Habitat Challenge

At the July meeting of the Des Moines Modern Quilt Guild (DSMMQG), 13 of us accepted the "Habitat Challenge" being sponsored by Free Spirit Fabrics. We received six fat-eights of Jay McCarroll's fabric, in earthtones, and had until our September meeting to make our quilted items.

Our challenge rules basically stated:

1. Only print fabrics from the Habitat Collection could be in the piece.
2. Fabric could be added, but only solids.
3. All six prints had to be used someplace (front or back) on the piece.
4. Our piece had to be between 60 and 120 linear inches.
5. Anyone who didn't complete the challenge would have to pay $8 (the cost of six fat eights) into the DSMMQG treasury.

I'll be the first one to openly say that this was an extremely difficult challenge. I'm not accustomed to working with such busy prints and the color pink as an earthtone (?!) completely threw me. Initially, I had no intention of using the two pink prints on the quilt front. After three different design attempts, I worked out this one, unsewing previously made blocks, basically eeking out every bit of Habitat fabric I could for my quilt.

When quilting, for the first time I used a Pilot brand Frixion pen. I think most kids are familiar with this pen, as it's feature is that the ink is erasable. But what quilters like about a Frixion pen is that all the marks, no matter what color ink, easily steam away! You can see I tried red on this one. I've got pink, purple, and orange at the ready to try next time. Supposedly, after steaming the marks away, the chemical remains in the quilt until the quilt is washed. If the quilt isn't washed, and is exposed to a cold temperature, the marks reappear. Since I usually wash my quilts after binding them anyway, this isn't an issue for me.

My finished "Habitat Wash" quilt is 24" X 24". I quilted with gold-colored Aurifil thread in the top and bottom. Binding is a solid teal color.

Front of Habitat Wash, 24" X 24"

Now you get to see the back of the quilt! This is my first rejected design which I had to put on the back because I can't stand to waste fabric - and work!

Back of Habitat Wash, 24" X 24"

That pinwheel is foundation paper pieced, and I couldn't believe how bulky the center became with all those converging seams. I still liked that part though, but the Flying Geese... they can fly away. The design is too traditional for the style of these prints.

I always label my quilts. Always. I figure that someday my kids will inherit them. Whether they decide to pass them on or not, I've documented myself for posterity's sake.

Linda