Monday, March 14, 2011

No Prints Allowed Challenge

No Prints Allowed Challenge

Thursday night was the big reveal of the Kansas City Modern Quilt Guild's "No Prints Allowed Challenge." Robert Kaufman donated charm packs in every color grouping. Participants chose a charm pack, used each color in the pack, and added any fabric as long as it was solid...no prints allowed.

I had such a hard time deciding which direction to take with my Brights Charm Pack. I sketched out a ton of ideas and kept changing my mind. The only thing that really stuck was the idea to use a circle. I had seen Paula do the 6 Minute Circle in a demonstration at a guild meeting and have been thinking about circles ever since. But I kept coming back to layering them and decided to try applique. 
In the end I used this as my inspiration. It's a paper book cover from Target's dollar bin that I gave to Jenna to color. 
I used this fusible web to create the circles. I chose the size circle I wanted, stitched on the solid line, trimmed on the dotted line and then turned it inside out through the cuts in the middle. When I first started, I thought I would only use circles but after sewing about two blocks it already seemed a bit boring. 
So I just started throwing and stacking different shapes up on the design wall (squares, circles, and rectangles) choosing the layers and color instinctively. I decided to just play and see where it would lead. Starting with the bottom layers, I fused and appliqued the shapes onto the charm square. I worked my way up to the top. The only thing I changed was to add an extra small layer on some blocks to include more colors.
No Prints Allowed Challenge - Back & Binding
I was left with four charms and decided to try incorporating them into a scrappy binding with a couple scraps from my stash. I love the look and it was super easy. The back was also from my stash. I just finished up by quilting a grid along the seams. 

If I had to do a project like this again, I would go with a circle cutter to get a perfect circle and use Wonder Under underneath it rather than the method I chose. I think I'd end up with rounder circles.

It was such a fun and inspiring meeting! We had record attendance of about 91 people (I think because of the Kansas City Star article on modern quilting) and it was great to look out into the crowd and see people of every age from teenagers up to great (great?) grandmas (and grandpas!). A couple of people used this challenge as an opportunity to finish their first quilts and received a standing ovation. I know I say it every month but I'm just so amazed at the talent in this group, at their willingness to try something new no matter what level of experience they're at, and the warm, sincere encouragement they give to new quilters. Every meeting seems like a celebration!

If you'd like to see some great pictures of other quilts in the challenge, visit Carla at Lollyquiltz. She stood at the back and got some great shots.

I'll wrap this up by asking for suggestions on naming this little quilt. It's a bit over 18 inches square and will be a doll quilt for Jenna. I'm terrible at naming quilts! Help!

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

I love it! I would have been stumpted with a challenge like that!

Anonymous said...

This looks awesome! I saw that technique once on one of those bad quilting shows and always wanted to try it.

Marilyn said...

Melissa, this was one of my favorites Thursday night!
This is a great post--so fun to see your inspiration and how you brought it all together!

Melissa said...

Thanks Katie! I was VERY hesitant to jump into that technique. Seeing Elizabeth's applique in Practical Guide to Patchwork made me look at it in a new way. Instead of a more traditional satin stitch, I went with a small zig zag and instead of matching the thread to the fabric, I used a light grey over everything. I'm interested to see how it washes up and if it ravels any.

Thanks again for your kind comment!

Melissa

laura capello said...

whoa, it came out great!

when i did circles i just top stitched them on, allowing for raw edges to ruffle out in washing. yours looks much more polished!

hazel said...

What fun! I love how you described your thought process as the quilt evolved. :-)

For a name, the phrase, 'square pegs in round holes' keeps trotting round my head. Perhaps that might spark an idea for you? Who knows. :-)

Hazle

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