Blogger's Quilt Fest

I work in a small office in a big park with a woman I've known for more than ten years.  The other day I showed her my quilting blog and she told me that her daughter's brother-in-law is a quilter who blogs.  So I looked him up and "lo and behold" he led me to Amy and the Bloggers' Quilt Fest. Carpe diem!

So here's my festival entry, about the quilt that lives in a drawer,

which I made back in 2007.  

I chose it because it says a lot about me.  I love traditional quilts.  

I was inspired to make this one after seeing the Flying Geese quilt made by Sarah K Headley in 1838  from the International Quilt Study Center's collection.  Sarah made her geese all the same size but I like to be different so I made my birds in a variety of shapes and sizes to represent many migrating species. I used ElectricQuilt to draft the blocks which I machine pieced.

This quilt lives in a drawer because I am a perfectionist and while I think I designed a great quilt, I wasn't able to execute it.  I tend to get in over my head.  So, instead of sticking with the walking foot, I decided to try free motion in order to get the curves.

  

What I got was simply a mess.  But I kept on going because I believe in finishing what I start. I used a stripe for the binding.                                     

                                                                                                 And I pieced a great back.

I even gave it a name - Migration - and then I put it away.  But now that it is exposed it to the world, I think I'll continue to let it see the light of day and hang it on the wall if only to remind me that it is by trying that we learn what we can accomplish.  And besides I'm finally getting serious about learning how to free motion quilt.