This is one of my favorite time of the year. When everything is just newly green. Just a few weeks ago there was no leaves in the trees and the fields looked dull. I particularly like it when the sky is cloudy, but still bright. The green looks even more saturated.

One day, I will make a out a quilt out of gray and green fabrics. In the meantime, I got to do a block with those colors and some other vibrant colors. Do you know about QuiltCon? It is a conference organized by the Modern Quilt Guild that will be held next February in Austin, Texas. See their website for all the info. They are organizing a block challenge. This is a way for all participants to express what modern quilting means to them. The block has to be done in the colors of the QuiltCon logo, which are in four distinct color groups: hot orange, lemon-lime, sea & sky and cool neutrals (including white and grays) . See more details on this here. When I saw those colors, it was clear to me that if I was to participate in the challenge I would make the background in shades of grey using as proposed Kona Coal and Medium Grey.

Me and Cinzia from Deux Petites Souris decided to propose this challenge to the members of the Montreal MQG. We organized a Sew-In a couple of weeks ago. Unfortunately, there was only the two of us. Probably because it was one of those first sunny days in May or it might be because there was some quilt exhibitions organized by two other guilds from the Montreal region during that weekend. Anyway, we had a great time. Both of us worked on our block for the challenge exchanging on our design for this and other quilt projects. And just chatting on other matters while sewing.

I had this idea of placing 3 smaller blocks on a off-centered line and surounding them with grey, Coal on one side of the line and Medium Grey on the other. For the 3 blocks I wasn’t sure about what to do with them. I wanted to have 1 block for each of the remaining color group. Should I go for improvisational, log cabin or some traditional designs, I was wondering. I decided to do a pinwheel. I love when a traditional design is emphasized by only using a simple background. Cinzia suggested I surrounded each of those blocks with some white sashing. I thought it was a great idea. It made the smaller blocks stand out and their colors pop even more. So, here is what I came up with!

I think it really represent what modern quilting means to me. Even though I think modern quilting is about endless possibilities!