Friday, May 18, 2012

Jewels from the Past

I'm linking up with the Blogger's Quilt Festival hosted by Amy of Amy's Creative Side.  Amy began the Blogger's Quilt Festival a few years ago to give blogger's a chance to both inspire and be inspired by other quilters.

The quilt I decided to include in my entry is a Scrappy Jewel Box.

This quilt came about as the result of a block swap among friends.  We each had a turn to choose a block pattern, and each member of the group made a block from that pattern.  I chose the Jewel Box pattern, and told my friends they could use any colors they wished.  Here is a sampling of the blocks I was given.

Rosemary made this pretty block with a some of her florals:

Linda, who is partial to jewel tones like me, gave me this vibrant block:

Lauren's block looked like it was inspired by a summer's day in the garden:

Sue's block was made of soft beige with a sprinkle of harmonizing red/browns:

Here is one of the blocks I made.  I think this is where I really noticed how much I was drawn to jewel tones in my quiltmaking.

I am amazed at how each individual block can have it's own personality, but they all work together as a group.

This quilt was made over a dozen years ago and represents a lot of "firsts" for me as a quilter.  It was the first time I ever participated in a block swap.  It was the first truly scrappy quilt I ever made.  It was supposed to be the first quilt I quilted on my sewing machine.  

At the time, the only big quilts I had made were tied.  I had never done any machine quilting, and I wanted to wait until my skills improved enough to tackle a big quilt.  I'm sad to say, that although I have since learned how to machine quilt, I have never pulled out this quilt top and finished it.


I'm glad that the Blogger's Quilt Festival gave me the push to look into the back of the closet and rediscover this Jewel Box quilt. Looking at it, and reading the signatures made me realize what a real jewel it is. It deserves a chance grow up and become a real quilt.

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23 comments:

  1. Ah! What a lovely quilt! Wonderful story that goes with it!

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  2. This really is a lovely quilt and deserves to be finished.

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  3. This pattern looks great in scrappy fabric. I made one last year and used only a few fabrics. Every fabric was used in a specific place. It wasn't too fun to put them all together. Next time I will make it scrappy, yours is very beautiful.

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  4. Fabulous quilt top! I recently won some blocks in the 'block lotto' (not my BQF entry, but I posted about it recently on my blog) and it amazed me how well everything goes together to make a fab quilt too! I will have to come back to see how you finish yours!

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  5. Love this quilt! I'm laughing because I have quite a few of the same fabrics in my stash! Grins! Thanks for sharing!

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    1. I just realized that the print fabric in Lauren's block was the Hoffman Challenge fabric for 1997, although in a different colorway. How can it be that this quilt has been waiting for all these years?

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  6. I knew this quilt looked familiar! Thanks for showing my block! Forgot all about it. Was this really that long ago?? Time flies!!

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  7. So wonderful. Jewel box is my all time favorite pattern---I've made several of these. Love your story and memories in this gem.

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  8. I love seeing quilts and I love hearing the story behind them too! Years ago I use to make my quilt group so a write up on our groups quilts. It was fun seeing the story told from different perspectives. I think the story is always so much more then the label tells. Does this mean we should expect to see a finish in your future?

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  9. It's so pretty!

    Good luck with finishing it!

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  10. Wonderful swap block quilt! I just put together some jewel box blocks from a swap I was in a few years ago too--but we all agreed on jewel tones so there is less variety in my quilt than yours. Jewel box is such a great block pattern! Thanks for sharing your (almost a) quilt's story. :)

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  11. I love this quilt and the story behind it! I can't wait to see pictures of it all quilted up! I'm going to put this pattern on my to-do list!

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  12. I love the traditional patterns redone!

    margaret gunn
    www.quiltsoflove.blogspot.com

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  13. Oh Auntie Em, this quilt is such a treasure trove of friendship! You've put it together so beautifully and it deserves to be finished off so you can fondle it every day. Go for it! Your friends are real "gems"!

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  14. Love the colors. I've always wanted to make one of these quilts.

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  15. Aren't quilt friends the best? I'm pretty sure your quilt proves it!

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  16. That's pretty couragous to let them use whatever colors they wanted and it worked out so well! It's a pretty, pretty quilt.

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  17. beautiful scrap quilt!!! wonderful friends!!!
    Ann

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  18. joli travail collectif ,superbe réalisation

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  19. What a fun scrappy quilt - it's very pretty!

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  20. It's great to see how the blocks with such a different feel look great together combined in one quilt.

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  21. ooooooh, so pretty! just jumps right out at you with all that beautiful color. fantastic design. love it. thanks for sharing and have a great day

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