Pink Chowder during a Cold Dark Winter

Sometimes quilts are born, not designed. It just seems like they spring out of your head fully formed.

This quilt was born when in a fit of indecision I pulled fabrics from my shelves to take to a retreat with my SURMA sisters (incidentally, this is the fabric pull that inspired the Ladies Night Bundle). I knew I would probably want to start sometime new on the retreat (because that is how I roll), but I had no idea what I would do.

Then we got to the mountains and I met the Accuquilt for the first time. You see my friend Lee (May Chappell) is an Accuquilt all-star and she had just received these new clamshell dies. I had never sewn a single curve, so naturally I decided I was going to use my fabric stack for an 8" clamshell quilt. As you do. As an aside, I now want all dies… I may or may not have a hexagon quilt in the works.

I got to cutting. Because the Accuquilt is amazing, I got this whole quilt cut in a morning.

Full disclosure here, because we are all friends, at that time I had never seen (or did not remember seeing) Latifah's clam famous Glam Clam quilt. I did not have her awesome directions or her videos to watch (but honestly, they are awesome you should check them out). Lee helped me out and we read some stuff from our phones, then we made it work. I had no idea how many clams I even needed… I just started sewing them together when it looked like I had cut enough.

One last awesome thing about this quilt, is that my friends donated little bits of fabric to be made into clams (when I realized my stack was not big enough). Every time I look at this quilt I see bit of some of my favorite people. Thanks Xandi, Chrissy, Lee, and Holli! I love having you here to snuggle with me.

Okay, I am obsessed. There is no such thing as too many pictures, right?

These organic super close together straight lines seemed essential for this quilt, totally inspired by the original Glam Clam.

I think this is my favorite quilt I have ever made. I look at it and I am so proud of my curves and I used some of my most hoarded fabrics.

Thanks for letting my ramble on. This quilt remains in my possession and will, probably, forever.

Quilt Stats:
Name: Pink Chowder
Size: Approximately 72"x72" (Can't measure right now, I have a cat on my lap)
Fabric: So many fabrics, there is really a little bit of everything here, from Bonnie and Camille to Lizzy House, Waterfront Park, Collage, Riley Blake, Comma, Quilters linen from Moda, Mama Said Sew, I think the cats are Kokka. If you see something I did not mention and you need to know, message me and and I will look it up. Binding is from Botanics by Carolyn Friedlander and backing is also from that line and Ikea.
Quilting: Organic matchsticks (can that be a thing?) with Aurifil Thread
Finished: January 2014