Michelle Hart :: MMF & MQG Fabric Challenge!

Friday Feature: A guest blog post from Michelle Hart

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I come from a long line of creative and crafty women. My maternal grandmother was a seamstress and taught me to sew at a very young age. I loved to play in her sewing room and would entertain myself for hours playing with fabric and spools of thread. I definitely have many great memories of learning to sew in that room. I pieced together my first “quilt” (squares of faux fur in bright colors) on my mini Singer in her kitchen when I was around six. The seams might not have been straight, but I was proud of my work. My paternal grandmother helped develop my love of quilts. She made a quilt for each of her grandchildren. I still cherish mine and love it as much as I did when she gave it to me. One of my proudest moments as a quilter was giving her a quilt I made especially for her. 

*Left- Michelle at 2 on her grandma's sewing table *Right- Michelle now :)

I find inspiration for quilting everywhere. I often snap pics of architecture, colors, and patterns I see to remember for future designs. The patterns and colors in fabrics often speak to me and provide inspiration as well. My design process normally begins with a flash of an idea that I want to convey in a design. I keep paper handy since it often occurs in the middle of the night. The design might take on many twists before the final project is complete, but the initial spark is still there. I recently purchased EQ7 which has made getting thoughts from my head into patterns a lot easier.

My inspiration for this quilt started with the name of the collection, Petal Pinwheels. I knew I wanted the quilt to show a lot of movement. I used a combination of colors from Cotton Couture solids, Petal Pinwheels fabrics, and a few from my stash to create the geometric design. I wanted a very linear look, using different shades of colors that coordinated to the Petal Pinwheels collection. I offset this with contrasting quilting to add another layer of movement. I quilted it on my Janome Horizon 7700 using coral, yellow, green and turquoise 50 wt. Aurifil. The lines started more compact and then spread out like a ripple in water. This created a lot of movement, while still allowing the eye to rest at different focal points. 

The back is leftover scraps and dark gray dumb dots. It is a simpler design, but just as fun as the front. This was a very fun challenge to put together! I am very appreciative to Michael Miller for hosting this challenge and giving us great fabrics to work with!

~Michelle

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For more information about the Modern Quilt Guild and the MMF Fabric Challenge, please click here.

 Do you love the fabric collection used in this challenge? Find the complete Petal Pinwheels collection over on our website! 
 

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