Blogger's Quilt Festival & Give Away Day Winner

(Click on the link above to see other beautiful quilts!)

How exciting to be in my first online quilt show!  I'm pretty new to the online quilt world out there, but it's fun to make new friends.  My Button-Up Shoes quilt has traveled to many quilt shows over the years and has even won a purple ribbon and a second place ribbon at two local county fairs.  It's my first try at hand quilting.  I started it in 1984 when I was pregnant with my first son who is now 25 years old.  The pattern came out of a quilt magazine that was published in the 1980's.

The buttons that I used were vintage buttons that were from two of my Great Grandmother's.

My husband thought that I was crazy when I had the kitchen table dumped full of buttons, but as you can see there was a method to my madness. I wanted five matching buttons per shoe.  The shoes were machine appliqued with a satin stitch.  The ribbon was added because the quilt needed just a little something more.  There is a story behind the hand quilting.  I started hand quilting this quilt when I was pregnant and my hands were swollen.  So I used the stab method because it hurt my hands to quilt the way grandma had taught me.  At the time I just needed something to do and this kept me busy. 

Here is the back of the quilt.  As you can see I put it together block-as-you-go because I didn't have a quilt frame at the time, but I did have a wooden hoop that I used.  I finished this quilt in 1987.  My oldest son and daughter-in-law will eventually be the proud owners of this quilt.

And the best is saved for last.  The Give Away Day winner is Helena at

http://thumbelena.blogspot.com
My husband randomly picked out a number and you were it.
Congratulations Helena!  I will ship as soon as you contact me with your address.

Happy Quilting

Kay Lynne