Blogger's Quilt Festival: Rebel Amish

Rebel Amish (Front)

Rebel Amish (Back)

Name: Rebel Amish
Size: 46" x 64"
Pattern: Original
Materials: Art Gallery Pure Elements in Tile Blue, Fresh Water, Ash and Moonstone; Free Spirit Designer Solids in Tango; Robert Kaufman Kona in White; Kei Button Dots in Orange, Aurifil 50wt in White; Warm & White Batting
Quilting: Free-hand horizontal lines
Blogger's Quilt Festival Category: Favorite Throw

I added a print for some spice

THE BACKSTORY
The beginnings of this quilt goes back a few weeks ago, when a friend shared a call for submissions from C&T Publishing. They were looking for Amish or Amish inspired quilts. I had no Amish quilt finished, none started, nothing in the sketchbook. That's ok, I thought, I have plenty of projects to keep me busy. Time for bed.

I tossed and turned that night. The quickest way for me to NOT go to sleep is for someone to pose an open ended question. Like the time my husband said, "I wonder how many songs have a question in the title". Then he went to sleep, unaware that I was wide awake and listing as many songs as I could think of.

-Who are you?
-Why can't we be friends?
-Are you lonesome tonight?
-What about love?
-Have you ever seen the rain?
-Should I stay or should I go?

Sorry I got sidetracked didn't I? Ok, back to the night of the email, my head kept chanting, Amish, Modern, Amish, Modern. Curious, I got up and pulled Amish Abstractions: Quilts from the Collection of Faith and Stephen Brown by Joe Cunningham off of my bookshelf.

Image Source

Flipping through, I stopped at the quilt above from 1930, which is also the quilt on the cover. I liked it. A lot. I know, triangles are everywhere right now. I wanted to try and make something different.  Something fresh, bold, crisp and graphic. There was no going to sleep now so I turned on my computer and sketched out some ideas. Here's how my night went...

Ready to Snuggle

THE DESIGN
First let's pick the colors. I swapped the dark for light and traded muted for bold.

Fabric Pull

Now, let's play with the ratios.

Lots of white.

No, mostly white.

Next add teal, my favorite. Include different shades for interest.

Yes, good. Now add shadowy grays for depth.

We need a pop. Something to make it dance. Orange!

Original Sketch

I was really excited to explore this idea. The deadline was only a couple of weeks away, but maybe I could get it done, if that's all I did.

Who was I kidding? I'm a busy mom with two little kids. I have about 30 minutes to myself each day (if I'm lucky). I tried anyway. I pushed myself to keep going. I stayed up late and sewed. The deadline came and went and I had just started quilting it. Disappointed, I missed the cutoff.

1. Back is done. Now to press and baste., 2. Getting there! Quilt is trimmed. Then binding---> photograph ---> post to bloggers quilt festival. I hope I make it. Wish me luck!, 3. Binding Bluebell style... Hey Sexy Lady... Binding Bluebell Style.

FESTIVAL
Then came an email from Amy. She posted on her blog that the Blogger's Quilt Festival was coming up. Yes! I love the festival!!! All of those beautiful quilts to see and bloggers to visit. In need of a deadline and a new goal, I marked my calender. I think it was meant to be because I just finished up the binding last night. Thank you to my friends who offered encouraging words along the way. You know who you are. ; )

INSPIRATION
As a nod to the original quilt, I kept some elements the same.

• Repetition All of those lovely triangles in a row. My color placement became the pattern.
• Borders Generally modern quilters don't use borders, but I liked the one in the original quilt. I kept the border and changed the size, slightly.
• Matching binding Notice how the binding matches the border? It isn't framed in by the edges. I loved it so much I matched my binding to my border too. Mine is white and very impractical, but doesn't it look good?
• Quilting The original was hand quilted in horizontal lines across the quilt. I did the same by machine.  What's old is new again.

Thanks so much for stopping by!  I hope to see you again soon!!!  : )

-Adrianne

FURTHER READING
My previous Blogger's Quilt Festival entries, here and here.