BQF: Pumpkin Spice Latte, A Finished Quilt

This is the second of two quilts I've entered in the Fall 2013 Blogger's Quilt Festival. You can see the other quilt here!

There's only one way to describe my latest quilt, which was a labor of love over the past month: worth ittttttt! I'm linking it up to the throw category over at the Blogger's Quilt Festival :) Please make sure you get over there to see the amazing quilts!

The Modern Maples craze was getting to me a bit as of September. I started to question how urgently I really had to tackle all of my other sewing commitments, and came out with the ultimate decision that I was going to make the sacrifice. I have so many beautiful fall fabrics, and it's my favorite season. What more of a reason could there be? Though it did take a LOT of willpower to cut into my AMH stash!

I knew from the beginning that I was not going to lay my quilt out in a traditional format. I wanted the leaves to look like they were really falling! I also knew, after seeing this gorgeous version on Flickr, that I wanted a scrappy low volume background with one-color leaves. As I was piecing, I realized I had some beautiful strippy scraps laying around, and that they somehow had to be included. Now, they are my favorite part of this side!

Then, I decided to take even more time to make the quilt double-sided. Ha. I've been crushing on plus quilts and figured, why not just kill two birds with one stone (is there a less violent way to say that? Lol!)? Anyway, the maples at the bottom were begging to be together. So I let them.



The quilting was a conundrum at first. I originally considered a constant, all over design in tan thread, because it would blend well. Then, I thought, nahhhhh. No way. This quilt deserves golden and light brown thread - something that stands out just a little. It also deserves custom and intense quilting, which is why I created different-sized Baptist Fans radiating out from the two corners, to reach a middle of swirls (which looks like wind, according to the husband). It's probably more like Leah's Echo Shell design, now that I'm thinking about it.

This quilt took about 12 bobbins and 12 hours to quilt (which was most of my free time this week) and I am so happy with the results! The weather was perfect for a sunny photo shoot today!



I admire Alison Glass so much, and had to use one of her new Feather fabrics as the binding. It's the perfect autumnal addition! My only regret is that I did not buy a full yard (it's almost gone). :( I also depleted much of my LV/low volume stash - need to go stock up!

I spent the last couple of days quizzing loved ones about a name. We came up with everything from "It Looks Like Fall" (that was my mom) to "Thanksgiving" to "Maple Syrup," but ultimately it came down to my favorite autumnal drink: Pumpkin Spice Latte. Mmmmmm. :)

Quilt Stats (let's break it down):

Fabrics: Everything I love. Really. Alison Glass, Anna Maria Horner everything, Juliana Horner, Lizzy House, linen from some of my old pants, Denyse Schmidt, etc.
Pattern: Modern Maples, with generous alterations (using this tutorial for the block)
Pieced and Quilted by: Me on my Janome MC6300
Size: 76" x 46", aka a very long throw quilt for the couch!
I also posted about this quilt here, here, here, and here.

This was my October goal, so I'm celebrating!!! and linking up to:

 

Fabric Tuesday @ Quilt Story, Sew Cute Tuesday @ Blossom Heart Quilts, I Quilt @ Pretty Bobbins, Needle and Thread Thursday @ My Quilting Infatuation, Crazy Mom Quilts, TGIFF

Past Blogger's Quilt Festival Entries:

 Spring 2013

 Spring 2013

 Fall 2012

Spring 2012

October 2010