curated quilts challenge

I love a good challenge. The new mini challenge over at Curated Quilts is improv minis with the theme Connections. Here's the color palette they gave....

Lots of people are grumbling about the colors but I kind of like them! I made 2 minis to submit

My first one is pretty literal. As much as I really hate to talk on the phone, with family and friends spread all across the country it has become my lifeline! 

I improv pieced the phone and the letters and embroidered the coiling cord. I mostly used solids, but the phone is a cotton and steel basic print.

For my second mini I was more abstract. 

This one is all solids. I used some of my newly acquired improv skills, like the skinny inserted strips. I also used lots of negative space. I tend to over do sometimes, and I want to practice more minimalism. This one is matchstick quilted in gray and yellow thread. If you're going to tackle matchstick quilting, I highly recommend doing it on a little quilt FIRST (this one is about 10 inches square) rather than learning on a bigger quilt like I did. 

I did a faced binding on both little quilts. 

I had a lot of fun with these and have linked them here. There are some really wonderful quilts linked up there.... you should go and check them all out!