Purple Passion Construction Story

August 1 was the reveal for the Four-in-Art Quilt Challenge for the 3rd quarter. 

I had a post written for that day. I guess I never saved or updated the revisions, so the post was lost. I wrote a quick post in the morning before I went on a quilt shop road trip with friends. 

In the lost post I told how I came to design my piece, which I will tell now. 

Our theme this year is COLOR. The challenge presented was PURPLE PASSION. 

PASSION -- I knew immediately that quilting is my passion 

and has been for many years. 

PURPLE fabrics was next. I don't have too many purple fabrics.

As I traveled to various quilt shops in the past few months I purchased 

a few fat quarters of interesting purples. 

But I did not use them all in the quilt (so my stash grows). 

Since this group usually makes small quilts, I made 3-inch quilt blocks. 

The 9-patch blocks were easy enough. 

I used EQ to design paper pieced patterns for the log cabin and arrow-style block. 

(I wanted to get the pieces accurate.)

I made a simple Stack 'n Whack pinwheel. 

The improv blocks were fun and easy. 

I thought about how I began quilting; the first blocks I made and where I am today. 

That is when the idea of journey came to me. 

This would represent my quilting journey. 

How to show it?

A road, a path, a stairway? 

The idea of children's building blocks came to me. 

This evaluation is a point in my journey, too. I could create 3D illusional blocks. 

I would use gray and white fabrics for the shadowed sides of the blocks. 

I would stack them. 

My journey begins at the base, the easier blocks. 

It builds with skills of paper piecing, Stack 'n Whack (Bethany Reynolds' method), 

improv, hand piecing (that is how some of the blocks were sewn onto the quilt).

A black background would allow everything to pop. 

Space at the top allows me to grow even further.

I used a large piece of newsprint paper on my hubby's pool table. 

(He is tolerant, I made a quilted cover for it and put a large cutting mat over that.)

I placed the blocks on the paper, traced around the blocks, 

drew the gray and white sides. The light shone on the sides from different angles. 

That is how I approach designing and piecing quilts--from many angles, 

and I arrive at a finished project.

I began cutting and sewing from the rough outline sketch. 

When I got to the middle of the project, 

I realized I could have designed a foundation pieced pattern in EQ7 

and made things a bit easier. 

As I mentioned, I had to hand stitch some blocks and pieces.

Some blocks are not stacked in an orderly manner 

 to show that not all of my projects follow the rules. 

I approach things differently. 

It brings me to new ideas and new journeys. 

The final step was quilting the piece. 

I had not tried the matchstick quilting, so that was my goal. 

My lines are not as thinly spaced as matchsticks, but it worked in my opinion. 

I chose purple thread so it would accent the entire purple concept. 

The block designs are quilted with purple as well. 

I believe I will revisit this quilt and add matchstick quilting lines in the 

gray and white sides of the blocks. 

I appreciate being a member of Four-in-Art for the challenges that are presented. 

It has given me the impetus to move beyond my old quilt boundaries.

I have learned from their projects. 

While some quilters are passionate with one technique, 

I live to "try it all." 

If you haven't seen the other quilts in this series, here are the links. 

Four-in-Art Quilts, where you can find us all.

Betty         https://www.flickr.com/photos/toot2

Camilla     http://faffling.blogspot.co.nz/

Catherine    http://www.knottedcotton.com

Janine         http://www.rainbowhare.com

Elizabeth    https://occasionalpiece.wordpress.com/

Rachel        http://www.rachel-thelifeofriley.blogspot.com

Simon         http://quiltalicious.blogspot.com

Susan         http://patchworknplay.blogspot.com