quilting

the endeavorers: texture challenge

February 1, 2019

I was recently invited to join The Endeavorers, a group of quilters who take on a quarterly challenge to make small art quilts according to a theme. This quarter’s theme (and my first!) was texture, and today is the reveal day.

I had ideas of using various types of fabric in my quilt; however, given the fact that I work primarily in quilting cottons, those ideas weren’t going to work. I did try one idea, and it didn’t work out as I wanted.

So I gathered some bright Kona cottons from my stash.

The Endeaverors: Texture Challenge- My pull of Kona solids - piecefulthoughts.com

Added a couple of prints.

The Endeavorers: Texture Challenge - My pull of prints for the challenge - piecefulthoughts.com

A few buttons.

The Endeavorers: Texture Challenge - Buttons in a cute little gnome bowl - piecefulthoughts.com

At this point, I was pretty much winging it. Taking the purple solid, I made pleats. Then I placed the teal fabric on top of the purple and cut a wavy line and pieced them together. I kept adding the fabrics in an improv style. I added the two prints, thinking it would add some visual texture, a break from the solids.

The Endeavorers: Texture Challenge - Close up detail of texture added with pleats, big stitches and quilting - piecefulthoughts.com

Fabric strings from fabrics used for another quilt were attached to the green strip. Once that was done, I made a quilt sandwich, using battilizer (a batting and stabilizer mix) and backing fabric. (The battilizer is easier to stitch through with the big stitches.) I used spray baste for the sandwich, but only lightly, so I didn’t get too much drag on the needle as I did the big stitching.

The Endeavorers: Texture Challenge - Adding texture with big stitches, quilting, and fabric strings - piecefulthoughts.com

I used more than one thread color, both for the big stitches and for the quilting. In retrospect, I should have thought to use varying weights in the threads, but I was so absorbed in what I was doing I didn’t think of it.

The Endeavorers: Texture Challenge - Close up detail of all the texture details and embellishments - piecefulthoughts.com

The buttons were fun to add. Using different sizes, I laid them out in a way that I thought looked okay and took a photo. The buttons were added after the quilt was finished and faced, so I used the photo for reference. The metal buckle at the top of the quilt was added after the quilt was finished as well.

Rather than binding it, I made a facing using the same fabric as the backing. It gives a clean look to this little 9″ x 11″ quilt.

The Endeavorers: Texture Challenge - Used a facing on this small quilt - piecefulthoughts.com
The Endeavorers: Texture Challenge - The finished 9" x 11" texture quilt - piecefulthoughts.com

Overall, I enjoyed the process of making this little quilt. Although I had a plan, it was more putting it together as I went along. I find that process very satisfying. This quilt will have a place on my mini quilt wall.

If this is the first you’ve heard of our group, here’s a list of the others if you are interested in seeing their quilts using texture.

Catherine – http://www.knottedcotton.com
Janine – https://rainbowhare.com/
Nancy – http://www.patchworkbreeze.blogspot.com/
Carol – http://beadsandbirds.blogspot.com/
Ruth – http://benandcharlyscorner.blogspot.co.uk/
Gwen – https://textileranger.com/
Martha – www.weekenddoings.com
Maureen – https://josephinaballerina.com/
Kay – http://thecraftyyak.wordpress.com
Fiona – http://celticthistlestitches.blogspot.co.uk/
Paula – https://paulabquilts.com/
Wendy – https://www.piecefulthoughts.com/

Have you ever done a theme challenge quilt?

Wendy

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