Thursday, May 17, 2012

Irish Hills Patchwork Quilt

I posted this yesterday, and only recently found out about the Bloggers Quilt festival, hosted by Amy's Creative Side. I hope it's okay to enter this quilt! :) I thought this might be a good way to get out into the blogosphere and meet some new quilting bloggers. So thanks for stopping by - here we go!
Mom mom lives in an area of Michigan that people call "the Irish hills". I don't know why it's named that. Well, it does have rolling hills, and I just googled it - apparently it was settled by the Irish. Now I know! In any case, it's really beautiful and the downtown area is charming, but if you get outside of town it's sort of "country", if you know what I mean. (Nothin' wrong with country! I'm actually living in the burbs, wanna-be-country style - I swear we are starting our own farmers market in the backyard, but that's another story..)

One of the first times my fiance and I drove there together, we stopped at a somewhat decrepit gas station/"everything" store to get some beer. We were the only people there, except for one guy at the register buying a case of Budweiser and having a very intense conversation with the cashier about night crawlers. I guess we looked like outsiders or something, because the guy eventually turned around and said to us (rather creepily, through the few teeth he had left) WELCOME TO THE HILLS! (Mm, thanks?!! lol) We felt like we were in a movie, but I guess you had to be there!
So yeah.. how does this all relate to the quilt?  It started it's life in "the Hills" - you could say that's where it was born, aww. I found a quilt top, in an antique store, that somebody (I wonder who?!) had started and never finished, and the price was right so I grabbed it and eventually used parts of it to make this large patchwork. I guess I'm taking someone else's history and pushing it forward?
Inspiration? Well, I gotta give some love to Film in the Fridge, as this quilt is one of my favorite's of hers!
I realized I didn't really care for this green color on the backing much too late, so now I just live with it.

Most of the fabric on the top didn't come from the found quilt top. I'd say only about 20% is from the antique store find.


So I'm left with much of the found quilt leftover - I am starting to think of how I can use the rest of the fabric. There is some WHACK fabric in there. I mean look at those neon stripes.
But there are some real gems in there - I especially love this aztekky looking print on the top left:
Maybe I will cut the rest into jelly roll type stripes, along with some solids and sew up one of those race-type quilts. Or maybe it'll sit in my craft room closet for a few years. :P

If you are still reading, thank you for checking out my quilt. I will be clicking on as many of you as I can this weekend!

37 comments:

  1. I like the story behind this quilt. The old and the new working together...and the green back keeps in with the Irish theme:)

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  2. Nice work! I like the green, perhaps it will grow on you. The neat thing about crazy neon prints is, if you cut them a bit smaller they'll probably play well with everyone. Thanks for your funny story and the lovely photos!

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  3. what a fabulous mix of colours and prints - so bright and happy!

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  4. Great find! The quilt looks amazing - back and front!

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  5. I love the mix of fabrics! I like your backing fabrics, it is fun and you did a good job of piecing it so it wasn't overwhelmingly green! Funny story, I have had a few similar experiences in east Texas!

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  6. @Deborah - LOL How did I not think of the Irish/green tie-in?
    @grendelskin - Not a bad idea!! The neon print would probably do better cut into smaller color blocks.
    Thanks everyone!

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  7. great story to go with your vibrant quilt. just love reading about journeys people take as they quilt--both the physical and mind ones! thanks for sharing and have a great day

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  8. That is a really pretty! Love that you were using found materials as well as new.

    The back is very Irish, at least. ;-)

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  9. i love it!! there's some great color in there!!

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  10. Fun, fun, fun!

    Margaret
    http://quiltsoflove.blogspot.com/

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  11. Fun Bright and colourful!! I love it!! Simple squares make the best quilts!

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  12. Eye catching! It was the fist quilt I clicked on when I came to look at links! :-). I love the vibrant colors and I actually really like the green, too. What a great find at the store. Have fun with your blog! I will be following along...

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  13. What a fun and cheerful quilt. I love the story too.
    One day I hope to find an old quilt top to give a new lease on life.

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  14. The fabrics in your quilt are wonderful! It has a kind of retro feel, but still so modern. Great story too.

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  16. Where did you end up buying the rest of the fabric for the quilt? It has such a rich color scheme and definitely one I'd like to try one of these times.

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  17. I like the green on the back, seems fitting for the history of the quilt but I suppose that was part of the original reason for choosing it, huh? It is one pretty quilt.

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  18. @one4luck - it's a total random smattering of fabrics from my stash! I've tried not to spend too much money on fabrics so a lot of them are from places like Jo-Anns, Hobby Lobby, my local fabric shop. Sometimes buying the designer fabrics can get to be very expensive!

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  19. It is so fun! And I went to college outside the Irish Hills, so I think the name is perfect.

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  20. Great mix of old and new! Glad you entered it. Turned out great.

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  21. i love your quilt! i am incapable of walking away from a found quilt...i have a few now. i love the fabrics in this one.

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  22. Good story..the quilt is a feast for the eyes!

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  23. I love how bright and colourful this quilt is. I think you need to make another one with the rest of the blocks and USE that neon green - it's fantastic. Thanks for sharing your story and your quilt.

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  24. I love it, whack fabric included!

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  25. What a neat way to incorporate old and new. I love how rich the colors are.

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  26. It's awesome! Looks like you scored some great fabrics out of that top :)

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  27. This is a GREAT quilt...front and back!

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  28. Fabulous! I love a simple patchwork quilt. Especially when the fabrics are so fun! Happy BQF!

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  29. Ooo- I love the back just as much as the back! It's so bright and cheerful! Ps- Bloggy land is a lot of fun, huh. :)

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  30. Oh for the love- I should really proof read - as much as the front! Tee Hee

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  31. I love the story of this quilt, you are definately part of its journey along. I love the colors and the green back looks perfect with it.

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  32. Beautiful. Love how you incorperated someone elses quilt into yours. It looks amazing.

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  33. Wow, I bet that person would be thrilled to know that you made something so beautiful out of their half-made quilt top!

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  34. I love this quilt! I'm so glad to be your newest follower, love your blog:)

    Katie
    www.funhomethings.com

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Thanks for taking the time to stop by. I visit every commenter's blog! <3