The Quilter's Palette is where I signed up for my first quilting lessons in Sep 2009. Leslie Edell was my teacher who started me on my journey of learning to quilt. Each week I was excited to learn not only the basics, but to be inspired to make my own creations. The store had a contest call the Paint Can Challenge 2010.
How could I resist picking up a paint can with the challenge fabric and guidelines for the competition. The challenge fabric was chocolate swirls - sorry I can't remember the name of the supplier. The finished quilt had to be original and larger than 30x30 inches and smaller than 50x50 inches, and of course feature the challenge fabric in main part of the quilt.
I wanted to try the snowball block so I could practise my half-square triangles, and use lots of differrent greens for the mint, and various browns including challenge fabric for the chocolates. It was fun mixing them all up. I used Thangles to create the half-square triangles. Lynn, a fellow novice quilter in my class, had introduced these to me and they really worked!
The Prairie Points depict the fancy packaging in a box of chocolates. I enjoyed making these and using the various mint greens from the body of the quilt.As a novice quilter, I gots lots of opportunity to try new techniques in this quilt - and learn from my mistakes! I will let you find them.... However, this is a journey and I am enjoying all the bumps and cross-roads.
Quilting and piecing was done using an old Eaton's Viking sewing machine - a refurbished model bought in 1976. Obviously a workhorse considering clothes, curtains, canvas boat covers etc that have been sewn on this machine. I have been looking for a new one, but am content to keep using this vintage model until I really know what I want to invest in. SMS (Sewing Machine Service) in Mississauga did a great service job, replacing a plate and the bobbin thread no longer cuts while I am doing free-motion machining.
After buying brown thread and green thread for quilting, I then used a beige-celery colour thread for everything. It worked well, and blended into the backing fabric. Stippling is used only on the chocolate portion of the 9-block snowballs, leaving the mint green corners to 'puff' up around the chocolates.
Despite using the walking foot on the sashing, I entailed 'fabric creep' but I didn't let this stop me from proceeding. I should have alternated the direction when quilting the sashing and this might have lessened the creep - lesson learnt for next time.
For the first and second border (green and brown), I decided to be a little more ambious and try free-hand quilting a scroll design. I am sure I will look back on this sample with horror, but no progress will be made if I don't try to push my boundaries.
After this, I thought I would follow the swirly designs of the chocolate fabric in the outer border. This was a little more forgiving on my skill level.
The binding is a bias cut stripey green on green as I wanted the diagonal look of the stripes.
The design continued to evolve as more snowball 9 blocks were completed. I used the focus chocolate fabric in the narrow border and in the wider border. This entailed trips back to Quilter's Palette to buy more of the focus fabric - I was lucky that there was still some left. Next time I will buy an extra metre when I start the project. I couldn't decide if a mint green sashing or a chocolate sashing around the snowball blocks would be better. The mint green won - with the input of my daughter's opinon. I think this makes the quilt brighter
Quilt backing - Marble Milk
The large block is that of a glass of chocolate milk with a bent green straw. I used the chocolate fabric to show a layers of chocolate milk that hasn't quite mixed with the plain milk. Once I had put the glass of marble milk together, I then I fun trying to complete the backing around it as it was a design-as-you-go project. Lots more lessons learnt!
The story behind this block is told on a glass-shaped label, with a tribute to Lorna Telfer.
The small pinked-label was a last minute addition when I re-read the rules which said the quilt had to have a name and telephone number sewn on it.
Paint Can Challenge quilts were hung in the Quilter's Palette store and voted on by customers. I was just happy to have completed my quilt and fascinated by all the other interpretations of the fabric. All the quilts were so different and made with imagination and skill far beyond my mine.
Stay tuned for the results of the Challenge.
1 comment:
I am absolutely amazed at your talents for both quilting and blogging. Good for you for letting your creativity both with machine and 'pen' inspire the rest of us! Well done Janice!
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