Friday 10 February 2023

Vintage

I'm going to be honest here and say that I genuinely do not like Chelsea Rose Pop. It almost makes me cringe when I see it. Yes, I have gotten positive comments online, calling it a really beautiful quilt, etc., but for me, it is just too busy. This one, on the other hand, really speaks to me.  

And it's a good thing because I'm keeping this one. 
I'm not really sure why I decided to join the Moda Love Charm Pack Challenge (you can find the pattern here). I don't often join quilt-alongs, BOMs, etc, because I have so many of my own projects to work on. I suppose it was because I felt I could use a break from Chelsea Rose Pop...
Rummaging around in my stash of charm packs (at least the ones I could find...), I tossed around different options and came up with this one with a warm white background. 
I have no idea what fabric line or manufacturer this is from as the label just said something like "40 squares", but I really like it.  However, I didn't really want a wallhanging, and I also didn't want leftover charm squares. So, having decided that a) I like to keep a lap quilt on the sofa, b) I prefer this quilt to have a minky backing, c) Go Wild is a little bigger than I wanted for this purpose, and d) it was time to put Boxes and Bows away, since it is a Christmas quilt, I decided to "grow" the Charm Pack Challenge quilt into a lap quilt with a minky backing.
I came up with a simple design that used up the rest of the charm pack. 
But  I needed to determine what fabric to use for the final border. 
Because some of the fabric in the charm pack looked like it had grapevines and leaves on it, I was originally going to call the quilt "Heard it Through the Grapevine" and these two fabrics left over from My Beloved's Vineyard, would have suited the theme, but I felt that they were both a little too busy and were "fighting for attention" with the main body of the quilt top. Then I pulled this dark pine green from my stash, which I believe I used in Home on the Farm
Yes, that's more like it. I was, however, a little bit alarmed by all that white for a lap quilt that's going to see a lot of use. Though it does match my cat's fur...
I realized that "Heard It Through the Grapevine" was not elegant enough for this quilt, and after toying with different ideas, I came up with simply "Vintage" because not only is the fabric vintage-y looking, but it suits the grapevine theme as well. 
Originally, I had purchased purple minky for the backing, but decided against it since sometimes minky fibres can be pulled to the front. So I went with a medium muted green, about the same colour as the thread I used for quilting. That way, if any fibres pulled to the front, it would look more like it was just part of the thread. 
I had originally planned on quilting it with Vineyard, but I wasn't sure how well the tendrils would work with a minky backing. Besides, with so many pantographs that I have never used, I like to try out a new one when I can, and I had used Vineyard before. So, I opted for Arcadia by Patricia Ritter from Urban Elementz. It was a good choice. It works up fairly quickly and beautifully. 
I know you can buy minky with designs sculpted into it, but when you quilt it, it looks that way anyway.
(Sorry, this colour is really not photogenic. It's much greener and prettier in person). 
I picked up binding fabric when I bought the green minky, so the quilt was ready to go. I brought it upstairs to trim any loose threads from around the binding, but before I got a chance to do that, Mystery insisted on "test-driving" the quilt. 
I find it quite interesting that my two most recent quilt finishes are such a contrast. Chelsea Rose Pop is so busy and Vintage has so much negative space. 
In spite of how much I dislike Chelsea Rose Pop, God knew what He was doing in helping me choose fabrics. It turns out it's the recipient's favourite colours and she loves it. 

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