A Visit, a Quilt and a Week Off

International Quilt Festival

International Quilt Festival

This week is Spring Break here in the Chicago suburbs. The kids and I have just been hanging out at home, playing outside during the few glorious days of sunshine. I've only spent a few stolen moments here and there at the sewing machine, starting work on teacher quilts. (I need to make TWO this year!)

International Quilt Festival

International Quilt Festival

Last weekend my parents came to visit and we went to Quilt Festival in Chicago. I have been really out of the loop I guess, because I had no idea it moved from the Summer to Spring! Luckily my mom was on top of it and planned her visit accordingly. The quilts you see in the top photo of this post are of the Ruby Jubilee exhibit. If you are a regular reader here, you've heard me say I love, love, love red and white quilts. So this exhibit was a treat for me. Inspired by the Infinite Variety: Three Centuries of Red and White Quilts exhibit in New York City, these quilts are a collection of old and new, modern and traditional. All stunning.

Cog + Wheel adaptation by Lorellen Moore

Cog + Wheel adaptation by Lorellen Moore

My mom also brought her latest quilt finish to visit. (Hi Mom!) We took it over to my favorite local barn for photos. Isn't it cool? This quilt was created using Denyse Schmidt's Cog + Wheel pattern, obviously with some big modifications. She changed where the pattern has negative space and prints, created her own paper piecing template (sorry, I can't share that as Cog + Wheel is for sale), made some half blocks, rearranged the layout, added a border...

Cog + Wheel adaptation by Lorellen Moore

Cog + Wheel adaptation by Lorellen Moore

The prints are mostly from Lotta Jansdotter's new collection, Follie. You can prints from this collection at following shops:

Gotham Quilts

Harts Fabric

Sew Modern

Fat Quarter Shop

Fabric Spark

She also mixed in some large scale Japanese prints (those letters in the background).

Cog + Wheel adaptation by Lorellen Moore

Cog + Wheel adaptation by Lorellen Moore

My mom quilted this on her new BERNINA 750QE (yep, we are now machine twins!) using a wavy stitch. You can read more about creating that stitch here.

I love the quilt mom!