Quilt Challenge

Several years ago, my daughter and I were flying from Utah to Arizona on the first leg of our trip back to New England.  As we flew over the canyons, I saw the most beautiful colors.  There was several shades of turquois and coral.   I remarked that I wanted to make a quilt with those colors some day.  We arrived back home and although the colors were still in my mind, they were not a priority.

Each year, my Maine Guild has a challenge.  This year, we were to put two quilting magazines aside.  At a meeting, a number was drawn. The number was 30.  We were to check page 30 in the magazines and choose one of the pages for inspiration.

In the first magazine, page 30 consisted of written ads, no pictures of quilts.  In the second, there was the most beautiful wall hanging  with turquois and coral colors.  Now I could make the Canyon Quilt.  As I looked at the wall hanging, I was fascinated by the pattern.  It had one block and the colors blended from one block to the other.  I wanted to make that quilt, not just use it as an inspiration.

I was able to draw the block on EQ7 which was helpful as it had to be paper pieced.  I could print out the paper piecing patterns.  I went to the local quilt shop for the fabric.  In the quilt shop light, the picture in the magazine looked green, so I bought three pieces of green fabric, light, medium and dark, even though I knew that I wanted turquois.   Then I bought two shades of coral.  At home, the picture turned back to turquois.  I used the green in another quilt and bought turquois from Jinny Beyer’s blender fabrics.  They were perfect.

Today, I finished paper piecing the center.  There is just one more border to attach and then lots of half square triangles for the outer border.  When I was pressing the outside border fabric, I decided that I didn’t like the fabric.  It wasn’t crisp like the other fabrics.  I’ll find something else that I like and finish the wall hanging later. I can use the fabric that I didn’t like on the back.

The challenge reveal is in September.  After the reveal, I will show a picture of the finished quilt.  In the meantime, these are the fabrics that I used.

Have a great day and happy quilting.