Have you heard of the Blogger’s Quilt Festival over on Amy’s Creative Side? It’s such a fun blogging event, that I look forward to twice a year. Quilting bloggers can enter a quilt they’ve made into one of several categories for a chance to win some fun prizes. What I especially love is finding other quilters and feasting my eyes on the amazing quilts!
You all know I love a fun sewing competition, (Sewvivor, anyone)? So this year I decided to enter my mini reverse-applique deer quilt.
Every aspect of this quilt is sewn by hand. (With one exception… I machine sewed the first side of the binding, but then hand sewed to other side to give it a nice finish). I absolutely LOVE reverse applique. The fabrics seem to be popping out and I just love the texture it creates. I love that you can create almost any shape you want out of fabric. Hand sewing is one of my favorite things to do, because I can do it in the car, while I’m at my daughter’s dance class, or watching tv. It is so relaxing. I decided to enter this quilt into the Applique Category because I love the technique so much, and it is the main feature of my quilt!
Having grown up in South Dakota, where deer run a-plenty, I’m very drawn to the deer trend right now. Originally, I wanted to make this pattern with more man-friendly fabrics to make pillows for my husband and his brothers, who are all talented huntsmen. I thought I ought to practice the reverse applique process first before creating gifts, so that’s how my mini was born. I chose some of my favorite fabrics and went to work to make a quilt all for me! heehee.
Ever since Camille Roskelley has been releasing her famous quilt patterns as minis, and posting pictures of her mini quilts collection in her sewing room, I have felt inspired to make some minis for myself as well. So this deer is the first of many mini quilts to come. 🙂 I love mini quilts because they are such a fun way to practice a quilting technique without committing to a huge quilt and the expenses that come with it. Plus, if you hang it on the wall, you’ll get to stare at it every day. This deer makes me so happy!
The pattern for the deer and the shield is from my good friend and quilting genius Mary Dugan. Refer to this post if you’re looking for more details on how I made it! Thanks for stopping by! Enjoy the quilt festival!
xoxo, Rach
