It's Blogger's Quilt Festival Time!!!!

I love joining in on Amy's Blogger's Quilt Festival!!!

Click on the button above to go to the main page and check out 

all the wonderful quilts and prizes for this year's Fall Festival :*)

Of course, this year Moonglow has to be my entry!

For those of you who are not already heartily sick of reading about this prize-winning quilt on my blog, following are a few more details of my Moonglow quilting adventure LOL!!!

This quilt is designed by Jinny Beyer - quilting megastar - and the fabrics are all hers too.  I fell in love with the quilt the first time I saw its picture in a magazine!  Then I found out it was available as a Block-of-the-Month, so I asked my husband for the set for Christmas in 2009.  It was the perfect gift because I got a new package every month in 2010.  What fun it was to open the package to see what that month's star looked like - and then ponder just how difficult it was going to be to make LOL!!

I finally finished the blocks and managed to get the top together in May of last year, then in May of this year, my friend Joanne let me use her long-arm machine to baste the layers together - what a blessing that was!!!!  No scrambling around on the floor trying to get it sandwiched!!!

I quilted this quilt with my Janome 6600 domestic machine - and as usual it came through for me like a champ!!!  This is a large queen-sized quilt, but I was able to free-motion quilt even the stitch-in-the-ditch areas pretty well - I only struggled on the center row with a lot of bulk under the machine.  For the first time, I used a wool batt in this baby, and I love the feel and heft of the quilt, as well as the loft and definition it gave to the quilting design.  It did add some bulk under the machine though.  My favorite reason for using this batt is that I love knowing it won't get those permanent wrinkles some quilts get in them after folding :*)

I finally got busy with the quilting process early this month in the hopes of getting the quilt in the Oktoberfest Quilt Show held here locally each year - and it won 1st Place in its category!!!

You can read more about that HERE if you like.

The quilting process was long and very strenuous!  You can read some of my quilting adventures with Moonglow HERE and HERE.  I think the marking took as long as the quilting did!  Since I was working primarily with a black background, I used the white Clover White Marking Pen (three of them actually!) and it also did a magnificent job.  It goes on invisible as a liquid, but turns white as it dries.  Then when you are done stitching, just steam out the marks - voila!!!!

Marking each line to make sure they were perfectly straight and at the right angle!
Then, can you see the swag line I drew in?

I used one of Karen Kay Buckley's Perfect Circles as a template for the circles - worked wonderfully!!!!

The swag lines were drawn on, but the feathers and circles on them were all free-motion quilted.....

It's a little hard to see them because I used a similar color thread.  I tried black and it stood out like a sore thumb!!!  The corners got a simple swag/feather treatment to keep things cohesive....

The lines in the borders were kept organic - I didn't want to do anything flowery or feathery there.  I really like the nice clean lines of the quilt and those borders, so I just did the understated swag work and "piano keys" lines, and kept it at that...

My binding, as usual, was applied by machine......

I've learned how to do this so that it looks as nice as any hand-sewn binding on the front, and almost as nice on the back too :*)  The Judge had no negative comments to make about it, so I think I must have done a nice job.

I hope you've enjoyed seeing Moonglow in all its glory!!!

Your vote in the Bed Quilts division would be so greatly appreciated :*D

Please feel free to come back again and visit soon!!!

Hugs & Blessings,

Teresa

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