Monday, March 17, 2014

"Plumes of Orchid" - A Radiant Orchid Mini Quilt




I'm so excited to share my mini quilt entry into the Pantone Orchid Challenge with Play Crafts and On The Windy Side: Plumes of Orchid! Purple is my favorite(st) of all colors ever, so I've been over the moon about this year's Color of the Year. My Modern Quilt Guild is even making swap items with Radiant Orchid (and/or purple) for the April meeting! They shall do my bidding... mwahahaha.


This quilt fell into place easily.  Between needing/wanting to make a Radiant Orchid quilt, and planning a mini swap with Renee, one of my best bloggy friends, I decided to "catch two butterflies with one net." I especially admire Renee's free motion quilting skills and her Doctor Who quilts! Check out the quilt she sent me this past week - o.m.g. I just keep switching it over so I can see both sides! And today, I'm sharing this one because she just got it in the mail!




Design: Renee indicated her love for the Anna Maria Horner feather pattern and for the feather quilt I'd made for the Madrona Road Challenge, Birds of a Feather (plus, her blog is Quilts of a Feather... so it was a no brainer!). I pieced two of them on the scrappy back (though I forgot to make the mirror image piece, and I noticed the error too late in the process. I think it looks ok!). I found a really great tutorial from the Intrepid Thread for the front feathers (or leaves, if you will). Julie emphasizes that the feathers shouldn't be "perfect" and I definitely didn't stress about that, lol!

The back - Anna Maria Horner feathers

Color: For Renee's gray sewing room, I used a dark gray (Kona Coal) background and pops of teal (one of her favorite colors). The orchid was a no-brainer. I did buy a few new prints since I had a lot of light purples but few genuine "orchids." The Collage border is definitely my favorite part - I feel like it pulls the whole quilt together. :) It even has pops of teal! It couldn't be more perfect for Renee!


Quilting: This is the first time I tried circle quilting with echoes. I was inspired by my friend Lorna @ Sew Fresh Quilts to try it (thanks Lorna!). I used my FMQ foot with much success! It's definitely a design I'll try again soon, but on a quilt much bigger than this, I'm not so sure it would come out the way I envision (too much drag - definitely doable on a long arm, though). I also pebbled on the border - a much-loved FMQ design in this apartment :).


Oh, I soooo had quilt separation anxiety this time (okay, that's usually the case). I think it's especially because of the purple, and how much I happen to have fallen in love with the combination of purple/orchid, gray, and teal. Overall, though, I'm glad it's going to a good friend. I hope she loves it! I wish I could take a picture with her, WITH our quilts!


Quilt Stats:
Designed, Pieced, and Quilted by: me (with tutorials from Julie Dueck and Anna Maria Horner), on my Janome MC 6300
Size: 28 x 28

25 comments:

  1. Just lovely and about the best swap ever!

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  2. Aw, yeah I wish we could take pictures together too! Quilty friends are the best! Seriously the first quilted gift I think I've gotten, so it means a lot to me and really makes me feel like I'm getting something back after putting so much out there. It is a lovely quilt and and the quilting works wonderfully on both sides! I would so love it if one of us one the mini challenge!

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  3. Just gorgeous! Love a double sided quilt. Love those feathers!

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  4. Very nice! I like the pieced backing, too. :) Pat

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  5. Wonderful! So much thoughtfulness in this!

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  6. Wow! Love it!, but then I also love purple!

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  7. Love the plumes! So pretty and purple!

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  8. What a wonderful gift for Renee and the perfect header for your blog!

    You're pretty incredible!

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  9. so beautiful! I love the quilting, the close up almost looks like one of those architextures swirly prints :)

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  10. So pretty. That border "collage" fabric is fantastic!

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  11. Ahhhhh! I could never have parted with that, Jess - just gorgeous - hope she love sit! I love the Collage print in the border - how it adds the stripes and the texture. And the feathers (!) amazing.

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  12. This is gorgeous! The collage border and the black inner border and cross really make all the other fabrics pop. Great quilting and backing as well - I bet your friend LOVES it. Thanks for playing along with the Challenge!

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  13. I love the back of the quilt. The front is great too but I reeaally love the back. I didn't enter the radiant orchid challenge but now I wish I had. I love the way you quilted the circles with a FMQ foot. I've been wondering how that would look and I think it looks great. I'm ready to try it now.

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  14. Lovely quilt Jess! I am sure your friend will absolutely love this!

    Would love for you to stop by and link this up to Fabric Frenzy Friday!
    -Lindsey
    Fabric Frenzy Friday

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  15. Renee is going to be thrilled! Love those feathers! Such a gorgeous mix of the colours. And you did an amazing job of the quilting! Well done!

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  16. Radient it is! The back is just as beautiful as the front!

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  17. really lovely - I love the combination of colours and the two-sidedness :-)

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  18. This is absolutely gorgeous, back and front! I love it!!

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  19. Oooh I love all the dark colors on this one, the purples and teal together with the grey and black is gorgeous! I love the design of the front and ...the other front, beautiful work!

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  20. Aw, swaps with friends are the best!! Love the black and the gray with your purples, it really makes them pop!

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  21. This is such a fantastic combination of fabrics and colors and they are so great with the designs. So beautiful!

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