Helen Keller Wisdom (My Kona Solids Challenge Quilt)

"Keep your face to the sunshine and you cannot see a shadow."

Isn't that a terrifically positive message? Whenever I am asked what my favourite quote is, I always share this one. I love Keller's turn of phrase as well as the very important message, so I never miss an opportunity to share it with others.

When the Vancouver Modern Quilt Guild got its hands on some Kona Solids Charm Packs in the dark colourway, the challenge was issued to make a quilt that featured them. I initially thought of a stacked coin layout, but then this idea just popped into my head, and I'm so glad I followed my gut. Because I. Love. This. Quilt.

I started by separating the yellow/orange charms and the dark grey/black charms to use for the letters in the words "sunshine" and "shadow", then just cut the other charms in the order in which they came, mostly using one charm per letter. All the charms were used on the front of the quilt, and the background is Kona Medium Grey. This quilt measures 46" x 41".

I free-pieced the letters, using a few Flickr favourites as inspiration. You'll see that not many letters got done the same way twice (I think there are 5 different "e" variations), but I like that about this quilt. Everything was pretty outside the box, for me at least.

I quilted it in concentric circles beginning around the first letters in the word "sunshine" - I felt like that part of that word was really key to the whole thing, which is why that word is placed on its own. The first three circles are quilted in yellow rayon thread, and the rest were done in a dark grey 50 wt thread to give texture without distracting from the charms.

I did pretty well with positioning that little pieced bit so that the circles surrounded it, didn't I? Kind of pleased with myself on that one. True confession: I had four rows of stitching done before I realized I'd started in the wrong spot (a little farther to the right). I debated about ripping it out, but I decided it meant a lot to me to try to get it positioned exactly right, so I unquilted those bits, and I'm glad I did. It would've bugged me forever.

I used the no-show binding again and I must say I really do love how it looks. So tidy and neat. And it seems to get done more quickly than regular binding.

I was choked that a work function conflicted with the VMQG meeting where the guild's challenge quilts were shared, but I will bring it to next month's meeting anyway.

I've a friend who's going through a difficult time, so I will be gifting this to her. It was so fun to make, and while the free-pieced letters were time-consuming, they were a LOT of fun. You should try it!

Linking this up to {Sew} Modern Monday at Canoe Ridge Creations and Fabric Tuesday at Quilt Story!