California Dreamin' ~ BQF

Since I finished my California Dreamin' quilt

right smack dab in the middle of Amy's Quilt Festival

I figured I'd go ahead and enter it.

I made my first quilt in December of 2008

when I was 8 months pregnant with our 8th child

It was quickly followed by another quilt

that I finished just 2 days before my sweet Lexi was born;

I had most definitely caught

the quilting bug!

After drooling over the fabric for almost 6 months

I finally decided to order it.

I'd only purchased designer fabric one other time

so this was a really big deal for me!

I thought I knew just how I was going to sew it up,

but then I started second-guessing myself.

After all, it was only my 7th quilt

what did I know??

So I just let my lovely fabric sit for awhile.

I finally decided to go with

Allison's Orange Quilt

but I changed up the dimensions a bit.

So I wouldn't waste a drop of fabric,

I cut a 5 inch strip

cut 2 squares out of it

then cut the remainder of the strip in half

and cut those 2 1/2" strips into 5" and 9" pieces.

Except for the two times I sewed merrily along

only to find I'd been using an empty bobbin

and the last 1/2 hour or so I spent with my seam ripper

I can say in all honesty

that I loved every minute of the 962 I spent making this quilt;

this fabric just makes me happy.

And it feels sooo nice.

Actually

that's not entirely true;

I didn't exactly love arranging the blocks.

In fact, it was stressing me out a bit

so I just stepped back and let Tony & Tyler

do it for me.

Of course

I stepped back in to help a little....

This was my first time to use white in a quilt.

I love it

but I did worry about the darn thing getting all dirty

before I'd even finished it.

Silly me

I forgot the final step to making a quilt is

- hello -

washing it!

After crinkling,

the quilt is a perfect throw size at 56 x 74.

I briefly considered wrapping it up

and sending it to Jenean as a thank-you

for designing such beautiful fabric

but I quickly decided she couldn't possibly love it

as much as I do.

when you've got a bit of time

fix a big glass of iced tea

and go browse the Spring 2010 Bloggers Quilt Festival.

Grab a napkin first, though

so you can wipe the drool off yer chin

and

if you're just dying to see more ;-)

I've got a few more pictures on my family blog