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Thursday, October 13, 2011

Mary's quilt

Yesterday afternoon I was hanging this quilt up on my rain gutter on the side of my house (for my third round attempt at a decent photo) and a lady was walking by with her young children. She stopped to ask me if I made the quilt. It turns out she is a quilter, too, and new to the neighborhood. We chatted a little bit and I invited her to our little neighborhood quilting group next month! What a fun surprise to meet yet another quilting friend on my street. So, maybe it IS good that I am the crazy quilt lady in the neighborhood trying to get that one decent shot of the quilt for the old blog. :)

I made this quilt for my friend (and yet another neighbor) Mary, with the help of my lovely Two's Company Bee members. Thanks so much, ladies!! I couldn't have done it without you! It turned out to be such a bright and happy quilt, don't you think?
I requested red, aqua and white maverick stars, and I got such a beautiful variety of blocks back. Each bee member so graciously added a few of their own fabrics in their block, which helped make this a scrappier quilt. Just what I was after! If you ask me, this is THE PERFECT bee block. It's easy, it doesn't use a ton of fabric, each person can add their own personality, but the blocks are still unified with all the others in the end. That's just my 2 cents. :)
I pieced the back, of course. The center print was in my stash and it was wide enough to cover the width of the quilt with a few inches to spare. There was just enough leftover after trimming to add a strip or two to my scrap bucket. Sweet! I added a solid aqua and a white and blue dot for the rest. I LOVE this back!
I stippled the quilt in white thread and machine bound it (yay!) with this leaf print. Instead of using my normal warm and natural batting, (I didn't want the flecks to show through all the light fabrics), I used some Fairfied 80/20 batting that I had on hand. It has no flecks, but it has a higher loft. That made me nervous, because I was afraid of puckers. (Been there, done that!) All went well with the quilting, thankfully, and after washing, the loft settled down just a touch so it is the perfect thickness. Unfortunately, one of the stars bled (boo-hoo), but with all the variety of reds, I guess I wasn't surprised. (Yes, I did use a color catcher, but it didn't help.) It really didn't bother me too much. Like we say a lot in our house, "It is what it is." :)

The quilt measures 60" x 72", which is a perfect lap quilt. I gave it to Mary yesterday, (which was so fun!!!) and she loved it. Hurray!

66 comments:

  1. This is a wonderful quilt, your neighbor is a very lucky lady. I have a bunch of this color fabric and you have inspired me to use it.

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  2. It's a gorgeous quilt - love the colors, the maverick stars, the back - everything!!! And congrats on finding a new quilty friend!!

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  3. It's beautiful!

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  4. What a small quilting world! And everyone is so nice and talented. You spread the quilting love in such a nice way.

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  5. It is k gorgeous quilt. Lucky Mary. And lucky you for finding another neighbor who quilts.

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  6. Anonymous8:49 PM

    Love the star with the red background! Please, tell us how or where you found out how to do the machine binding? Love the quilt! Thanks for the inspiration!

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  7. Love love love the quilt! And I recently met a bloggy quilty friend who, turns out, lives really close by :)

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  8. Beautiful!

    ...and I wish I was a Mary ;)

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  9. I had a quilt bleed this week too. i rewashed it with synthrapol, and all of the extra color came out. Kind of scary to put a known bleeder into hot water, but it worked.

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  10. Wow -- what a LUCKY neighbor. I LOVE this quilt. Too bad about the bleeding -- I read somewhere that fabrics seem to be bleeding more than usual -- they think manufacturers are taking shortcuts to keep the prices down since cotton is so high. Was it a popular print that we're all using? I'm a prewash fanatic, but it doesn't always keep the bleeding from happening on the second washing when it's in the quilt.

    Anyhoo -- another fantastic finish Ms. Crazy!!!

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  11. My favorite block in my favorite colors. Mary will love it, I'm sure!

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  12. I love the colors! They're very upbeat and happy.

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  13. Your star quilt is just lovely!

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  14. Love the color combo! And the machine binding looks perfect.
    How lucky you are to have quilting neighbors :)

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  15. Absolutely love this! Perfect!

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  16. The more I look at it the more beautiful it looks. I defenately need to try to make something similar.

    Lovely way to meet new friends.

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  17. Beautiful!

    ...and how on Earth did you get it to stay up on your roof/gutter!?

    I love it when people are friendly enough to welcome you to their "hobby neighborhood". I have a beekeeping bumper sticker and I've had two different people stop by to make sure I knew when the local club met. So nice.

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  18. What fun to meet another quilter - and right in your neighbourhood. I don't know anyone near where I live who quilts or even sews. :(

    LOVE the quilt! It is gorgeous. Mary is one lucky duck!

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  19. sorry to hear about the red bleeding :( i'd throw in 3 or 4 color catchers in the load with a red and white quilt. it probably wouldn't help, but i'd do it anyway just in case.

    i adore the stars that are not on a white background. how sweet.

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  20. Wow, Wow and Wow, (I'm so profound.) and I'm glad the little bleed doesn't bother you!

