Tell us about your favorite quilt. When did you make it? What pattern did you use? What fabrics?
My favorite quilt is my log cabin rainbow quilt. It took a long time to make because it was my project in between other projects, the thing I took to quilt guild sew days or worked on when I couldn't move forward on another quilt because I needed more supplies. I love it, though. I used a traditional log cabin block, and the quilt is made almost entirely of scraps. I did have to buy a green fat quarter and an orange fat quarter to keep the colors balanced, but everything else is remnants from other things.
Have your shown it at any quilt shows or entered it in any contests?
Nope, my skills aren't that great. Plus I make quilts that are functional, not show pieces.
What memories or people does the quilt make you think of?
When I was doing the quilting portion of it, I wanted to fill it up with whimsical pictures that were free-motion quilted into it. At the time my grandparents had passed away, and my mom was in the process of dividing up the estate. I had gotten some things my grandmother had sewn, and it made me realize that when I pass away, my quilts might be the only things left of me. So I included messages written out to my kids, pictures to represent people in my life (a robot for my son, an anchor for my grandpa who was in the navy, etc), and stuff like that. Someone in my quilt guild pointed out that the quilting wouldn't show on such a busy background, but the kids can see the pictures when they curl up with the quilt, which was exactly the point.
What do you like best about the quilt?
The thing I like best is that my kids love it. They like all my quilts, but they refer to this one as "the rainbow quilt" or "the beautiful quilt."
If you could make this quilt again, what (if anything) would you do differently?
Maybe I would have waited until I had enough green and orange scraps to make it entirely out of scraps, so I wouldn't have had to buy those two fat quarters. Whenever I explain how it was made I always feel like I have to mention the fat quarters, just to be honest.
Where is the quilt now?
It's on the floor in front of my couch. One of the kids took it to bed and then brought it back out this morning and put it on the couch, but they kicked it off while they were playing with the iPad. Like I said, my quilts are very functional and I like it that way.
