Teal Tuesday

On Snowflake Day, I made a snowflake. But only one.

The remaining free time of the cold, windy day was spent on a special WIP, one I wasn't sure I'd ever finish.


Years ago, I bought a specific charm pack in a sealed plastic bag because I loved the fabric on the top. The collection was advertised as teal, and teal is the ribbon color for ovarian cancer. My very dear friend Shonna was going through chemo in the first of three separate valiant battles that began with ovarian cancer. Three years later, her tragic battle finally ended. Although I did make a quilt for Shonna before she died, the mini teal charms got put away.

A few months after I first joined the Ravelry quilt WIP challenge group a couple of years ago, I dug out every single quilt project I've started but never finished in the last 30 or so years to make a complete list, and I rediscovered the teal blocks.

I collected all my teal scraps and requested teal fat quarter rewards in the Ravelry challenge. After my first couple of teal fat quarter rewards arrived, I cut a few more charms from all the teals in my stash.

A few months later, I picked up three clearance shades of gorgeous Toscana, and two of them harmonized perfectly with my teal charms! So I began working on an illusion quilt.

When I opened the still-sealed mini charm pack (not realizing they were minis until I got them up next to the charm squares I'd cut), I was horrified to see some of the mini charms were not only ugly, but not even teal. Plus, my blocks were two different sizes!

So away the project went again.


Last summer I bought fabric for two new dresses. However, I had gotten serious about finishing quilts for all my nieces and nephews, and all personal projects got set aside. After delivery of the last batch of completed Christmas presents, I decided I could make something for me once again. I made my peacock dress, hoping to have a tiny bit left over I could incorporate into the teal quilt.

I then decided I needed to finish another quilt top before I could make another dress. My original plan was to finish The Cool Side of the Rainbow. It needs only two more rounds of jelly roll strip borders. As I set aside fabric to cut more jelly roll strips, I stumbled upon the teal Toscana one more time, and I changed my mind. I thought Teal Time would be a fun top to finish next, and I had a new idea for the varied-size charms. I decided to alternate them in a checkerboard style.






I didn't use any of the hideous blocks from the original package, and I ended up using leftovers from some of my favorite dresses, as well as a few scraps left over from Heart Strings.

Teal Time is still just a flimsy at this point, but I learned last year it's easier for me to finish up a bunch of flimsies than a bunch of unfinished quilt tops when I'm short on time.






I still have a few more completed teal illusion blocks, and I'm thinking they might be awesome incorporated into the back. So the back may be just as pieced as the front. I'm really excited about that because I just love the way this top looks!


Linking up with Crazy Mom Quilts and Confessions of a Fabric Addict.

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