Blogger's Quilt Festival - Scrappy Refractatorium Bee Quilt

For my second entry in to the Blogger's Quilt Festival - run by the lovely Amy over at Amy's Creative Side - I have chosen my Scrappy Refractatorium Quilt!  (You can find the original post HERE) I was torn over whether to pop it in the Wall Hanging category or the Bee category? The decision was straight forward in the end - this divine piece of work was a culmination of mine and eight other fabulous ladies - whom I like to call my friends. 

I was approached earlier this year by my lovely friend Gemma. She told me she and the other gals in Wombat Stew would love me to join their paper piecing bee! I nearly fell over..... You see, I had seen their work in our quilting group on FB, and I knew how good they all were - and I didn't know if I would be up to their standards! But I wasn't going to look a gift horse in the mouth - so I jumped in - head first! 

When it was my turn to decide what I would like the ladies to make for me, I really only had one idea. I'd seen Quilt Jane's Refractatorium quilt on IG and on her blog. And I adored it. So I chose that pattern. Then came a tsunami of ideas on how I would turn it in to my own vision? After much thought, Kristy kindly altered the pattern a little, and once printed out, I got my black texta and got to colouring in! I worked out that I wanted black to be the "constant" throughout the project, and then threw caution to the wind, giving my wombat gals very loose guidelines on the types of colours/fabrics I would like included. To say I was happy with the blocks I received would be the understatement of the year decade century. I died, time and time again, as each block arrived in the mail! And after a few months of umming and ahhing about how I would make them in to "something", I decided my first wall hanging was to be...... 

  

My ten year old daughter thinks it looks like an optical illusion.....and I tend to agree with her!

The finished size is 105cm x 105cm.  It is the perfect size for this wall!

    

I pieced the blocks together and quilted it using Aurifil #2692 50wt black thread.  It was super tricky pebbling black on black, but I love the effect it had on the frame around the blocks.

  

I LOVE the scrappiness of all the bright colours together.  Out of the nine blocks - none feature the same two fabrics!

  

Being my first wall hanging, I had to put together my first hanging sleeve.  I was impressed with myself - and it still hasn't fallen down yet!

And the final result.  Hanging proudly on our lounge room wall.  Some days as I'm walking towards the front door, I just stop and stare.  So does the cat.

A BIG thank you to my Wombat Stew girls - Gemma, Jane, Kristy, Marieka, Alyce, Gina, Fiona and Lara.  Becoming a Wombat has opened up so many quilty avenues for me that I truly did not even know existed!  I'm so grateful to be able to call you friends. xxx