Pink Chowder: Bloggers Quilt Festival Quilt

Hello old and new friends! I am so happy you are here. Welcome.

I am re-sharing Pink Chowder today as my entry in the Bloggers Quilt Festival hosted by Amy's Creative Side. I decided to enter it as a large quilt.

This is my favorite quilt I have ever made. I finished it a couple of months ago and I still just stare at it sometimes thinking, "I made that" (picture a wondering look and an awed voice). 

This quilt is me. 

It was born from a late evening desire to start a new project, when I just started randomly grabbing some of my favorite and most precious fabrics. I brought that giant stack of fabric to a retreat with my best sewing people and then I met the Accuquilt die cutter and the, then brand new, clam die. I knew I had to learn to sew curves just so I could turn my stack of fabric into a clam quilt. 

The reasons this is my favorite quilt of all time:

1.) I learned so much sewing this quilt. These are my first curves ever. It was my first time using the Accuquilt.

2.) I used some of my most hoarded fabrics on this quilt. Now when I look at it I get so see little happy surprises everywhere. Reminding me to use my hoarded fabrics!

3.) Some of my best sewing people gave me scraps to use in this quilt. Now every time I see those clams, I think of them. 

4.) It is pink and aqua. 

5.) There are cats on it. 

6.) I did it. I felt like I was really starting to get this quilting thing while working on this quilt. The quilting looks so good, the clams came together so well, and the colors just make me smile. It gives me such a sense of accomplishment.

Thanks for stopping by! Thanks for being patient about seeing this quilt twice on here. I think you are the best. I love this community and this festival illustrates everything that is good about the online quilting world. I only just wish we were at a real quilt festival 'cause then we could meet. Maybe have a coffee? I would love to hear about your day. 

Pink Chowder Stats

Size: 72" by 72"

Pattern: I used the Accuquilt to cut my clams, but you check out The Quilt Engineer's pattern on Craftsy here. 

Fabric: Too many to list. Just so many bits of precious in this one. 

Quilting: Organic matchstick quilting with Aurifil Thread done by me on my home machine.

Finished: January 2014

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