burns Quilt in A Day pattern for the Log Cabin. She quickly shared with me how quick and easy it was to use this method. And as the saying goes, the rest is history.

I purchased these 100% cotton fabrics at the quilt shop. My plan was to make a quilt for my then toddler son. We worked on the Log Cabin pattern, and I completed the top. It was my goal to hand quilt this quilt.

So I started working on it, but did not make very speedy progress. As a matter of fact it was not completed until 2004!

This is one of my favorite quilts. It was fun to work on, and I love how the colors all worked together. I am very honored to have this quilt listed in the Online Quilt Museum. It is under the Cabin Fever category.

Enjoy your walk through the Bloggers Quilt Festival! I am sure we will all be amazed at the incredibly creative and gorgeous quilts that are being shown this time.

Thanks Amy!

61 comments:

Val said...

Oh how fun! I LOVE your quilt! It is so beautiful.

Allie said...

LOVE your quilt sweetie! That's too funny about the pizza cutter, lol - I too learned with cardboard templates and scissors. What a happy day when rotary cutters came along!
Matthew's quilt is fabulous - my favorite color combo.

Mel said...

A beautiful classic quilt!

Ivory Spring said...

Beautiful - and what an honor to have it listed in the online museum.

http://www.ivoryspring.wordpress.com

marlene@ByTheSeam said...

What a lovely Log Cabin. Aren't we all gald that rotary cutters came along and of course Eleanor too!

Valentina said...

What a gorgeous quilt... I really like the colours and how the quilting enhances the log-cabin blocks, How lovely!
I took my first class in 1994 and our teacher then told us rotary cutters would never catch on! :)
Thank you for your visit!
:)
greetings from Cyprus,
valentina

Lis Harwood said...

Your quilt is gorgeous and so beautifully pieced, thank you for letting us see it. At airport security recently I had to explain a rotary cutter that was in my hold luggage - oh, like a pizza cutter - said the official! Sort of! Lis x

Terry said...

I remember cutting fabric with scissors and cardboard templates! How did any of our quilts come out straight back then? LOL Love your log cabin quilt! :0)

Amy, a redeemed sheep said...

Hand quilted! WOW! That's impressive! This is truly an heirloom.

A Garden of Threads said...

My favorite look for a log cabin. Stunning.

Mary said...

I love the fields and furrows layout for log cabin quilts. This is just beautiful and I love the fact that it is hand quilted - and a beautiful job of hand quilting you did. Isn't it amazing how far quiting has come in that we now have so many gadgets to make the blocks more uniform? The blocks come together so much more quickly and painlessly than when we were using scissors and templates to cut out the pieces.

Kriza said...

we learned the same method at the class I attended in 1993 - how strange life would be nowadays without my rotary cutter! and with cardboard templates! :-)
lovely quilt, I always loved Log Cabin quilts.
Kristina
www.priscillacraft.blogspot.com

Heather said...

What progress the world of quilting has made in the past 20 years.

Your quilt is lovely.

Sandra said...

Great logcabin-a classic pattern that works as well now as it did 20 or 140 years ago.
Come see my 1890 antique star quilt
http://utahquiltappraiser.blogspot.com

Sandra Starley

Carol at Serendipity said...

Very classy quilt. Eleanor Burns changed my quilting life. I also use the Go by Accuquilt now. I like to sew not cut!

Carol

Unknown said...

Jocelyn, this quilt is absolutely gorgeous! Is your son the recipient still? I'd never have the patience to do something that time consuming, much less sit still that long.

Have a fantastic weekend.
TTFN ~ Hugs, Marydon

Kristen said...

How cool is that! Wonderful quilt!

Loris said...

I wish I had started quilting in 1986 :-) It would have distracted me from other things!
Your quilt is beautiful and probably holds alot of good memories as well.

RosaMarĂ­a said...

what a beauty!! I love log cabin desing and your quilt is a wonderful representation of that clasic!

Dawn N. said...

The colors are so vibrant! I really like it!

Micki said...

I love the blues in your quilt...it is stunning!
Micki

Becky said...

Wonderful story about your quilt! Love the colors. Wow! Handquilted. I'm impressed. Thanks for sharing your quilt and it's story. Have a great weekend!

Carol said...

A very striking quilt. Well worth the wait.

Dolly said...

That quilt is striking !
Congrats on sticking with it , finishing it, and gifting it !
By the way, the color you're using for your links doesn't show well.......just a heads-up !

Joanna said...

That's a great quilt story, and a beautiful quilt. You deserve a perseverence award for not letting it be forgotten and unfinished.

Kathy said...

Thank you for telling us about your red white and blue log cabin. I am so glad you were able to complete it with the hand quilting. Your story about the rotary cutter is so familiar! I had some rickety old steel rotary blade in my paint box in the year 1985/86 and I used it to cut canvases for painting class! I took my quilting class at the university in the spring of 1986 and we cut everything with a scissors! I don't think I had a yellow olfa cutter until about 1990!

Nat Palaskas said...

