Pantone Quilt Challenge, 2024

 Well, I sure didn't mean to step away from my blog for months and months, but here we are! I have no excuses really and lots to share with you so let's get to it, shall we?

My most recent quilt finish is Seasons in the Sun, my entry for the Pantone Quilt Challenge this year. In case this challenge is new to you, Pantone chooses a color of the year ever year, this year it is Peach Fuzz. Not really a favorite color of mine, but when you combine it with shades of teal and aqua anything works, right?

Finished quilt 34"x34"

Seasons in the Sun is 34" square and uses my own Funky Dresden technique. I've been revisiting this technique quite a bit lately, tweaking it and having a great time with variations. I added faced bindings and quilted it in a diamond grid with my walking foot.

Elizabeth Ray and Sarah Ruiz are heading up the challenge this year, so I have included my entry. You can see all of the entries as they are uploaded here. There are lots of great sponsors and fun prizes. Elizabeth and Sarah have made this tons of fun. Do hop over and check out their blogs and all of the fun entries.

Pantone Quilt Challenge 2023

I love participating in the Pantone color of the year quilt challenge and have made a quilt just about every year since I learned about it! This year the color of the year is Viva Magenta. Sarah and Elizabeth hosted a challenge and I am happy to share my finished quilt.

My intention was to simply make a wonky square in a square quilt and call it good enough. ahhhh intentions! When I got this pieced together I knew it wasn't done. First of all my "wonky" blocks were not wonky enough! It looked like I had tried unsuccessfully to be precise. UGH!

My friends on retreat encouraged (ok, they were pretty forceful about it! HA!) me to cut it up. Why not? I fearlessly sliced it in 30 degree angle strips, scrambled them up and sewed together, but it wasn't enough. So I sliced again and inserted a new color to the mix! Although the crowd was chanting for lime green, I stuck with my trusty aqua and was happy with my choice. 

I cut these angled strips into rectangles which became square blocks, which eventually became a nine patch! Clear as mud? To me too haha but I'm quite happy with my final quilt. I'm calling it Shattered Magenta.

The main fabric is Kona Pomegranate which is my favorite choice for Viva Magenta. I added additional pinks and oranges from my stash, as well as the aqua. I quilted it in an angled grid on my domestic machine and finished it off with faced binding.  The final quilt is 32" square. Off I go to add it to the link up! (added: I didn't read all of the words and failed to note in my linkup that my quilt is 32"x32" and I am in the USA!)
 

Color of the Year 2021

 I always look forward to the announcement of Pantone's color of the year. This year's colors really resonated with me...

Illuminating and Ultimate Gray. Both beautiful, separately and together. In fact, I have decorated my guest bedroom and bath in these colors. So it felt good to dive in and use them together in a small quilt. Small because the McKinney Modern Quilt Guild will be displaying them in the display case at the library again this year, as we did in 2019.

I actually made my quilt several months ago. After I pattern tested my friend Jane (Twiggy and Opal)'s Sparkle quilt, I decided to make a much tinier, two color version as a personal challenge. I used Kona Bright Idea (Illuminating) and Kona Overcast (Ultimate Gray) and made this 12" version of Sparkle...

Today it heads off to the library display. I hope to get up there sometime this month to see all of the quilts from our guild.

Have you made anything with this year's colors of the year?

Sparkle

 My friend Jayne (Twiggy and Opal) has released a new quilt pattern today and it's a winner! I was so thankful that she asked me to test it out for her. I had so much fun with it and just love the finished quilt top....

You can (and really should!) purchase a copy of the pattern here. 

I had so much fun with the design I decided to see how small I could go with the blocks. The other day I made this two color block...

which led me to pulling out the pantone colors of the year.... Ultimate Gray and Illuminating...

Stay tuned for this finished mini.

colors of the year

When the 2020 colors of the year were announced at the end of last year I stocked up on both solids knowing I would want to do something fun. What beautiful colors they are! Perhaps the best thing to come out of 2020. 

Kona Enchanted, a beautiful deep green with a hint of blue tone....

 And Pantone Classic Blue. A gorgeous true blue! Per Debbie's advice (she always does such a good job evaluating the options) I opted for Kona Regatta.

 At first my plan was to use just the Regatta and Kona White for my little quilt for our guild challenge. I had an idea for a strip pieced "snowflake" design. Once I made one, it kind of fell flat for me. No worries, onto the back of my finished quilt it went. And the extra strip set too.....

I finally settled on some improv framed triangles in both colors. The centers of my triangles are actually some Moda Grunges that I had in my stash

I quilted it with my favorite angled grid and bound it in a blue & white stripe I found sitting on my shelf. It's a perfect little table topper or mini quilt to hang!

Our guild was supposed to have a display at the library like we did last year, but alas, COVID, sigh. We shared our challenge pieces at last week's Zoom meeting and that will have to do!

Color of the Year quilts on display

You might remember my color of the year quilts I shared earlier in the year, "mirror image". They were made with the Kona color of the year, Splash, and the Pantone color of the year, Living Coral. I made them as part of a challenge with the McKinney Modern Quilt Guild. Here are most of the other quilts and their makers...

This month the quilts are all hanging in a display case at The Roy and Helen Hall Memorial Public Library in McKinney, TX. Hubby and I went to check it out the other day...

Alice and Catherine, guild members who happen to be sisters, did an extraordinary job putting this display together! In a small space, they included a definition of Modern Quilting, labels that identified the makers and the modern elements displayed, and information about our guild. 

If you're in the area, do stop by and see our display. It will be featured until the end of October.

2019 colors of the year

I always look forward to finding out what the colors of the year are. This year, Kona hit the ball out of the park with Splash! As soon as it was announced, I ordered several yards of it for my stash, knowing I'd want to play with it and it would be hard to come by later on.

Then Pantone announced Living Coral and I thought, wow, those look awesome together!

So, when the McKinney Modern Quilt guild announced a color of the year challenge for this year I couldn't help but make two entries which I'm calling Mirror Image. Each mini is about 12" square. The guild minis will be on display at the McKinney Library in October so we all kept them small. I used a grunge for my coral and a spotted for my splash (solids for the contrasting small squares and kona black for accents.) I quilted them with my walking foot and added a faced binding.

I can't wait to share all of the guild quilts with you later on!

So, yes, I do love the colors this year and I can't promise that you've seen the last of them from me! I've entered both in the Pantone Quilt Challenge.