Really, Radiant Orchid, really? Just like Emerald, which turned out to actually be more like the bastard lovechild of teal and jade, in my opinion. And don’t get me started on Tangerine Tango. I think I’m missing the “give ordinary things fancy names” gene – it must be the scientist in me. That’s not to say that I don’t love the colour, however. Red-purples are my favourite – they are warm and inviting in a way that blue-purples often aren’t.
I had a lot of fun designing mini quilts for this challenge and ended up with five options, some of which might turn up around here one way or another in the future. I decided to go with this kind of deconstructed dresden plate in the end because I liked the challenge of piecing all those curves by hand. I did briefly think about having each segment subdivided with straight lines but that really wasn’t the look I was going for. And when you’re making something this little (it’s only 15 inches square, after all) there’s no harm in a bit of hand-piecing. I used freezer paper templates to piece the seven purple and six neutral Konas, and backed the mini with another shade of purple.
The only seams that were sewn on the machine were those joining the four quadrants – there were just too many layers of fabric at the points for me to easily sew them together (even with a thimble). I hauled out the old hand-cranked Jones though (the poor featherweight is still being rewired), so even that was kind of hand stitched.
It’s hand quilted with perle cotton in three different shades of purple and one neutral. I love the texture – well worth the sexy quilter’s callous, I think. Thanks so much Anne and Adrianne for hosting the challenge!
