Category: Challenge Quilts

Flying Colors

Yesterday, I shared a YouTube video showing the making of this mosaic quilt…..

If you missed it, check it out HERE!

Today, I want to tell you WHY I made this quilt.

Our guild had a challenge called “FLAGS”. The idea was that we were to pick a flag and then make a quilt using the COLORS of the flag, and preferably something that the state or country was known for.

I chose Portugal as my country flag…..’

You can see here that there is Blue, Green, Red, Yellow and Black.

PERFECT COLORS…..although the proportions in my quilt are a bit different from the flag!

And, Portugal is well know for it’s mosaic tile work….

SO…. I figured that I could put the two together, add in my FAVORITE flower, and meet the challenge with flying colors (PUN INTENDED)!!

Thinking about it, FLYING COLORS would have been the perfect name for the challenge!!

I had so much fun working on the quilt and am very pleased with the result.

I originally had in my mind that I would make it larger and far more complicated, but sense finally kicked in, and I went for smaller and finished!

It was also a great opportunity to try out the Cutterpillar Tempered Glass Mat…..

You can check out my video review of this product HERE

The challenges were presented at our guild meeting. Come back tomorrow and I will show you the results!

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I Made the Wrong Quilt!

Back in October, when I bought my fabrics for the Cherrywood Challenge….

I had all sorts of ideas about a pieced background (maybe a Storm At Sea block), and some weird fish taking center stage.

But, as often happens during that time of year, I had no real time to think about it or do much work on it.

So, as I arrived at my Guild Retreat, I was ready to make a start.

EXCEPT….my heart wasn’t in it!!!

The thought of piecing all of those tiny pieces for a S-A-S block was completely overwhelming and trying to figure out some great threadwork for the weird fish was doubly overwhelming!!

So…. I decided to improvisational piece the background and then go from there.

Now….I DONT DO IMPROV PIECING…..PERIOD!!!

I am not sure exactly what got into my mind but not only did I piece it without a plan, but I used CURVES too.

I started out with a practice piece to see if I remembered how to cut and piece curves….

That looked okay so I grabbed my rotary cutter and dived into the precious fabric!!

By the time I left the retreat, I had put together most of the back but still had to finish one corner and figure out exactly how to attach the other corners…..

At some point, I will show you more of this piecing process, but suffice it to say that I finally came up with a background that I could square to 20-inches…..

The next step was to quilt the background….

I saw the center of this as a type of drain so it needed something being sucked into it.

HOW ABOUT CIRCLES?

I spent a lot of time playing with various sizes of circles, but finally decided on an arrangement that I liked….

I was using Wonder Under to fuse the circles in place and was worried that they would “fall into the cracks made by the quilting lines so I added a circle of batting to the back of each circle….

After quilting down all of the circles, it was time to make the harrowing cuts to trim the quilt to an exact 20-inches!!

I took my photos showing the exactly size……

….and hurried to my computer to enter the quilt (an entire TWO hours before the deadline)!!

Then I saw it…..

In the advertisements about the challenge, it specifically says “Creatures from the Deep”

OOPS….. nothing about circles or vortexes or anything that my quilt has!!

SO….. I entered it anyway…..

and named it “DOTS DOWN THE DRAIN”….

….because that is kind of how I feel about it!!

Who knows….maybe it will get in for originality!!

And before you get worried about me, I don’t really feel like it was time wasted. I had fun doing the piecing and I might even try it again!!

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Do you struggle to decide what to quilt in your blocks? If so, check out my FREE series…..

Click HERE for more information

Rising to the challenge!

It was such fun to go to my guild meeting on Tuesday night and see the way that our quilter’s rose to meet the challenge!!

As a reminder….these were the parameters…..

For this challenge, you will create a wall-hanging-sized quilt using your three initials to guide your design. One of your initials should represent the main color scheme, another initial should represent the name of a featured block, and the remaining initial should represent the theme or mood. Any of your three initials can be used for any of the design elements, but you must use all three.

First…. my finished offering…..

On the whole, I am very pleased with this quilt. I enjoyed learning about the Mariner’s Compass ruler and loved the circular quilting!! I am also happy with the Flanged Binding…..more about that to come!!

In this case, that binding finished off the quilt well. Without that pop of color on the sides, it would have just meandered off into nowhere!!

So, as a reminder….

F – colors….. Fuego, Flax Flower Blue, Fire Engine Red, Ferris Wheel & Fuchsia.

M – block – Mariner’s Compass

A – theme….. “Abbreviated”….. because the Mariner’s Compass blocks were simpler versions than normal.

By the way, I looked further at the instruction book for the Mariner’s Compass ruler and found ways to make it more detailed. Can’t wait to try it!!

NOW…..our guild really pulled out all of the stops for this challenge…..

There were 12 entries and each met the parameters and each one was SO different!!

The “Best representation of the theme” award went to this TINY piece from Mai…..

“Best Design or Technique” went to Pat…..

…and “Best Use of Color” to Rosie…..

Linda made a “Lover’s Tiff” block…..

Other entries included…..

Sue
Jan
Ann Marie
Karrie
Chris

I LOVE the Art-Deco feel of this last one!!

I truly enjoy our challenges and am excitedly looking forward to learning the next one due in June!!!

OK…..one item off of my to-do list!!

Come back next week and help me make a baby quilt for my niece!!

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If you have an interest in ruler quilting, check out this online course…..

Click HERE for more information

Too much geometry!!

Yesterday, we picked the fabrics for my challenge quilt and today let’s get the top pieced!!

I knew that I wanted to make five Mariner’s Compass blocks that would fit equally in a circle. But FIVE of them….how could I do that.

The answer was with a lot of trial and error!!

I started out using a compass to find 72-degree angles….

I added 10-inch circles to it….

….but realized that they didn’t fill enough of the space…

….so 12-inch Mariner’s Compasses it would be!!

The instructions for cutting and sizes are in table form and I kept looking at the wrong column My solution…. two pieces of Post-It Note bracketing the size needed!!

Time to start sewing!!

After lots of sewing, cutting, and ironing….

….one of the Compass blocks was finished….

Before long, all of them were finished and corners had been added to create squares….

Now came the hard part of filling in the background areas!!

I started by tracing the blocks onto the paper…..

….and looking for straight lines that I could start with.

The right side was relatively straight forward…

But, then I had to deal with the inset seams on the top left…..

It took a lot of pinning, ironing and thinking before I put on my “big-girl pants” and started sewing….

….but it didn’t turn out too bad…..

So now the top is finished…..

The plan is to quilt it in concentric circles. Come back tomorrow and I will show you my method of marking those circles and on Saturday we will quilt them!!

By Sunday, the quilt will be finished and we will look at all of the other entries from my guild!!

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In this blog, I post stories about creativity, techniques, tools of the trade, and lots more about the wonderful art of quilting. If you are enjoying these posts, please subscribe to be notified of each new blog as it becomes available.