Wednesday, June 13, 2018

Alexandrite and Pearls


I'm not sure where to start because I'm so in love with this little 16" mini quilt.  Let's start with technically, it is not my quilt...legally only half mine.  Sorry, bad joke.  This little quilt is the brain child of my husband, Dave the Quilt Engineer and will be his entry in our guild's Birthstone Challenge.

When the challenge was issued, he decided to go with one of the designs from his sketch book.  The birthstone(s) for the month of June is Pearls and the more modern Alexandrite in beautiful purples and turquoise.  When he showed me the fabrics he had picked out, I knew no matter what he created it was going to be beautiful!  Plus there was a bit of jealousy because all I had to work with was reddish brown on mine.



Ultimately,  he wanted to quilt it himself.  I on the other hand, have been sitting like a dog with a hot dog balanced on it's nose, waiting patiently on the okay to eat it...well quilt it.  With the reveal date being this Thursday and his schedule busier than ever, he finally gave me the go ahead this weekend.  Man, oh, man, quilting this one tasted so good...you know what I mean.


Basically, he told me I could do whatever I wanted...music to my ears.  Since this was going to be a custom quilting job, I decided to match the threads with the fabrics.  Aurifil 50wt 1240 Very Dark Eggplant, 2810 Turquoise, 2692 Black and 2024 White were perfect choices.  I mostly wanted the threads to blend so that what you would see is yummy texture against those beautiful fabrics.


Maybe it was fate?  Maybe it was destiny?  Possibly it was the fruity beverage I was consuming, but what ever it was, I decided to live a little and not go matchy matchy in the black squares.  Instead, I added a bit of quilting bling with whimsical turquoise swirls and soft purples curves.  I think it added a nice pop to the piece.








Here they are together, Alexandrite and Peals and Garnet Star Crystal.  Just a Gemini and Capricorn hanging out together.


I can't wait till Thursday night when all of the projects are revealed.  The challenge was not limited to quilts.  Rumor had it someone was going to make a clothing item.  If the members give me permission, I will be sure to take pictures and share them with you.  It's always fun to read about others interpretation of the rules.  In this case they were pretty simple.  Make something, ANYTHING, fabric, thread related using primarily your birthstone colors.

If it goes well, I hope to keep encouraging our members to be creative with other challenges.  So my question to you is, have you participated in these kind of challenges and if so what was your favorite one?  Would you like to participate in an online challenge, with maybe a link up?



Today I'm linking up with Let's Bee Social and Midweek Makers.

20 comments:

Tish Stemple said...

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Carole @ From My Carolina Home said...

Beautiful quilts, Tish!

Yvonne from Quilting Jetgirl said...

I love how the quilting you added to David's design brought it to the life; the turquoise swirls in the black especially draw my eyes in to see more. I bet Thursday at the show and tell is going to be a lot of fun!

Jayne said...

I just love this birthstone challenge! Both of your quilts are pretty amazing! You really did an amazing job on Dave's quilt. I love how you went crazy with the color and design in the black! Great job!

Kathleen said...

What a great interpretation and such lovely fabrics, but the quilting is just fabulous! I love the hint of color in the black that helps your eye move around. You did this quilt justice, Tish.

Home Sewn By Us said...

Hi Tish,
WOWEE - this is just stunning. Those fabrics - it could not be a loser and boy howdy does it pop. I almost wish I was a Gemini. Your quilting does it justice and enhance it just the perfect way. I love the little swirls in the black surrounded by the purple. It will be a favorite, I'm sure. Happy Wednesday! ~smile~ Roseanne

Nancy J said...

Hanging out together!!! Love the story, the birthstones, and what wonderful quilting on both. This show night will be amazing.

Bernie Kringel said...

These are both beautiful!! The story is so cute too.
I am doing my first challenge. It is with my guild and challenge quilts are due in March 2019. Has to be a certain size and I forget what it is (but it is not big). We each pulled letters from a bag and I have "E". That's it. I have to use E somehow? Could be color (eggplant?). Could be words starting with E, textures with E, I have no idea what I am doing yet. I am open to ideas. :-)
Also open to a challenge/link up - especially if it was quite simple.

Now I better get to work on Fireburst!!

Sharon said...

Gorgeous quilts! I'm awed by your quilting too; I just can't seem to get the hang of it. I'd bet that I need more practice, and probably a stitch regulator for my machine.

I always like to think that I'd be up for an online challenge, but realistically I stay too busy with working full-time and creating things for our pattern design business. However, I do love seeing the challenge results!

Happy quilting,
Sharon

Stitchin At Home said...

Your gorgeous quilting brings David's beautiful piece to life. I especially like the swirls in the black. I love doing guild challenges and the birthstone challenge is a good one.

Brenda @ Songbird Designs said...

Beautiful quilts AND quilting Tish! Great job!

KaHolly said...

Tish, sweetie, your writing skills rival your quilting skills! What a delightful post about your adventures quilting David’s gorgeous quilt! It’s beautiful times two!

Louise said...

Lovely piece, all around! Beautiful fabrics, fabulous quilting. And the photo shoot is great; so fun to see both pieces "hanging out" together :)

I've never done a challenge quilt. No, wait, that's not true. My online guild, Sunshine Quilters, did an Olympic colors challenge this winter. That was fun! It was super open-ended, make anything in the five colors. Bernie's challenge of the letter "E" appeals to me...she could take that anywhere, or "E"verywhere...

Anja @ Anja Quilts said...

Amazing. He was smart to let you do your thing LOL Good luck at the meeting.

JanineMarie said...

What a wonderful collaboration! I love the colors and your thoughtful selections of the thread colors and designs for the quilting. That show will be so much fun for you, and I do hope you’ll be allowed to share photos. I’ve never participated in a challenge, but I like seeing what others do with them.

Robin said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Vicki in MN said...

Just beautiful!

Emily said...

Wow! I agree, anything in those colors/fabrics was going to look amazing, and this really does!!! Congrats to the both of you on a stunning challenge quilt!

Sandra Walker said...

Finally getting over here to comment. Have seen David's birthstone quilt on IG and LOVE it. Love it even more on the laptop here. I like seeing you two together on the clothesline: similarities and differences, yin and yang...like a good marriage should be :-) Your quilting ROCKS both pieces!

Sandy Panagos said...

Wow, that's gorgeous! You were right to not go matchy-matchy on the black. It works. Hmmm, my birthday is in June, too. I always wondered why there were two stones for June, but now I see that's a good thing.

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