This was my first photo shoot on our brand new fake grass - I never need to use a lawn mower ever again! But I think the lovely bright green threw my camera off, as the colours, especially the background fabric, are a bit out, and it really is more brown in real life!
Marsala is the Pantone colour of 2015 and thus the subject of the Pantone quilt challenge. As someone who doesn't mind brown (I love the richness it gave to my Rhubarb and Custard quilt) Marsala is still a little out of my comfort zone. A hunt through my stash led me to pick Kona Burgundy as my Marsala of choice (I'm not a wine drinker so I can't tell the difference!). To this I added a fat quarter of Annali from Dashwood Studios - my only other "marsala-ish" fabric. Then I added coral/peach, lime green and some text prints. And by chance my recently acquired Karen Lewis Textiles scrap bundle also included some "marsala-ish" fabrics.
There have been quite a few clamshell quilts around lately (Rachel has hosted a clam bake QAL too) so I was inspired to dig out the 2" clamshell papers I bought a few years ago and give EPP clams a go. If you want my advice....don't. These little beggars are fiddly! Basting was ok... I used glue. But I really struggled to line the pieces up - they don't quite tesselate perfectly and what to do with the little tail of fabric at the narrow point was a mystery I never solved. Add in the fact you are piecing a curve and need I say more. So by the time I had 4 rows of 6-7 clams the wonk was noticeable and I was grumpy! I decided the project was a no-goer, packed the clams in one of the many boxes labelled "sewing stuff" and decided I wouldn't be entering this year's Pantone Quilt challenge. I was out of time with the move fast approaching.
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This photo shows the colours far better - the two solid marsala clams are made from the same fabric as the background... |
I appliqued the clams to some more Kona burgundy, then using perle thread I've hand quilted echoes of the clams in the background, and outlined the pieced clams, all in coordinating thread.
The colour is totally wrong in this photo but it does show the quilting well |
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Doesn't my house look like a tip? We're living in one room whilst the builders finish... |
Size: 15" x 13" - so this will be entered in the mini category for the Pantone challenge)
Fabrics: Kona Burgundy, Annali for Dashwood Studios, Architextures, Karen Lewis Textiles, Art Gallery fabrics, Cotton and Steel Basics, Pearl Bracelets and random texty prints
Threads: hand pieced with Aurifil 50w, appliqued with Gutermann (because the colour matched) and hand quilted with Finca Perle thread #16 and Aurifil perle-ish thread in peach.
Linking up with the Pantone Quilt Challenge
And the finish Along (my original list is here)
And you can see my previous entries: Tangerine Tango; Emerald Green; and Radiant Orchid.
4 comments:
However you got there Jennie the result is great! Love the idea of no cut grass. xx
This turned out lovely despite your misgivings! Am I correct that your quilt is completely stitched by hand? Impressive!
Wow, I love that you managed to turn something that was giving you so much trouble into something so beautiful! I'm sad that the green grass was giving you so much trouble with the photographs. I color corrected one of the photos and you're right, the photos don't do the colors justice! It's SO rich looking, very beautiful quilt. :)
This is really fantastic - I love how you brought in a range of colours here as well as Marsala.
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