If you follow me on Instagram or Facebook, you know that this flimsy is a recent finish. But what you may not know is that it represents travel, a Quilt Rock Star, and my first dillydally splurge! Here's the back story ...
The summer of 2017 had been particularly rough ... and it was difficult to recover from emotionally. I caught wind that Martingale Publishing and Moda Fabrics were planning a huge quilt event for summer of 2018. Just the medicine my weary heart needed! I checked in with their sites every day in early 2018 ... and signed on the moment registration opened!
I was so excited ... 5 days of quilting and learning with 5 Quilt Rock Stars! Heaven on earth for Mrs. DillyDally!
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| Opening Day Quilt |
I have been a long time fan of Carrie Nelson of Miss Rosie's Quilt Company! Needless to say I was super excited about her Opening Day Class!
After years of learning from her patterns ... it was amazing to learn from her directly!
She taught us the many different ways to create the flying geese units that are the primary element in the Opening Day quilt!
Our half day class with Carrie went by far too quickly! I ended the session with four star blocks pieced!
This was my sewing station while at the event! I fell in love with the machine I used that week. It came home to Alaska ... my future daughter-in-law purchased it!
For the two past years this quilt has been patiently waiting ... I had finished the other three projects from this retreat earlier. I plan to keep this one for myself, so it was always put aside as other projects went to the front of the line.
When mask making took precedence ... I needed a leader & ender to fill in ... then it hit me! All those flying geese units would serve that purpose perfectly!
Flying geese made their way into stars ...
... stars began to multiply ...
... and before long the stars were pieced! How I love the magic of leaders & enders!
Initially I thought I could just randomly piece the rows together ...
... because the red advances so much over the blue, I soon realized that a layout was necessary!
That done ... it was time to piece rows ...
And then sew the rows together!
The center of the quilt was pieced ... 144 flying geese units had been pieced! I was sew happy with the results!
More masks ... more flying geese for the borders! Before long the 182 were done!
Because the red wants to dominate I made the design decision not to use any red in the outer boarder. I used a fat quarter pack for this project.
That design decision meant that I quickly ran out of blue fabric. Uh-Oh! I only had enough for two borders! Yep ... I panicked!
Remember, this project is from 2018 ... the worry is not being able to find any! An internet search led me to a shop in Washington that had a fat eighth pack! I couldn't believe it! The quilting gods were smiling on me!
As soon as it arrived ... I got busy! Third border on and only one to go!
Now to find backing! Checked one of my favorite places to shop online, Keepsake Cottage Quilt and Fabric Shop, and they had the perfect print for a backing! They mailed it the same day I ordered it ... I had it within 3 days! Such great customer service ... plus they gifted me with a pin! 💗 This pattern is in Carrie Nelson's book, Miss Rosie's Farmhouse Favorites. It has several great quilt patterns! You can find the book here, it is published by Martingale Publishing.
Love that mask making led to the completion of this quilt! I look forward to having it quilted soon! Revisiting the splurge of Quiltstock 2018 and keeping this quilt as a souvenir ... serves as a bit of respite from our troubles and concerns! Do dillydally! It helps!
Do what you love! Do dillydally!
Mrs. DillyDally
The quilt is so pretty & Patriotic too!
ReplyDeleteMarilyn
This quilt is a wonderful reminder of your time at Quiltstock! I went last year and am so happy I did! I'm signed up to go to Houston for Quilt Festival the end of October - so nervous about that......
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