The only time I’ve been in my sewing room since March has been to make blocks for bees and a challenge quilt for our quilt show. The show was in May and I had signed up in advance to participate in the President’s Challenge. The task was to make a quilt up to 20″ per side using fabric in the shades of a single crayon, plus a neutral fabric.
My crayon was Blue-Green. I took a scribble of it to the fabric store and considered myself lucky to find few that matched. The batik actually has a bit of pink/purple in it, but I cut around it.
I really like this colour, yet no quilt pattern or design came to mind. As the deadline got closer I decided to make an improvisational quilt. That way I didn’t need a plan and could just get going.
Stitched segments waiting to be joined
The Blue-Green reminds me of both water and sky, and I chose to use gentle curves to help create the feeling of undulating water. With only 4 coloured fabrics it was difficult to create a nice design using curves alone, so I added some improv squares.
The black rectangle, left, shows the segment of the patchwork that became the quilt front. This picture was taken in indoor light. The final design is on the right.
In the picture above, the rectangle on the left shows which part of the patchwork is the basis of the quilt. If you compare it to the final quilt (pictured above right), there are three noticeable differences. First, the finished quilt has a portrait orientation whereas the black rectangle seems to have a landscape orientation. The only explanation I can think of is that the quilting, which is very dense and mostly vertical, ate up a lot of width.
Quilting detail, top right corner
The second difference is that the final version has bits of the darkest fabric added to create more visual interest. Lastly, the in-progress quilt top had a straight edge at its bottom and for the final version I (intentionally) cut a wavy edge.
Isn’t it strange how the seam allowances are so visible in the picture on the right? The light source was the same but the quilt on the left was on a light carpet while the picture on the right was on a dark table.
Instead of a binding or facing, this little 10″ x 12″ quilt is finished with a machine satin stitch over embroidery floss.
“This Quilt is Blue-Green not Cerulean, Teal or Turquoise”
Of course the title of this post gives away the ending. The quilt was selected as president’s choice. Actually, it was the choice of our president’s mother. When the president couldn’t make up her mind she sent photos of her top selections to her mother, and her mother chose “This Quilt is Blue-Green not Cerulean, Teal or Turquoise”. I am very honoured.
Threads on Threads 