Ugly Fabric Challenge 23" x 29"
This was my first ugly fabric challenge and the first time I did paper piecing (c. 1993). The mottled green background was the ugly fabric and I don't know why I used the coral colors in the irises...probably didn't have enough purples to make the irises and it was too late to go to town to buy fabric (at that time we lived in Denali and town was 125 miles away).
I was showing the finished quilt to my husband and discovered that one of the flower lobes was in green rather than coral...the only solution was to applique the lobe over the green. I can still tell which one it was because that lobe is a little puffier since it still has the green under the appliqued piece. I had fun doing this piece and it opened a whole new world to me with paper piecing.
Labels: iris, paper piecing, ugly fabric challenge
Tiny Tim's Tulip Garden 49" x 56"
This is a quilt that I designed from the book Strips and Curves. It was an ugly fabric challenge at the Denali guild c. 2001-2003. My personal challenge was to use only fabrics from my stash in the quilt.
The challenge fabric was white with tiny tulips and green leaves on it. I had very few light fabrics in my stash, but paired it with the few lights I did have...not all that successfully. The fabric was also a problem in that it was probably a poly cotton blend and thin. I had to line it with a solid white so that the seam allowances didn't show through on the right side.
I really like the almost transparent circle that goes into the border on the upper right hand side. Don't know how I did it or if I could do it again.
I quilted the stipped part of the blocks along the strips or in the case of the swirl, echoing it. The plain part of the blocks were done in a flame or wave free motion design. Unfortunately, I did not quilt the border as heavily as I did the body of the quilt so it ripples a lot. One of my first learned lesson on keeping the quilting even in the quilt.
I keep saying that I should add cross hatching to the border so it doesn't ripple, but I probably won't.
Labels: Strips and Curves, ugly fabric challenge
