The challenge we received from Anja this week was ideal for my project. She had a very simple directive: Choose two colors for this week’s border. Sew them together in any way that you like.
The plan I made for this project included color assignments for each round. When pulling fabrics, I made a bag of scraps for each color. I quickly pulled out my green and my blue fabrics and spread them out. How will I sew them together this week?
To get me thinking about shapes and lines, I browsed for photographs that illustrated subjects in my theme. For the green border, I wanted to depict the re-planting of a forest after a fire has destroyed it. For the blue border, the subject was to be melting polar icecaps.
Here are my two inspiration photographs:
I started with the green image of young trees planted in orderly rows. To be honest, I don’t think large forests are re-planted in exactly the same manner. I chose the photo for the graphical quality. This representation made it easy for me to see a quilt block pattern “hidden in the trees.” Getting out my sketchbook, I drew a grid and placed the trees within it.
Voila – a nine-patch block made of half-square triangles.
It wasn’t so fast for me to put the squares together. I have very little experience in making most basic quilt blocks. But eventually I had them sewn up into rows.
Here is the green border sewn together and attached to the quilt.
While my back was turned, a few butterflies flitted into view and perched on the border. They are not green, but I hope they will stay.
The blue border is next. In my inspiration photo, the shapes of ice and open water are not regular in the least. But I knew what to do. I will make this border with improvisational piecing, using a “slash and sew” technique.
I topped the ice and water piecing with a sky cut from hand-painted fabric.
And here is my quilt with my blue and green borders.
Now that you’ve seen my challenge completed, have a look around at the other quilters who are playing. You can find their quilts at the Linky party.
Click HERE.
I’m liking it so far. I noticed the ziggy lines of the first border seem echoed, or at least referred to in your second. Nice continuity.
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Thank you. I am mindful of finding ways to create unity throughout the quilt.
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This is so creative and fun! I’m enjoying each border addition. Those butterflies, you never know where they are going to land or how long they will stay. I hope your stick around!
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thanks, Wendy. Even though piecing is a struggle for me, I am enjoying this project.
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💚
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This is growing beautifully. You seem to be finding the perfect fabrics for every round 🙂
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All are stash fabrics, though I did paint some of them. The pale green is from a man’s shirt.
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It’s so cool seeing those pictures transformed into quilt blocks!
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Thank you.
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Very nice! Your quilt definitely tells a story.
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Wow… I am in awe of your mad piecing skills! (and thanks for the link… what amazing creativity there!)
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Thanks.
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Fiber art taken to a new level! This is really creative and fascinating to watch develop. I really like what you are doing.
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Thank you,
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I’m fascinated by how you translate your photos into the quilt design.
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I often start by making a simplified sketch of the photograph. But in the case of the ice cap, I didn’t need much accuracy, so I just went with improvising focused on the big shapes of triangle and skinny rectangle.
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You are so organized. The quilt it beautiful. I like the butterflies.
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Thank you.
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I love the way your quilt is coming together! Lovely interpretations of your inspiration photos 🙂
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I appreciate that you follow my quilting posts AND my knitting posts! Thanks!
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Of course!
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That’s quite a challenge, well done.
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Thanks.
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Beautiful!! Love how you used the photos for ideas.
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The butterflies are fun. They should stay around!
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