Quilt of Honor Top

My New Team

Is super awesome!  I love being part of the local Portland Etsy team, and being able to get together in person and talk shop.  However, despite my efforts, I have not been able to find another quilter on the team. (If you are out there, make yourself known!!!)  Quite frankly, that is what all my questions are about, quilting and selling quilts.  Enter the Quiltsy Team :)

Okay, so I found these ladies intimidating when I looked at the requirements to be on the team but I really wanted to ask quilting questions, so I wrote up some shop policies and forged ahead.  I was gleeful when I got the message that I had been accepted onto the team!!!

And of course, there wasn't anything to be scared of.  Everyone was so friendly and welcoming.  Also, SO. MUCH. TALENT.  To learn more about the team, you can visit our blog, here.

A Call to Action

A discussion thread was posted to the group on August 11th asking for help making five quilts to be presented on September 11th to a group of veterans that were being honored at an event in New York state.  A month was a short timeline to be sure.  BUT I really wanted to help and a fellow team member had offered to quilt and bind a completed quilt top, so I said I would make the top for her.  Eek, this is exciting! Quick like a bunny, not time to waste on this one!

Quick Quilt Top (that I can still be proud of)

I really liked the idea of sewing something from my stash and was surprised how much red, white and blue fabric I have (mostly thanks to my mom and all her good garage sale finds) but the idea of trying to do something scrappy and improvy seemed like too much for the short time frame.  I decided that I would see what I could find on Pinterest.  You can see all of the ideas I gathered here.

In the end I decided on a variation of the quilt below.

If you look closely you will notice that the strips aren't actually full rectangles.  They are a little wonky, but in a very specific way.  The pattern called for a template ruler which meant individual pieces, which was a no-go in this situation.  Luckily, I have done a few other variations on rail fence.

A purple skull quilt for my mother in law:

A pink quilt for my Nana's pink house:

and I knew I could achieve a very similar effect with regular old strips AND at blazing speed.  Off to Fabric Depot!

Let the cutting commence!

This quilt top went together beautifully!  And quickly, just three evenings!  After all the trouble I had with my Jitterbug quilt, it was so nice to have all my blocks line up and seams match!  See, I told myself, you do know how to do this. I have also learned the importance of squaring blocks after sewing them together.  Ah, the fun of being self taught :)  Thanks to all my unknowing internet guides and teachers I am slowly filling in the gaps in my quilting know how.

And here it is!

The blocks all laid out before being sewn together.

A quick snapshot before being mailed off!

I sent it off to Vivian in South Carolina to finish!

She turned it around in just a few days, amazing.  Her quick snapshot before it was in the mail once again :)

At Last!

This project was super duper top secret so I couldn't share before the event.  Finally the day was here! I was so excited to see the below photos from last night!

A shot of the quilt tag, with my name on it!

The quilt and recipient :) So awesome!!!