Current Wave - Blogger's Quilt Festival
The second quilt I am entering on the Blogger's Quilt festival hosted by Amy Ellis from Amyscreativeside is the Current Wave quilt. This quilt was the August Quilt of the Month for the MQG and it was a really fun project to work on. If you are a MQG member you can download this pattern for free.
The design inspiration started when I was reading a kids' book about flags to my girls. Once I started developing the design, I saw the oceanographic theme emerging and the quilt morphed into the sea current design.
Robert Kaufman generously provided me with these Kona Cottons. I love working with Kona Cotton. Their range of color is fantastic. I knew that I was going to use a modern version of the drunkard's path block. I used Jen's acrylic template rulers to cut the shapes, which was super helpful since there were so many.
For the quilting, I wanted it to resemble a topographic map. I free-motion quilted on my machine with Aurifil 50 wt. and had a lot of threads to bury because these shapes are not connected, but it was worth all the handling. I love the final result. When I plan a complicated quilting design like this, I usually sketch on paper and work into areas filling in following the sketch.
I used Carolyn Friedlander's crosshatch in Pacific for the back because I love the simplicity and sophistication of her prints.
When I designed Current Wave, I did not think it would be picked for the MQG QOTM. I had submitted another design and thought that if any of my designs were to be chosen, it would be the other one. I was surprised to see Current Wave make the cut, but honestly I had no idea of how to write the pattern in a way that could be easy for people to understand. I chose to share this quilt at the Blogger's Quilt Festival because during the process I felt that I learned a lot, especially about writing patterns and consequently got better at Illustrator. I think this turned out to be my best written pattern. I am really proud of my work and how much I grew as a designer during this time, thanks to the MQG for believing in me and for challenging me to turn this crazy design into a pattern.
I am entering the Current Wave quilt in the Modern Quilts category, so if you would like to and have a chance, voting will occur from September 25th-30th. I would really appreciate the love.
If you want to see what I am up to, check out my Instagram @astrangerview.
Thank you for stopping by!
Looking forward to see all the other amazing quilts at the Blogger's Quilt Festival.
Cheers,
Silvia.
