OMG February: Complete! (plus a quilt at QuiltCon)

Besides the lovely OMG challenge, which keeps me committed to completing some part of at least one project per month, I had extra incentive this month! My goal was to bind a quilt that I'd recently finished, and I needed to do so because it would be hanging in a booth at QuiltCon! Here is the finished quilt, with completed binding. 

"Hashtag"

A little background on the quilt: 

I wanted to design a quilt using hashtags because of how much IG has become a part of the quilting world. After settling on the actual hashtag look, I played around with the two different background colors, which I think really enhance the design. 

The key to making the design work was to have four different shades of each color for the hashtags. Easier said than done. I had six or seven to choose from for each hashtag (red, yellow, green and blue), and even after I'd selected the top four and stitched a sample block, I realized that I'd have to go back to the drawing board on a few. (Incidentally, these mistakes worked out well, because I also gave a demo at QuiltCon about creating quilts with the illusion of 3D and how shading played into that, so I had examples of what not to do!)

My initial attempts; the only block that didn't have at least one color swapped out after making these was the red.

Once I settled on the colors and completed the top, it was beautifully quilted by my friend Diane Oakes. I love the combination of the patterns she used in it, even down to the detail of the loop-de-loops along the outer edge!

The quilting from the back:

A side view so we can all enjoy the texture provided by the quilting a little more:

Here is the quilt in the Paintbrush Studio booth. The quilt uses their soft and silky smooth Painter's Palette Solids, which I love working with (168 colors!). The pattern for the Hashtag quilt was given away as a prize to attendees; you can download it here. 

Me with the quilt: 

I didn't submit anything to QuiltCon this year, but after walking the show, I am going to next year! For now, however, having a quilt hanging in a booth at the show was pretty cool! 

And, just for fun, when I originally designed the quilt, I also created a version in a different colorway. Here it is: