Once
upon a time…there were four quilt friends, from both coasts of the U.S….Lori
(Humble Quilts), Barb (Fun With Barb), Jill (no blog) and from England…Sue (I Sew Quilts UK), who decided to meet up at the Vermont Quilt Festival in late
June 2012.
When
Lori, Jill and Sue were in the Yankee Doodle (actually Yankee Pride…lol) quilt
shop in Essex Junction, they decided to pick out a yard of fabric and split it
four ways for a challenge.
The
consensus was that it should be a green fabric, in honor of the Green Mountain
State. We saw a nice green fabric with sheep, which was very “Vermont” looking
and also reminiscent of Sue’s Cotswolds, but alas, there was not enough of it.
After much consternation we settled on a green fabric by our designer friend,
Mary Koval.
Sue
had proposed a lovely dinner at the New England Culinary Institute to celebrate
both Lori and Barb’s jubilee birthdays, and thus launched the
challenge.
As
much as I like all fabric, I found it extremely difficult to put colors with
it. I wasted evening after evening, just starring blankly…lol…at the challenge
fabric and at my stash shelves. I wanted to “spark” the sort of browned out
colors and I tried chartreuse (ick!), magenta (awful)…nothing seemed to work for
me.
So…I
decided to try to spark it with pattern, instead of color, and added the zig zag
sashing for a little motion to the composition.
My
inspiration for my quilt is the symbolism of the four patch in the center of
each star (for the four of us quilt buddies)…then four stars (for the four of
us). That’s my story and I’m sticking to it! Happy New Year Everyone…and
my wish is for all of us to have many happy hours in our sewing rooms in
2013!
I would say Jill met the challenge! It's a lovely quilt!!
I started my challenge quilt once thinking I'd make a strippy quilt. It was AWFUL!! Terrible- worse than awful!! So I decided to take the same fabric I'd chosen for the strippy and make a little string quilt. It's a bit liberated, but it is just the way I like it.
I love the friendship of a challenge, but not the actual challenge!!
Happy New Year!
What a wonderful way to celebrate friendship!
ReplyDeleteSuch a great idea - Vermont is indeed inspiring, as is friendship. Just love both of these! Beautiful fabric choice, but I can see that the medium value could make it a challenge. What fun!
ReplyDeleteSo glad you got to incorporate Jills on your blog. (You Techi you) and love your liberated string quilt and Jills is a delight too.
ReplyDeleteThanks for your friendship.
I love seeing how different you and Jill made quilts using the same challenge fabric. They are both fabulous!
ReplyDeleteI love Jill's stars with zigzag border for "spark" and the symbolism behind it all.
ReplyDeleteYour liberated little strings are fun. Two nice quilts from the same fabric, and so different from each other.
I struggle with challenges, which is why I haven't done them. I think about one and think I might go for it, and then I chicken out. I struggle with "rules", even if it is just a focus fabric. : )
Bravo for finishing the challenge quilts. They are both quite pretty. I always have a hard time with challenges and usually end up not doing them at all. :)
ReplyDeleteI love that the four of you did this with each other.
Happy New Year
this is just so fun! love seeing all the different quilts, can't wait to see Barb's! a great challenge I can see why now you were having a bit of "challenge" odd color!
ReplyDeleteyou all did a wonderful job.
great memories everytime you look at your quilt.
Kathie
Oh what a fabulous way to celebrate a friendship! Love the quilts and am waiting with baited breath to see Barbs. So... If a person from another corner of the world (say the bottom half) got herself to Vermont in 2013...
ReplyDeleteLooks like the challenge is met and done very well. Congratulations!
ReplyDeleteOH...good thinking! I love the way you used your fabric!!
ReplyDeleteYou have both met the challenge well and both quilts are great. Now I am off to see what Sue and Barb have done. Well done and Happy New Year.
