cf Mini QAL #2: Two-Tone.

cf Mini QAL #2: Two-Tone.

Before we move on to the next challenge, how about a look at where I ended up with the Monochromatic challenge?

It all started with the similar pairing of blues, and I expanded out from there not going too much darker or too much lighter. I like how the depth of color and unity of blues makes it feel homey and like a broken-in pair of jeans.

With last week having a focus on a singular color, it’s fitting that in week #2 we’ll be focusing on two colors. I love a good two-color quilt! There’s something sophisticated and striking about the simplicity. Let’s see some examples.

The B version of Lusk (on the cover) is made up in just two fabrics–the charcoal print in Polk and Black Essex. This quilt could kind of fit into a monochromatic category, OR we could also think of it as a two-tone gem as well. Because of the simplicity in fabric, it has great definition of the overall design.

There’s also this version of Wainwright that I made using a green print from Gleaned and a pale pink-ish version of my Architextures crosshatch. It doesn’t have to be complicated to be effective. Using a print softens the shapes just a little bit while adding some great texture.

Here’s another C version of Lusk that I made for Quilt Market. It is super simple and uses the Navy and Brown/Natural prints in Polk. I really like the simplicity of an uncomplicated palette sometimes.

Remember this guy? It’s a Pickle Hawaiian quilt from this Denyse Schmidt book that I finished awhile back (you can read the blog post about it here). It’s still a personal favorite, and it too only uses two fabrics. The hardest thing is picking out just two fabrics!

This week, I’m challenging you to pick a couple of fabrics or a couple of colors and make a mini. You can be literal about it, like in the previous examples, OR you could be a little more general about it like I was when I made this mini Envelopes Quilt (from my Envelopes pattern) in orange/red and blue.

There is a lot you can do!

As for me, I’ll be starting with some inspiration from you, which is fitting because of how much I’ve been drooling over all that I’ve been seeing you make this last week. You took the challenge in many directions, and I find that to be really inspiring. Are you feeling compelled by some of the examples out there too?

When thinking of this challenge, I knew exactly where I wanted to go with it. @sentient.stitches posted this version a few weeks ago, and I feel in love.

Those two fabrics are really pleasing together, and they’re also two of my favorites that I don’t feel like I’ve gotten a chance to use enough of. I’ll take that as mostly my start, but I’ll adjust it to keep it interesting.

With anything two-tone, sketching can be a great place to start. I’ll be working from Version C of my Lusk pattern. After picking a couple of fabrics (one from Carkai and one from Gleaned), I can now think about their placement. With the help of some quick sketching I already have two different possible directions spelled out.

There’s my start, and I’ll show the finish next week.

I can’t wait to see what you make–have fun!

Tips:

+ This week’s challenge is easy to over think. Go with your gut and don’t think twice about it. There are plenty of other fabric possibilities in the weeks to come.

+ You know the step when you have to fold the paper in paper piecing? After working on so many minis, I’ve gotten to where I go ahead and pre-fold all of the future lines when I’m doing my first fold. This way it’s ready to fold back when I get to it. It’s a handy step, because you can batch fold all at once which seems to make things move a bit faster. I know that some folks like perforating the lines with their machine or some kind of wheel beforehand, but just a basic pre-fold works well enough for me.

+ The New York Times featured a great article on knitting recently that I shared in my newsletter along with some takeaway tips. I want to share these tips here with you, because I think they are important to remember, especially for anyone trying out new techniques or pushing themselves with color. The author related these ideas to knitting, but they are perfectly applicable to just about anything else too.

__Start with an appropriate project–nothing that will take too long to finish or be too unforgiving with mistakes. (Mini quilts are perfect for this!)
__Give yourself a deadline so your project doesn’t drag on. (Also, mini quilts…!)
__Cut yourself some slack, and don’t expect perfection when you’re just getting started. It’s OK for some stuff to be bad before it is good.

#cfminiQAL

#letsmakemanyminis