WIP Wednesday - Back Assward Daylilies

Daylily Daze as left me a little dazed. What else can explain doing a WIP post about a quilt that has already been finished? But seriously, where this one lived in the QPP (Quilting Protection Program) for so long, I really couldn't share much about it in progress.

Where to begin? I wish I could remember just how the idea to make this quilt came to me, but alas, I can't. Daylilies + Kona. That's likely where it started. If you're not familiar with daylilies, you're missing out. There are thousands upon thousands of varieties, each one seemingly more beautiful that the last. So many colour palettes to choose from!

Are you in love yet? You should be. But I digress. Back to the quilting part. After taking/finding pics, the next step was to run some of these blooms through the amazing Palette Builder @ Play Crafts.

Instead of just letting the Kona colour card chips fall where they may, I shifted the colour sample points to only appear on the blooms. I also made palettes with eight colours instead of the default six.

I also made sure that each colour sample point gave me a unique Kona. I didn't want any repetition in the block. As I created each palette, I saved it to my computer with a number. Then I opened a Word file and printed them.

There was a lot of note taking and highlighting as I worked on this one.
 So much Kona... ♥♥♥
I laid the cut squares on top of the daylily pics and used the list of Konas as a checklist.

When all the squares were cut (i.e. all the colours checked off), I popped them in a labeled mini ziptop bag.

 

When a block was sewn, I pulled the label off the bag and transferred it to the block.

Let's not pretend that all 103 colours I used were in my stash. There was at least one trip to the LQS (and some mooching from my pal Anja @ Anja Quilts!). As you can see, my trusty notebook went with me!

I played with the layout... first putting them in numerical order (1 to 30), then creating other number patterns. Finally I moved them about to give better colour distribution. 

 If you're looking for it, the Zissertwin block is centre stage on the bottom row! ☺

Time for some sashing! For the sashing, I knew I wanted greens, so off I went to the Palette Builder again. This time I shifted the colour sample points onto the foliage.

 Most were in my stash (yay for stashes!), but I did have to pop to my LQS for a few. 

 I cut all those lovely greens into 2½ inch strips, then subcut them into 10½, 8½, and 6½ inch segments. Then I used my skills from making Endless Strip quilts and sewed them into one long piece.

I sewed the vertical sashing first, chain piecing the blocks to the endless green strip. Then I cut the blocks and sashing apart and sewed each row to the strip. It's this technique that makes the sashing look woven in places.

  The same endless green strip was used for borders (it really was endless!)

But it needed more weight. Enter a second border! Then layering, quilting in wavy lines, and binding. Nothing too revolutionary about that...

Phew! That was a lot of WIP for one post. Are you feeling like you want to make one of these? It doesn't have to be dayliles. It could be anything. The possibilities are endless. I'm thinking of my Hawaii vacation pics next. Please leave me a comment telling me what collection of pics you'd give the Palette Builder treatment to!

I'm linking up with Let's Bee Social @ Sew Fresh Quilts and (retro-actively) with Tips and Tutorials Tuesdays @ Late Night Quilter This may not be a full on tutorial, but I feel like you'd have a great start if you wanted to make one of your own! (And I hope you'll link up with me or drop me an e-mail if you do!)

J