Blogger's Quilt Festival - Catalyst

I was excited to see Blogger's Quilt Festival come up at Amy's Creative Side because I knew that meant lots of eye candy and the discovery of many new bloggers to follow.  This time it means something more. My first time to participate, festival entry #447.  Nominations and voting begins soon - be sure to check it out.

Since the point is to share, inspire and tell a story, I chose Mod Mosaic, which I have re-titled: Catalyst because it sparked a chain of events that has changed my quilting world and has resulted in many more firsts.

My Catalyst Quilt: previously called Mod Mosaic

It began 15 months ago when I participated in my very first flickr swap at Scrapbuster Swap Round 1, hosted by the amazing Kreated by Kari.  There were 300 blocks swapped and 20 were mine. The group is now in their 8th round and I join in when I can.

This was such a pivotal point in my quilting journey that I made a Mod Mosaic Set in my photostream and the 15 blocks on the design wall photo continues to rank on my Flickr Most Interesting under the Popular tab with 1,109 views, 20 comments and 62 favorites (I'm blushing)

Elizabeth Hartman's Mod Mosaic pillow tutorial was used however my process to create vaguely resembled it. Mine was more a crime of passion approach rather than her premeditated version as witnessed here by the perimeter of debris that surrounded my work.

The mounds of scraps felt like an artists palette with dabs of paint to choose from. It was fun and addicting. I made 36 as seen here in a bighugelabs mosaic.

The Origin of the Scraps - Time Stands Still

When I look at Catalyst, I'm reminded of the creations that have come before and the loved ones that are far and near.   I get to keep a fabric time capsule and hold them close, imagining that they are snuggled in their quilt gifts. Here are just a few, can spot the scraps from these birthday, graduation and get well quilts?

Alyssa's 21st Birthday Quilt

Amanda's College Graduation Quilt

Ralph's Get Well Quilt

Lynette's 70th Birthday Quilt

Candice's 21st Birthday Quilt

Steph's 50th Birthday Quilt

a WIP no more and Why

Like many bee and swap blocks, this project sat in a box untouched for months. Ten ridiculous months to be exact. It wasn't until I joined the local Quilt Guilds and decided to enter the PVQA Show in February that I actually finished it.  Nothing like a deadline to breath life into a WIP. Here I am, proud as can be and I must say it did turn a lot of heads!

First Quilt Show February 2012

Many Firsts with More to Come

This was my first big quilt  (62"x74") to pebble quilt, my first time to completely improv the back, my first time to iron open the seams and one of the first times to use my beloved bamboo batting. 

Catalyst makes an Impact

There were a good number of blocks left over and started to lay them out like Elizabeth's Mod Blue for Do Good Stitches but tucked them away for another day.  I have since made the block for my hive in the 3x6 Swap in specific color-ways rather than scrappy like this one for Beth in black/white/red.

 

3x6 Bee Swap Blocks inspired by Catalyst

Another first for me was doing a Demo for SBAMQG.  It was suppose to last 10 minutes but it didn't and I'm not sure why I thought it would.  Some of the blocks in Catalyst took a couple of hours to make... so I posted the final steps on flickr for closure :)

This October I'm going to Sewing Summit, my first conference and Amy will be there teaching a class so I'm hoping to meet her in person!  It's pretty fabulous that she's throws this annual festival for us with hundreds of quilty stories at our fingertips - start your clicking, I know I am.

• May 18 – 21 Festival begins!
• May 22- 25 Nominations are made
• May 26 – 30 Vote for your favorites
• June 1 – Winners announced

The chain reaction of Catalyst is far from over I suspect.  Thanks for listening to my story.   I hope you'll leave a comment and let me know you stopped by.