Color My World Show and Tell Part One

What a great idea—those rose photos would make great puzzles!!!

I'm tired of talking about my projects for next week. Let's just say that symmetry or lack thereof has thrown me for a loop this morning, and I think I'll be making a trip to the fabric store. And that's all I'm going to say about that. 

Let's discuss Color My World. Someone asked me yesterday if they had missed the photos, and NO—with all the commotion going on, I totally forgot I was going to post the completed quilt tops. 

Plus I need to post the dates of the new classes. I won't do that today, but let's have a look at the Color My World quilts. 

The original four corner buildings were the Eiffel Tower (Paris), Centerpoint Tower (Sydney, Australia), Big Ben (London), and One World Trade (New York). 

Color My World by Wendy Williams

Right from the beginning, when I showed some other examples, the participants got excited about changing the four buildings in the corners and wanted to switch some or all of them out. It became an obsession in the class. Every month, I "nagged" them about making the choices for those four corners IF they were going to swap them out. If they were happy with the pattern, then they didn't have to worry. 

If they did decide to swap them out, they needed to start thinking about finding a pattern source. OOOPS -- since those corner blocks are so oddly shaped, they would have to draft their own patterns. This sent some into a tizzy, and others took the challenge head on! 

We chatted about perspective, shape, proportion, design, methods of creating patterns, and so on. It was quite the challenge, and I think almost everyone decided to do something different, at least in one corner. 

I believe three people in the group had started this quilt when it ran as the Block of the Month with The Quilt Show back in 2021, but they never completed it. 

Without further ado, let's see what we have. Keep in mind, this is only a small portion of the quilts. Others are close to completion; they are working on the final corners, and I'm not going to include them until they are done. So consider this Part One.

They are in alphabetical order from my list. 

All four corners were customized on this one. A lighthouse, an elevator, and the other two are machine embroidered - wheat sheaves and prairie lilies! 

Bonnie

Note that all the windows are the same color. This made it easy to cut the houses as you didn't have to find that extra color for them! And the center blocks on the outer row were changed into parks, and I love how the big tree emphasizes the compass points. The four corners are the CN Tower, a church, a mountain scene, and the building where this person and her husband met.

Brenda

Three corners in this quilt were changed. The four corners are the Eiffel Tower, the CN Tower, the Peace Tower (Ottawa), and a tree with the night sky behind it. Some people chose to create buildings or scenes specific to their lives, and others wanted emblems of Canada. 

Carole

Lots of Canadian symbols in this one - a totem pole, an Inukshuk, a lighthouse, and the CN Tower. I wish I could share close-ups of all the unique blocks! That would fill another blog post - perhaps if there is enough interest, I might do that! 

Cathy

Lots more Canadian symbols in this quilt. We had one session where we brainstormed different ideas, mostly Canadian-themed ideas, and some came up with other great ideas on their own. This one has a lighthouse, the Big Nickel, the Peace Tower, and the CN Tower. The Big Nickel wasn't on our collective list, but is important to this person! I just love how everyone dove in and fit patterns into that wonky block shape. 

Cloe

This next person had to make some decisions right at the start! She has split the background in half - so we have night and day on the outer ring and seasonal on the inner ring. And then when she did the applique for the trees on the inner circle, she made all kinds of different shapes, and she made those trees seasonal!! The four corners are CN Tower, a lighthouse, Malahat Skywalk, and a grain elevator. Just keeping the background colors in order would have been a huge task! 

Darlene

I forgot to mention that people used all kinds of colors in the center compass as well. I love the fact that they encouraged each other, or perhaps it was peer pressure, to do things differently. Once they got started, there was no stopping them!! The outer buildings are the CN Tower, the Eiffel Tower, Big Ben, and a hand- and machine-stitched Tower of Pisa! 

Elaine C

Although this one isn't stitched together, I'm including it because all the blocks are laid out. I am especially proud of this person's work. She was one of the people who started the quilt with The Quilt Show. The inner ring to the second black road was complete. She had stalled at the outer buildings. I asked her why she didn't continue, and it was all about the four corners. I ensured that she got the encouragement she needed to make the decisions. Sometimes, making the decisions is harder than the actual work. 

Well, she blew me out of the water with her choices and how she assembled them. She has a Peace Tower, a totem pole on the land, with a whale swimming in the water, the CN Tower, and an Inukshuk. 

Elaine M

A different background style with small birds. I have forgotten to mention the outer border. Some decided NOT to put the border on, and others chose to put a border of a different color and size on the outside. Another way the quilts were customized was the roads. Notice there are no lines on these roads - just one color of fabric. 

The small houses in the outer row are customized, as are the trees. The four corners are a lighthouse, CN Tower, grain elevator, and a totem pole. 

Elizabeth

I'll finish off with this one today (running out of time), but there are still eight more to chat about, and there might be a new one completed and posted in our private Facebook Group. I'll talk about the other eight tomorrow. 

This person decided that after the outer road, she was done! She didn't need another big quilt, and it fits perfectly on her round table. This one is quilted and bound! 

Katheleen

What I love is that everyone did their own thing on making this quilt. From using a busy print for the background, to different fabric choices in various spots, eliminating the detail in the roads, customizing the blocks, making their patterns, changing the trees, and so much more! I could NOT be prouder of the group for their accomplishment!!! 

We ended the final class with a discussion about quilting because it is better to have the quilt quilted than to wait for someone to custom-quilt the darn thing. 

So stay tuned for the next round of pictures tomorrow. 

To finish off today, I have two more pictures to share. It's all about that darn jigsaw puzzle I'm working on. I always pull a bunch of pieces relative to the area I'm working on. Most jigsaw puzzles dictate how they need to be assembled. This one was top down. Those trees were a challenge, and I got stuck and thought I would never finish. But I managed to find a home for almost all the pieces I had pulled, but there were still a few holes. 

At last - progress on the puzzle

Before I put the design boards back on top of the puzzle to avoid temptation today, I pulled the next set of pieces. Well, this part looks easy, so I had to put some of it together last night. But then I said, STOP —this will be something to look forward to tonight! I have five nights to finish it - that should not be an issue. 

Oops - got a head start on tonight's part.

And on that happy note, I'm out of here. I have a lot of work to do again - but it's all coming together. I have multiple projects that now need some finishing. I still have a bit more machine embroidery to do, but I might take a break today and finish all the small things. Then I can go back to machine embroidery. 

Have a super day!!!

Ciao!!!