BAM quilt up for auction

Here's the latest quilt we have been working on.  Yes, "we". 

I had seen one similar to this a year ago and knew I wanted to make one as a fundraiser for our up coming blacksmith conference on

May 2 - 5. 

Several months ago, Hoffman Fabrics published a preview of their Bali Pops fabrics. The Red Hots line showed these yellow and red fabrics in Batiks. The only problem was, it wasn't coming out until March. 

I finally received it two weeks ago and immediately went to work. 

For you non-blacksmiths, you must understand that the cold iron starts out black and goes through various colors as the heat increases.  This piece represents these color changes. 

If you click on the picture it will enlarge. There you can see the Blacksmiths Association of Missouri (BAM) logo that my blacksmith cut out for me. I ironed Stitch Witchery on the back of the fabric. He did a reverse tracing of the logo and then cut it out with an Exacto knife. I carefully peeled the paper off and heat set the logo. 

I then even more carefully machine appliqued it. 

Below the anvil I embroidered Est. 1983. This is the 30th anniversary of the founding of the Blacksmith Association of Missouri group.

Together the blacksmith and I came up with the idea of a making a pair of forge tongs for the hanger.  The tongs are really neat, holding the hanger eye between the jaws with the reins of the tongs bent out to hold the quilt. 

This will be displayed in the gallery for the conference. We are then going to donate it to the auction on Saturday night. We are keeping our fingers crossed, that it will bring a tidy sum of money.