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| Lauren's Madrona Road Challenge Quilt |
I was really thrilled to get the opportunity to participate in the MQG Madrona Road Challenge. I'm new to quilting but was really inspired (and jealous) of the last challenge using Jay McCarroll's Habitat line last year. Originally, I had planned to make an elaborate zigzag quilt inspired by this rug in my Crate and Barrel catalog. So I started cutting, having no real idea on how to make it work, and made a couple zigzag elements. Unfortunately, my plan pretty much failed miserably and I had to start again from scratch.
In my original plan, I wanted to use a lot of coordinating solids and solid-like fabrics for additional texture. So for plan B, I decided to just start cutting all of my fabrics into random width strips. I pieced all these strips into slabs roughly 13"x 22." I pulled out my trusty 12.5" square ruler and cut wonky squares from each of the slabs (realizing at this moment that I just wasted a ton of fabric). For the front, I started laying my squares out alternating directions (you can see my initial plan on our Flickr page). When I looked at it all laid out I thought it read somewhat flat and boring. I pulled out my stash of solids and started seeing what each solid would do. I posted this photo to flickr as well for advice.
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| In-Progress |
After several days and great feedback from my flickr peeps, I decided to change up my setting using some diagonals and alternative sashing techniques. I also added in one plain block to give the eye a little bit of a break. I think the final project looks interesting and dynamic and I'm super happy with it.
For the back, my goal was to use up some of my wasted scraps from the front. I started with the big pieces left over from the fabric I received in the challenge and then overlaid with some of my left over pieces from the front. I tried to add some additional interest and contrast by using different values and some additional pops of color. Piecing this puppy was a little bit of a challenge, but I decided to tackle it in sections adding white and trimming the entire time. In the end, it turned out just as I had hoped.
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| A lovely improvised quilt back |
I always have a tough time deciding on quilting. I generally like all-over designs that add a lot of texture. In the end I decided on this design from Oh, Fransson! From the beginning I planned to use the memoir text print for my border but didn't have quite enough - I used some of the bright colors to bring the length up to size. Finished size is 36" square and I love it to bits!
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| The lovely quilting on Lauren's Madrona Road quilt |
Thanks for sharing your quilt with us, Lauren! Check back again soon to see the rest of the challenge quilts - there are four more coming up!
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