Sunday, March 17, 2013

A Cross in the Road: my Madrona Road Challenge

Ta daaaa! I finished up my Madrona Road Challenge quilt in time for the VMQG March meeting - yay me!

I challenged myself in a few ways with this quilt. First, I used a block of my own design.

block
What should I call this block? 

Second, I wanted to make a quilt that could be used rather than hung (so, bigger than a wallhanging). That was challenging because the lovely packet of free fabric was composed of just eight Fat Eighths. I had auditioned a 3x3 layout for these 9" finished blocks, but the resulting quilt would've been smaller than I wanted. Challenge 2 b. was that I didn't want to buy any new fabric for this project. So I went back to the drawing board for the layout, and shopped my stash as well. I pulled out some yardage of Kona Stone that worked quite well. An off-centre cross layout was what I landed on, hence its name "A Cross in the Road."

Madrona Road Challenge
Final dimensions are around 53" x 64"

Thirdly, by adding in all that negative space in the design, I challenged myself by extension to doing something creative with the quilting. I spent time with Angela Walters, in person at QuiltCon and virutally via her book and Craftsy classes, and just dove in. I'm absolutely thrilled with the results. Jojo behaved beautifully and the combination of Aurifil 50 wt and a 90/14 topstitch needle was just the ticket. The FMQ went very, very smoothly. Here are the highlights:

More Quilting Closeup
Some fun texture

Plume Feathers closeup
A fun and very easy feather motif

square stipple closeup
I find this easier than a curved stipple because you can cross over whenever/wherever and it doesn't matter!

feathers close up
My first official feathers - they're easier than I thought!


The quilt is backed with some more stash fabric as well as a half-yard of the gorgeous large-scale pick-up trucks/farm print that I caved and bought along with some haystack in blue for the binding. 

Madrona Road Back


While there are yet more photos in my Flickr photostream, I will add this one for your viewing pleasure. I had a photography "assistant" today when I photographed this quilt. I am completely biased, but I sure do think she's adorable.

Girl and Quilt
It wasn't raining - the umbrellas/parasols were for imaginative play purposes.

All in all, a very "challenging" and satisfying finish. I plan to link up with Fabric Tuesday!

29 comments:

  1. I'm glad the umbrella was just an accessory! Your assistant is in fact adorable.

    And your quilting? Come on! Fantastic, Felicity!!!!

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  2. Your quilting make me feel like I really need to go check out the Horizon! Awesome job. I love it!

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  3. Love this quilt - the blocks are wonderful and your FMQ is amazing! Such a cute little helper too.

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  4. Fantastic job - challenge completed on ALL levels! Love, love, love what you did with the quilting. Brilliant :)

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  5. The quilt looks great! Great job on the quilting too, those Craftsy classes by Angela are very helpful!

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  6. Really, really nice. You did a great job with the quilting.

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  7. Your assistant is just too cute! And this quilt is stunning, Felicity, I love it! The quilting is amazing, and totally makes the quilt even more special :)

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  8. Fantastic! Way to go, Felicity! The FMQ is wonderful!

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  9. This quilt is so fun, the quilting is wonderful and so inspiring. What a wonderful way to complete the challenge. I also love your assistant, she is very cute.

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  10. Love the quilting, and the block design! Nice job!!

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  11. Wow, Felicity, your quilt is beautiful. I especially love your quilting. You are inspiring me to try some more challenging patterns. Enjoy your finish.

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  12. Beautiful! Great way to use the small amount of fabrics and practice your quilting in one go!

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  13. Gorgeous - love your block. But what has me gobsmacked is the quilting! Oh wow!

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  14. Your quilting is just stunning! Are you so thrilled with it?!
    What a cool block, too - I love what you designed!

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  15. Your quilting has turned out so nicely! Great work. Is that your first time doing some of those designs - amazing! I wish I could square stipple. It just wants to flow and go curvy and curly for me.

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  16. Love the variety of FMQ in your quilt. Makes it really alive!

    I'm just practicing some FMQ on scraps right now and actually enjoying all the ups and downs of learning. :)

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  17. Gorgeous quilt, the quilting is fabulous!

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  18. The quilt is beautiful. I think that limiting yourself with rules opened up your creativity in other ways. The quilting is amazing. I like Angela Walters too. I have one book and have taken one Craftsy class and just might take the second one. She teaches a very interesting style of quilting that is quite different from what other, equally good, teachers teach.

    You did a great job dividing up the space and trying out different designs within the divisions. Beautiful.

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  19. Now there is an adorable assistant! Beautiful smile.
    Love your quilt. Great quilting too. You are an inspiration to me. Thank you!

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  20. Gorgeous. Love the quilting. So special. Well done for challenging yourself.

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  21. Wow, this is stunning!!! The challenges you set for yourself for no little feat, that's for sure. You took them head on and what a beautiful quilt you have! Love the assistant too.

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  22. Beautiful job, Felicity! I love the quilting!!

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  23. great quilting - it looks amazing - I have enrolled in Angela's craftsy class and have her book to so you've inspired me to just jump in ! thanks

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  24. fabulous! You succeeded on all challenges. Your quilting looks amazing - and see? Feathers are not that hard!

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  25. Thanks so much for the CQA shout out on the Vancouver Modern Guild blog!

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  26. i am so impressed with your quilting here!

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  27. i am so impressed with your quilting here!

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