Bloom

Today is my day to reveal my project for the In Your Words blog hop. Here's my quilt, Bloom.

 

About the Quilt

This little quilt (17 x 23 inches) was made as a side project to Julie's Cotton Robin last year.  When I made a center block and package of fabrics for the round robin, I made a second package that I kept for myself, to see how the two twins, separated at birth, would turn out.  Here are the two quilts, side by side. 

The words on my quilt are an improvisational pieced "Bloom" and a printed, then quilted, "where you are planted." I also included a .com print, as a nod to my vocation as a techie and the great quilting community in the blogosphere.  The quilt contains traditional and improvisational piecing, needle-turnd hand appliqué, free-motion-quilting and embroidery to highlight some of the quilting lines.   Here is a photo of the back (to show the quilting) and a couple of detail photos of the quilt.  Click for larger images.

My Words and the In Your Words Blog Hop

As I have moved through life and moved across country more than a few times,  the idea of,  "Bloom where you are planted, " has been a constant throughout my adult life. I haven't lived in Santa Fe very long and this little quilt is a reminder that I know how to Bloom ... all I need to do is make an effort. 

If you have been following along, then you've probably already seen Amy's quilt with the same phrase.  If not, check it out, along with the reveals of these quilters today: 

Jane's Fabrics 

Jane's Quilting 

Nuts 4 Redwork 

Cherry Blossoms Quilting Studio

Bits and Pieces 

Life in Every Breath 

Quilting Lines 

Travel Thru Greece 

Meadowbrook  <-- Another BLOOM quilt!

Count It All Joy!  

Sophie Junction  <-- You are HERE

Thank you to Linda at Buzzing and Bumbling and Madame Samm at Sew We Quilt for hosting this event.

A Little Thank You

Thank you for visiting my blog.  If you found me via the blog hop and it's your first visit, be sure to click over to the Freebies page for links to free Quilt block patterns, projects and tutorials.  For the blog hop,  I've uploaded the pattern templates for the small 6-inch  Lemoyne star block variation called Little Daisy that I used in my Bloom quilt. You can find it on the freebies tab or at this link.

A Giveaway for Two

I had so much fun making my separated-at-birth twin quilt that I made two Little Daisy starter blocks and a package of fabrics–a mix of the original Michael Miller fabrics from my round robin and some 6" squares from my stash.  I'll randomly choose two winners from the comments at the end of the In Your Words blog hop in a week, on Thursday, January 17. 

The Parties Continue

I'm also joining the linky parties today for TGIFF, Finish It Up Friday, Can I get a Whoop Whoop? and FMQ Friday Link Up.

Project Mashup–My Twofer Twin Quilt in Progress

It's really just a nice case of synchronicity.

I'd been planning to add words to one of my works-in-project; someone dropped out of the group and there was an opening in the In Your Words Blog Hop.  My design idea and words were a fit for the theme of revealing who you are or more about you and I asked if there was room for one more ...

The commitment (and deadline!) means it's more likely I'll get busy and FINISH it.

The little quilt project was one begun a year ago, when I signed up for Julie's Cotton Robin.  Because the fabric I contributed for my quilt was one of two matching Michael Miller fabric sample headers, I decided to make two centers, send one with one set of the fabrics for the round robin and finish the other myself.


The starter fabrics are on the right and  my Twins-Separated-at-Birth star blocks made from that crazy, not quite a stripe fabric at the bottom of the collection of fabrics are below.



And here is the round robin quilt I received, begun with the block on the right and completed by Laurina, Andra and Nan. I blogged about this quilt and the cotton robin last summer here: Revisiting the Cotton Robin.  Julie has a few more spots, if you'd like to play in this medium (small quilts made by 4 quilters, details kept secret until the finished quilts are revealed). You can find details on the Cotton Robin blog.

That lovely quilt is a hard act to follow–more than once, I've wished I had finished my own sister quilt before I saw this one, but life, several moves and a couple of job changes got in my way.

But I am happy to be finishing it now and am having fun using the twin block and a lot of the same  fabrics to create a very different design.

What I've been up to so far is a bit of hand appliqué.  Sometimes when life hands us lemons, a little handwork is just the sort of meditative activity we need ... to figure out how we're going to make lemonade.

I'm not sure this is working, but it's a start and I am hopeful that I can MAKE it work within the original guidelines of adding two borders.  Come back on Friday, January 11 for my reveal in the In Your Words blog hop to see my finished Separated-at-Birth Twin quilt.

The strip of dot com fabric is an oldie but goodie from my stash, purchased not long after I began quilting.  This is just about all I have left, but it's so perfect for the In Your Words theme that I had to include it.

Remember, if you'd like to participate in the next Cotton Robin, be sure to get in touch with Julie, ASAP.