Blogger's Quilt Festival - A Rainy Day Quilt

Posted by Kashmira

We're very excited to enter the Blogger's Quilt Festival for the very first time! This one of a kind quilt will go into the original design quilts category. 

Our entry - A Rainy Day Quilt - was inspired by the Indian monsoon season: the deliciously wet green grass, fat raindrops, little wild flowers popping up after the parched summer days, the sound of croaking frogs and streets dotted with colorful umbrellas.

It all started with the quirky little block-printed umbrella fabric (that I used for the border to frame up the quilt) that gave the idea for a rainy day snapshot. I simply adore doing appliques - it allows for such freedom and artistic license in terms of composing a freestyle picture. I designed the quilt top with a few elements in mind:

The umbrella: This was going to be front center, the focal point inspired by the umbrella print fabric.

The raindrops: I decided to use up fabric scraps from 5 or 6 different shades/ prints of lovely blue fabric to create a pretty pitter-patter-raindrop collection. 

The bird and frog: Now, this was the funnest part of all. At the time that I made this quilt (late 2012), my son was a few months old and I knew it wasn't long before he would start to crawl around. That's how I decided to design this quilt as a play blanket where he could have a good time sticking and un-sticking two cute friends to the quilt. First I drew patterns of a frog and bird on a piece of paper and cut out those shapes out of fabric twice (for front and back). Then with a piece of batting sandwiched in between I sewed them together and added details like the wing and buttons for eyes. I added further detail to the frog by giving him a smile and outlining the shapes of his front legs using a zigzag stitch. Lastly, I sewed on a piece of velcro to the back of the frog and bird.

The opposite velcro pieces I sewed on the top of the umbrella and in the grass, so that the little birdie could be perched on the umbrella and the froggy could merrily croak among flowers!

All the fabric shapes have been appliqued to the quilt top using a zigzag machine stitch. Needless to say, I had a lot of fun creating the quilt and my son really enjoyed playing with the frog and bird (not to mention the bursts of giggles that the rippy sounds of velcro produced!)

If this Rainy Day quilt has managed to delight you, please take a minute and give us a vote right here! Voting starts on November 1. 

Quilt Name: A Rainy Day

Pattern: Original

Finished Size: 55" x 40"

Meanwhile, we're off to gawk at the stunning creations of other quilters at the quilt festival.