Saturday, October 27, 2012

Bloggers Quilt Festival, Fall 2012





It's that time of year again! I just love the Bloggers Quilt Festival! I have met some really fun bloggers through this festival and been SO INSPIRED by the quilts that are shared. I had to think long and hard about which quilt I wanted to enter into this year's festival. If you know me, you know making quick decisions is NOT my gift. Lots of wishy washy goes on around here. What can I say?

So after much deliberation, I have chosen to share one of my all time favorites:


Quilt size: 68" x 68"
Machine quilted by me
Designed by me
Categories: scrappy, home machine quilted, throw size quilt

It's called Mr. Knott's Neighborhood. It's a favorite for many reasons, but mostly because of the story that goes with it. My husband (Mr. Knott) saw some of these house blocks on the design wall and commented on how much he really liked them. He'll usually give an opinion if asked, but rarely offers one on his own. So I got to thinking about Christmas. My parents would be here and they would be getting a quilt from me. My sister would be here and she would be getting a quilt from me. Hmmm. Maybe I should make a quilt for Mr. Knott. We normally don't exchange gifts because, let's face it, Christmas is for the kids, we focus on them and spending time with family and we truly have everything we need.



Mr. Knott travels a lot, almost every week, he is an airline pilot after all. So while he was gone on his trips I would pull out the blocks and work on them. I tucked them away every time he came home. So I was easily able to finish the quilt without him suspecting a thing. I was so excited to give him such a special gift on Christmas morning!



A side note about the borders: Many years ago I made Mr. Knott a quilt for his birthday. I beautiful log cabin with no borders. He (jokingly) said that real quilts have borders. And over the years he would always coment on the borders of each quilt I gave away, saying things like...you must really love them because it has such nice borders. We love to tease each other, so this was a source of many laughs over the years.



I finished this quilt and put 3 borders on it, and the label says...To Bill, with Love and Borders, from your wife. I put three borders to show him how much I really do love him!

On Christmas morning after all the others had opened their gifts I gave him his quilt. He almost cried he loved it so much. Then he said to me, there's box under the tree for you too honey. I saw a very large box still sitting in the back, and though, oh how nice, we did need a new blender. So imagine MY SURPRISE when I opened the box and it was the little travel sewing machine I had wanted so badly for workshops and retreats. I hadn't said anything about it since July, when my friend got one, and I commented how happy I was for her. He researched it and found it and purchased it and got it gift wrapped all before the holiday! (this is huge since my gifts usually have a duty free sticker on them from a date past the birthday/ holiday etc. that he obviously picked up quickly on his way home from work)

So this quilt is really special for lots of reasons. Mostly, I'm just glad Mr. Knott likes it so much. He deserves lots of borders!!! 

18 comments:

  1. What a great quilt and a great quilt story!

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  2. Love your story with this quilt. Lots of love and good memories all wrapped up in a special quilt.:)

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  3. What a beautiful quilt with a heartwarming story. Gave me goose bumps!

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  4. Very cute! And very cute that he found the perfect gift for you! :-)

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  5. A beautiful quilt, and a great story! Thank you for sharing all those details. I'm never going to look at borders the same! (And btw, your border is really perfect for the quilt.)

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  6. what a wonderful story he sounds like a keeper
    beautiful quilt-- ann

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  7. I love this quilt and the story behind it! really really nice. Your husband is very lucky!

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  8. What a lovely story to go with your happy houses quilt! The borders are perfect too!

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  9. Beautiful story, beautiful quilt!! You must REALLY love him...three borders ;-) Thanks for sharing!!

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  10. Wonderful quilt with such warm colors. Yes and I thought too, that you must really love him ;-)

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  11. love the quilt, but love the story behind it even more. I made my husband a secret quilt last year too. One day he said, "but I don't have a quilt" well that did it and I made him one.

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  12. Great quilt. So fun to make a quilt for the one you love.

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  13. Your story of this quilt made me smile from ear to ear - wonderful as is the quilt.

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  14. I love this quilt!! Somehow I related to your story. My husband is not a pilot but he travels a lot too. I know about the Duty Free gifts too... but I've never thought of making a quilt for him. The little houses are so meaningful, and so are the "borders." So far one of my favorite quilts/story from the festival. Greetings from Argentina :)

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  15. Gorgeous quilt and I just love houses. Take care.

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  16. I just love this quilt and the story makes it even better!

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