Sunday, October 28, 2012

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.

58 comments:

  1. I love it! Very fresh and modern and yet Amish at the same time. I love Amish quilts. Using solids is the key.

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  2. Stunning - love the teals and grey with splashes of orange, and your design and quilting is fabulous!

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  3. Beautiful - i love the modern style and simplicity of the look - yet it has great complexity with the mix of colour and value

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  4. Very nice! I especially like how instead of floating all whole triangles on white space, the few half triangles provide a sense of the border. Love it.

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  5. this is seriously awesome! such a modern twist too. beautifully done.

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  6. I love your take on Amish quilts! This is gorgeous and so something I would have on my walls (and I am not generally a quilt-on-the-wall kind of person...)

    Just beautiful!

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  7. I love this very much. VERY much!

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  8. Stunning, so graphic and bold. Love the colours and the placement of the triangles. Love the way there is a sense of the border where you have placed the occasional triangle cut in half.

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  9. So glad you were inspired! I love this!

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  10. This is just glorious, Adrianne!

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  11. that back is just as fun as the front!

    looks great!

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  12. I'd been wondering what this project was going to turn out to be. I love it. Really gorgeous. :-)

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  13. Do you mind my asking what software you "sketch" with? I've considered EQ, but not made the move and like you, there are times when I'd really like to draw something out and make changes without the labor of "pencil and paper". Many thanks - love this little Rebel Amish quilt!

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  14. This is just awesome! Thanks for sharing your process, very cool! I love that the orange is a redish orange (as opposed to yellowish orange - it looks that way on my computer anyway).

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  15. Love your interpretation and colors

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  16. I am a modern quilter living in Ohio with a lot of Amish/Amish quilters. I love your backstory and your take on this quilt is fantastic! Love it! And I think the Amish/Mennonites in my town would be proud!

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  17. I love this quilt, Adrianne! You did a great job re-interpreting the older quilt - whoop whoop!!!

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  18. This is really lovely - one of my favs in the festival! And I really appreciated reading your 'backstory!'

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  19. Fantastic quilt! I like how you tweaked Amish to come up with your own original. Thanks for sharing your quilt and your story.

    p.s. You might enjoy visiting the blog http://lazygallibamish2010.blogspot.com/. There were lots of bloggers/quilters that did something similar with the same Amish quilts as inspiration!

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  20. it's just fantastic!!! i adore it and loved reading the backstory, too. i love finding out how others are inspired. beautifully done! (and your straight line quilting is to DIE for!!! i still struggle with this big time!)

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  21. Oh my gosh, Adrianne, I love this quilt!!!! Love the colors, love the design, the whole nine yards :)

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  22. Very creative and modern, love it!

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  23. It's gorgeous. I love all the white and how graphic it turned out. And way to go working late into the night, there are so many nights I am way too tired to think by 8pm, haha!

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  24. It looks great! Congrats on getting it finished in time.

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  25. This is such a beautiful quilt. I'm sorry you didn't make the Amish deadline.

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  26. That's just wonderful! Specially I like how you started from being inspired by a quilt you loved and then led us through each part of your creative process. Amazing how the small changes give your quilt a different feel to the original. :-)

    Hazle

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  27. Wow it's a wonderful quilt! Love how you designed it, it is a great inspiration. You said Amish, I thought Bauhaus... Love it. Congrats!

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  28. This quilt is STUNNING! Love how you took the inspiration and made it totally fresh and modern. Sorry you missed the original deadline, but so glad it gave you the push to create this awesome quilt :)

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  29. Love that little rebel printed triangle you included. So glad you got this done for the BQF!

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  30. Love everything about it! A favourite in the festival for me!

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  31. Gorgeous Adrianne! You have created a real beauty!

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  32. Definitely one of my favorites I love this!

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  33. I wish you hadn't missed the cut-off. I bet this quilt would have been included. I LOVE this quilt, Adrianne! It's just perfect.

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  34. Looks great - I really like your fresh take on the amish quilt. Sorry you missed the deadline, because I bet it would've been included for sure!

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  35. Seriously?! This is amazing! Love it - every bit of it.

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  36. Brilliant! Love the modern Amish look!

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  37. So stunning, your quilt immediately caught my eye! You've got my vote for my favourite Quilt Festival Quilt. That say it all, doesn't it?! :o) Simply love it. Very well done!!!

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  38. What a gorgeous quilt! Such a nice job!

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  39. I love it! Is so clean and graphic, and the colour combination is one of my favourite ones. Thank you for sharing the process, too.

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  40. I love this so much! I love the simplicity of it as well as all of those solids. I also love the triangles which I've been doing lots of recently too. It's a great quilt, despite missing that deadline....

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  41. Gorgeous! Love your reinterpretation of the Amish quilt. The colors and the negative space work so well!

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  42. This Is absolutely freaking amazing. My mind is blown and totally inspired by this quilt.

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  43. How did I miss this in the festival?? It is fantastic!

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  44. I just "discovered" your blog! This is a wonderful quilt! Newly retired, I am spending these winter months rediscovering quilting. I really like the modern approach to this old art form. So taking inspiration from your creation, I would love to try my hand at a baby quilt. I am soon to become a Gramma to a second grandson and think this would be perfect. So I am wondering about what size triangles you would suggest?? Thanks so much!
    sstaumcolelake@gmail.com

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    Replies
    1. I cut out 6" triangles for my quilt using the Tri Tool by Darlene Zimmerman. Link to tool: http://www.joann.com/wrights-ez-tri-recs-tools-quilt-ruler/prd1080/

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  45. This quilt has been speaking to me for almost 3 yrs. I finally gave it life in chartreuse, navy, and gray. Thank you so much for the inspiration.

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  46. Hi Adrianne, thanks so much for sharing this quilt. I love it! Can you tell me how you did the quilting? Did you use transparent thread or while cotton (even across the coloured parts)? Many thanks, Sophie

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    Replies
    1. Hi Sophie, thank you! I used white thread for the quilting even on the colored parts! : )

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  47. beautiful quilt. my favorite colors also.`

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