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Friday, May 9, 2014

Colour Study in Teal and Gold

Last weekend as I was mulling over what direction to take with the Canvas pattern I had offered to test out for my friend Leanne/she can quilt, I came across this Design Seeds photo, and I knew I'd found the palette for my colour study.
a door hues

Something about it drew me right in, and within 10 minutes, I had stacks of solids on my cutting board and was making some decisions. I chose a variety of teals and golds, with some Kaufman Essex Linen in natural for the background.
Leanne's pattern has many (13!) size options, and I went with the 24"x24" mini quilt. After a quick and satisfying sew, I had the top done and was ready to baste and quilt! For the backing, 2 pieces of Joel Dewberry's Notting Hill coordinated beautifully, turned at an angle for a bit of fun.
For quilting, I pulled out several Aurifil 50wt spools, and one 28wt. The colors, #2000 (light sand), #2130 (medium butter), #2140 (mustard), #2975 (brass), #4662 (spotted, variegated), and #5006 (light turquoise 28wt), were a colour study in and of themselves. And yeah, I used up that light turquoise before you could get a good look at it!
I quilted good and dense. Sewing with a 3.5 stitch length, I went over 2 stitches at the end of each row before heading back the other way. I randomly changed out threads - whenever it struck my fancy.
For the binding I tried a little something new, and though I love it, my photos of the finished quilt didn't really show it well. So you'll have to trust me on this one, and I'll try it again another time. Basically, I cut a piece of linen about 3"x8" and 'quilted' it cross-wise. After a quick press, I trimmed it to my binding width of 2 1/4". Then I just inserted it into my main binding strip and proceeded as normal.
In the photo below, the little quilted binding section is directly to the left of the darkest teal in the lower left corner.  Unfortunately, you can't really see the colored threads of quilting well in this shot either. This was taken during morning light, so I need to try again to show off the accents better.
Anyway, this was a really fun project, and it was great to try a new palette. Leanne's pattern gives some nice suggestions on choosing fabrics, and is comprehensive in its cutting instructions. Colored diagrams are available for the piecing, which is always a plus as far as I'm concerned. And as a bonus of sorts, Leanne also includes links for finishing techniques, tips if you'd like to make a non-square quilt, and even the actual fabric colors used in her own colour study projects. So yeah, I'm impressed, and highly recommend this pattern! I totally plan on making it again in another size.

***This giveaway is now closed. Thank you for participating!*** Leanne has generously offered to give away one copy of her Canvas pattern, which will be available for purchase very soon. Just leave a comment on this post, and I'll choose a random winner on Sunday night. Meanwhile, watch the #canvasquilt tag on Instagram as other pattern testers show off their projects. Then start thinking what colors you want to try.

Linking up with Finish it up Friday and Fabric Tuesday!

47 comments:

  1. What a gorgeous quilt! It is so subtle, yet striking in the color choices and dense quilting!
    Thanks for the giveaway.

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  2. I think your colour choice was 'spot on'! And all that matchstick quilting sets it off perfectly!

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  3. You have chosen a lovely color combination! The pattern looks simple but very effective

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  4. I continue to be impressed and in awe of your color sense and design abilities when quilting. It is so fun to follow you. The more simpler things look, the more pleasing they can be. I have a range of solids and would love to try this pattern.

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  5. this is very cool! love the color palette you went with

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  6. The colors are wonderful together. Your inspiration picture is great and the pattern fantastic!

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  7. i LOVE everything about this! The colors are beautiful, the quilting is awesome and it looks like Leanne's pattern is going to be a great one!

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  8. Love the colors of this quilt. I love the idea of a surprise in the binding.

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  9. The color, texture, movement of this piece is lovely. I like how your choices enhance the look of simplicity.

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  10. I love those color study quilts she has been doing and have made a few myself! Yours is fabulous Debbie!
    I've done the binding stitching before, but not on linen (how brave with the way linen frays). Its a fun addition to a quilt! Little element of originality and surprise.
    I love yoyr blOg! It's at the top of my blog list!

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  11. I love your quilting ideas. The quilt is beautiful. I have a new tag for IG, too.

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  12. Well your "test" turned out beautifully and I love your idea for the binding! So pretty! I would love to win the pattern!

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  13. Love the colour palette you chose! You always have the coolest ideas with your quilting and binding. Love it!

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  14. Great idea to use colors from design seeds. I have a bunch of them pinned, but forget to actually use them. That's a pretty nifty idea to add color to a solid binding with some stitching.

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  15. Oh so beautiful!
    I love the design seeds page!
    You got colors I love, too!

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  16. This is one beautiful quilt. I love everything about it. So many good ideas about the process.

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  17. Love your colour choices and I am going to try your binding technique.

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  18. Your mini turned out fantastic!! I love the colors and the dense, 'she can quilt'-inspired quilting! This pattern is right up my alley, too. Thanks for the chance to win!

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  19. Oh this is stunning! I love your color choice and that quilting! Awesome!

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  20. Another awesome finish! I love how you walk us through your decision process. Thanks for explaining the binding accent, too. When I saw the close up pic, I wondered how you achieved that look. Stunning mini, Deb.

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  21. I'm feeling the urge to delve into color theory now. I love all of your thread-play, particularly the binding and beautiful contrast against the linen.

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  22. That quilt is beautiful! I love your fabric choices, the solids really suit the pattern. Also a huge fan of the quilting you did--great job!

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  23. I love this mini and the dense quilting! The binding is so unique too! You are very patient. :)

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  24. Very very nice! Love the colourful quilting thread.

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  25. Beautiful mini!! I love the color palette and the fun you added by using different colored threads for the quilting. The dense quilting is gorgeous!!!

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  26. that binding is awesome! so is the backing! actually the whole quilt is just awesome!

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  27. Love the colours & the quilting!!

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  28. Luv these colors together. Your kwilting is awesome as well!

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  29. I have been dreaming about this color combination lately. I'm glad you shared this project when you did; I'm inspired to move forward with the project I've been planning with the same colors!

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  30. Great color choices and I love the quilting - perfect!!.

    I love the Joel Dewberry back as well :-)

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  31. Love your color palette and this pattern! Can't wait to try it.

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  32. Stunning! And I'm sure FAR more stunning in person. Sure wish the pics could capture all that wonderful detail better. Thanks for the close ups. Wow. You done good, girl! And that quilted piece of binding tucked in there - happy sigh. It's the little things. :)

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  33. I love the simplicity of the blocks, so that you can concentrate on the color, design and quilting! Fabulous!

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  34. I love the quilting and the colors. So different !

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  35. That's a nice pattern. I love the colors. I like that program. It has helped move several times in picking out colors. You helped me know what I need to do for my new pattern that I just finished. Thank you!

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  36. Oh I love the randomness of the changing quilting threads.

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  37. Love It. I am doing matchstick quilting on a mini at the moment and it is very tedious but the result is great!

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  38. Absolutely stunning mini Debbie - the effect of the dense matchstick quilting is amazing!

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  39. Love this pattern, and the colors you chose are fabulous! The matchstick quilting and binding detail are pefect touches!

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  40. Everything about this quilt just fits!! The simplicity of the pattern, the color palette, the matchstick quilting and the little binding surprise- love it all!

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  41. So pretty Debbie. You have captured your inner Leanne beautifully

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  42. What a fun pattern that would be to try. Thank you for the chance to win.
    Lin

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  43. gorgeous! love everything about this!

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  44. I absolutely love this - great job! It definitely looks Leanne-influenced, especially that matchstick quilting. :-)

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  45. Beautiful! The quilting is great and I just love the binding!

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