teaching sewing confidence, tip by tip

Friday 16 May 2014

Timorous Beasties Quilt Replay - {Blogger's Quilt Festival, Spring 2014}


 Each year in Spring and Fall it seems like everyone that's anything to do with quilting rushes off to Quilt Market in Pittsburg or Houston to check out all the new goodies, fabric, thread, etc, that are going to be available to us over the coming months.  I'm really excited right now because this is the first time I've been asked to make a project to be displayed in a booth - I've been working with the new Meadowlark collection by Melanie Testa for Windham Fabrics. I've shared a sneek peak here if you'd like to have a quick look but do come back and catch all of this post too!

AmysCreativeSide.com

Some of you may be wondering just what is Blogger's Quilt Festival?  So we don't feel too left out seeing all this Quilt Market goodness from the confines of Instagram and Facebook, Amy Ellis of Amy's Creative Side and author of Modern Neutrals (check out my Pleated Patchwork Quilt designed by her) organises the Blogger's Quilt Festival so we can each showcase up to two of our favourite quilts.

I've haven't participated in Blogger's Quilt Festival before but having the opportunity to share my Timorous Beasties charity quilt with a wider audience is too good to miss .  There's lots of wonderful quilts to discover and you can vote for your favourites.  I've decided to enter Timorous Beasties in the Modern Quilts category, please click through, browse and vote on whichever quilt in each category most takes your fancy.

VOTING NOW OPEN THROUGH TO 29 MAY - VOTE HERE

Drum roll now as I replay my blog post of 8 April 2014 and introduce again

Heard The One About Me, The Glasgow Girls Club And The Timorous Beasties Quilt?


Last Tuesday around 6.15 pm I answered the phone at the quilt store where I work in Manhattan to a woman with a Scottish accent.  She told me she had a quilt that needed finishing for an auction to be held in Manhattan on Tuesday, 8 April.  She continued speaking about the organisation she's involved with and asked if I knew anyone who could help her ... I heard my voice saying "I'll do it for you, how soon can you get it to me?"

How does that happen?  When a voice comes out of your mouth without you knowing anything about it!  I do remember thinking that this was meant to be especially as it was a New York/Scotland thing and of course I'm in New York and my daughter, Flicky, is in Scotland so with an immediate connection, instinct just sort of took over.

By 6.45 pm the woman was standing in front of me at the store and this is probably a good point in the story to introduce her to you properly ... Amy, Amy Rew to give her her full name, and she is Global Lower Eastside Girls Club ambassador and founder of their partner group The Glasgow Girls Club.  The aim of these two groups is to:
provide a place where girls and young women 8-23 can grow, learn, have fun and develop confidence in themselves and their ability to make a difference in the world.  By delivering strong arts, literacy, science, health and leadership programs they provide girls with the vision to plan - and the tools to build - their future. Raising the next generation of environmental, entrepreneurial and ethical leaders.
Amy brought with her the blocks sewn by the girls at the Glasgow Girls Club back in March along with some incredible fabric donated by Timorous Beasties - Thistle Linen.  

Here's a pic off GGC's fb page of the girls with their finished blocks, you can see more photos of the quilting day here on facebook.


So for the last 7 days I've worked into the night to turn these

 

into this


and adding a pieced backing and binding made from Robert Kaufman Essex Linen Ivory and Benartex Caryl Bryer Fallert - Essential Gradations Earthy Hues Earthy Spectrum so the back looks like this.


And here's where you can find the finished quilt for tonight only


then hopefully it'll be going to it's new home and will have raised lots of money for the girls.

I  have so many more photos to share - firstly close up detail of the sections of the quilt incorporating the girls' blocks.  I'm hoping the girls get to see these and are incredibly proud of their part in making the quilt and can spot their own blocks here.


I've kept the pieces exactly as they were made by the girls - I've just added freemotion lines around the raw edge appliques to hold them in place.

 

I've quilted either side of the ditch to support and strengthen the seams.


 This block had pencilled faces on the circles - I've traced over the faces with an archival pen so they're a permanent feature of the quilt now.


I love these crystals sewn on the thistle spikes - can you see them, it's tricky against the white background?

Here's some detail of my quilting - I've freemotion quilted along the stems of the thistle leaves and outside the main thistle image - all stitching is in white so it doesn't detract from the girls' work (unfortunately that makes it difficult for you to see!).


You can see the thistle quilting better on the back of the quilt.


As always I've added my label


and another label to document the quilt's history as I fully support the Quilt Alliance's SOS (Save Our Stories) programme.


Finally I've hand sewn the bindings.


Here's some rolled and draped shots


And some final full shots


 So now you heard all about it, me, the Glasgow Girls Club and the Timorous Beasties Quilt, do you love it as much as I do?  It's funny that I'm not having difficulty giving this one away - all the time I was working on it I knew it wasn't mine and it's going to such a good cause it's given me quite a different perspective on the quilt.  I'm excited to see how much money it raises.

If you can spare 1 min 25 seconds then check out this short trailer about the Club, you can see Amy with her fabulous pink bag and also images from the quilting session at the Club.  Maybe you or someone you know would like to get involved too either in New York or in Glasgow?  Please spread the word.




