Let me tell you about paris. She is a 24" square mini quilt, inspired by the events in Paris a short while ago.
I entered the Modern Quilt Guild Michael Miller Challenge and was sent a number of pieces of the patterned black and white fabrics, which are part of the Glitz line. The challenge allowed the quilter to add any other Michael Miller solids. I was stumped creatively with these bold, high contrast metallic prints and let the challenge sit.
However, as those who entered the challenge agreed to enter their quilts in the QuiltCon show, as as the entry date approached, I started looking around for some Michael Miller solids in my stash. I realized that I had a whole little bin of scraps left over from my ongoing paper piecing project (Violet Craft's Lion). Then the terrorism in Paris happened and I was upset. So I decided to quilt out my sadness. I made the red/orange scraps into a big piece.
Continuing along with improv, I improv pieced around the blob, and was surprised to see that it resembled a teardrop - sometimes working without a lot of particular care allows you to create what you need to make.
I used up almost every bit of the patterned Michael Miller fabrics piecing around the red tear.
Then I quilted it a lot.
Given that this quilt is not large, the quilting did not take that long, but it was very satisfying to do.
I did wash the quilt to bring out the quilting. This time I washed it before I bound it. first I zig zag stitched around the outside edge.
The textures and colours are fantastic - I want to make a lot more pieces with this kind of quilting - sort of controlled scribble.
There she again, paris. This quilt is much more about the making for me than the finish - she helped me process my sadness and anger over the events in November. She looks quite dramatic on the wall too. Although I am so tempted to wash her again as that smooth binding bugs me.
I have to mention that paris is a " #QuiltConReject ". I entered her at the last possible minute. I got the quilt out of the wash as I was leaving for a business trip. So, I was away from home and had no sewing machine to attach the binding. On the very last entry evening, I hand stitched it on to the front and the back, and then I photographed her and entered with about 1 minute to spare (she was entry #1943). But she is not going to be in the show.
I am good with that. The challenge was supposed to feature the challenge fabrics and it is pretty clear that I featured the solids. But I have to say thank you to Michael Miller Fabrics and the Modern Quilt Guild. But for this challenge, I would not have made this quilt, and making her was a process that was so good for me.
I hope you are enjoying the holiday season. I was able to spend the entire day yesterday tidying my office and sewing spaces. There is so much more to do but I feel better already. Maybe today I can sew a bit.
Best,
Leanne
