Blogger's Quilt Festival - Spring 2014 - Mini Quilt Entry

Thank you to Amy Ellis of Amy's Creative Side for organizing the Blogger's Quilt Festivals.
It is a biannual event held during quilt market in the Spring and Fall.
Please click on the link below to visit the

Blogger's Quilt festival - Spring 2014 

where you will find LOTS of inspiration!

 

I have enjoyed viewing the quilts entered in previous Festivals.
This is my first entry.
Please check out all of the participants' entries.
Every single entry is wonderful!
Best wishes to all the talented quilters out there!!!

The Blogger's Quilt Festival categories include:

Mini, Small, Large, Applique, Art,

Hand Quilted, Home Machine Quilted,

Modern, Original Design, ROYGBIV, Scrappy

  I thought it would be fun to enter

 my Feathered Star quilt that I named
"Sweetheart"

The finished size is a little less that 9 inches square
so you will find it in the
Mini Quilt Category.

Feathered Stars are one of my favorites.
I enjoy the challenge of piecing them in any size
using traditional methods for piecing Feathered Stars.

I machine quilted 'Sweetheart' with 100 wt. silk thread
on my Bernina Virtuosa 150.
The quilting is stitched at approximately 34 spi.

  

'Sweetheart' has 121 pieces in the block, plus 4 borders.
I drafted the quilt on paper and cut templates to size the pieces.
I don't do a lot of miniature quilts. When I do I sew pieces, like HSTs, in a larger size and cut them down to size before assembling the pieces into sections and the sections into the finished block.
The seams in this top were pressed open when necessary to facilitate assembly -- just like I would do with a much larger block.
Same techniques - smaller size.

The top was pieced about 7 or 8 years ago;
made from leftovers from another project.
The finished top was put away without being quilted
until earlier this year.
After a very stressful time in my life this little quilt
provided some much needed quilting therapy.

If you follow my blog you may have seen it before here.

 Voting for 'Viewer's Choice' takes place from May 24-29, 2014.
I would be honored if you would consider voting for my little 'Sweetheart.'

Sometimes It's Tough To Let Go...

Some time ago I decided to let go of things collected over the years that would have to remain in permanent storage if I kept them.  Mr. Splinters and I rented space in an antique mall for a couple of years which facilitated finding new homes for many of our treasures.  Yet there is still so much more . . . and we are still collecting which doesn't help!

So, I have been putting things up for adoption on Ebay and I am trying to get the word out to anyone who might be able to offer them a good home.  Our Ebay seller name is SplintersandThreads.

It is very difficult to let go of some of these things.  Seeing them again often reminds me of the excitement I felt the first time we met in an antique mall or thanks to a friend. It is not so easy to watch bids claim these things I still find inspiring; sometimes I want to cancel the listing. Instead, I console myself by taking lots of photos which will allow me to maintain the good memories long after they have moved in with their next inspired caregiver.

Little by little, I plan to continue to list goodies on Ebay over the next few weeks, months, years . . . whatever it takes to find them new homes. We just don't have room for everything!
 

Happy quilting and collecting,

Greta