Quiltcon Reject #2: Venn Diagrams

When I decided that I wanted to enter quilts into Quiltcon, I decided that my best chance of getting a quilt into the show would be to enter the "Panasonic Quilting Challenge: Bias Tape".  I assumed that there would be less quilters entering this contest because it was very specific and also not many modern quilts out there used bias tape.  Obviously, since this post is about a Quiltcon reject, my bias tape quilt did not get in.  I am looking forward to seeing what quilts did get it since there haven't been a lot posted on instagram.

In order to make this quilt, first I had to learn a lot about bias tape.  I learned how to cut my fabric on a 45 deg angle and how to use the little "bias tape makers" to fold my tape.  Side note: Occasionally I make drawstring bags and the bias tape maker is amazing for making the string in the drawstring bags!

I decided to make a Wedding Ring type quilt because I liked the look of wedding ring quilts but I wasn't sure that I had the patience to make a real one.  I chose a text fabric as the background (because low volume text prints are "modern") and decided on black wedding rings.  I created all of my bias tape wedding rings and pinned them to my background fabric and then I stalled.  Majorly.

See, I wanted to call my quilt "Black and white and red all over" and wanted to use red as an accent, but it just didn't feel like "me" when I auditioned the fabric in the quilt.  I tried all sorts of different color schemes and eventually decided on the green fabrics.

Here are some of the many ideas that I auditioned, to give you an idea of my thought process while I was making the quilt.  I just pinned the colors in place and then took pictures so I could compare them side by side later.

And here is what I chose and the finished quilt!

I believe that some quilts work out best if you have a rough idea of what the quilting will look like before you make the quilt.  I was really struggling for a while when designing this quilt to figure out what I wanted the quilting to be.  Finally, I decided on diagonal lines in white thread that divide the quilt up into 3 sections.  The lines are quilted about a half inch apart.  I love the quilting, I think it looks really fun on the quilt.  However, a word of warning if you decide to quilt diagonal lines: the quilt stretched like crazy because I was quilting on the bias.  I ended up having to wash it before I bound it to try to stabilize the quilt.  It worked out ok in the end, but it is slightly wonky due to the bias quilting!

And a final note: if you are using a text fabric in your quilt, make sure that you enjoy reading the text.  The words in this one were driving me crazy by the end because I kept reading the same thing over and over!