There were two quilts hanging at Quiltcon this year that I had a part of! This one is not my quilt, but a quilt that I was honored to participate in along with a BUNCH of Seattle Modern Quilt Guild members!
A while back my friend Debbie and I were the co-chairs of the SMQG Charity Quilt Commitee. It’s been a while since we did it and it’s passed through a few hands since we led the charge. I have been known to be a on the opinionated side every now and then… So, when our new co-chairs, Ann and Marion, mentioned they were thinking about this Quiltcon quilt challenge, I shared some opinions.. I’m not sure if they wanted my opinion or not, but I am hoping that they appreciated it!
Then they put out a call for help. Debbie and I said sure, let’s do it again!
This year’s theme was Color Shift (from the MQG QC website):
For this year’s Community Outreach Challenge, we are asking MQG members to make quilts that show a color shift, or gradient, in the piecing. We have selected two colorways for you to choose from, and hope you are as excited about them as we are!
What is a color shift or gradient?
A gradient or shift in color is a gradual blending from one color to another. This can be accomplished by using intensity, lightness/darkness, and color. The blending can occur in many ways, including within the same color (like baby blue to navy blue), between two unique colors (such as from purple to orange), or even between more than just two colors.
A color shift or gradient is an interesting way to create movement across a quilt, drawing your eye to different portions of the quilt in a dynamic fashion. The use of a gradient or color shift across a quilt also adds depth and texture to a quilt, before you add a single stitch of quilting.
Top Tips for a Smooth & Successful Color Shift:
- Use at least two or three color stops along the way between colors.
- It’s important to make your steps gradual. It can be hard to get from navy to baby blue if the only other color you chose is a darker slate blue.
- Play around with how you want to move the colors across your quilt – do you like vertical or horizontal linear movement? Or perhaps something a little more playful, like diagonal movement across your quilt?
I came up with a few options for the quilt design. Ann and Marion chose my quarter circle (yes, again) design option and they chose the Warm Color palette.
I started the design with a sketch from my phone app, Assembly App, then took it into CAD to figure out exactly what we needed.
Then Debbie and I worked with Kristina at one of our most favorite fabric shops, Fabric Bubb, to match the QC palette. Kristina was so awesome in putting this together for us! Then Debbie and I split the orders, waited about a day for the fabric to show up and then got cutting!
The colors we used were Kona Solids Regal, Velvet, Heliotrope, Morning Glory, Magenta, Geranium, Cerise, and Valentine for the blocks; Dragon Fruit and Candy Pink for background; Velvet for the backing; and Candy Pink for binding.
I got all the quilt blocks back from dozens of quilt guild members. I then sorted the blocks into the Top, Middle and Bottom pieces of the quilt top. Then sent them to three members that volunteered to piece these three sections together. Kami, Jackie and Terry. These three knocked this piecing exercise out in record time!!!
I got them back and pieced them together. In the meantime I had a great time piecing the back, because I love a pieced back! Then the back and top went to Dionne for her amazing quilting! And to finish it off, Ann added the binding. Ann and Marion took the last step to get it registered with QC and shipped to hang in the show!
I didn’t get to go to QC this, but I loved seeing pictures and being emailed pictures! Such fun!
Thank you to Ann and Marion for organizing every step of the way and letting Debbie and myself jump in the game a little bit this year!
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