Bloggers Quilt Festival - Hot Time in the Old Town

I am sharing a quilt I made some years ago to display in the Bloggers Quilt Festival sponsored by blogger Amy's Creative Side. The photos I have are not that great, but were state of the art in 2004! The name of this quilt is Hot Time in the Old Towne. I made it while attending a retreat in Old Town Scottsdale (Arizona) hosted by Lynn Kough and Anita Shackleford, two very talented and sharing quilters. We didn't have a project per se, instead Lynn inspired us with basket blocks and Anita inspired us with aplique flowers.

I ended up designing my own blocks and applique flower designs, which was the point of the retreat. The baskets are based on a traditional block, the flower is based on a free-hand quilting pattern of my own design.

In the corners of this quilt I quilted flower designs like the applique flowers in the quilt. I used a YLI yellow and orange variegated for the flowers, gold thread in the centers, and a dark, almost black gray for the backgroud. At the time, I quilted this flower in over half the quilts I quilted, for myself and customers alike! I have since increased the design selection but even today these are still my favorite flower designs to put on quilts.

There were several important lessons learned with this quilt.... 

I pieced most of the basket blocks at retreat, and as retreat projects can sometimes go, was not my best work. This quilt hung at the Arizona Quilters Guild quilt show the next year, and won Honorable Mention in the very competitive wall hanging category. Had the piecing been a bit more on point, it may have done better. This quilt also hung at the National Quilt Show and in a local show in the midwest. It won Best Use of Color by the Emporia Regional Quilt Guild and first place at the local country fair in Kansas.

There are some fantastic quilts and their stories showing in this festival. Don't miss it!!!