9) My ninth quilt - Peace on Earth

 I had ordered Amy Butler's Midwest Modern collection of fabric. And I just loved it so much when I got it that The night I brought it home I laid awake in bed thinking of making a quilt with it. My 0300 I was still wide awake, so I just got up and got started on this quilt. By the next day I had most of it finished.

 I really loved how the raw edge applique circles turned out in the Norberta Quilt, and I wanted to try that technique again. I used Midwest Modern, some wonderful shot cottons from Kaffe Fassett and some fabric that I dyed myself at a fabric dying workshop in Alice Springs.

 I totally adore how this quilt turned out. I think it was a pretty good use of time spent not sleeping...but trying to sleep.

 I uses 2 different variegated cotton threads for this quilt. I also wrote on the quilt with my quilting. I really would love to label all my quilts, but I am lazy and it is so much more quick to just quilt their name on them and the date I made them.

 The back of this one is pretty wonderful too, I think. I love a pieced back. Sometime I like them much more than the front of a quilt.

8) My 8th quilt - Norberta the Green Dragon

 So when I made this quilt we were living in Alice Springs, Australia. While we were traveling to Australia, our family was loaded down with bags and suitcases. We were each alloted 2 bags apiece. Well, I packed wisely and squished all my clothing into one bag (which was quite a trick since we were moving from a frigid winter complete with ice storms and howling winds to the blazing red center of the Australian Outback) so I could also bring a sewing machine with me. I was terrified of our tiny shipment getting lost or sinking to the bottom of the Pacific Ocean and I would be stuck in Australia for 3 years without being able to sew.

 So this quilt was one of the first quilts I made while in Oz. I was reading Joelle Hoverson's book Last minute quilted and patchwork gifts and one of the final projects was listed in the 24 hour gift catagory. Really? That massive quilt could be done in 24 hours? Well I gave it a try. My husband was pulling a really long shift at work, so I spent the same time quilting. And this quilt did indeed take me 24 hours to make. From start to finish. From cutting the fabric to stitching on the binding. It was a marathon and I did not eat or sleep, but I did have a massive quilt at the end of the day. I was quite pleased with myself.

 I used a green batik that I had yards and yards of and I used some of my very favorite (still to this day) fabric by Amy Butler from her earliest fabric collections (Ginger Bliss and Temple flowers)

 It is quilted with scallops in a lavender cotton thread. I thought it made the quilt look like it had dragon scales. I was reading Harry Potter to the kids and Norbert the Dragon was in the tale, so I named my quilt after him...who turned out to be a her so my quilt is named Norberta.

I also decided that the quilt didn't have enough interest, so I added big white circles with little pops of color. I love this quilt. It is the biggest quilt I have ever made for myself.