United States Map Quilt

I was able to get this done just before my Kona Quilt as a surprise birthday gift for my 2 year old cousin. For the quilting I decided on a 2" wide crosshatch and tried to not have the quilting overlap with my label on the back (and was successful!).

I just love this United States map panel - I hope someday it can help him learn all of the states and capitals!

The color order of the outside Kona border was also put to a vote just like my Kona Rainbow Flower Quilt.  (As you can tell I Photoshop EVERYTHING first - right down to the measurements)  Photo 3 was the winner.

From the inside out its: Kona Ocean, Corn Yellow, Papaya, Orange, and a border of Ocean.

Robert Kaufman No Prints Allowed Challenge

The Las Vegas Modern Quilt Guild participated in the Robert Kaufman Kona "No Prints Allowed" Challenge.  We each received a charm pack of the Kona Classic Palette and we were allowed to add 1-2 solid prints.  I don't have an official name for my quilt, but I've been calling it my Rainbow Flower Quilt.  I really had so much fun making this.  It's bright and cheerful and a big rainbow.  Who doesn't love rainbows?

This is the Classic Kona Charm Square pack I started with. I was a bit terrified to cut into it.  I was hoping I didn't get half way through it and realized I made a mistake or hated it or wanted to change my idea.

After making the petals, I rearranged them about a 1,000 times on my floor and had my friends vote for the favorite.  (fyi - image A below won)

Then I played with the sashing width for another day and another 1,000 arrangements on the floor.  Even though I ended up adding sashing to make the flowers, the below no-sashing layout had me paused for a few hours because I fell in love with it:

The rest of the colors ended up on the back with my label... and the fly-away petal on the top left.  I spent a good hour getting the flower on the bottom right to line up with the one on the top so my quilt lines would match up.

The dark gray is Kona Coal and the binding is Kona Medium Grey.  I intended on binding it in more Kona Coal, but as I was throwing fabric around (I'm messy) the Medium Grey happened to land on my quilt top.  I saw the combo from across the room in passing and knew it was even better!

All of the Las Vegas Modern Quilt Guild Kona Challenge Quilts have been posted on Flickr.   (I wish I could have been there to see them all in person!) They are all so amazing and I'm so lucky to be part of this guild!