Blogger's Quilt Festival: We are the World

It's here! The Blogger's Quilt Festival for Fall, 2014. Thanks to Amy's Creative Side for posting this semi-annual event.

Today I'm showing off a quilt that is special to me. I call this quilt "We are the World", and it was created for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge in 2013. This is my adaptation of the "Little Red Dresses" pattern by Barbara Weiland Talbert. 

For this quilt, I tried something completely new for the quilting. I found a pantograph that was perfect on Urban Elementz called "Paper Dolls", but with this being quilted on my domestic machine, it wasn't really possible to do traditional edge-to-edge quilting. I had in mind to quilt each block individually. Here's how I did it.

The design was too large to really fit comfortably inside my 12-inch blocks. So....I copied parts of the pantograph on my copy machine, reducing them by 50%. Then I taped it together in sections to create a 16 x 16 quilt block.

There were a few little gaps that were easy enough to fill in. I made it plenty large thinking I'd choose a 12 x 12 section and just draw some lines.

Then I traced the pattern with a marker.

Then I pinned the pattern to my block, and away I went. And it worked out!

Here's how it looks from the back. It's hard to see in this image with the white on white. I messed with the brightness and contrast a little to help you see it.

The fabric for the border and sashing are busy enough that I figured simple stippling was enough there. 

Anything else wasn't going to show much. And I put a heart with a flourish in each of the cornerstones.

Here's how it looks from the back.

After toying with several ideas, I decided to use this rainbow fabric for a flange and then bind it with the polka dot. I like the way this turned out.

While I started this quilt for the 2013 Rainbow Scrap Challenge, it ended up as a gift for the granddaughter of our good friend, Chuck. Her name is Frankie. She's a cutie, isn't she?

In October, 2013, Frankie was diagnosed with a devastating neurological disorder known as Rett Syndrome. It took quite some time to obtain an accurate diagnosis, and it will be a rocky road ahead for Frankie and her family. I was just finishing sewing together the blocks for We are the World when I learned of Frankie's diagnosis. I knew immediately that this quilt was intended for her all along. People come in all different shapes, sizes, colors, and abilities, and I firmly believe that the world needs all of us. You can read more about Frankie's story right here. And with October being Rett Syndrome Awareness Month,

I couldn't resist showing off Frankie's quilt right here at the Blogger's Quilt Festival. I hope you like Frankie's quilt!

This is my 8th time participating in the Blogger's Quilt Festival. I started blogging in July of 2010 and started participating in the quilt festival as soon as I discovered it. Unless I miss my guess, that would have been in the Spring of 2011. You can see my previous entries into the Blogger's Quilt Festival right here:

Spring, 2011

Fall, 2011

Spring, 2012

Fall, 2012

Spring, 2013

Fall, 2013
Spring, 2014

For this Fall, 2014 Festival, I have another entry. You can see my other quilt, "Happy Campers" right here.

Thanks for stopping by today. I hope you enjoy the rest of the show. Now head on back to the festival and give my fellow participants some quilty love.

Blogger's Quilt Festival Stats:

Finished quilt measures: 75 x 60 inches

Special techniques used: Pantograph on a domestic machine, traditional and paper-piecing, binding with a flange

Quilted by: Me! On my domestic sewing machine.

Best Categories: Large Quilt, Home machine quilted, ROYGBIV, Scrappy Quilt