2019 Fabric Challenge from the Modern Quilt Guild

I joined the Modern Quilt Guild last year as an individual member. There aren’t any quilt guilds remotely near me, but I enjoy participating virtually! This year I signed up for the Riley Blake Designs Fabric Challenge. I was lucky enough to receive one of the free fat eighth bundles to work with. Today I’m going to share my entry for the challenge with y’all!

Fabric Challenge

Since this is a Riley Blake Designs Fabric Challenge, we’re required to use only Riley Blake fabrics. It also has to be quilted, which seems like a given since it’s for the Modern Quilt Guild. This is the fat eighth bundle I received…

The challenge encourages everyone to “try an original design suited to the fabric!” When I saw the fabric I immediately thought “sailboat” for some reason. I think it was the colors & those stripes! This is a basic mock-up of where my mind went…

Do you see the sailboat in my pile of fabrics? I’m planning on making a mini quilt & only using the fabrics sent to me. : D

Making Waves

I jumped right in & started cutting fabric – no plan other than the image in my head. That was a little scary since I only had so much fabric & I was trying to just use that fabric! 

The first thing I wanted to create was some 3D type waves for the bottom of the quilt. I cut three 2″ strips off the dark blue & white printed fabrics.

I sewed these together, right sides facing, down the long edge on both sides. Then I flipped them out & pressed them flat. My “Purple Thang” really helped with that!

Next I cut all 3 pieces in half so I would have 6 smaller pieces. Then I twisted them like so & pinned them to 2″ backing pieces.

I wanted a little space between each twisted piece, so I added 1″ x 2″ spacers. My stitching from attaching the twists is showing here, so I had to pull it out. I really should have used basting stitches the first go around!

I offset each unit & added 2″ piece to each end. Then I used a 1″ strip of the white printed fabric between each row.

The waves are done!

Making a Boat

I kept the boat shape simple & used the pink printed fabric for the hull & the blue stripe fabric for the sail.

It really needed something else in the background – too plain! So, I cut another 2″ strip of the white & pink print fabrics. Then I cut a wavy line down the center like so…

To give the fabrics a more muted tone, I flipped them with the backsides showing. This is a great way to look at your fabric differently!

I layered the fabrics & stitched two lines close to the edges. Since it’s a raw edge, I went ahead & pulled the loose threads out.

Time to add the boat back! These pieces have the edges turned under, which is what happened to the point on the boat hull. I just couldn’t get it to do right!

It was missing one more detail – a boat name! The selvage edge was the perfect thing!

After stitching down the boat, it was time to make a backing. These were the two biggest pieces I had left, so they would have to do! I decided to flip the striped fabric to show the backside because I like the faded look.

Time to make a quilt sandwich!

Finishing Touches

I quilted everything with wavy lines & skipped over the boat & waves. I also used an edging foot to quilt an outline around the boat. The pink & white dot print was all I had left to do the binding!

Here it is all finished & I really need to take it outside for better pictures!

I also realized after editing these photos that my sail has come un-tucked. That will need to be fixed!

The binding got a little wonky down at the bottom under the waves. I did two rows of stitching so it kind of looks like a picture frame.

Here’s the back with a hanging pocket…

My label is on the back of the hanging pocket, but I wish I had put it on the front now.

And here’s all that I have left of the fabric…

All in all I’m pretty happy with my design & I think I made good use of the fabric. I’ll be submitting it before the 31st & we’ll see how it does! Either way this was a fun way to spend a Monday! : )

More posts you might enjoy:

• Broken Rows Baby Quilt
• Finished Flimsy – Postcard from Sweden Quilt
• Baby Clothes Quilt – Start to Finish