Robert Kaufman Solids Challenge Quilt- Completed!

It's finished!  Thanks to all of you regarding thread suggestions. Stats on "Out of the Blue" below
(after a few photos…..)

Front, "Out of the Blue" . Wonky rainbow pinwheels- center; modified linear pinwheel - inner border.
Pieced binding.

Back, the center meandering quilting and the liner border quilting really stands out on the back as does the variegated thread. Pieced binding tot he right in the picture.

Close up of the title pinwheel and the rainbow border frame. You can also see the pieced binding.

Pinwheel and frame, back

Size: 56 X 62 inches

Materials: Challenge materials- two Kona charm packs in brights. (One provided by Robert Kaufman via my local Quilt Guild ), the additional charm pack I purchased for the binding and the 1" squares on the front and rainbow border on the back. Rules- I had to use at lease one piece from each charm, 43 different colors in the pack, 44 colors in the quilt. I was allowed one additional material and I chose a solid, Kona Charcoal.

Threads: Aurifil, Ebony Acauarelli 100% cotton, ( #4665) in 50 wt.

Design: original, 43 pinwheels from charm park, fashioned traditionally then made wonky. Each pinwheel is unique, made from the charm pack in order of the colors, using 3 of the pinwheel blades from one color and one blade from the next color in the charm pack. Some of these are difficult to see in photographs, except at the change of colors (from purple to blue, red to pink, orange to yellow) where it is most striking. In addition, the quilt had to be greater than 40 inches on a side and so, I added, 1" squares in a modified interpretation of a linear pinwheel into the inner border, taking the dominant color of that corner of the quilt and then adding a color opposite that on the color wheel. The binding is straight cut with pieced 1" rainbow solid pieces added randomly.

Challenge: I had never made a quilt entirely from solids- ever.

Quilting: meandering, center pinwheels, spaced 1" linear quilting at inner and outer borders.

Title: Out of the Blue- I had one pinwheel remaining after I designed the front, and fittingly, I placed it on the back surrounding it with a rainbow frame. The pinwheel was blue, hence the title of the quilt. In addition, while I was designing and quilting there were terrible natural disasters occurring all over the world, (Japan, Alabama, Mississippi) and they all occurred, out of the blue, as well. Just something for me to think about……..