I just completed my entry for the latest Curated Quilts Mini Quilt Challenge, "Well Said." This one was difficult to get to a design. I have designed quilts with a message, but wasn't sure if what I thought "Well Said" meant was what they thought it meant. So I waited a week or so until some entries were linked to the CQ page. Some were literal, but I didn't want to go that direction--figurative was my way. When I saw examples of both I was ready to go ahead designing mine.
But then my father died. He had been ill for months and it was expected soon, but still it was a shock. His second wife's daughter wrote the obituary. She met him when she was in her 20's, and the person she wrote about was not the man that raised me. I thought about this for the next 2 weeks, how someone can seem so different; how circumstances can change a person; and how your outlook can color another person so completely over the course of a lifetime. Without realizing it, these thoughts were leading me to my design.
The chosen color palette for this challenge is jarring to me and that added to my general feeling of unrest this last week. And the quilt was due in 4 days. Between that and coming to terms with my father, it was easy to consider not entering anything in this challenge. But I did.
This week made me uneasy and unsettled--very discordant. Making a quilt for this challenge would help me out. And using the palette would exorcise the unrest. So I pulled fabrics.
I hate orange. I mean I really don't appreciate orange like others do (wink). So why was I finding so much orange in my stash? I pulled some orange and orange and chartreuse and jade and tan and white and orange and pink and chartreuse. And I started improv'ing the jarring/unsettled/uneasy feelings. It had to be sharp points and weird color combos to show the feeling. And there's nothing so satisfying as slicing through fabrics with abandon!
I did not use as many fabrics as I pulled. They looked too good together and that was not the look I was going for with this quilt. I wanted the less-than-lovely combos to express the correct feeling.
This week made me uneasy and unsettled--very discordant. Making a quilt for this challenge would help me out. And using the palette would exorcise the unrest. So I pulled fabrics.
I hate orange. I mean I really don't appreciate orange like others do (wink). So why was I finding so much orange in my stash? I pulled some orange and orange and chartreuse and jade and tan and white and orange and pink and chartreuse. And I started improv'ing the jarring/unsettled/uneasy feelings. It had to be sharp points and weird color combos to show the feeling. And there's nothing so satisfying as slicing through fabrics with abandon!
I did not use as many fabrics as I pulled. They looked too good together and that was not the look I was going for with this quilt. I wanted the less-than-lovely combos to express the correct feeling.
Two days and much deliberation, not to mention a few tears and hugs from my son, and I had completed my quilt, "Discord." It measures 14 x 14 inches, made of all cotton fabrics and is assembled and quilted with Aurifil 50 wt threads. It includes fabrics that remind me of gardens and fish scales--both bring thoughts of my father.
For the quilting I used Aurifil 1104, a rich orange that pops from the white and sings out from the jade green.
Did you enter this quarterly challenge? What would you have entered if not?
https://curatedquilts.com/blogs/news/well-said-mini-quilts
For the quilting I used Aurifil 1104, a rich orange that pops from the white and sings out from the jade green.
Did you enter this quarterly challenge? What would you have entered if not?
https://curatedquilts.com/blogs/news/well-said-mini-quilts