Blue Beginnings

Sunny blue skies provided an opportunity to photograph the quilt I finished for

 Sew into Solids.

  I can finally lay claim to sewing a quilt in nothing but solid fabrics!  I used over 30 different values of blue - from dark navy right down to a pale-almost-white blue.  The majority of fabric used, being Kona solids, along with a half dozen of Moda's Bella solids, became this twin sized quilt for my son.  I thought variety of value would be key in making this monochromatic quilt look more dynamic.

The pattern I followed used prints - not solids, but I could see the potential for solids to look stunning in this design.

The pattern for my quilt can be found in Evelyn Sloppy's book, 40 Fabulous Quick-Cut Quilts.

Natural light  best shows the range of value in the blues.

The piecing for this quilt looks more complicated than it is.  I highly recommend this pattern for the easy methods for construction.  I will say that be prepared for taking your time when matching seams and careful pressing, but it's more than worth the effort, in my opinion.

 Full view photos proved a bit tricky to take, despite having two tall assistants to hold the quilt. ;o)
I don't think it helped matters that the quilt has been folded up since Monday (waiting for a bit of sunshine for me to take photos of it!).

It's interesting to see the texture changes between the border and the blocks - all thanks to the 2 different FMQ patterns I used. 

I'm amazed at what is possible using a domestic machine!

 Sewing a scrappy binding proved to be the right finish to the quilt.  I kept the value changes random and didn't repeat a single fabric.  At times the binding will blend, but it also contrasts, which I quite like.

Looking back on this project, I had two concerns.  Initially, I was concerned about the possibility that using only solids could make it boring (I can laugh at that now!;o) and once I got past that, I was concerned that my quilting would ruin things ( but not because I lack confidence with quilting). 

Not perfect, but that's not the point.  I'm embracing the learning that comes from stretching my skills and keeping my creativity from stagnating.  I can only get better one stitch at a time. ;o)

I realize both these concerns hinged on the idea that solids are unforgiving. That either you "get them right" or they look BAD. Solids don't hide badly matched seams or wonky stitches the way print fabrics can and being somewhat of a perfectionist, this gave me serious pause.

 Is this quilt perfect? No. Did I have to rip stitches.  Yes. Will it win any awards? No. Will it be loved, used and treasured? Yes, yes, yes!

  So, once I put it all into perspective, my concerns didn't amount to anything. And look! I finished my first quilt in only solids and my soon-to- be-18-years-old-son is thrilled with his new quilt.  I see two milestones here.  Which is how I came up with the name for it, "Blue Beginnings" - a special quilt to mark my son's start into life as a young adult as well as being (what I believe) only the beginning of my foray into quilting with solids.