Orange is the New Wonky Cross Quilt

The Orange and Pink Wonky Cross Quilt!  Lake Erie seemed calm after dropping about 7 feet of snow!

 

Some of the 84 inches of snow which landed at our home over a two day stretch!

     The recent record lake effect snow storm in Buffalo provided me an opportunity to finish my most recent project, an orange and pink wonky cross quilt for my sister.   I had asked each of my sisters to send me the answers to the following questions - what are your favorite colors, and do you prefer modern or traditional.   The first to respond said orange, with hot pink, and modern. 

 

     I started pulling fabric from orange, pink and tangerine bundles I had purchased from Marmalade Fabrics, and adding others from my stash. 

 

     I cut 7 inch squares from the fabrics.  Each FQ produced 4 squares.  I cut strips from the rest, some 1 inch, and the others 1 1/2 inches wide.

     I started making the wonky cross blocks, getting better at placing the fabric as I was going along.

     I used little thread catchers at the end and the beginning of each piece.  I had seen this tip on another blog (and can't recall where!).  This saves all of the rethreading that I otherwise seem to do when starting and stopping a piece. 



     Because the strips differed in size, the end blocks were not uniformly sized.  Once the block was completed, I trimmed each to a 6 1/2 inch square.  This ended up making the construction of the finished quilt so much easier and uniform!

     Once I had the pieces on my design wall, I noticed that I needed some more dark fabrics for contrast.  I pulled some black Kona cotton, and also some dark purple solids to provide a bit more punch.  I also added white Kona strips as well. 

Blocks with no black or white strips

I like the energy this quilt has.

     I wasn't sure what I was going to do to quilt this.  I initially planned to do the same curvy quilting I tried on my Turquoise Triangle Quilt , with plans to use both pink and orange Aurifil thread.   I started with straight lines every 3 inches and a curvy line in between.  Then I decided to do loops instead, and just use the orange thread.  I figured the front of the quilt was busy enough!

The backing shows the finished quilting pattern pretty well.

     I finished the quilt with a dark orange Kona solid.  I used a break in the storm to lay it out in the sun.  The yardstick, which I don't think was actually touching the ground, gives you an idea of the depth of the snow.

The quilting shows up pretty well in the sun on the front of the quilt.

My trusty quilt holder showing off the back of the quilt.  I found this fabulous fabric in the red tag section at Joanne's. 

Another view, with a mound of plowed snow in the back.

    We were housebound for 5 days, but luckily had heat and lights, so sewing could be done.  This was a very cheerful project to work on!  I finished some other projects as well, and will post about them soon.  In the meantime, getting ready for the holidays!

Take care,
Gretchen