Have you ever answered the phone to something completely unexpected that changes the course of your week, year, life?  When these moments come we should just grab them, I did :D


Boy, that was a pretty long post first time around so if you've hung on in there and you're still with me I want to give you a great big virtual hug, moreover, if you're here a second time around I think that makes us internet BFFs.


You may be wondering what happened to the quilt?  Much to my delight, given the cause that any monies received for the quilt will benefit, the work that went into making the quilt and also the value of the materials donated by Timorous Beasties, instead of  holding a silent auction for the quilt Amy has decided to accept offers in excess of $1,000 from anyone wanting to purchase the quilt.  She is more than happy to wait for the quilt to go home with the right owner and I am thrilled that she has chosen to do this.

Anyone interested in finding out more information about purchasing the quilt can contact Amy by email girls@glasgowgirlsclub.org.


AmysCreativeSide.com


Don't forget if you want to enter up to two quilts into Blogger Quilt Festival yourself then click here to see all the categories - you can enter 16-23 May.

And from 24 May through to 29 May you can cast your votes and the winners are announced on 30 May.

VOTING NOW OPEN THROUGH TO 29 MAY - VOTE HERE

A couple of people have been unsure how to vote: locate the white heart in the top right corner of the pic of the quilt you want to vote for; click on it so it turns red; you've placed your vote :D

I hope you'll drop by and cast your favourite quilt vote :D


Update at 11.25 pm, Friday, 30 May 2014:


Blogger's Quilt Festival results are in and my Timorous Beasties quilt came in a very respectable 4/57 in the Modern Quilt category.

Thanks for all your votes and do click through to see the top 3 winning quilts :D







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27 comments:

  1. What a fabulous quilt and amazing story! Such a great idea and organisation.

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    1. Thanks Lucy and the organisation really is something special, more than ever all young people need support not just to succeed but even just to cope with what life throws at them these days :D

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  2. Such an interesting quilt with a great story. Good luck with the festival entry!

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  3. I think I need to repeat what I said on my comment when you first posted about this quilt - you did those girls proud, Chrissie :) Such an awesome quilt!

    Congratulations on being asked to make a project for a booth at Market!!

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    1. Thank you for your lovely comment a second time around! Looking forward to blogging about the Meadowlark Quilt Market project on Tuesday, 3 June - seems a way off yet but it'll be here in no time :D

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  4. Congratulations!! on a fabulous effort, you have done well, great quilt and I love the view in the background

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    1. It was a really fun project to get involved with and I love my view too though on the day I took those pics it was very grey, overcast and damp, totally reminiscent of Glasgow which felt very appropriate! :D

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  5. It's a great quilt! Love the back story and the "chance" phone call.

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    1. Isn't it funny the paths life takes you down? I'm so glad I answered that call in the store that day :D

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  6. An wonderful story to share on the festival.

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  7. What a wonderful project and the quilt is absolutely stunning :)

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  8. I loved the Timorous Beasties first time round and so good to see it again. A wonderful quilt and inspirational. Thank you for following me too. Its great to have a bit of interest from the experts. I entered the small quilt category with my first finished quilt!

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    1. I'm delighted you took the time to read and comment again Catherine, I wasn't sure people could do such a long post once, let alone a second time around! Happy to follow you and I'm heading over to look at your entry too right now :D

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  9. That's a fantastic quilt and a great story. I hope you and especially the girls are immensely proud of it. The organisation sounds like it does good work for girls, we need more clubs like that.

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  10. What a great quilt! That large thistle fabric is too cool!

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    1. Isn't that fabric just fab?! Timorous Beasties make many large scale prints and I'd love to work with any of them; pricey though but it is all upholstery weight, great texture and quality of course :D

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  11. Wonderful story and a fabulous quilt!

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  12. This is a beautiful quilt crystals and all. It is truly a work of art. That was the phone call of a lifetime! Congratulations.

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  13. Great quilt and cause! You tie all the contributions and fabrics together beautifully-not an easy task. Well done

    Hillary

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  14. Beautiful quilt! I particularly like those oversized prints. Whoop whoop for a lovely finish!

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  15. Oooh, this is such a fun quilt! I love all of the many details that went into it! And I LOVE that thistle fabric. Yum!

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  16. I just love this quilt and the story behind it. I voted at the festival!!

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  17. I love the story and the beautiful quilt! Would love to see this linked up at Snickerdoodle Sunday if you have a moment! :)
    http://meatloafandmelodrama.blogspot.com/2014/05/snickerdoodle-sunday_25.html

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  18. this is fantastic - I love the ecclectic/organic feel it has!

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  19. I love the story behind this quilt. It's wonderful to see people doing such great things for young women. I was thrilled when I watched the video to see the Glasgow club is based where my Dad was born, in Maryhill. Thanks for all your advice on the wonderweb, etc. I have got hold of some, drawn my design and I am about to cut out my fabric butterflies. Fingers crossed all goes well.
    Ali xx

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  20. Thanks for sharing your wonderful story and for the awesome quilt! Thanks so much for sharing your creativity with us at Show-Licious Craft & Recipe Party! Hope to see you again next Saturday morning starting at 8:00 am EST!

    ~ Ashley

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  21. lovely quilt - lovely story. The thistle fabric is impressive!

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I love to hear from everyone, thank you for taking the time to read my blog and share your thoughts. Please leave a message to let me know you visited, it's a great way to get to know you all better too :)

Chris Dodsley


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