Buy the Bold

Most of the quilts I’ve made in the past, if they were going to stay with me, are in colors that are earthy, deep and somewhat intense. Country colors – browns, rusts, deep dark reds, gold, dark teal, etc. The colors in my home welcome these colors; everything blends and plays together well. It creates a home that, to me, is warm and comforting.

One thing I have finally admitted to myself, however, is that I love bright, intense, bold colors. I visit quilt stores and find myself drawn to the bright and bold fabric. For the longest time I have talked myself out of buying any because it didn’t fit with my fabric stash (or my home colors!) and therefore it would be a waste of money. How in the world would I use it unless it was for a very specific purpose — like a gift for someone else? I can’t just buy it because I like it . . . can I??

Older and wiser, maybe? Willing to branch out a little more? Whatever happened, one day I just got over it and began to buy the bold if I wanted to. I have a small precious stash of bold now, waiting to see what I will do with it. This intimidates me a little bit. I feel responsible to do something amazing now with all this color. I debate about whether I should cut into it or just stare at it. Cuz it’s pretty. And colorful. And what if I do something awful with it? I still have a few issues, y’think?

So when the Sashed Half Hexi quilt tutorial from Missouri Star Quilt Company dropped into my inbox this week, I didn’t hesitate long (start another new project? really?) before I grabbed a bold, bright jellyroll and got to work. I get so excited working with these colors! And the fact that they are batiks doesn’t hurt either. I find myself wanting to shut myself in my quilt cave, ignore everyone, and just work on this quilt. I should probably be a little more concerned about that than I truly am . . .

I have the 5″ half hexi template from MSQC rather than the full size used in the tutorial, so I just adapted to the smaller template using a jellyroll and 1″ black strips. This quilt goes together fast and quick.

Because I want a  small wallhanging size, I didn’t use all of the jellyroll strips. I just picked out the ones I wanted. The cutting is quick because the 5″ template is the same width as the strip. You can layer the strips, make two quick cuts and you are ready to roll. I made 12 blocks altogether for my quilt. Sewing goes quickly, as you’ll see in the tutorial.

Here’s my progress so far.

All that’s left is the sashing and the borders. I had hoped to have that done by now, but I had to come out of my quilt cave and do other things.

How will I finish the quilt? Well, I probably should free motion quilt this one myself, really. Fellow quilter and blogger Lori East is challenging herself to hone her skill at FMQing. She’s an inspiration to me as I am reminded that I need to do the same. I don’t mind doing the practice squares and they actually don’t turn out too bad because I relax and it doesn’t matter because they are just practice. It’s the thought of FMQing an actual quilt (with the possibility of wrecking it) that terrifies me. Maybe just buying the bold is good enough for now?

And when the quilt is finished? Will it stay with me? I haven’t decided yet.

Meanwhile, my quieter yet still excited side is working on the free February BOM woolie from River’s Edge Antiques and Quilt Loft. (Click on “Our Friends” on their web page if you’re interested in jumping in.) It’s a fun project to work on while I’m watching a show (except Continuum — flashback, flashforward — how am I supposed to keep up with that while I blanketstitch??).

My crayon idea for Prairie Moon Quilts Creativity Challenge didn’t work, so I need to take another run at it. Remember melting crayons between waxed paper? Well, I was going to do a tweak of that. It was going to be awesome, and I was going to use it to create a cool landscape idea. Alas, it looked more like I had been visited by the microbe gang, with a bunch of wimpy little squiggles on white paper. Back to the coloring board I go!

And, of course, there are my elephants! I’ll give you an update on them next week.

Happy stitching!

Wendy