I couldn't think of a better way to describe my new, modern mini quilt. I think you understand why I used
"bold" in this quilt's name... the colours are pretty much all of that (and then some! lol).
It felt crazy adventurous to step out of my usual choice of a neutral background fabric and jump in with both feet and choose Kona Cerise (thanks,
Pink Chalk Fabrics!). Discovering how much I liked the pairing of cerise with all those oranges was so
unexpected as was the inspiration behind my design
. I was flipping through a knitting book when a pattern for an argyle sweater caught my eye. Immediately, I could envision a quilt block version
(if you turn my quilt on point, you may see the argyle influence).
The idea for the lovely colour pairing in my quilt came from a little scrap of fabric. See that sweet flower print on the left, down in front? That little beauty got me thinking. From there it was simply a matter of grabbing the rotary cutter and being bold!
Yet again, this mini was mostly fashioned from leftover fabrics from other projects, including my
Orange Twirl quilt (which sadly, could not be finished in time for entering the Tangerine Tango Challenge). The strips of Kona chocolate were scraps from the
crazy 9 patch blocks I have ready for the quilt for my hubby. I used
nearly every last inch of that luscious chocolate fabric and I was concerned that I wouldn't have enough, it was that close!
The next bit of unexpected delight came about when I placed a recent order for some orange fabrics to finish Orange Twirl. One of the fabrics I'd chosen was out of stock and was replaced by Dear Stella in Mumsy. Hello, orange and cerise! This fabric was the obvious choice for binding my new mini quilt. The colours were perfect!
Looking at the bold graphic lines in this design had me initially thinking I should quilt straight lines, but somehow it didn't seem right. At the last moment I realized I could use the lines in the piecing as a guide for some diagonal chalk lines and from there, I could add in some gentle curved stitching. Boy, am I glad I decided to forgo straight lines and use curves instead!
The quilting adds a secondary pattern along with some texture to the stark, bold lines of the quilt design. I really like the contrast. Being bold, I even quilted using Aurufil's 50wt quilting cotton in orange. How fun!
There you have it. The story behind my forays into making
Unexpectedly Bold. I have loved seeing the inspiring modern mini quilts created by others and I finally have made one of my own. I enjoyed every step in taking my seeds of inspiration for a design and pushing myself to try something new. Being bold does have its rewards, some are unexpected. ;o)
Unexpectedly Bold is being entered into
and
as well as