This past summer I participated in the 2014 Row by Row Experience, where one can collect quilt patterns for free, and perhaps win prizes.
Since it’s basically a race against time, instead of perfection, neither of which I’m capable of winning, I thought I’d just have fun with the activity.
CARDINAL IN DOGWOOD TREE
Although the project started the first week in July, I only discovered it while visiting The Quilters Studio in Fairfax in August.
Admiring their cardinal in a dogwood tree and knowing I had fabric in the stash which would work perfectly, I asked for a pattern.
I enjoyed embellishing with buttons from my button stash.
After looking at the patterns offered by participating stores at the well-organized Row by Row facebook pages for each state, I made a list of the ones I especially liked.
WINE COUNTRY
A few days later we drove to Charlottesville to visit James Monroe’s house, had lunch at Michie Tavern, then drove to the Cottonwood Quilt Shop for their pattern of wine country.
SHIVERING HOUSES IN BLIZZARD
From there we drove to That Little Quilt Shop in Culpeper which offered a quilt pattern of houses.
Although their houses were set in summer, my kids asked me to represent the houses in my row in snow to tell our story of living in Virginia where we were hit by blizzards galore our first winter here.
So I used white fabric with swirls to represent the blizzard.
The blue/purple houses were shivering in the cold, yet hopeful for spring, as evidenced by some of their floral patterns.
HAPPY SUNSHINE ON BLUEBIRDS AND DAFFODILS
The next week I went to Nokesville to Daffodil Quilts and Fibers to collect their row pattern of flowers and bluebirds in springtime with a happy sun.
While placing the blossoms, I liked the idea of leaving them more loose so that is what I did!
I also moved some of the flowers around and added more strawberries, at my daughter’s request, changed the robin to a bluebird (since we’ve never seen any until we moved to Virginia), and I also let the dogwood blossoms spill off the row…
HUMMINGBIRD
From there I drove down the road to Old Towne Needlecrafts in Manassas, which offered a row pattern called “hummingbird” in three different methods.
I chose the paper piecing method.
COLONIAL WILLIAMSBURG
Of course I had to drive to Love 2 Quilt and More in Williamsburg to collect the row pattern for Colonial Williamsburg.
I want to reuse this for each of the seasons…
WASHINGTON DC FIREWORKS
On another day we made a foray to Capital Quilts in Maryland for a row pattern of Washington DC set against fireworks!
This was the only kit I bought because I wanted that fireworks fabric which was not available without the kit.
LOUDON COUNTY FLAG IN WINE COUNTRY
Finally while taking my son to college I drove to WebFabrics in Purcellville, to collect their row of the Loudon County flag.
The flag is based on the county’s namesake, John Campbell, 4th Earl of Loudon, from Scotland.
As the titular royal governor of Virginia from 1756-1758, he ruled from Britain, never stepping foot in Virginia.
He was also the Commander-in-Chief of the British forces in Virginia.
I used a damask to represent 18th century textiles.
The yoyo in the center of the flag hearkens to the 18th century fabric covered buttons, which I learned how to make in Colonial Williamsburg at a sewing class with the costume design center.
Whereas 18th century fabric covered buttons are all about smoothness, the yoyo is all about the ruffles.
Below, I decided to interpret the agriculture block with barns, many of which I enjoy seeing when we drive through Loudoun County.
Therefore, I designed two sets of barns, one for each side of the row.
I followed their example of the grapes, since they have many vineyards in Loudoun County, however I decided to let the leaves spill out of the row and be loose.
CONSOLATION PRIZE
Any quilter who collected 8 patterns, combined them into one quilt, completely bound it, and then was the first quilter to present her completed quilt at any participating shop, received a prize!
Wait, that’s not all! If this shop’s own pattern was one of her completed rows, she additionally won a bonus prize.
Of all the rows I used for the quilt, only WebFabrics hadn’t yet had a winner posted to their FB page, so after visiting my son at college, I drove to the quilt shop.
Turns out they did have a winner but forgot to post it to FB, so they gave me a consolation prize.
COMMENTS FROM MY OLD BLOG
Quintessential Clothes Pen – October 13, 2014 at 8:51 PM – 🙂 Neat! So much thought and personal history went into the making, which makes it special, obviously. How nice that you get to view it often and think of the memories it evokes.
Best,
Quinn
