Bloggers Quilt Festival

The Blogger's Quilt Festival is back! It's a great event put on by Amy of AmysCreativeSide which allows all the quilting bloggers out there to share a favorite quilt and also view hundreds of others just like you would if you were at a quilt festival.   It's so fun to see everyone's creations and to read about why that quilt is special to them and what they learned through making it. 

The quilt I'm going to share this time is one that I made for a friend of mine for Christmas last year. I already have written about it on my blog but it's one of my favorites and I learned a ton while I was making it so I thought it would be a good choice for the festival. 

My friend Courtney actually went with me to pick out the fabrics for her quilt and it was great to have her there to be part of that process. Choosing fabric for a quilt is one of my favorite things to do and I always consider it to be a fun challenge.  The fabrics used in this quilt are from many different fabric lines and consist of a variety of styles.   She knew what colors she wanted and we used that as a jumping off point and scoured the shop for fabrics that were pleasing to her.  

I really think they all came together nicely to form a very rich, cozy color scheme.  When I saw how it turned out, it really reinforced my philosophy of fabric picking (I'm using very technical terms here :) ).  I recognize that it is always fun and somewhat easy to stick within one fabric line when you are making a quilt because you are assured that it will all go together.  Do I dare say that sometimes that just feels too safe for me?  I really have the most fun starting with a color scheme and one or two different fabrics as an inspiration for the quilt and building off of it by wandering through a quilt shop and noticing which fabrics seems to jump off the shelves at me.

I would like to challenge you to be bold the next time you are choosing fabric for a quilt. When you pick a bunch of things that are pleasing to your eye but not necessarily matchy-matchy, chances are they will make an absolutely wonderful, intriguing quilt.  

Make sure you visit AmysCreativeSide and take part in this fun event. It's exciting to see all the creativity going on in the quilting world. 

Hi, Ho SIlver!

Howdy pardners. :)  Our show is on hiatus this week which means I have a whole week off to do anything my heart desires.  I have been absolutely head over heels craving sunshine lately so I've been making an effort to spend a lot of time outside enjoying nature.  Even though I live in a big city, I really am a nature girl at heart. (Except for the bugs, of course).
      My hubby had Monday off so we were able to spend the day together and decided to go on a little hike in Corriganville Park.   It was really pretty and so historical!  Hundreds of old western films were shot in this area in the 40s through the 70s as well as the Lone Ranger and Robin Hood TV series.  As you take the hike there are signs posted all over with interesting facts about what was shot there and some even have photos to show you how it looked back then.

The view as you start the hike

A photo of Gene Autry taken while he was filming

This is what that area looks like now. 

We could easily see how this would make a great movie backdrop.

Chad, standing where Gene Autry's horse was standing in the photo.

We didn't expect to find Sherwood forest so close to to where the Westerns were filmed

 I can definitely picture Robin Hood hanging out here. 

It was a lot of fun to go hiking and stumble upon so much film and TV history.   Getting outside and exploring the area in which we live is something we should all probably do more often, right?  Do you have any favorite hidden away places that you've found near where you live?