Bloggers' Quilt Festival

This is my entry for the Bloggers' Quilt Festival run by Amy of Amy's Creative Side. I'm entering this quilt into the wallhanging category. 

I'm in good company in the wallhanging category. Rhianon from Nifty Stitcher got in early. Rhianon does the most amazing work! It was less than 2 years ago she was complimenting me on my quilting and saying that she was starting free-motion quilting. Now it's me trying to emulate her quilting. I wanted the nice buttery quality that Rhianon manages to get in her feathers. Getting there.

I've also quilted a motto on this quilt. Maybe I should tell the story behind it.

Our local quilt guild put out a challenge to make a quilt representing your favourite charity. I didn't need to think twice. I am so impressed with the work that the hospice do. My Dad died of cancer almost 5 years ago. He never stayed at the hospice but the nurses came out to him. So I didn't actually see the inside of the hospice until after he died when we were invited to be part of a fund-raising project at Mercy Hospice in Auckland. Mum and I were given a tour. I always thought that hospices were places where people died. Their motto is 'Living every moment' and that's what we found out on our tour. It's all about living, even those last moments. We saw their very clever bath where patients can be helped into with the greatest of ease and then sat up with a beautiful view out the window to the gardens. At hospice, having a bath isn't about bathing but an opportunity to enjoy a moment of life. We were also told about the amazing work that volunteers do, coming in for beauty sessions etc.

The logo for the hospice group is the yellow kowhai flower, a native tree in New Zealand. I've made it by drawing up a large paper foundation pattern on freezer paper. The middle section is just over 18", the width of freezer paper, then I added the yellow and green borders. All the green fabrics are from a batik pack I bought at fabric-a-brac, a fundraising event run by the hospice every year. I'm going to give the quilt to the hospice. It's funny to think they're going to get their fabric back!

I've very pleased with this quilt. I love the batiks. I couldn't find a variety of yellow batiks but the prints and yellow solid go well with the batiks. The paper foundation method is easy and very versatile. This is definitely a technique I will use again. And finally I like the way the feathers all fit into each other. I've made this so it can be used as a lap quilt so I haven't done any dense quilting with stippling between the feathers so they had to cover the entire quilt. That turned out to be easier than I expected. I'm not sure what the hospice will do with the quilt, sell it, use it or display it. I don't mind. I made it for them as a thank you for the care they showed to my Dad.