Great quilt to enter the BQF Jocelyn. Congrats for being in the Online Quilt Museum - Well done.
Have fun at the Festival - Hugs Nat

Anonymous said...

Wow, what a wonderful quilt! Thanks for sharing the story behind it, especially the rotary cutter bit - very funny!

Anonymous said...

This is such a stunning example of one of my favorite quilt blocks. I love how diverse the Log Cabin blocks can be. Great job!

Kate said...

My first quilt was a log cabin cut out with scissors too! Yours is a great log cabin!!

Bellgirl said...

Wow! It was definitely worth the wait! I love the way the red pops out of the pattern. I'm told we all have at least one log cabin in us, but I'm still learning, and only up to squares!

A Spoonful Of Sugar said...

I cut my first quilts with scissors too! I love Matthews Quilt - thanks for sharing.

Susan said...

A Beauty, I bet that toddler son just loves it now that he is old enough to appreciate it. Sometimes it is better that we make them wait!

Kim D. said...

Very Pretty Layout!!

Karen said...

Thank heavens for the rotary cutter eh? It looks a wonderful classic quilt that will undoubtably be treasured.

Liz @ the Brambleberry Cottage said...

It is lovely. I'm impressed that you had just started making quilts when you made this one. Perhaps, one day, I will learn to quilt.

Stop by and say hi.

Liz @ the Brambleberry Cottage

Anonymous said...

What a great quilt and story!

Denise said...

Great quilt! Log cabin is one of my favorites!

AnnieO said...

I love a log cabin quilt, and Eleanor's methods are so quick! However, I don't think she concentrates enough on the quilting part of her designs, so I admire your decision to hand quilt such a large project. What a great story--thank you for sharing :)

Leslie said...

this looks great. i love a log cabin

Miri said...

Lovely classic log cabin quilt!

SheilaC said...

Just love log cabin AND RWB!
Beautiful!

SheilaC

Marie said...

your log cabin quilt is beutiful

quiltmom anna said...

What a great story- You know, my first quilt was that same quilt pattern from Eleanor Burns- I did it in a barn raising setting ( sometimes called Sunshine and shadow). I started in 1985 and finished in 1987- not quite a quilt in a day.LOL Unfortunately my version has not survived very well but I learned lots since that time. I did not quilt for about 10 years after that.
Log cabin still remains one of my favorite patterns.
Hope you have lots of visitors. There are lots of beautiful quilts to view ( getting close to 500)
Regards from a Western Canadian Quilter,
Anna
http://quiltmomsjourney.blogspot.com/

Marit said...

A very classic and pretty quilt. Some quilts takes us a long time to finish, loved to read the story! And there has been so much happening when it comes to tools. Imagine making a quilt without the rotary cutter these days...
; )

Anne at Film and Thread said...

I think what it like so much about this quilt is that it really looks fresh and modern even though it was done so long ago! The little pop of red just makes it!

georgie said...

I really love the effect of the colours in your log cabin this is another on my to do list.
Happy quilting.
Georgie x

Sandi Linn Andersen said...

This is a beautiful quilt and your handquilting is so fine. It's a lovely family treasure. :-)

Shelly said...

Oh my goodness -- what WOULD we do without our rotary cutters?!?!? And isn't it amazing how a Log Cabin quilt just never goes out of style? Very nice -- thanks for sharing.

Aunt Spicy said...

Ohhhhh love it! it reminds me of a perfect summer afternoon!

QuiltSue said...

I love the colours of this quilt.

Anonymous said...

What a beautiful quilt you have made! Log Cabin is one of my most favorite patterns and I especially LOVE it with a red center square! Your quilt, though it may have taken years to complete, IS finished!!! And, it has quite a bit of quilting history and legacy stitched into it. What an AWESOME job you've done! Thanks for sharing. ; )

Sunshine said...

Nice layout of a very traditional block - and it's great for a guy with the colours you chose!

Anonymous said...

I used scissors for my first quilt too, which also happened to be a log cabin, but it is not nearly so beautiful and well made as yours. It really deserves being in the online quilt museum. Thank you for sharing.

Dallas Designing-Diva said...

Very striking.
Randi
http://DivaBuzz.designing-diva.com

Janet said...

Love your quilt! My first log cabin quilt is still in the UFO bin!

Terriaw said...

What a beautiful quilt! I love how the white creates a cool pattern with this. I also love hearing your story about how you first discovered the rotary cutter. Aren't they wonderful now? So much better than using templates or a scissors to cut pieces for quilt projects.

Eileen said...

great quilt and love the story. the red is such a fun accent. thanks for sharing

Anonymous said...

very pretty! i love the diagonal stripes of white that are created by the way you chose to organize the blocks... and the pop of red is adorable!

ktquilts said...

Just love your log cabin!!!

Blessings,

KT

syocom said...

I am very impressed you quilted it by hand. Where I am from not many people know how to do that. I learned from my grandma and the last one I did by hand took me almost a year to do (and it was a small quilt) but I love the way it turned out. Yeah for the hand quilters!!!