2014 Pantone Quilt Challenge - it's coming!

This Friday, March 14th, the Pantone Quilt Challenge link-up will open, and you’ll have until 11pm PST on the 21st to link up your lovely creations either here or at Play Crafts.

The link ups are identical, you won’t need to link up both places. There are awesome prizes to be had for any creation you’ve made this year featuring Radiant Orchid. Rules and details can be found here.

Please note, there was an error in the original rules, in which we stated that a mini-quilt was anything with the longest side under 30″. What we meant was that a mini-quilt is anything in which the shortest side is under 30″. This includes table runners and other long but thin projects. We’re sorry for any confusion it caused, we never meant to write the rules such that anything was excluded! We are both really excited to see what you all have made!

Retro Giant Star Quilt

A few weeks ago I learned that a colleague and friend was facing some health challenges.  I've worked with him for several years and he's always looked out for me.  I think many quilters will understand that when there's nothing else you can really do, you make a quilt.  I went straight for my go to pattern for when I want a quick but beautiful quilt, which is the Giant Vintage Star Quilt Tutorial from In Color Order.

I wanted to make something masculine but cheerful, so I had a look through my stash and found the top print which has a fun retro kitchen vibe.  The colours in that fabric led me to the other fabrics and then Denyse Schmidt's Ladder Dot fabric provided the perfect serious base to let everything else shine.

 

You'll see that there were a couple of tweaks to get to the final quilt.  This was the result of a bit of experimentation and not settling for "good enough".

 

Sue Burnett quilted this on her long-arm for me, in record time. I dropped it off on a Saturday and she had it ready to be picked up by Wednesday.  I love the circle pattern - I think it works well with the slightly retro vibe of the quilt and it left the quilt super soft and squidgy.  The thread colour was a bit of a surprise - on the spool it is a slightly ugly brown/gold colour, but once sewn it transformed into shining loveliness that blended really well with all the fabrics (and it only shows up on the background like this when you get up close).

 

Of course, what would you put on the back of a comfort quilt other than minky?!  Has anyone else noticed that the blokes are particularly fond of minky?  Expect to see this orange chevron again - I have  a pretty big chunk left over from this quilt.

I machine stitched the binding on this quilt - it's not something I do often but I didn't have a heap of time.  I used my clover clips for this binding and they made a huge difference (I generally used the Red Pepper Quilts Machine Binding method, except with clips instead of pins).  I wanted to show the result - it's still nowhere near as neat as my hand stitched binding method.

I went to visit my friend this weekend and I think he was very pleased with his quilt.  He's on the mend and seemed to be feeling a lot better so I was very pleased too!

Quilt Stats
Pattern: Giant Vintage Star Quilt Tutorial from In Color Order
Finished Size: approx 62" square

Fabric: various

Backing: orange chevron minky from Spotlight

Binding: Dots and Stripes in Smudge from Up Up and Away

Pieced by: me
Quilted by: Sue Burnett

Linking up with finish it up friday at crazy mom quilts.

Caturday Wisdom #61

Your ears never stop growing but don't worry about it, just look how good they are! Ralph

Another throwback this week, baby Ralph werkin those big ears. 

Happy weekend!

Purple S-block Quilt (aka S is for Spurple)

Woohoo - I finally have a finished quilt to show you after what feels like quite a gap between finishes!  I started this quilt at the very start of February (in a class with Kaffe Fassett!!!), and I've been working on it fairly steadily ever since.

 

Now that it's finished, I absolutely love it.  This is a quilt where I really pushed myself with colour and fabric choices, and I'm truly happy with the outcome.  The process has given me a boost of confidence and I feel like I'm a better quilter as a result.

 

The s-block is so simple, but has such a graphic quality, especially when you follow Kaffe's advice and ensure that there is a good amount of contrast between the two fabrics used in each block.  I'm really pleased that I used fabrics that are representative of my stash, and there are lots and lots of favourites in there (including the border print, which I honestly wasn't expecting to use in a quilt - I thought I might use it for a bag!).

 

There are a few Kaffe Fassett prints in the quilt top, but the back is where his fabric really shines. This flower tile print has a paler version of each colour from the front of the quilt, which means it works perfectly as a backing.  I'm also rather proud of the fact that I matched the print across the backing - yes, it is pieced, and I dare ya to find the seam.

 

Most of my recent quilts have used a single fabric for the binding.  This quilt reminded me how fun a scrappy binding can be (and also I couldn't decide which colour to pull out of the quilt top to use for the binding).

With so much happening in the quilt top, this quilt really doesn't need fancy quilting.  I went with my favourite diagonal crosshatch, in a variegated purple thread.  This has given the quilt great texture without being too distracting (and also has the benefit of working well with my slightly dodgy piecing!).

So, if I could enter the 2014 Pantone Quilt Challenge, this would be my entry (even though the purples are not necessarily particularly close to radiant orchid).  I'm really excited to see what everyone has been up to when Anne from Play Crafts and I open up the linky for entries in a week's time!  Remember, entries are open until 11pm PST on 21 March 2014, so you still have time to make something (as well as quilts, we have categories for mini quilts and quilt tops).  Click here for all the details, including the rules, our wonderful sponsors and our fantastic judges.

Quilt Stats
Pattern: S-block quilt from Kaffe Fassett's books Country Garden Quilts and Kaffe Quilts Again
Finished Size: approx 72" square

Fabric: various, Echino Flower Bed in Purple for the border

Backing: Kaffe Fassett Tile Flowers in Turquoise

Binding: various

Pieced and quilted by: me

Linking up with finish it up friday at crazy mom quilts.

WIP Wednesday

A couple of weeks ago I took a little road trip to the Craft and Quilt Fair in Palmerston North (about two hours drive from Wellington, for those outside New Zealand).  I travelled with a friend and we decided to make a day of it, stopping at quilt shops in small towns on the way.

I ended up buying four fabrics, not all from the same place, which ended up sitting together and formed an unexpectedly charming combination.  I'm pretty sure if someone told me they were putting together chartreuse, hot pink, plummy purple, greyed off brown and cream together in a quilt I would expect it to be a hot mess!  Anyway, those four fabrics formed the basis for this bundle and I think it works surprisingly well.

 

It's coming into autumn here and the weather is already getting cooler.  Most of our trees are evergreen so we don't get the spectacular scenes of turning leaves like in other parts of the world.  I'm still noticing and enjoying the little changes though.  I think one of the best things that quilting has done for me is make me more aware of the beauty in everyday things, and seek that out more often.

Anyway, enough with the smooshy stuff - I now have an even bigger pile of equilateral triangles cut and ready to piece.  Yes, I'm making another equilateral triangle quilt - like the one for my brother, the layout is going to be fairly random.  This is going to be the sample for the class I'm teaching at Nancy's in May.

 

One of the fabrics I'm including in this quilt is from the Beauty is You collection by Cori Dantini.  It's getting a bit hard to find online now, so I was thrilled to find a few prints, including the large and small panels of ladies, at a local quilt shop this week.  I think these girls will be right at home on the back of my quilt.

Linking up with Lee at Freshly Pieced: