Prize Winning Quilt

Once upon a time, there was a naive long arm quilter who loved making quilts. He had recently participated in the Foothills Mystery Quilt along hosted by Cheryl at Meadow Mist Designs and discovered that she would be hosting a second mystery. This naive and ambitious quilter was so excited that he eagerly shopped for fabric for this next adventure, and jumped in surprise and joy when his husband purchased fabric to make a second mystery quilt! 

A portion of the naive quilter's fabric choices are pictured on the left, and his husband's choices are on the right.

Cheryl had been such a kind and gracious hostess that the ambitious long arm quilter wanted to extend an offering of gratitude to her and perhaps to her loyal quilt detectives. He decided to offer his services as a quilter to one of the cunning solvers of the Midnight Mystery. The details of this prize were documented here.

Confession, I'm an art teacher, and a maker. I am not a writer. So I'm going to stop with this silly narrative from above and will just go on to say that I, the naive quilter, in the story ended up being delighted and extremely nervous when the winners of the various prizes were announced. I was going to be quilting for Mel Beach! If you do not know who she is, you should check out her website Mel Beach Quilts and blog Piece, Love, and Happiness! When you do, you'll find that she is amazingly talented and inspirational and that the picture featured on her website, is of her and the quilt that I finished for her! Whoa, I'm thrilled beyond belief!

Anyway, I was really nervous when I found out that I would be quilting for Mel, whom, I have to admit was a complete stranger to me, as this online quilting community is so vast that I had never heard of her. Mel has it going on. She is an accomplished quilter and does workshops and lectures about quilt challenges, mandala quilts, and improvisational techniques. She is a true master, and I am a mere fledgling.

I consulted with her via e-mail, and sent her several quilting ideas that I drew out based on a picture of her quilt. Here are some examples of my sketched out ideas.

 

 We decided that diagonal lines and curves would compliment the on-point setting of vibrantly colored rectangles in Mel's quilt top. Additionally, a brightly colored thread was chosen that blends into the bright geometric shapes, but pops against the deep blue background.

The pattern was a delight to quilt out. Unfortunately, I am terrible at documenting the process of quilting, and only have these few photos of the quilt in progress.

If you've read my blog before, you might know that I am fascinated by quilt stories, and I am so happy that I am a part of this quilts history. If you would like to read more about the piecing and challenge behind this quilt top, pop over to Mel's post, where she describes the entire process and has more fantastic pictures.

Meanwhile, I'd love to quilt for you, and there is another opportunity up for grabs with Cheryl's new Meadow Mystery Quilt along. Check out the details on Cheryl's blog! (She also has way better pictures than I do!)

Have you won any prizes from the world of quilting? What is the best prize that you've received?