BCQuilter's Weblog

Each year our Quilt Guild does a challenge.  They are varied as much as each co-ordinator is.  The co-ordinator lays out the challenge at the Business Meeting each September, and if it is a non-quilting show, we have until the Year-End party in June to complete the challenge and then we have the reveal.

The “rules” (or guidelines) for the Challenge for the 2009-2010 Guild Year was to:

• First of all, have some fun with this
• Select at least one colour strip from your card
• Try to match that from your stash [optional]
• Make a small item(s), (place mats, table runner, small wallhanging, etc) using this chosen colour plus any others to compliment it.

The “rules” and a paint chip were in a paper bag.  My daughter and I both decided to take a challenge pack.  She was very disappointed in her colour chip.  It looked bleak and dreary.

Colour names from top to bottom:

• Outback
• Ryegrass
• Tate Olive
• Wilderness

• Down Pour
• Milestone
• Distant Thunder
• Sorcerer

And on top of that, I didn’t have anything in my stash that even closely resembled either of our cards.  So we left it.

About February, my daughter and I talked about it, and decided we were not going to do the challenge, I didn’t have any money at the time, to buy fabric in the colour scheme.  And we just couldn’t come up with any ideas on how to use the colours.

Then there was May 2010.  A dark and dreary month.  I started playing with the idea, of having a flower imposed on a dark/dreary background.  Again, I wasn’t really planning on doing the challenge, at this point.  On a trip to Victoria the first weekend in June, I was enthralled with all the California Poppies blooming.  The weather was overcast, dark skies, but these poppies looked like little bits of sunshine.  The idea started to come to a plan.  What about doing a California poppy as the flower.  What a reminder of May 2010.

On the trip home, I stopped at a Quilt Shop in Nanaimo.  And ironically enough, I found fabric to match both colour chips!  Now what luck is that!  Of course, now I had to get this project done… it was due June 17.  With working, I still didn’t think I was going to get it done… and where was I going to find a poppy to copy to appliqué onto the quilt.

I was lucky enough to find a piece of fabric that had all four colours from my paint swatch!

I did a bit of thread painting, on the cloud, the sun, and the poppy itself.  Now as many of you know, I haven’t done a lot of appliqué, because it intimidates me.  Thinking back, even though it has intimidated me, I have done some pretty neat appliqués.  I used Pellon Wonder Under.  Pressed it to the fabric, drew my design on paper, then cut it out, and pressed it to the background.  I then machine stitched around the appliqué pieces.

Finding a California Golden Poppy appliqué was proving more difficult than I thought.  Then I happened across Ruth Blanchett’s website, and I signed up for her newsletter, and I received a free pattern for a Poppy block.  For the image I had in mind, there was too much, so I picked one poppy and one leaf and used that for my project.

With the dreary May 2010 in my head, I decided having the sun, just peek out behind some clouds would be enough for the poppy to reach up, and try to catch the sun rays, despite the rain coming down around it.

I didn’t get the binding, label, or hanging sleeve completed in time for the Year-End Wrap-up, but I did reveal the little quilt.  It was a joint effort with my daughter (DD#2).

And here is the finished product.

Someone at the party, suggested I should call it “May 2010”.  The name was inspired by the paintchip colour names.  “Wilderness Down Pour”.  To be honest, I hadn’t really looked at the names, until after the project idea, and the project was revealed at the party.

As I was typing up the blog, I had pulled out the pattern for the Poppy block.  I’m thinking that perhaps some of my orphan blocks (remember the APQ block of the month challenge), that perhaps adding an appliqué over the block may be an interesting idea.  Another idea to file away for when I have time.

I am still plucking along with the Blue and Yellow String quilt, slowly the 9-patches are coming together.

Food for thought: I haven’t managed to actually schedule some quilting time during my day… I find it’s all or nothing.  Even though, I may stop and start several times, to make supper, do some errands.  If I plan a quilting day, I break it up with other things I have to do.  I can’t seem to plan the other things, and then schedule some quilting time in.  How do you fit in quilting time within your busy/hectic days?