Now that I have shared my finished mini quilt with the design group that I created based on the inspiration photo of the rusting truck I shared in the Finding Design Inspiration post; I can share it here as well.
Inspiration photograph taken by Travis Seward @travlis
After considering the inspiration photo for a few weeks, I talked it over with my husband and decided to focus on the curves that start in the upper right-hand corner of the grill of the truck and echo up to the hood, window, and cab frame.
Fabric Selection: Kona Cotton Silver, orange and white cross weave, orange and yellow cross weave, maroon Denyse Schmidt solid
Once I had an idea, the next step I needed to take was to select my fabrics. I really love that the design group is pushing me to make use of the fabrics in my stash, but I was concerned that my idea to focus on the silvers of the grill/hood and truck rust was going to be hard to interpret. Once I allowed myself to really consider rust, I remembered how water dripping off of rust is orange. By adding orange into my selection process, I felt like I was able to make a really great selection to work with.
Cutting
After fabric selection, I moved straight into cutting the fabric. My first step was to get all the fabrics into roughly the same size, which was dictated by the smallest fabric in my selection (the dark maroon). Then I stacked all four fabrics on top of each other. I used a pencil to roughly plan out the curved shapes that inspired me in the photograph, but I cut the stack of fabrics freehand with my OLFA rotary cutter.
Rust Mini Quilt Pieced Top
Once the fabric was cut, it was a simple matter to mix and match the four groupings of four fabrics. The curves were gentle enough that I overlapped the fabrics and sewed without glue or pins. Due to the slight improvisational nature of the quilt, I knew that the blocks were going to be slightly different sizes. I squared up each block after it was done piecing and pressed my seams to interlock and match the center seam as nicely as possible for the final quilt top construction.
Rust Mini Quilt
I spent a few days considering how I wanted to quilt this piece. My first instinct was to use the grid of the grill as inspiration and to create an off-angle crosshatch. I was concerned that it would distract too much from the really fun mid-century vibe that the finished quilt top had, though.
Rust Mini Quilt
My friend Colleen @busybean and I were discussing how to quilt it, and she recommended that I give Procreate, an app that I could purchase and install on my iPad a try. I was able to take a quick snapshot of the quilt top and freehand sketch out different quilting ideas and turn the quilting layers on and off in the program which gave me a lot of confidence to move forward with my initial instinct.
Rust Mini Quilt
I used 50wt Aurifil 2235 (orange) to for the quilting, and it honestly blends in across the full range of colors better than I had hoped. The straight lines are spaced every 1½-inches and use the off angle lines of the maroon portion of the lower right hand block as the basis for the angle and spacing across the whole quilt.
Rust Mini Quilt
I bound the mini quilt, which finished at 22-inches wide by 34-inches tall using the only fabric that I had enough left to use: the orange/yellow cross weave. I added folded hanging tabs in the upper corners of the back, which were also very convenient to place my hands in as I crouched down behind the quilt and held it up for my husband to photograph.
Binding in the mountains outside of Bridgeport, CA
The backing of the quilt is Kona Silver. As we were passing through Government Camp, Oregon, just to the south of Mount Hood, I stopped by the post office to ship the Rust Mini Quilt off to a friend. I love making quilts, and I love it even more when they really speak to someone and find a good home!
Rust Mini Quilt
Looking back at the inspiration photograph, I am really pleased with what I was able to create based on its inspiration. I also really love how the colors in the Rust mini quilt really pop against the green forest backdrops in the areas we were in for a few days after I finished its binding.
Thank you for sharing! Love the design and the inspiration!
Wow! Everything about this quilt pattern, the colours, and the final quilting design is awesome! I love it!
I see the truck in every one of the pictures….I would have spend me time thinking about the grid….I like what you did with the curves and you still incorporated the grid with the quilting……very very nice!
Such a great interpretation of the inspiration photo! Love it!
A great concept from the inspirational photo!
Wonderful! I love the related shapes and the colors.
Your inspiration piece definitely appears in the quilt. Great job!
What a gorgeous quilt Yvonne! The colors are such a nice compliment to each other. That rust…what a tough color to use, but you did it with flair!
Oh my, what a gorgeous quilt!!
I love so much about this little one! The colors, the inspiration you took from the photo, that you basically ‘stack and whacked’, and the photos of the finish. What a nice result to the challenge.
Brilliant interpretation! I love that you used the dominant grid of the photo as the quilting motif.
I was at a loss when you showed the picture the first time. I do love what you came up with. Fun to see you binding by the wabi sabi! Looks like you are feeling quite comfortable.
I love the inspiration picture and the finished project, you can see the truck in the quilt if you know what the inspiration was! Beautiful as always! You looked so comfortable out there binding that in your chair in front of Wabi Sabi. I hope you are both enjoying your adventures while you are traveling, I’m wishing we could take a weekend away from our business I’m living vicariously though the two of you while you travel and through your pictures
Well done!! This is amazing. It’s a great interpretation.
What an fantastic interpretation of the elements from the original truck photo. I would have gotten stuck on the grill and found it hard to envision another approach but you really managed it beautifully. And quilting on the angle truly completed the whole concept perfectly. Well done.
That’s a great quilt. Thank you for sharing your design process, it’s very interesting. The scenery around your truck is beautiful.
Wonderful to read about the process you took to make this quilt and the result is spectacular. Your travels are giving you great backdrops for the quilts as well.
Too bad the inspiration truck wasn’t somewhere near you. That would have been a fun picture. I LOVE the color and texture of rusty things. I enjoyed reading your method of creation and it was fun seeing it come together. Oh, ALSO love your photography. Especially the bridge picture. Speaking of that, how does your husband hold your quilts up without his fingers showing? What’s going on behind that quilt???? 😀
They say rust never sleeps. I don’t think you do either! Or not the creativity bit of your brain anyway. The inspiration that drew you to this quilt is really brilliant. The quilting thread just sets it off, and I love the off centre straight lines. And of course, the photography just sets the scene. I love that you followed through with the brown and rust tones. Whereas there is nothing so “yuck” as a room full of brown carpet and furniture, I think brown is a very underrated colour. It has been badly maligned over the years. I love to see brown reinvented like this. Happy travels. x
What a pretty little quilt. The quilting is perfect for it also.
Thanks for sharing your inspiration and process. Your quilting choice was perfect! The settings for the photos look peaceful, too.
I love that orange and white cross weave! And I particularly love the shot of you sitting near the river hand binding away – bet that was pure bliss!
That is an amazing interpretation!!! LOVE how it turned out – and the places you were able to photograph it!!!
Love how it turned out.