Burnt orange is supposedly a trending color for 2019. I say “supposedly” because I find it difficult to keep track and often find myself at the mercy of outside sources when it comes to staying on top of these things!
So I thought I’d go with it, dive in, and make a quilt in this not-for-me shade, and I chose a cool star quilt pattern from Missouri Star Quilt Company, thinking it wold be a good way to use up some leftover black and white print.
Then I decided to pack up my sewing one day and actually go to a group sewing day, taking this project with me as I figured it would be mindless sewing that I could handle while chatting the day away. Part way through adding the print to each solid block, it occurred to me that I should stop and actually measure it out and see if I had enough to put two strips on every remaining block before I got too far in, but instead of following the inner nudge I kept on talking, and sewing, and then it was too late.
So I was left with several solid blocks and no more print. And there was no more at home when I got there. And there was no more at the store when I got there. So I made a quick decision to grab another black and white print that was enough of a contrast and I went home to finish up the squares, thinking I would just go with whatever happened because I wasn’t really “into” this quilt anyway! LOL
Once I began to lay it out on the design wall, it was obvious to me that the best effect would be to have the blocks transition from one print to another, one corner to another, and voila! It looks like I planned it all that way from the start! (at least it does to me, so just let me have this moment…HAHA)
In the end, I believe it looks even better than it would have if all that print had been the same. So this was a happy accident as they say. Something even better came from a mistake. And while it’s still beyond my preferred color palette, now that it’s all quilted (with a cool triangle maze edge to edge pattern on my Gammill Statler Stitcher), washed, and cuddly, I no longer look at it with a neutral eye. I kind of like it now! Kind of…
Ann Walsh Quilting 