throwback quilt, made 15 years ago, I think

Teresa Duryea Wong. Brick Pattern Quilt. c. 2003. Hand quilted.

Way back when, I made this quilt from a pattern. I have very vivid memories of working on this quilt, except I can't remember what year it was. Funny... or sad! I think the pattern was one by Judy Rothermel and I adapted and changed the borders. Back then it never really occurred to me to design my own quilt. I was super busy as a wife and mom and working a big job, but I loved quilting. So this pattern intrigued me. I still love the quilt very much.

The fabrics are reproductions from the American Civil War era. I do love the soft colors and nostalgic motifs. 

I also hand quilted this one!

I did not label this quilt - so bad me. I'm going to label it now - circa 2003. I dug this quilt out for two reasons. One, I just wrote about it! I am nearly finished with a new manuscript on a book about the 45-year history of the International Quilt Festival and the story of the two women who founded Festival (and a whole lot more). The book will be published by Schiffer Publishing and will be available in 2019. Super excited!

As I was writing the book on the history of Festival, I reflected on my own experience attending over the past 20 years! Festival was a life changer for my quilting. I learned so much from shopping at booths with vendors from all over the world... and also from the hundreds of stunning exhibitions I've seen year after year.

Back when I started going to Festival, in 1999, there weren't any online fabric shops (at least none I shopped at). So if you wanted to collect special fabric, like the reproductions I used in this quilt, you had to buy them at a real store --- or if you are lucky like me, you could find everything your heart desires at Festival! But collecting took patience back then.

The second reason I dug this quilt out is because I decided to use it as a backdrop for my "author photo" for this new book. It seemed a fitting quilt since it all came about because of Festival.

My husband is a professional photographer, lucky me. So after he took the photo of me, I got out of the way and he took these photos of just the quilt. As for the portrait, he is a good photographer, maybe too good --- because his talent and the sharpness of these new cameras shows lots of lines and wrinkles! ugh. Oh well, they are the wrinkles of life and I'm so thankful that along the way I took the time to make a lot of great quilts.