Blogger's Festival

*Updated note: I noticed on another blogger refer to the Blogger's Quilt Festival as BQF. For some reason the first thing that popped in my head as I was reading was "Best Quilting Friend!" So that's what it is for me now; Best Quilting Friends!

Okay, so I have been absolutely killing myself to get one of my own designs ready to show at Blogger's Festival. However, it looks as if only the top will be finished to show. So I will give a sneak peek at the bottom of this post (I have been asked to do a quilt along for it so anyone who wants to come back for it, you are more than welcome!), and I will show a different quilt instead.

A couple of months ago a friend and I hit the sale section of the fabric in Hobby Lobby. I noticed several coordinating pink-based prints, but I am not a big pink person so my initial instinct was to pass. However, something kept leading my back to those prints so I finally decided to just purchase them for a possible donation quilt through my quilting guild.

When I got home I went online to get some ideas and almost immediately came across Randi's wonderful quilt along for the Road to Spring quilt. I immediately knew that was the quilt, and I immediately knew who the quilt was for. Back in November, my cousin and his wife lost their only daughter, Reagan, who was about a year and a half old.

I incorporated some fabrics I had in my stash and began sewing. I felt like I just knew how the whole quilt was supposed to look. I finished the top easily (though now I see places where I probably should have moved some fabrics around more!) and moved on to the back. The front is a mixture of girly colors, green for grass, pink leopard for when she was 'wild', polka dots, and a cute print that says 'Love' all over it. The back is a letter from me to Reagan.

I know it may sound crazy that I think it's a letter, but hear me out. The top is a synopsis of the fabrics from the front. Where on the front they are just a description of her and about being girly, on the back they are what we will miss about her. I cut out a small block of the "Love" fabric to put near the bottom as a sign-off for the letter. Then I added my label which states the name, that it is in memory of her and that I made it. I found a block of fabric that was just X's and O's that I started to cut a piece out of, but ended up deciding that she deserved all those hugs and kisses so I left it whole and attached it under my label. The very bottom is pieced to show the chaos of what we all feel now that she is gone. I still want to handquilt a couple of hearts on it here and there, but I just finished the binding last night and wanted to get it posted.

At first I couldn't really figure out why I was making a quilt in memory of her. I make lots of things but I really felt strongly led to make this quilt. My aunt told my cousin about it and he loved the idea. He wants it presented to his wife at a fun run they have sponsored in Reagan's name in July. And he wants it placed in a very special place. See, when she passed away, they asked for donations in lieu of flowers. These donations went to Courageous Kids out of Kentucky; they provide camp experiences for children with special needs. Well, undoubtedly the donations brought in enough were enough to 'purchase' a camp bed in her name there at the campsite (they actually name a bed after her). My cousin wants the quilt to go on 'Reagan's bed'. I just cried when I heard this because I didn't know about the bed in her name. I really feel like God just had his own plan with all of this.

So after all of that, I just wanted to show a quick peek at my quilt I am working on. Keep in mind that I have only been quilting less than a year (though I've been sewing for a while) and this is my first design. I was so anxious to get it done so I could actually see it in quilt form, it is far from perfect but I am happy with where it's going.

It's called "X Marks the Spot". This is only the top and I don't have the border on, but I'm getting there. I've been asked to do a quilt along for this one so stay tuned!