Ombre Bargello Optical Illusion

Back in June, our guild (the Nebo Modern Quilt Guild) hosted a challenge to make an optical illusion quilt.  The timing was perfect, since I had recently discovered The Fleming's Nine and her awesome Rainbow Bargello Quilts.

I decided I wanted to see what would happen if I used an OMBRE jelly roll to make my quilt.

I did mess up my cutting just a little, so the ombre effect is a little choppier than I would like, so now I'm just calling it "color blocking."  What do you think?

I wanted the quilt to be big enough for a twin bed, so I added the white and teal borders.  Isn't that teal ombre triangles print just perfect?

For the quilting, this design was begging to be covered with some fun graffiti quilting.  I even used a blue variegated thread.

For the borders, I took my inspiration from the backing fabric.

Can you tell?

The binding is another ombre triangle print, this time in Navy.  I just love the colors in this fabric line.

For the backing, I bit the bullet and used a precious bundle of Birds and the Bees Fabric by Tamara Kate.  I've been saving it for something special, but didn't have anything particular in mind for it yet.  It just so happened to match this quilt so perfectly, so I went ahead and used it up.

I just love these prints!

This quilt is now listed for sale in my Etsy shop! It was SO MUCH FUN to make!

Quilt stats:

Started: February 2017

Finished:  June 2017

Fabrics: V and Co "Ombre" jelly roll, "Spectrum" Ombre HSTs

Batting: Pellon 80/20 Cotton/poly

Finished size: Approximately 60" x 86" (twin)

Recipient: ??? ***UPDATE*** A sweet neighbor bought this from me!  YAY!!!

Methods used: Piecing, FMQ

Binding: Machine to back, hand to front

Time to Make: About 18 hours 

Diamonds in the Fire

Whew!  Time to blog about a few recent(ish) quilt finishes!  First up:  Diamonds in the Fire.

A few months ago, my local quilt guild (the Nebo Modern Quilt Guild) challenged us to make a quilt using only ONE color.  As soon as I heard about the challenge, my mind immediately went to THIS pattern by Bonjour Quilts.  This seemed like a perfect excuse to try it out and I had these grand ideas of doing an ombre gradient.

We each drew a crayon out of a paper bag to get our color assignments.  I got orange.  Obviously.  I don't particularly have a problem with orange.  I was a little disappointed because one of the quilts that made this pattern famous just happens to be done in orange (check it out HERE: Leland Ave Studios).  But I was still determined to make my own version.

I thought the challenging part would be to find enough contrast between all my orange fabrics.  I didn't want the pattern design (or the ombre effect) to be lost.  I planned and cut very carefully, and I was a little surprised that the design totally worked - even though I only used one color.  Granted, some of the light oranges have a lot of white in them, which helps.  And some of the oranges are borderline yellow, but trust me - if you saw them on their own, you would call them orange.  ;)

Turns out the hardest part was actually the setting triangles.  I've never made a quilt with blocks set on point before and because of the way this quilt is designed, the whole outside edge of the quilt was on the bias.  Yeah.  Kinda scary.

For the quilting, I ditched between the blocks first.  Then I quilted alternating circles/loops and straight lines (Angela Walters dot-to-dot style).  If you look super closely, you'll see that even the quilting is sort of ombre-ish.  The circle/loops get bigger as the lighter shades get more prominent.  :)

When the quilt top was finished, I decided the orange was just too overwhelming and I needed a tiny bit of something else for contrast.  So I backed the whole thing with this calming blue I've had languishing in my stash for awhile.

And then there's the flange binding.  See that little pop of dark blue sticking out from beneath the (ombre) binding?  Boom.   (Tutorial by Sew Fresh Quilts)

Since I don't really have anything to do with this quilt now, I've decided to list it for sale in my Etsy shop HERE.

 I already have plans to make another one!  This time using actual ombre fabrics - Blue and Green. ;)

Quilt stats:

Started: March 2016

Finished: April 2016

Fabrics: Various orange fabrics

Batting: Fairfield 80/20

Finished size: Approx. 39" x 52"

Recipient: ???

Methods used:  Piecing, Free Motion Quilting

Binding: Flange - Machine Stitched

Time to make:  Approx. 16 hours