Blogger’s Quilt Festival!

What a lovely idea: an online quilt festival featuring quilts by bloggers! The Blogger’s Quilt Festival is hosted by Amy Ellis (Amy’s Creative Side). I discovered it this year for the first time and I’m delighted to share Jude’s Foxes as my entry in the Fall 2017 Edition.

black, grey and orange quilt with appliqued foxes
Jude’s Foxes, 2017

I completed Jude’s Foxes earlier this year as a gift to my nephew. He generously loaned it back to me long enough to enter it in the Sonoma County Fair this past summer, where it won a blue first place ribbon in its division.

The blocks are paper-pieced, except for the foxes which are machine appliquéd. I designed the quilt myself in Electric Quilt 7 (EQ7). I took photos of the fabrics I intended to use and placed them in the drawing to use as a guide:

quilt design with foxes, gray background, and orange stripes
Original quilt design from EQ7

Then I printed paper-piecing templates for each block and templates for the fox appliqué pieces.

Quilt, partly assembled
Assembling the paper-pieced blocks
Applique fox on gray background
One of the foxes ready to set into the quilt

The wakeful fox is adapted from an illustration by graphic designer Rachel Reitz (used with permission). The sleeping fox is my own design.

Six applique fox blocks
All the foxes are ready!
Paper-pieced quilt top
The completed quilt top, ready to have the paper removed

When it was time to remove the paper, I put on a good movie, got my tweezers, and went at it. It only took about a movie and a half 😉

I spent some time practicing different quilting motifs and drawing on a small printout of the quilt top before settling on the motifs to use in the final quilt:

Quilted sandwiches
Test sandwich and practice motifs

Then I had to pick thread to match the quilt. I used Connecting Threads 50/3 cottons:

Matching thread to quilt colors
Selecting thread colors

And finally, time to start quilting! I used a stationary machine (my Husquvarna Mega Quilter) and my dining room table. We ate in the kitchen for a week 😉

The quilt is divided horizontally by two rows of large circles. I used a different all-over motif in each third of the quilt, and each of the stripes has its own motif as well.

quilted designs
Pebbles and leaves on the bottom third
quilted designs
Pebbles in the center third
quilted designs
Swirls in the upper third
Quilted sandwich, not yet trimmed
All quilted, except for the area around the appliqué
top of quilt with scissors, needle threader, and lots of threads to tie off
Tying off and burying the knots

My nephew loved the quilt, which is of course the most important thing. I had a great time designing and making it, and I learned a LOT about paper piecing and free motion quilting.

Enjoy the Blogger’s Quilt Festival, and thanks for visiting!

16 Comments Add yours

  1. Laura Piland says:

    Such a beautiful quilt! Thank you for sharing for the festival! I loved reading about your process too!

    1. Rachel says:

      Thank you, Laura! Enjoy the festival!

  2. Preeti says:

    What an interesting quilt you have here. There is so much to see, layer upon layer – the neutral background that is paper pieced, the neat row of geese and the appliqued foxes are so cute. Must have taken you a long time. Congratulations on a fabulous finish and thank you for entering the festival!!!

    1. Rachel says:

      Thank you, Preeti! It took about a year, though I didn’t work on it all the time, of course. Thanks for your comments!

  3. Karen Osborn says:

    How lovely! Your description and creative process are so very informative! I complement you on your photo quality and blog content. This is the first blogger’s quilt festival AND first BQF quilt I’ve seen and now I’m hooked. Great idea for blogger’s exposure to quilters/sewists, and GREAT inspiration for viewers as well. Gotta love a win/win!!!

    1. Rachel says:

      Thank you, Karen! I’m glad you enjoyed the post. I’m loving the festival, too — such a neat way to explore other quilters’ work!

  4. Karen says:

    Your quilt is stunning. You have put so much work into the design and it works brilliantly. What a beautiful gift!

    1. Rachel says:

      Thank you, Karen! I really enjoyed making it. Thanks for stopping by and leaving a note!

  5. Wow! This is an awesome quilt! Beautiful design, Colours and quilting!

    1. Rachel says:

      Thank you so much! I’m glad you stopped by. Enjoy the festival!

  6. Thanks for sharing your design process. LOVE all the quilting you did!!

    1. Rachel says:

      Thank you! It was fun (and challenging, hah!). Thanks for stopping by, and enjoy the festival!

  7. Tu-Na Quilts says:

    It’s always rewarding when the recipient loves the quilt that took so much time and effort to make. This quilt is just lovely and shows how much time and effort you gave it. Wonderful story.

    1. Rachel says:

      Thank you! It really is as much fun seeing the recipient’s face when they open the quilt, as it is making the quilt itself. Thanks for stopping by!

  8. What a neat quilt! So much thought and care in every step, you did a wonderful job!

    1. Rachel says:

      Thank you, Pamela! Thank you for stopping by, and enjoy the quilt festival! I’m really loving being able to visit all the quilts by so many different, creative quilters. I loved your Monkey Around quilt — so bright and happy!

Leave a Reply to Karen OsbornCancel reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.