Checker Shapes – Emma’s Quilt

I asked both of my girls if they’d like to make a quilt to enter in the youth category for QuiltCon 2022, and happily they both said yes! We found out earlier this week that their quilts were accepted into the show, and they were thrilled. (I’m pretty sure QuiltCon has a policy to accept at least 1 quilt from any entrant under 18 years old as long as there is physical space to hang them, but it’s exciting nonetheless.)

Emma started her quilt by sketching out a design and choosing fabrics from my stash. She had a checkerboard background, and each square featured a couple different shapes so the obvious answer for construction was raw edge fusible applique.

After helping her cut and piece the top, we applied fusible web to the backs of her 3 fabrics. She drew each shape according to the key she had made on her original drawing — smart! Then we cut them out and she carefully fused each piece in place.

Then it was time for quilting! I loaded the quilt onto my longarm and let Emma quilt it herself while I supervised. She chose to do looping lines back and forth across the quilt top did a great job! You can see a video of her at work on my Instagram.

The title of this quilt is “Checker Shapes” and Emma’s artist statement read:

“I made this quilt with my mom. I started in September and finished in October. I did the squiggly lines on the quilt and helped put on the shapes and sew the background together. I am really proud of this quilt because I put a lot of work into it and never gave up.”

The stats:

• Quilt measures 24″ square.
• Top fabrics are fabrics Emma chose from my stash. The checker shapes fabric was from a Windham Fabrics bundle, and the background squares are some sort of shot cotton.
• Backing is Bloom wideback in Peony by Ruby Star Society.
• Binding is Speckled by Ruby Star Society.
• Longarm quilted by Emma on my Handiquilter Avante with Aurifil 50 wt thread.

p.s. I’m doing a 31 day blogging challenge.