MQG Entry

I admitted my ennui and then I went radio silent, but it was for a good reason. I thought that the best way to get through it was to throw myself into a project, and that I did. I was up against a deadline and I barely had time to come up for air. But I finished the quilt I've been playing around with lately.

I'm calling it "Redirected" and it's officially my entry into the Modern Quilt Guild Showcase. Although, I'm seeing so many great quilts that people submitted I'm thinking it's a long shot that I'll get accepted. I started designing this quilt in my head as I was winding down at work. I've been thinking a lot lately about my line of work and the level of stress in my life due to my job. It's often unnecessary. I've also been considering if it isn't time to take a new direction in my life. I don't have the answers, but it's been on my mind a lot, especially as I've been working on this quilt.

I wanted to play with the 45 degree angles in the diamonds as well as the use of negative space. The Kaffee Fasset shot cotton also has an iridescence to it and I wanted to play with that texture and color change so I actually played with the direction of the fabric in this one so the quilt changes colors at different angles and in different lighting. Straight-line quilting was the only thing that made sense to me for this quilt. I wanted sharp, clean lines. I also wanted to play with sharp angles and direction changes.

When it came to thread, though, I was at a loss. I initially thought I was going to use orange thread, no question. But when I started thread shopping I started to doubt myself. Maybe the orange would be too bold and overpowering because as this came together I liked how the negative space was becoming the showcase of this piece. I picked up some teal thread as well, still confused about what thread to use.

I got a couple, brilliant suggestions about maybe using both. So I did. I used a combination of the teal and the orange thread, to create an ombre effect, often changing thread color in the middle of lines (which meant a LOT of tails to hide later - see all those loose threads?) I also "hid" diamond stitches throughout - those little gems you sometimes find when you take a leap and make an unplanned change in life. I am debating adding a few more.

I was meticulous about my straight lines and used masking tape to ensure they were perfectly straight. This was also the first quilt I've ever quilted on my new Janome and I AM IN LOVE!!!!! It's life changing.

The key to this piece was simplicity so I ended up using the same shot cotton for the back and then a saffron shot cotton for the binding. It's a small, lap quilt, only measuring 50" x 48" with 100% cotton Warm and Natural batting. But it's done. Well, there are a couple stray pieces of tape I still need to pick off but it's there. But it's done. And I'm with pleasure sewing again. Now I just need to wait and see what happens with it. Did you enter anything?