Modern Wedge

I am excited to share my latest UFO finish from 2015!! Back in July 2015, I took a 2-day Modern Wedge workshop with Kathy Doughty of Material Obsession.  For most of the workshops I've attended, I tend to have some of the boldest/craziest fabric palettes.  Well, early into Day 1, I realized I brought a very boring set of fabrics, especially compared to all the wild fabric combinations used by Kathy. She is fearless when it comes to combining fabrics.  She led the class through the quilt shop and proceeded to combine civil war prints with batiks and they totally worked!!  

The next day, I returned with three new fabric pulls, including a variety of Kaffe large scale floral prints and this fat quarter bundle of 8 psychadelic prints.  What fun to match Kaffe prints to each of the psychadelic fabrics to construct 8 large wedge circles.  Leftover wedges cut out from each of the 8 psychadelic prints were combined to construct a ninth wedge circle.  

Wedge Circles and Psychadelic Prints

Once all 9 wedge circles were constructed, I proceeded to trim them down into square units.  Unsure of how best to fill in those center voids, I moved onto other projects.

Square Wedge Units Waiting for Center Circles

A few months later while attending Pacific International Quilt Festival 2015, I spotted Kaffe's new Corsage panels.  Immediately I knew the large scale blooms set against dotted background were the perfect design answer and proceeded to purchase several different panels.

Fast forward again to February 2016, when I brought all my square blocks and Kaffe panels to my guild's In-Town Spring retreat.  It was a bit tricky to match flowers to squares, as there were so many wonderful possibilities of flower and background colors.  Once all the flowers were assigned and balance was achieved, I proceeded to hand applique the center circles onto each block prior to assembling the 3x3 block layout.

Auditioning Center Blooms and Final Layout

Once again, I lost momentum on this UFO when it came time to figure out borders.  Fast forward to Fall 2017, when I saw Kaffe's new Sunburst prints, which brilliantly echoed the central design!!  Some solid black fabric was added for an inner frame and used again for the binding, helping to break up the radiating starburst designs.     

One vs. Two Rows of Sunbursts for Outer Border

New Years Eve 2017, I was layering and basting my quilt top determined to have this one quilted and finished in 2018!  The first block was very densely quilted.  Yes, I could have ripped it out and started over, but instead, I went forward and enjoyed the meditative nature of the dense quilting!!  Alternate blocks feature a combination of figure eights and either zig zag meander or stippling.  And guess what?  At least twice I got so entranced by the quilting that I forgot to switch stitches so there are at least two blocks where two or more wedges are in one stitch before remembering to switch back over. 

Adding My Signature, Style & Stitches!

Here are some more detail shots of the fun quilting done using Aurifil 50 weight threads...

• Medium Orchid (#2479) was used for quilting the large wedges and loop de loops along the inner black border
• Dove (#2600) was used to quilt each of the large circles and the starburst outer borders
• Black (#2692) was used to add and top stitch the black binding

More Kaffe from my stash was used to piece the quilt back.

3.5 years later, my Modern Wedge Quilt is finally complete!!  Lesson learned:  Finding the perfect fabric is well worth the wait for it to be designed and produced!!

Modern Wedge, Finishes 54" x 54"

This is my 7th UFO finished this year!!  My original resolution was to complete 6 so I exceeded my goal and have already resumed working on the next UFO which I hope to finish before the new year!! Wish me luck!