I absolutely fell in love with this project. I started out with a totally different idea that just didn't work with the challenge rules. After completely starting over, this quilt began to evolve and I got very excited.
I've never done a black quilt before and that was a personal challenge for me that had nothing to do with the contest rules. Besides being limited to only using colors found in the challenge fabric, the quilt had to be 40" square and contain at least one "square in a square" block.
After I'd pulled my matching fabrics, I just started making blocks - at this point, not having a real plan or design in mind. These are 4" paper pieced blocks I drafted on EQ7.
I decided to hand quilt this due to the design element I wanted to add.
Once I started placing the bright blocks around the center, I realized that I couldn't completely surround the center medallion - which had been my first thought. So I shadow quilted the remaining border with the square in a square design using different colored thread to mimick the actual blocks. I hope you can click on these to enlarge them to see how pretty the different colors look. I added small bits of piping for color interest and the gold border finishes at 1/4" (cut 3/4"). It's such an intense color I didn't want too much contrast with the black.
The fabric I picked for the basket lent itself perfectly to be quilted along the lines and it looks woven. Remember that each fabric had to be present in the challenge fabric to be used. Most of these came from my stash and the guild free table - how fun is that??!
Last, but certainly not least, is my kitty.
So far, I've had very favorable comments from fellow workers. This is kind of different from my usual hangings. I'm having issues (huge problems) with the mq in my autumn tree, so this quilt may get to hang for a while!!Until next time,
-Karen
8 comments:
So pretty. It looks wonderful against the wall color. I love the detailed quilting in the dark. I can imagine it will be admired by many.
It is a beautiful quilt and I find that some of my favorites tend to be the neutral as a black. That little kitty cat is perfect....seen but not seen!
Karen, that is such a pretty quilt....great job! I admire your quilting very much....great job!
Isn't it interesting how nonquilting coworkers get a sense of our style and recognize something that isn't typical for us? I heard that now and then when I'd display quilts at work.
This is such an interesting, creative project with fantastic hand quilting.
Lovely! And your hand quilting looks great.
Oh .... what a delightful quilt!
Black fabric can be hard to quilt, but any hand quilting really shows up well.
You did a beautiful job on this challenge quilt. I like the black background with the colors you had to use.
Very, very nice!!! I love how you quilted it and the different coloured threads.
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