Love Nest Quilt Contest

 

I'm entering the love nest quilt contest at Gen X Quilters.

I'm so very excited about this and I knew instantly I had to enter my Crazy Rainforest quilt. It's my biggest pride since it's very much my own when it comes to everything from it's happy, silly theme to bright and colorful fabrics and the, to my mind at least, imaginative backside. And not to say the least that it's my first real bed size quilt and my first try at applique =)

I'm supposed to tell you all the details so here goes, it will be long, sorry!

When I was at "quilt camp" in the forests of Sweden the summer of 2009 (I go every year, it's the BEST week of the year), Mia - the woman who hosts - it had gotten some amazing batik fabric and I was in love. I was standing there in front of that shelf every day, patting them, bringing them out, unrolling a meter or two, rolling it back up and so on. I felt I couldn't really justify buying some of them, they where so bright and didn't really go with anything we had at home but it went so far I even dreamed of them at night, I knew that I had to call my fiance and ask him. I called, so nervous I was nearly shaking (I'd already spent hundreds of euros on the trip in fabric costs and the camp itself), passionately explaining my love for the fabrics in question and he, being the awesome guy he is gave me permission to buy enough for a quilt! I first was determined to get a nicely color scaled quilt in blues and maybe purples but when I stood there I knew I just had to buy all my favorites, despite the fact that they clashed and didn't go together at all. So I picked and choose for 3 days, bringing out new colors/fabrics and keeping the bolts by me as I sewed on the quilt I was working on (you can see it in the background, my waterlilies quilt being basted):

I came home with this little pile of fabrics, Mia knew how in love I was with them and she packed them up so neatly for me that I loved it so much I didn't open it for 9 months, I just looked at it:

Then I finally got up the courage to cut it up when my fiance was away on a trip for 5 days and I got some peace and quiet to work on it. I knew I wanted to make the blocks that  many others had been sewing on during the camp and I got to work:

The technique was all new for me but the top came together really quickly and easily despite the triangles. 

When it came to layout I wanted something that at a first glance was random but when you really looked you knew it wasn't so I want with very other piece diagonally:

 

When looking at this photo with a friend is when I knew that I'd made a rainforest quilt, and I knew I'd have to incorporate a little appliqued poison dart frog somewhere (as you can see in my blog header) =) 

The quilt was made together with my beloved Norwegian Forest Cat boy Edward, and of course Diana too, but it means especially much for me that Edward was there and helped me bat at strips and "iron" blocks by lying on them as we lost him much to young to liver failure this fall. I always think of him when I see this quilt now as he loved it in it's finished version too.

But here the work halted for a few months as I had run out of fabric and I couldn't quilt on my machine so I had to wait for quilt camp 2010 to finish it. I made a little border out of the tiny scraps from the strips in the meantime. 

Once back at camp in Sweden one year later the leftover blocks became a contemporary backside, which I really love, it's like two quilts in one, one more serious side, and one silly frog side =) 

It's my favorite quilt I've made, it always makes me smile when I look at it. The quilting is made with a wavy seam on my mothers Husquarna and it's quilted with a rainbow thread.

Front:

 Back:

In it's place in the spare bedroom, really cheers it up (I know it's a single bed quilt but I think it kind of works ^^)

I'm sorry for the massive post, but it said to tell everything and this quilt holds so much love for me I had to include it all =)