G.O. Modern

Over a year ago, the 4x5 modern Quilt Bee was created, and I was super pleased to be welcomed in. First up was making a mosaic for my hive.

click here for photo credits

I remember struggling for weeks over what block to make for the first round, and finally chose "Planetarium" by Elizabeth Hartman. 

For the next two rounds, I was more confident, and continued to enjoy making interesting, modern blocks in a variety of palettes, while my own orange and gray blocks came in one by one.

Do any of you remember this post, where I begged for advice? Now What? What was I to do with my stack of finished blocks? I mocked up 7 different sashing scenarios, and in the end, ordered both KONA Tangerine and Charcoal, still not sure what direction I would go.

When I actually laid out the blocks on my two fabric options, the gray looked nice, but the orange just popped. In the end, rather than sashing, I framed each block, then trimmed each to 15" to compensate for the minor discrepancies in block sizes.

I hadn't originally planned on a border, but the way I'd framed the blocks, they really needed more along the outside edge. So the charcoal came into play after all. And I'm pleased with the overall framed look it gives the sampler.

For backing, I chose gray Gridlock from Dear Stella - love it! And I was just a tad short, thus the pieced bit in one corner. I drug out half my gray/orange stash to pick out a binding and finally settled on a subtle but nicely coordinating gray stripe by Riley Blake.

Now. The quilting. Almost always the step where I question myself the most. What in the world would do this quilt justice? This modern sampler from my first bee, made of blocks contributed by 15 bee-mates from all over the world. I decided I should keep right on stretching myself. I needed to do something unique in each block.

And so I did. I think I probably said, "Oh my GOSH!" about 100 times, maybe more, as I struggled with rotating it as I sewed, trying one new pattern after another. Daughter dear was over in the middle of it all, and I told her, "It's not perfect." To which she replied, "So what? It's an experience quilt!" And she was right, of course. The journey of participating in a bee, of creating modern blocks, of expanding my machine quilting skills all converged in this quilt.

Which is why when it came time to name this quilt, I gave it quite a bit of thought. I wanted to include a reference to my palette of gray and orange, while also giving a nod to the overall process. And finally I came up with "G.O. Modern" - where I've traveled in the making of this quilt, as well as an encouragement for the future.

 G.O. Modern measures approximately 65x80". 

It was machine-pieced and quilted, bound by hand, 
machine washed and dried.

Photos taken at Park Avenue Salon, Mukilteo WA. 

This quilt is my first Third Quarter Finish-A-Long finish {see list here}. Linking up with TNT Thursday, show off friday, T.G.I.F.F., Fabric Tuesday, and from the blue chair.