Übung macht den Meister or... TGIFF

Strange title for this post? Yes, sort of. And then, not. Übung macht den Meister is German for training makes a master, and that's what I finally decided to call this piece of qulting art (at least it is to me.):

The block and borders is "Square Dance" by Sue Daley, the rest springs from my own imagination.

It was finished about two weeks ago on a Monday, the day I originally had planned to send it off to Birmingham for the NEC Festival of Quilts. And it was a TGIF-feeling, since I had been hand-quilting like mad despite the heat to get finished on deadline.

The quilt is entered for the Festival of Quilts under the title "Dancing Colours" but, that name only marginally fits it, now that I'm done. The category is "My first quilt" - and that's what it is, the first full-size quilt. It's mainly EPP'd, then appliquéd to the background. Finally I hand-quilted the whole thingie, since I don't yet dare to quilt feathers FMQ.

Here you can see the placement and design of the feathers... most of the quilt was cross-hatched, but it's meant to be a summer quilt, light and soft. It's made with a silk batting to help along with the lightness.

The hand-quilting part is responsible for the name, since I managed to reduce my stitch count from seven per inch to twelve per inch without really realizing what I was doing. I only tried to keep the stitches as short and even as possible. I didn't even know that twelve is really, really, really good, until I was at a mini-retreat with more experienced quilters who couldn't believe the shortness and evenness of my stitches. Blush... I learned to embroider from my mum when I wasn't even at school yet. Guess, that helps.

Last but not least the big question of why didn't I publish this before... simple. I didn't read the rules close enough and simply assumed (...never assume anything except an occasional air of intelligence...) that I was forbidden to show the quilt beforehand. I am not, so here we are :) Right in time to share it with you on TGIFF, hosted by Quokkaquilts this week.