the Spark

Autumn is burning out in South Carolina. There's a sharp chill to the mornings, and the few leaves left on the trees tremble in vibrant reds and fiery oranges. In my sewing room a faux-fire space heater is warming up my space while I patchwork with equally autumnal hues.

This quilt was sparked by an outfit of mine. I found myself admiring the way purple, burgundy and brown intermingle and set out to recreate the palette in fabric. It may have ended there, but for a one yard cut of orange Candied Lollies by Jeni Baker that was sitting about, a cast-off from an Eleni photo shoot. I decided to recreate a favorite simple patchwork piece I made several springs ago in green. This time the vibrant orange of Candied Lollies would be the feature checkerboard tone and the other fabrics would fill in between.

From Left fabrics are Candied Lollies, Kona Violet, Kona Coffee, Wild & Free Woven Path, Chicopee Circle Cross, Kona Crimson, Kona Biscuit and Sunburst Stripe.

I'm working with yardage, so strip piecing is practical and quick. First I cut several selvedge-to-selvedge 3" wide strips of each fabric. Next I sewed them together, alternating vibrant orange with other fabrics.

Cross cutting into 3" segments creates already-sewn patchwork strips that will make up the quilt.

Not surprisingly, I found I wanted to add more fabrics...

I let Dowry Coffee Lineage, Kona Paprika and Kona Nectarine swap in for the Candied Lollies at times. Using only the Candied Lollies fabric made the checkerboard pattern stand out too much. Best to keep the eye wandering a bit before settling on a pattern...

I'm having trouble working on this quilt at night because the oranges look absolutely ghastly in artificial light. I think I'm touchy about orange though. I notice I don't sew with it that much. In natural lighting I feel this quilt has a warm, fireside feel, but maybe the color balance isn't quite right yet.