Glorious Autumn Block Party – Amy Gay

Hi everyone! Welcome to Day 12 of our Glorious Autumn Block Party. Today we have Amy Gay as our featured designer.

Visit the Block Party Headquarters for more info and upload your completed blocks to the Flickr group.

Featured Designer: Amy Gay

How did you get into quilting?

My brother was expecting his first child, and then 6 months later I got pregnant too! Someone had to make heirlooms, so I nominated myself! I machine pieced them, but hand quilted them. Took FOREVER since I had no one to teach me!

How/when/why did you transition from a quilter to a designer?

I rarely follow any pattern. Even my own pattern often gets changed around as I go. I only recently found that I can do paper piece patterns, too. I’m really enjoying that!

Which quilt is your favourite? Did you design it? Why is it your favourite?

It would have to be Golden Gator. I had a client tell me that he liked gold, cream, and alligators. And that was ALL I had to work with. AKK! This was my first giant appliqué, and I love the look. I often cover up piecing with appliqués now. Kind of my “thing”! It was also the most intricate quilting I have did on the Bernina. The picture doesn’t show it, but there is water, cattails, and gator scales. I was really pleased when I finished!

How many UFOs do you currently have? Oh dear—I’ve run out of fingers and have started on the toes! Several are about 6 years old!

What size of quilt do you prefer to make/design? I really prefer bed quilts, but every now and then I HAVE to do an Instant Gratification project. That’s when the table runner patterns come out.

What colour do you use most often in your quilts? Looking at my scraps, blue. LOTS of blue! Time for a monochromatic string quilt!

Favourite one-sentence tip for a new quilter: Don’t sweat the small stuff in the beginning; practice makes perfect!

Favourite size and brand of rotary cutter: Currently, an Olfa 45. It seems to work. Just ask my fingertips!!

Favourite quote or mantra: “Blessed are the Piece Makers!”

Block Party #12 – Autumn Sunrise

Here’s Amy’s block, Autumn Sunrise. It’s a bargello-style block, but she suggests putting it together using 1.5″ scraps to form the background. Head over to Amy’s blog to see how to put it together and to download the goose template.

Designer Give-Away

Amy is giving away a gorgeous bundle of fat eighths. There are ten fabrics that she handpicked from her local quilt shop in beautiful Autumn colours. Enter the give-away here!