::Binary Challenge::

Bi•na•ry

Adjective: Consisting of, indicating, or involving two

Yes, my mind is very much on a quilt show in Phoenix this week, but I'm also fresh from seeing the Seattle Modern Quilt Guild Binary Challenge exhibit, which I saw last Friday on the way to our guild retreat. The bad news is the show ends today. The good news is I have photos to share! 

by Megan Vandenburg

by Sue Mariotti, Louise Wackerman

by Chandra Wu

by Amber Arnold, Katie Pedersen

 by Alyssa Long, Jessie Keating, Katrine Eagling

by Patricia Belyea

by Katrine Eagling

by Patty Ladd

by Megan Blomquist, Laurel Thom

by Vicki Christensen, Martha Peterson

Rachel of Snippets of Sweetness, and her Binary Quilt

by Aly Bazely, Rachel Pascual

by Marilyn Lone, Allison Dutton

by Sandie Holtman, Andrea Slusser

by Patty Ladd, Debbie Jeske

by Carrie Franklin

by Allison Dutton

by Anna Boenish

 by Lynne Shandley

by Charlotte Mahoney

Island Quilter is such a great host (and fabric shop!), and their gallery is a wonderful display space. Hope you enjoyed the show!

Random, Random, and More Random

Hope you are enjoying the "31 Inspiring Quilters" series at sew mama sew! I added a tab to my blog with a running list of the bloggers being featured, just in case you missed any. And of course, there's many more to come!

I think I mentioned that the Seattle Modern Quilt Guild's Binary Challenge Exhibit is going on now at Island Quilter on Vashon Island, through February 6. I'm not sure when I'm going to get over to see the exhibit, but there's a couple of great posts up about the show from two of our guild members HERE and HERE. I think you'll see at least one quilt you'll recognize!

Did you hear about the 2014 Pantone Quilt Challenge: Radiant Orchid sponsored by On the Windy Side and playcrafts? 

There's several categories, lots of terrific prizes, and even fabric suggestions, which I love. I'm hoping to join in and just for fun, made a Radiant Orchid pinterest board, so I can keep track of my favorite fabric possabilities. Actually, I invited Rachel/Snippets of Sweetness to pin too, so don't be surprised to see selections from both of us.

I've been wanting to make a 'brown quilt' for a while. This may just be the palette to inspire me. Don't know what pattern yet, but I'm mulling.

Ok, so who's obsessed with Economy blocks??

I've only managed a half-dozen, but plan on using this as a leader-ender project for a while once I get past my current quilting deadline. Looking through my bloglovin' feed this morning, I see posts from Katy/Monkey Do, Rita/Red Pepper Quilts, Nicole/Mama Love Quilts, Svetlana/s.o.t.a.k handmade, AND Amy/During Quiet Time with a bit of a variation, but all about their Economy blocks! So obsession? I'd say so.

Lastly, my friend Louise/I'm Feelin' Crafty is a contestant on the latest round of Project Run and Play!

I've followed this series before, and even though I'm not a garment-sewer, seeing their entries is alot of fun! I'm hoping some of you will follow along, and root for favorites! Read all about Louise here, and the other contestants in recent posts.

*Edited to add* Just caught wind of another Triple-Zip swap! Sign-ups are open for round two at Quarter incher! And just a reminder, the tutorial is always available through the Tutorials tab above!

Hope you have a great day!

Linking up with Really Random Thursday.

Unknown Journey

When the Seattle Modern Quilt Guild announced their binary quilt challenge, I immediately thought of my stack of Kona solid greens, and picked out several to use. Fissures was still fresh in my mind, as was the lovely texture of Chinese Checkers, prompting me to order some Andover Textured Solids and Pellon Bamboo Blend Batt.

I knew right off that I wanted to make a quilt with alot of negative space. In addition to Fissures and Chinese Checkers, my thoughts for this quilt were influenced by my recent Crazy Rainbow, so before I did anything else, I started crazy-piecing the greens like, well, crazy.

For the pieced portion of the quilt, I was thinking of a journey. Life's journey. What some readers saw as "sticks", I saw as paths on that journey - with different lengths and widths, intersecting randomly along the way, and each made up of interesting and disorderly, yet beautiful, little bits. So I let the fabric "journey" travel across the width of the quilt and it became a panel.

All I did to finish the quilt top was to add wide swaths of solid above and below.

Though I debated ever so briefly about matchstick-quilting this one, its size (38"x42") determined that wouldn't be a great idea. Instead, I went with my original thought, which was to do wonky spirals, a la Fissures.

With an Aurifil 50wt #4653 (Limeade), I first spiraled within the boundaries of the pieced panel. 

For the bordering panels, I marked lines extending the "paths" and spiraled within those areas with my basic Aurifil 50wt #2000 (Beige). As a final touch, I did matchstick-quilt within the lines of the extended paths, and I really like that added detail. 

It was a bitterly cold day when we took "Unknown Journey" out for a photo shoot yesterday. Though the settings were fun, the lighting doesn't show off the details as clearly as I'd like. Though in retrospect, that seems fitting for most of the journeys we find ourselves on, now doesn't it?

Linking with Fabric Tuesday and Finish It Up Friday.