Pantone Quilt Challenge 2014: Darling Violetta

I can't believe I actually decided to participate in this!

I was happily bumbling along, quite content to do my pattern testing, work with my solids, and get my 2014 Sydney Show quilts done...and suddenly my brain decides that it's time to do the Pantone Quilt Challenge 2014, a full two months after it's been announced.

My brain has amazing timing. A-may-zing

So I started picking out fabrics, basing it around Kona Violet, which was said to be the closest match, although the colour Pantone Radiant Orchid appears to be a little more pink than Kona Violet.



At first I thought I'd add to a bunch of blocks I made for a quilt-along back in 2011 (and which never made it off the ground) - and then I read the rules and noticed the "must be started in 2014" clause. Oops!

Back to the drawing board!

In the end, rather than putting together an actual pattern, I thought I'd just use my comfy 'fallback': The Dead Simple Quilt.

I don't know what else it's called - the title "Dead Simple Quilt" was coined by Lynne of Lily's Quilts for a quilt-along back in 2011 - but it really is dead simple! Pick a colour scheme, cut 5.5" squares from all the fabrics, lay out, and sew!

My personal preference is to add a thin contrast border, and a 2" (finished) squares border for a bit of movement at the station. But it's simple, it's effective, and it can be cut and completed in a day.

(I didn't do it in a day. I could have, but I didn't.)

Rough blocks, laid out on the design board for checking out.


Sewn into rows, strung in columns (to keep everything in rough order):


Sunshine yellow for the thin border - a nice bright cut of colour!


Finished by 9:30pm on Saturday night!

I was so eager to get the Challenge done that I kind of didn't have dinner until 10pm... Sometimes the quilting bug bites and you just gotta do it!

Anyway, it's complete and I took a square photograph in Sunday sun (which is less forgiving than incandescent light by night, alas, so ignore the wrinkles).


2014 Pantone Quilt Challenge
Title: Darling Violetta
Dimensions: 46" x 61"
I would have liked to quilt it and put it in the 'finished quilt' category, but this is already going to be a crazy week, so it's going to have to languish in the 'Just The Top' category.

Not that it's going to be anything special, mind you - have you seen the entries? Now I feel almost embarrassed for putting in something so homely!

Still, homely or not, my sister took one look and asked, "How much do you want for it?" She has it in mind as a gift for her ballet instructor, who loves violet.

The title Darling Violetta comes (to my mind) from the band who played the themesong from the Joss Whedon show "Angel". Very turn-of-the-century pop culture, I know! Incidentally, I've never actually listened to any of their other music...