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Tuesday, May 5, 2015

Bacon Punk



I had trouble putting words on this screen to talk about this quilt. 

It is everything I love about a quilt. It is everything I love about quilting. 

Recently, I have been trying to shift my quilting focus towards trying all the hard things. I want to look at patterns and designs and feel empowered instead of scared. I want sewing and quilting to feel like a journey. Personally, I believe that perfecting my craft is part of the fun and that you have to know the rules in order to break them. I am proud to consider myself a quilter within the tradition and I embrace my quilty forebears. Someday, we can sit down with a cup of coffee and I will share my opinion on all the divisions quilting (modern, traditional, art, oh my). For now I will just say, we are all quilters.


When I first saw Jen Kingwell's Steam Punk quilt, I loved it. But then, the little voice inside my head told me that I could not make that. It was too hard. Templates. Curves. Appliqué. 

On a whim, I went for it. I ordered the pattern, I ordered some acrylic templates. I opened my scrap bins. I combed through my stash.


Each block was an adventure. I didn't have a plan. I just started making blocks. There was some intense fussy cutting and a large number of cats (honestly because I have a lot of cat fabric in my stash, no particular design plan). 


Because rainbows. 

Then, all of a sudden, I had all of the blocks. 

Over a couple of work trips, I hand appliquéd. It seemed to go fast.


Scraps on the back. I guess we could call this improv?

It is not perfect, I could probably point out all the mistakes. It is mine and I am so proud of it.


Quilt Stats:
Name: Bacon Punk
Size: approximately 71" x 71"
Pattern: Steam Punk by Jen Kingwell
Quilting: Shell free motion quilting with Aurifil white thread
Finished: April 2015

16 comments:

  1. Oh my goodness, I love it! I can see why you feel so strongly about it, it's a beautiful quilt. Your efforts and determination to try something new certainly paid off! Also, the fussy cut centers are too sweet, they make me smile. :)

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  2. I am so proud of you and I am honored to call you my friend and quilty inspiration!

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  3. Sarah, this is beyond gorgeous. I love it, and this is just the 105th reason you make me want to quilt. <3

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  4. Oh. My. Goodness.
    This is amazing. Love the colors and the fussy cutting. Love the whole thing. Gorgeous!

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  5. This is a wonderful piece. There's so much depth in your fabric choices. Big applause! Thank you for also making it asymmetrical - just another nice artistic touch.

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  6. And it is soooo amazing!!! You should be proud! What a fantastically beautiful quilt - totally my type of quilt xx. I especially love the light blue sashing - makes a peaceful overall picture despite the colour.

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  7. Rightly proud - it's so colourful and perfectly balanced.

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  8. The colours are fresh and pretty, and i agree, quilting should be more about the journey than the destination.

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  9. The colours are fresh and pretty, and i agree, quilting should be more about the journey than the destination.

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  10. How exciting and well done!! It is a fine quilt!

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  11. Lovely. It has such movement, as if they were falling. I'm reminded of the feeling of the game Bejeweled.

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  12. I really really love this! I'm with you. I feel like I've done the basics and I'm ready to explore what else quilting has to teach me!

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  13. All I can say is I love you so much right now! (not that way!!) You are so creative and so smart and I would love to share a cup of coffee with you and discuss all those quilty things! Let's do it next month!!

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  14. I love it! It's bright, colorful and full of cats! It's all you! Another beauty to add to the collection. Thank you for sharing it with us.

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  15. You had me at bacon! Seriously-I look at your beautiful quilt and think the same thing...curves...templates...scary good. I need to take a page from your blog and be brave-what am I afraid of? I've been doing this quilting thing for quite a while, so I need to get out of my comfortable zone! Thanks for the inspiration!

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I love comments! Thank you so much for sending me a message. I try to respond to every single comment I get, but sometimes it takes me a bit when life gets crazy. I see them right away and I love you all.