Friday, October 29, 2010

Bloggers Quilt Festival

Are you ready?  

Grab a cup of coffee, get comfortable and head over to the Blogger's Quilt Festival.  You'll find fabulous quilty inspiration and discover some new and wonderful blogs.

Here's my entry:  Feeling Groovy


I made this quilt for our school auction.  The theme was That '70's Prom, and "some sort of tie dye and peace sign design" was requested.


Applique is not a skill I've mastered, so I drew a pattern using pinwheels to form the peace sign, thinking this would be an easier way to go.  Note to self:  learn applique!  


Shopping for a rainbow assortment of batiks was part of the fun.


These were the first pinwheel blocks I made...ever!


59 pinwheel blocks later, and a peace sign becomes recognizable.


I labeled each block with a row letter and column number.  I started piecing in the middle and worked my way out.



I learned a great deal in the course of making this quilt.  I was surprised to realize how much I enjoyed the process of designing a pattern and figuring out the math to make it work...all with pencil and paper rather than computer.

Thanks for stopping by.  Enjoy the festival!

49 comments:

  1. I don't know how you chose among all your beautiful quilts, but this one is so colorful and a standout quilt. The fact that you made it and donated it makes it even more special.

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  2. I love this quilt and know how much work went into it! consequently I keep putting my pinwheel project off...and off....

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  3. I so want to make this quilt!! I would even buy my first batiks for it!!! Pattern please!!! I just love what you do!

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  4. I love this quilt and enjoyed seeing it being made.

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  5. This is very cool! My daughter would love this as she really likes peace signs at the moment. It looks like a simple quilt but I can see that it would be quite hard to work out how to piece it all together. Good to use your brain rather than a computer for a change.

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  6. Wow! This is gorgeous. I love the way you used the pinwheels to create the design. Too cool!

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  7. Yeah, someone else who likes to design with pencil and paper :) Your quilt is fabulous. A great idea using pinwheels.

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  8. Rene---great job. Love, love the purple---it's totally cool.

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  9. Love this quilt Rene. The colours are so vibrant and the pinwheels just sing to me.

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  10. Wow - this takes me right back to the 60's!! LOVE IT!

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  11. WOW!! My girls would die for a quilt like this :) I will have to show them just to tease them, LOL

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  12. Rene, I love this quilt. How wonderful!!

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  13. That is very clever and perfect for the school. Thank you for your comments on my entry. I can see that we are of like minds!

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  14. Fabulous quilt! Great design and colors and I just love the name!

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  15. Beautiful! I remember this quilt from Sew and Tell. It is one of my favorites!

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  16. You really hit the ball out of the park with this quilt Rene! I love the fact that you not only designed it yourself, but picked perfect fabrics, and then put it all together for a great cause :)

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  17. Original, perfectly tied to the theme, and beautiful. Way to go. Thanks for sharing!!

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  18. I'm so glad you ended your self-imposed blogging moratorium in time to post this great quilt! I'm sure it was a huge amount of math, which is very impressive! But the end result was absolutely worth it!!

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  19. What a fun quilt! Way to go on designing it yourself. It came together perfectly.

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  20. I love this quilt. I didn't realize you made it for a school auction. Looks like it fits the request perfectly. When I first looked at it, I didn't realize it was made out of pinwheels - cool effect. I agree with you, I like dreaming up quilt ideas with pen and paper rather than the computer!

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  21. Great quilt Rene! Looks like you mastered the designing process quite well.

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  22. This is fantastic. I love the pinwheels as the peace sign--very inspired. My boss would love this quilt--he still says "right-on"! Thanks for sharing your quilt's story :)

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  23. Your quilt is stunning. It was great to read the process you went through to get this made. The end result was definitely worth it. Great colours and design!!

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  24. This is an amazing quilt! Well done! Can't believe you have the hart to give it away - you are very generous! Thank you for sharing.
    ; )

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  25. What a fun quilt! It was very creative how you did the layout to incorporate the pinwheels.

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  26. How generous that you were able to make this peace sign quilt and give it for a donation. It looks beautiful.

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  27. I love your use of color!

    Thanks for stopping by my blog! :)

    Genevieve
    Three Spinsters

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  28. Love the colors and such a great idea for a quilt. You did a great idea of making something to fit the theme. I've done an auction quilt where I had to make the quilt to match the theme. It was a fun challenge. Really got me outside my box (like you, wish I knew applique).

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  29. Oh wow, I LOVE this, what a great idea! I will have to remember it.
    PS. IMHO, Applique is seriously over-rated,LOL!

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  30. Thanks for sharing your process along with the quilt. Applique wouldn't have made it any easier. Only different. Something to try next time!

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  31. What a fun and creative quilt!
    Love the peace sign with the pin wheels!

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  32. my daughter would die for this quilt!!! it looks so great

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  33. it's so pretty! I agree, quilt math can be fun!

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  34. This is a totally groovy quilt! It takes me back to the 60's & 70's too.

    How brave of you to attempt this pattern - it looks mind-boggling - which is perhaps appropriate. ;) Good job! And what a ton of pinwheels - you've got them mastered now!

    I hope whoever won the quilt appreciates how much work that was. Thanks for sharing this one.

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  35. Groovy! Seriously, it's a great quilt - the colors are so pretty!

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  36. Very original! I love the batiks.

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  37. Great quilt! Love the colours and design.

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  38. Far out! I totally heart this quilt!

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  39. I have to tell you that your quilt is GREAT! I love the design, the batiks and the purple, it matches a 6ft peace sign with purple lights that we used to hang on the front of the house during the Holiday season. You could see that thing from miles away and the girls loved it! Thank you for sharing this quilt and thank you for all the inspiration and enjoyment I get from your blog.
    Kelley O

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  40. have just finished the 13 "in-between" blocks for a quilt and each had 5 pinwheels, so i can totally relate to pinwheel exhaustion!! your quilt is great...how fun you designed such a cool thing. also noticed your wonky star with kate spain's Christmas fabric--i have several stars for another quilt that could be twinsies!! thanks for sharing and have a great day

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  41. If youever write a pattern for this quilt, count me in to buy it! I Love IT!

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