It Had to be Orange

On Monday evening, as I was putting up our new block, I entered the Modern Quilt Guild Challenge.

The challenge was to make a quilt based on an inspiration.  You had to submit a photo of the inspiration.  In my case, the photo was athe inspiration.  It is one I had taken this summer.

Here is the quilt.  I have titled it, "It Had to be Orange."

Here is the story:

This challenge coincided with another challenge from my local guild. Their challenge was to use a color you don't like in a quilt. Thinking about those two challenges made me think of this picture I had taken earlier this summer. The picture is of the table I was sitting at while waiting for my children at swim lessons. I knew I needed to make it turquoise because turquoise is the color of the year, it's been wildly popular, and I have been impatiently waiting for its season to end. I purchased Kona cotton turquoise just to be sure I had the right color. I almost chicken out and went with aqua, but I persevered.

I thought about making the quilt a more literal interpretation of the picture, but I decided to go with a more artistic approach. I considering what fabric should go with my turquoise, I knew it had to be orange. While I haven't loved turquoise in quilts, I have always liked blue, so there are times when I was okay with it. Orange, on the other hand, has always been a challenge for me to use in quilts. Once I decided on orange, I went right to Hope Valley. I have fallen head over heels in love with the blue and green color way of this line and struggled to use the orange and pink color way. I placed my hope in the fact that I loved the rest of the line.

Deciding on the piecing came naturally from the picture. It reminded me of the diamonds in a lone star quilt. I have only made a lone star using half square triangles, but I decided that this was a challenge, and I pieced diamonds together. I quilted it with a swirly wave type design in honor of the swimming pool. In the end, I turned my quilt sideways because I liked the look better. I put orange minky on the back, so this is a quilt I love to sit under and read to my little ones. I am thrilled with the way it turned out, and I never would have made it were it not for the two challenges I received.

It was a really fun challenge.  I learned that I am not very good at piecing diamonds.  I even starched them.  My friend learned never to let me borrow her ironing pad while starching my diamonds because the Best Press that I picked ended up smelling a little too flowery for both of us, and she may need to wash her ironing pad to get the smell out.  Sorry Karen.  I also learned -- again -- that sometimes we just have to keep sewing and not judge the results until the quilt is finished even when its scary. 

To finish off, here's my favorite picture of my quilt.  I had two little helpers during my "photo shoot."  I call it that lightly.  My picture of the quilt didn't turn out great.  But I am not too worried about it.  I entered the challenge to have fun with the challenge.  I am pretty sure I won't win.