Stitch Star!
Readers of this blog will recall I made a quilt using
Plume fabrics from Timeless Treasures. I spotted the fabrics in Halifax one day and fell in love.
I had no design in mind when I purchased them but once I sketched the quilt out on the computer I realized I needed another colour. When I Googled to find the fabric, I discovered that there was a contest connected with this collection. I didn't pay much attention at the time as I was not interested in a competition - I was making this quilt for me. However, when I got it finished I liked it so much that I filled out the application form and sent off the required 8x10 prints to Timeless Treasures. I did not give it another thought; the quilt has been hanging in my livingroom for the past few weeks while I cleared a spot in my work room for it to hang. Imagine my shock when I answered the phone at suppertime last evening to hear Hayden from Timeless Treasures telling me that the quilt has been selected as one of 15 finalists!!! It was truly an OMG moment, as they had tons of entries from all around the world.
Since I didn't pay much attention (ok, any attention...) to the contest rules, I am unsure as to whether I can show the quilt at this time. I think there was mention of a travelling exhibit, but I don't recall if that is just for the 3 winning quilts or all the semi-finalists. All I know is that I need to find a box to mail it off to Broadway in New York, New York (even that sounds cool!) Oh, and the name I chose for this piece is "Ostentation". Not only is that a great name for such a showy quilt, it's also the name for a group of peacocks. Wish me luck!
Polly and I began work on this piece in March. Every step in the process of working with these beautiful fabrics was pure delight. The fabric has a peacock theme so in keeping with this I chose spiky, pointy blocks to suggest feathers. Using EQ7, palm blocks were drafted on a 60° grid, and encircled by New York Beauty blocks. The yellow centres of the rings in the NYB blocks are reminiscent of the eye on a peacock’s tail feathers. (Sigh...get off the quilt, Polly.)
Originally I intended to back the quilt with a plain royal blue cotton. After I had it basted however, it was bothering me not to use the royal blue print from the Plume line, so I took it all out and started over. I am very glad I did.
The feather theme was carried through into the quilting, which was done using a gold metallic thread. I stitched feathers up the "legs" of the central palm blocks.
I echo quilted an eye in the gold NYB centres, and stitched feathery peacock plumes in the V shape below.
Although it is rather heavily quilted, spaces were left to allow the loft of the wool batting to puff.
I like how the piecing draws your eye to the centre, so to accentuate that I added a sparkly black button.
This interestingly shaped quilt is neither round nor oval but has elongated patches added top and bottom; a beaded black tassel adds the finishing touch. Amazingly, I stumbled across a tassel which was a perfect match for the button. What are the odds?
After the binding was added, I decided to block the quilt to ensure it would hang straight. To do this, I pinned the quilt to a cardboard cutting mat and sprayed it with water. Then I covered the quilt with plastic and left it overnight to dry.
Here you see the reason for the plastic. Polly assumed guard duty.
It took some time to come up with a good name. Jackie from dayle's suggested a crossword dictionary which was a terrific idea. I discovered that the name for a flock of peacocks is an ostentation, and it aptly describes this showy, ostentatious quilt of glitzy fabric and thread. Because I was so pleased with my finished design, on a whim I sent off a picture to Timeless Treasures who are running a "Stitch Star" contest on this fabric line. How exciting to get a phone call from their office in New York last week telling me Ostentation is a semi-finalist! 
The quilts are all shown on the Timeless Treasures Stitch Star blog and voting is now underway for People's Choice. The prizes in this competition are substantial - $5,000.00 and a Horizon Memory Craft 7700QCP Sewing Machine by Janome for first place - so I do hope you will take a moment to vote. Think of all the fabric that would buy...!