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  21. Love the aqua and red background blocks - brilliant pops of color.

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  22. Amanda Jean, that quilt is adorable and just love your intro story about your new neighbour....quilting links the world!

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  23. How lucky is Mary to have you as a friend!? Gorgeous quilt - love the aqua and red backgrounds - they really make this quilt stand out!

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  24. Beautiful!!! You are very talented at quilting!!!
    Have a nice weekend :o)!

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  25. I like that quilt, too. I hope to make a red, aqua and white quilt for me sometime. I'll start collecting fabrics. Do you have an idea where I can a fabric bundle of these colors? Buying online is often a (not always good) surprise (the colors aren't always the same as on the screen).

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  26. Oh my this is such a lovely quilt!! So glad Mary like it. How wonderful of you all to share.
    As someone who has relocated from Sydney Australia to London England I can relate to the new neighbour & the need to find new quilters!
    Now I know how - I just need to keep an eye out for quilts attached to rain gutters! LOL
    Thanks for the tip.
    Lush
    London UK

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  27. Anonymous1:39 AM

    Very nice! I love the bold colors, and the patterns. Very nice! Thanks for the share. I haven't made many quilts. To be honest, only made 1 and it was just a simple "checkerboard/patchwork" kind of quilt. I'm onto making another one, a baby quilt that is pinwheels. Can't wait to get started on that one! :)

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  28. Beautiful! Aqua and Red is one of my favorite color combinations and it came out beautifully in this quilt!

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  29. It's a beautiful quilt. Love the color combination. Lucky Mary! ;)

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  30. Love it! The colors are so cheery!

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  31. I love that you are a good witH the flow kinda gal!! Makes life easier.
    Great job on the quilt!! Well done!

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  32. What a lucky friend and beautiful quilt! I especially love the few blocks that have a colored background, just the right amount of *pop*! :)

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  33. Gorgeous quilt! Love the stars and that backing! I would love to be known as the crazy quilt lady ;)

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  34. Love the quilt - especially the few with colored backgrounds!

    And I want to live on your block - it sounds like lots of fun!

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  35. It IS a happy quilt! Love all the maverick stars and the fact that a few of them have a different colored background. How fun to meet a new neighbor AND one that quilts as well! Scary that the color catcher didn't catch all the red....I use that as my rationale for not pre washing reds...

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  36. Similar thing happened to me recently. I met a Christian lady through bible study and then find out later that she lives right around the corner from me. AND she is a quilter!!

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  37. Your quilt is lovely : ) I giggle sometimes while I am outside taking pictures wondering what my neighbors are thinking. So far no quilters have come forward, but at least there is hope! Glad you found a new quilter for your group.

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  38. Love it!
    (And if you baste or pin the colour catcher right where the running fabric is the next time it should take care of whatever colour ran.)

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  39. I never manage to do a machine stitched binding without having sections on the back where the stitching didn't catch. Please consider blogging your secrets to success.

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  40. Love it! I know that she loves it, too. I love that some of the squares have the turquoise background, too.

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  41. beautiful...as always..
    do you have a tutorial to make these stars???
    xoxo
    eva

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  42. So lovely how quilting brings so many new friends. The quilt is just fab.

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  43. Anonymous11:11 AM

    Some friends recommended Retayne to eliminate bleeding before it happens. I've started using it, too. So far, so good.

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  44. I will never get sick of seeing red teal and white together. Beautiful

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  45. Mary in one lucky gal! It's simply wonderful!

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  46. I love this quilt!!!
    The colors and the maverick star pattern!
    This is being added to my "gotta make, gotta make" list!!!

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  47. It's a beautiful quilt. Your stippling looks awesome. I've tried binding using my machine but have just not been happy with the results so far. Guess I need to keep practicing.

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  48. Beautiful! I love the white background of most of the blocks, and then the colored backgrounds of just a few. Awesome. I'm sure your neighbor will love it to pieces!

    word verification word: flumborp. haha. Funny word. I might try to use it in an actual sentence sometime.

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  49. Lovely crisp quilt. Love the color and block combo.

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  50. I love star quilts! I hope this one is in the new book (hint hint?)

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  51. This is a great quilt! Lovely colour combination and I love that some of the blocks have a different background colour.

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  52. What a gorgeous quilt, your neighbour is very lucky!

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  53. Great job. That is a lovely quilt.
    thank you for sharing..
    Judi

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  54. Love the randomness of this one- yet it still looks very planned. Trying to use up scraps, so great pattern!

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  55. this is AMAZING... i just LOVE the COLORS!

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  56. Beautiful! I love those colors.

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  57. Lovely quilt! What a lucky neighbour!

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  58. I LOVE this quilt and the colors. WOW! Thanks for sharing.

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  59. Well, how generous of you to personally make a quilt for a friend. Mary is, indeed, blessed to have such a wonderful friend like you. I like how quilting helps individuals develop friendships and relationships. It isn't just a pastime or hobby, after all.

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