Tuesday, June 10, 2014

A Quilt without Borders

-->
Margaret is a lovely member of the NYC Metro Modern Quilt Guild and her niece - a quilter who lives in France and who volunteers for the International Festival of Extraordinary Textiles - asked Margaret for her help. 


Margaret guided members of the guild to create a modern quilt that will be used during a picnic in the Jardin Lecoq park. The picnic will be done "flash mob" style with people showing up, a quilt under their arm.  Then when a text message arrives the quilts will be opened and spread on the grass. After the picnic the quilts will be auctioned off to benefit Doctors Without Borders.



The quilts have to be made of recycled fabric - which is more than close to my heart.


The quilt Margaret put together is made from old sample upholstery/drapery fabric.


I sewed together left over cotton batting remenants to ensure we kept the theme going and used odd bits of thread cones I had left over for the quilting. 


I practiced my feathers. 


 


I had a lot of fun quilting this mainly because every patch of fabric was different and gorgeous. I'm not sure that the photos do the materials justice - but there were plush velvets, ...


... silks, fake suedes, gold threads and plush richness all over this quilt. I kept 'ooohing & aaaahing' over the various different textures and colors. 


When I quilt I tend to quilt with the longarm I quilt one handed the other hand laying softly on the fabric and often that feeling of touching the soft fabric on my hand makes me feel very calm and centered - does that sound like the weirdest thing ever - or do other people experience that textural induced zen???


I didn't have enough time to bind the quilt for Margaret - but she seemed very pleased with the result.

I have quite a stash of random upholstery material - both donated and from our own house projects. This quilt has given me a huge amount of inspiration to put them to good use.

8 comments:

Thimbleanna said...

Wow -- what an interesting quilt. And you're becoming an expert with those feathers -- well done!

Anonymous said...

It's lovely, well done! I wish I were in France for the event, it's going to be amazing and for such a good cause.

Christa said...

Wow, Margaret and Rachael- this turned out so beautifully! The pattern is terrific, the quilting is gorgeous... thanks for getting me involved. I too wish I could go to the event. I hope someone takes photos!

ziggee said...

what a beautiful looking quilt. These are the type of quilts I LOVE. Ones that are made from fabric scraps and not from fabrics bought at the fabric store just to make a quilt. You really did a great job with this quilt. Who ever buys this is going to buy a great quilt.

ziggee said...

what a beautiful looking quilt. These are the type of quilts I LOVE. Ones that are made from fabric scraps and not from fabrics bought at the fabric store just to make a quilt. You really did a great job with this quilt. Who ever buys this is going to buy a great quilt.

Ginny Cook said...

This is a beautiful quilt. I love that it is not centered and the fabrics used sure have make a super quilt. The quilting enriches the beauty and brings out the features of the fabrics. Bravo!

Dianne said...

The quilt is absolutely stunning! Love the quilting stitches, colors and fabrics.

Unknown said...

Thank you so much - Margaret should get much of the credit for this quilt and its glory as she pulled the project together - she was just kind enough to let me quilt it!