228. Sunny Disposition

 I began English paper piecing these blocks in 2017, a pattern called Mischief by Karen Tripp. The center is a batik that spans the rainbow and I tried to use as many colors as possible and then chose coordinating Oakshott shot cottons. 

When I had 25 blocks, I decided that was enough for a center medallion. But what color to use for the background? 

Cream? No. Way too boring.

Clear yellow? Nope. 

At one point I even thought maybe the batik would work. Again, nope.

I needed something vibrant, something that would make the gorgeous Oakshott fabrics sing. I had a fat quarter of Kona Cotton in Grellow and as soon as I tried it, I knew it was the winner.

I pieced the center medallion and was thrilled with it.

But what to do for the next step? I had some Kaffe Fassett stripes and I thought that might work as the next step. Overpowering.

Smaller striped border, then dark green border and then checkerboard? Still not right.

My dear friend, Elizabeth (opquilt.com) came to the rescue with the idea of staying with the yellow and making 3" square-in-a-square blocks. Brilliant.

Now what? Shades of purple? Green? Stripes? I was fixed on that stripe and kept trying to work it in, but it just wasn't right.

I decided to keep going with the yellow. And added a skinny turquoise border before the next pieced border.

I decided to pull a shape that already existed in the quilt as inspiration--the hexagon in the center of the original Mischief blocks, but to use just half the hexie and make a gradation of colors, then another skinny yellow border and finally the striped border I had wanted to use way back in the beginning. 

I felt like it needed just one more pieced border, so I got out my graph paper and started sketching some ideas. Again, I used an element already in the quilt as inspiration, the square-in-a-square blocks, and then finished with another skinny border of the Kaffe stripe. 

Things about this quilt: (1) I never ever intended to make a yellow quilt. But that saturated color just worked with the gorgeous, luminous shot cottons. (2) I don't think I've ever had to work so hard to make one border flow to the next--each took so much trial and error and there were many times the quilt screamed at me "No!! Go back to the drawing board and try again!"

But once it worked, it worked well.

I do not often get quilts custom quilted, but this quilt definitely deserved a special touch. And did Dawn Haldeman ever deliver! It is absolutely stunning. So many beautiful details.

I used some of my favorite Anna Maria Horner prints for the backing.

This quilt required me to really think of design elements and it paid off. My mood was not always sunny while working on it, but now that it's done, it makes me so happy.

One evening we were driving around downtown Fresno and found this amazing mural. We had never noticed it before (even though it is right next door to the place I get my tattoos!), and is absolutely perfect for this quilt. 

Quilt: Sunny Disposition

Pattern by: Center blocks--Mischief by Karen Tripp, remainder of quilt designed by Cindy Wiens

Date Completed: 2022

Size: 50" x 50"

Quilted by: Dawn Haldeman