ReplyDeleteThose are my old stomping grounds, Lori. I used to attend the VQF every year and I considered Yankee Pride my "local quilt shop", even though it was over 100 miles from where we lived in Ontario. Next to Cyndi Black's shop in Litchfield, Maine, I can't think of another shop that carries so many Civil War and reproduction fabrics. What fun it must have been to have attended it this summer with your ww friends!
ReplyDeleteThe challenge was a great idea and you'll always have something to remind you of fun times with friends.
Thanks for sharing!
What a lovely friendship-- the quilt challenge is a great idea. Do the 4 of you have a challenge for this year? Wishing all 4 of you a Happy New Year.
ReplyDeleteThat was challenging fabric! I love it but I can see it was tricky to design something around. Jill's quilt is wonderful - the zigzag sashing adds so much excitement to it! Your quilt is delightful too. The darker green sashing and the pink binding are just right! Love the handquilting :0) What a lovely way to remember your time together.
ReplyDeleteChallenges like that are fun, hard, but they make us think and create something beautiful and you definitely did that. Love the ric rac sashing.
ReplyDeleteDebbie
Lovely story - and lovely quilts! A challenging but pretty fabric - well done.
ReplyDeleteEvery Stitch
I fail at challenges, but these are terrific pieces. Love your new heading photo!
ReplyDeleteWhat a great story!! My friend and I (both from Maine) were at that quilt show also and stayed in Essex Junction; but did not get to that quilt shop. Spent 2 days at the show and also enjoyed an evening at one of Pat Sloan's talks. Did you enjoy the Culinary Institute? Haven't been there yet, but do go to VT. often because our oldest son lives there. Your challenge was great and the ric rac sashing was certainly an interesting addition. Happy New Year!
ReplyDeleteNancy, I do not see an email address so I hope you see this. We did enjoy the Culinary Institute. It wasn't too expensive either. I do admit the company would have made any place seem good!
DeleteA fun challenge for a group of friends. I always struggle with a challenge. I have a million ideas and each one seems to fall just short of what I want.
ReplyDeleteI have to comment on Kaaren's comment...if you haven 't been to Busy Thimble in Litchfield, Maine; you should definitely put it on your list of places to go. You will NOT be disappointed! As I mentioned, I am from Maine and that is mine and my friend's most favorite shop in the state. Cyndi Black (the owner) is a pleasure to meet and you will most certainly enjoy her wonderful display of quilts, many hand done. Here is a link to her blog http://busythimble.blogspot.com/
ReplyDeleteSo fun!! I love a challenge. I can see that that would have been a difficult one, but all the better. Great jobs.
ReplyDeleteThe variety of finished quilts from a challenge is always fun to see. I'm looking forward to seeing Barb's.
ReplyDeleteWere the four of you together at the Red and White Infinity quilt show? or did I imagine that?
What a wonderful story and fun challenge! The quilts are beautiful. I look forward to seeing Barb's too.
ReplyDeleteHappy New Year!
That sounds like a lot of fun and I enjoyed the story behind the quilts. Well done to you all, Love the stars and I love improvised too.
ReplyDeleteBoth quilts are lovely in their own way! I am not very fond of challenges at all. But having it among 4 friends is special.
ReplyDeleteBeautiful Quilts! Very fun to see.
ReplyDeleteSuch pretty fabric--in an unusual colorway--no wonder it was a challenge! Love both quilts and especially the way you both represented the four of you.
ReplyDeleteWell done Lori and Jill! Your quilts look great and a fantastic memento for you.
ReplyDeleteBoth are beautiful quilts. I love your little one very much. Also your new header for your blog is so pretty. How big a quilt is it?
ReplyDeletegreat post and it was great that Jill did such a nice back story!
ReplyDeleteI'll post mine soon.
heading home tomorrow
Love your stories! Some fabric just seems to have a softer, sweeter side and that is that.:) Great challenge and great quilts!
ReplyDeleteLove both quilts! Great challenge. The zigzag sashing is stunning. I have that Mary Koval fabric in a different colorway!
ReplyDeleteWhat a lovely post! Great quilts. A delightful way to share a friendship.
ReplyDelete