Someone Made My Quilt!

Well, I've finally got proof that I inspired someone! One of my favorite quilts was the Night Music in the Desert.

Quilt top hanging from my old Brooklyn fire escape. 

A few months ago I got an email from someone who had seen the quilt online, and wanted to make it for her granddaughter. I explained that I'd be happy to send my (extremely cryptic) notes along, but that I hadn't made a pattern and wasn't planning to in the near future. She accepted my notes, and using just them and my old blog/flickr pictures put the top together. 

Carolyn's front. 

Carolyn's back. 

I was so flattered to see that she kept my color scheme, but was able to make it her own with the color improv. And look at that back! It's way better than mine! I guess that's what happens when you create extra blocks to play around with! I think she did a fantastic job, considering all I had were sketches of the central block, measurements for the log cabin variations, but no yardage or mention of my sashing methods, or the flying geese! And her quilting is even similar to mine!

It just made my day to get this email and see that someone had done all this work inspired by a quilt I made and love. I like how this quilting community feeds off each other and can create beautiful works inspired by others. 

Blogger's Quilt Festival - Night Music in the Desert

I've decided to enter my Night Music in the Desert quilt into this fall's Blogger's Quilt Festival. I'm entering this bad boy into the Original Design category, where it faces much stiff competition.

I was so excited when I finished the top!

In this quit I really embraced my love of log cabins and improv. I used 5 solids for the top, mostly Kona Jade (I think)

I had seen some log cabin quilts on pinterest...or someone's blog...or somewhere in the internet. Of course I didn't pin it myself. I'd also had the color scheme in mind, and it lead to some test blocks. Unfortunately, the test blocks didn't quite cut it, so I turned them into potholders for my sister and one of her friends. 

Test blocks become potholders. 

Eventually I got my act together, and sketched out a pattern (which looks vaguely like the finished quilt), and realized if I wanted to go forward with the design I needed to add in some additional colors. I started by incorporating improv color strips into the center row, and I knew that it was the right decision.

Center complete. Now let's just let it sit for a few months...

So, back in January, 2014 I was well on my way! Just a few more blocks and I'm done! It only took me 7 and a half  months until I was actually done! As is often the case, the quilt kept hitting the back burner. I would sew in spurts, six log cabins here, 4 here, until they were all done.

Fun with Courthouse Squares. And extra threads. 

Finally, I got the quilt finished, picked out a backing and brought it to my parents house (much easier to baste there). I got it all basted together and then didn't.know.what.to.do. 

After a couple more weeks I realized a square spiral would not push my skill set too far, and would complement the top without distracting too much from my piecing and color choices. 

All quilted up and in the park!

Now the quilt sits on my couch. It's covered in pet hair, which clearly means it's much loved. I'd show you it's natural habitat, although I'm a little too embarrassed!

It was a great exercise in spontaneous piecing, as I just threw in colors when I felt like it, and then hoped for the best. Know how many extra blocks I made, so that I could play around with layouts? None. I feel like it helps me stretch my creative muscles, and work on compromise. Not everything has to be perfect! At least that's what I tell myself when my quilting stitches change length randomly and my lines wiggle too much. We'll see if I can keep up this mentality on future quilts.

I had created the layout for the most part (the only wild cards were the flying geese rows on the top and bottom), and then added on the borders while everything was on the design wall. The quilt measures somewhere in the ballpark of 60" by 72"...I think. I don't know where my measurements are and that's my estimate based on counting the blocks and attempting to recall their sizes. 

Thanks for stopping by! If you're so inclined, I've got a couple of other posts on the finished quilt and finished flimsy.