BQF: Marie.

Hi! If you're visiting from Blogger's Quilt Festival, thanks for stopping by! My name is Audrey, and I want to share with you my extra special bed quilt.

This is Marie. I started planning her in June of 2012, and it took me a full month to find all the fabric I would need and get started cutting. I finished piecing her in March of 2013--I moved across the country in January of 2013, so a long break was required--and after sending her to Sarah, fabulous long-armer extraordinarie, in the fall, I sewed the last stitch of binding last November. Woo! Over a year from start to finish, but totally worth it.

The fabrics are primarily from Tula Pink's Parisville line with one print from her Prince Charming line and a couple extra non-Tula prints. I used Bella in Jade as the background fabric. The backing is Bella in Navy, and the binding is Kona Burgundy. It was long-arm quilted with delicious feathers and swirls in a gorgeous jade thread. Since I'm a huge Tula fan, using her Snowglobes pattern just felt right.

I never did manage to get a full finished shot of her, but this is the finished top. She's a healthy queen size, though I'm a total covers hog, and I wish she was a bit longer on the sides. We opted to use two layers of batting since I live in the midwest and the winters and freaking cold. Can I tell you how often I was thankful for that decision this past winter?

Sarah is an amazing long-armer. She doesn't have a website, or I'd totally send you her way. She would send me progress photos during the quilting process, and I would freak out at each and every new picture. LOVE.

To be honest, this quilt was probably a bit too difficult for me to take on when I did, but I'm so thankful that I went for it. I learned a lot of new skills during this quilt, but mostly, I learned what techniques work for me. Piecing the rows was complicated, but fun. Keeping track of all of the pieces of fabric with a two year old and a baby was NOT fun, but Marie got done even with their...um...assistance.

Thanks for stopping by and humoring my serious Marie love. Being able to sleep underneath such a special quilt is truly awesome. (And is it crazy that I'm considering another summer bed quilt? Eep! Convince me not to!)

I'm entering Marie in the Large Quilts Category at BQF.