My “Glowing stars” are put together!

At the end of the day I finished piecing this beauty!

Digging for quilting designs.....

“Glowing stars”, my new quilt pattern

The pattern is in my Craftsy pattern store -and my Etsy store “Quiltessence”

Fabrics like flowers, quilts like bouquets!

I was almost ready to quilt this bouquet in a water can, but something stopped me from finishing it at this point. 

I brought large flowers print

 fabrics to see how they can be incorporated, if can!

 And I found it fascinating, almost mesmerizing, fussy cutting those large tulips and arranging them around the chair on the flower bed of lilies. I had to cut some lilies to tuck some tulip petals underneath, for better effect!

 I like this technique! I have already made some quilts, experimenting with fussy cutting and then quilting along the raw edge.  So I did it again! 

Nowadays we have so broad variety of fabrics of all possible colors, prints and themes! Sometimes they can speak for themselves, without being cut to pieces. When I see fabrics with animals, flowers, cars, faces, etc, I would rather fussy cut, than cutting it to death, making sharp triangles or squares. 

The idea of this quit is: all fabrics like flowers, every one, from prettiest to ugliest, has a chance to become a part of a beautiful bouquet, which we call - QUILTS! Just like a musical note in the symphony!

Those blooming buds, 12 blocks piecing finished

It took me a while to piece them all. Finally all 12 done!

To be continued...

Quiltfest 2018, Pigeon Forge, TN

It happened again!

But this time it was remarkable for me: I got two, first and third place, ribbons for my miniature quilts!

Both are Cynthia England design, made in my favorite technique - picture piecing on freezer paper. Very intricate work, every quilt contains about 400+ tiny pieces, sewn together.

"Sailboats" - Lenore Crawford design, applique, also made of multiple small pieces, fused and stitched to the background.

My "Perfect firestorm", devoted to the Great fire of 2016, when we lost our beloved cabin, was not rewarded, but it was nice to see it there anyway.

I was also tickled to death, when I saw one of my 5 quilts, made to my neighbors, who also lost their cabins, hanging in "Pottery House cafe & grill". Bonnie Goolsby, who was given one of those quilts last year, generously offered to display this quilt for a while, during the quilt show and a month or so more after. I think it looks fabulous there on a stone fireplace chimney wall.

    

This year I took a class with Linda Poole, painting on fabric, using all kind of fabric paints, pencils, jell pens, paint blocks and more. It was real fun to learn new techniques and see the results of our all day work! 

"The perfect Firestorm". Finished!

The rain never came in time.

-->

The blaze approached the city limits.

The winds had already arrived. Within minutes, the flames reached neighborhoods on the outskirts of the city; within an hour, wind speeds had doubled, driving flames through communities and toppling utility poles. The resulting blaze killed 14 people, injured nearly 200 others and damaged or destroyed nearly 2,500 homes and businesses.

                                   In Dedication to the victims of the Gatlinburg Fire

From an idea of this quilter, to the generosity of women from all over the world, “The Burning Leaves of Gatlinburg” quilt were born...

After seeing the inferno that engulfed our beloved neighborhood in Gatlinburg, TN, my heart could not rest until I set my fingers busy to try and ease the pain of others that had suffered an even greater loss than my husband and me.  This was just our vacation home and we knew from previous experience, in 2005, what it was like to lose everything to fire.

The Gatlinburg fires started during a drought that made the fall leaves brilliant with color, colors of fire itself!  With this in mind my quilter's hands began to designed and cut a leaf pattern that I set out to tell other quilters about.  I would send the pattern to all who would craft a leaf from it, return it, and then I would sew the beauty of the falling leaves and the compassion of others, into the warmth of a quilt for those who had lost so much.

The response was uplifting, the results were beautiful, most of all, lives were touched... and none not greater than mine.

I received 213 leaves in total and they are still coming. Four quilts are already made, one is donated, three more will be given away soon, 2 more of these charity quilts are under the needle…  Hopefully they will turn out my neighbors’ memories from burning to warming up their souls.

 This quilt will stay in my family as a memory of the beautiful house we lost in that fire.

By Natalie Patton