A New Year's Colorful Confetti Quilt Top!

The New Year's quilt top!



     Happy New Year! 

     I have been busy with finishing details on quilts during December.  One quilt is packed up to be shipped out next week (and will be posted about after it is received).  I have two quilts pinned up, ready to quilt, but since my dining room table is also my quilting table, I need to put away my holiday tableware and decorations.  

     One of those quilts features a center panel made with a disappearing 9-patch pattern, using some 2001 Alexander Henry novelty cat prints.  I enjoyed making that panel.  I was very deliberate in my color and fabric placement choices.  As I was making that quilt, I finally ordered and received a Kona Color Card.  I started thinking about the possibilities of making a disappearing 9-patch using only solid colors in a more random placement.    

My Kona Color Card.

     I decided to make this a New Year's Eve and New Year's Day project. What better way to start a new year than playing around with happy colors?  I decided to use 9 different colors, and make 9-patch blocks using each of the colors.  After some trial and error, I settled on some clear bright colors, plus black and white.  I had considered an orange, and a lighter purple, but ended up with the colors below.  The acid green and the yellow photograph very close to each other, although they stand out more in the quilt itself. 

The final color choices, cut up into 4 1/2 inch squares.

     Since this was a project I wanted to finish in a day or so, I decided to do a wall hanging or baby size quilt, so I made twelve 9-patch blocks, which finished up at 12 1/2 inches each.  

The piles of  the nine squares for each block.  

       I did try to get a center block of each color for the squares; each block has all nine colors; other than that - the placement of the colors was totally random.   I starched the blocks as I pressed them, which made them easy to handle as I cut and arranged the smaller blocks.

A sample of 4 of the finished 9-patch squares.

A finished 9-patch square ready to be cut up. 

The four squares after cutting up the 9-patch.  I love how these turned out!

The pile of cut up squares.

       I shuffled the finished smaller squares, and starting pinning them up randomly to my design board.  I did move some around to avoid have large blocks of the same color.   I settled on a final arrangement before the ball drop in Times Square! 

One of the variations of the blocks on my wall. 

     In order to ensure the quilt was sewn together in the same order that I liked on the design wall, I marked each block with a pin on which I had written a number, so I knew which order to sew the blocks into rows. 

A close up of the numbered pins. 

     Since this was not a huge quilt, sewing the smaller blocks into a quilt top only took a few hours on New Year's Day.  It was a nice and colorful way to celebrate the beginning of  2014. 

A close up on the finished quilt top.

      I got a few quilting books for Christmas, and I spent some time practicing new free motion quilting patterns.   My plan is to quilt this top using the mod squarish design below, and I am thinking about using a bright multicolor thread for the quilting.  

My practice sample of some free motion quilting patterns.  Practice makes perfect, or at least, better!

      I will post a picture of the finished Confetti quilt when it is done.   I plan to get a lot of quilting done this winter, as it is cold and icy here!

The snow mountains forming on the beach. 

Best wishes for a happy, healthy, and colorful New Year!

Take care,
Gretchen


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