My Orange Challenge Quilt

In a quilting magazine recently, I read a great article about color. I am definitely color-challenged. I can see when a quilt doesn’t work because of the colors, but that is about it. I am completely unable to figure out a solution to fix it. I like collections with all their coordinating fabrics because then I don’t have to choose which fabrics go together. Well, now you understand why I read this color article with such interest. The author suggested that a good learning exercise would be to make a quilt out of the color that was least represented in my stash. I had no idea what color that would be, but after hauling out all my fabric boxes- lo and behold- there wasn’t any orange fabric at all! Now that I knew the main color, though, I still had to choose the fabrics. This involved many trips to the quilt shop and many substitutions. I tried to go way out of my comfort zone with this quilt- choosing fabrics I wouldn’t have even given a passing glance to before. I got my fair share of criticism too- I guess these fabrics wouldn’t have gotten a passing glance from some of my friends too! I still have no idea what I am going to do with it if I ever finish it- but the good news is- I have developed a love of the color orange! A pretty good result from a little quilt challenge, huh?

Here, the quilt is still in blocks obviously. I used block #228 from Carol Doak’s 300 Paper-Pieced Quilt Blocks.

While on our trip to the beach, I was able to get the blocks joined together…

The star pattern works well when it is against another block- but the edge ones- what to do about those? I decided to create a simplified block that only used the pieces of the star and eliminated the floral square portion. After making 30 more blocks for the outside edge and adding a narrow yellow border, I finally have a flimsy!

 

I am trying to finish up all these UFOs. As my style changes, it becomes harder and harder to work on these. I think I need to start projects and focus more on finishing them while I still love them. Otherwise, I become stalled trying to conform the original plan to my new style. Great lessons learned!

 

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