Modern MiniQuilt Challenge: Connections

I love a good MiniQuilt Challenge!  And, the great editors at Curated Quilts Magazine have created some clever ones for every issue.  The current mini quilt challenge is Connections using the palette shown above.

The palette–cream, yellow, mustard yellow, navy, moss green, grey– is more muted than I normally choose. And, that’s what makes the challenge such a good exercise for me.  I decided to challenge myself further by using only 3 colors– grey, navy and yellow. I don’t often work with navy and wanted to explore it a bit.  The blue and yellow are Moda grunge and the gray is a mottled fabric (sorry — no selvedge!).

I also decided that I would make improvisational curved blocks (no templates, no pinning) and connect the yellow blocks with placement. In other words, I wanted the yellow to flow through the quilt.

I did not have a sketch or a plan–just a very general idea about how I wanted the design to look.  It is truly an improvisational quilt.

So, I made some blocks and started arranging and re-arranging them.  I did not use all of the blocks that I made and I cut some of them up to make the final composition.

Here’s one of the arrangements:

I quilted it with Superior thread (50 wt.) in yellow and grey.  I used my walking foot and marked the lines with masking tape.

And, here’s the finished quilt –EXCEPT I realized that it was a rectangle and not square. The instructions said the mini must be square.

So, I cut off the edges (yes, the faced binding was finished) and squared it up.  Now it looks like this.  Interestingly, I actually like these proportions much better.  Less negative space seems to give more energy to the design.

Go HERE to see the other wonderful submissions!