There is an off season challenge for Project Quilting. PQ, as you may recall is the brainchild of Kim Lapacek and her evil genius Mother-in-Law Diane. Fortunately, the off-season challenges go for an entire month instead of just one week! This year the dynamic duo has teamed up with Cherrywood Fabrics to drive us all over the quilty edge! Their plan: create a batch of rainbow colored hand dyed fabrics and have us choose only one each month. Then we have to be inspired by the block design they choose. The final quilt must read as one color. It must be precisely 20 inches on each side. It must have a hanging sleeve. And it all has to be done in one month.
When I heard the block for this month was Monkey Wrench, I immediately thought of the slick rock of Canyon Lands. I had the great fortune the camp and hike there in my youth. It was the perfect time and place for reading Edward Abbey. In particular, it was the perfect time for reading "The Monkey Wrench Gang". It tells the stories of a band of eco warriors (before there was such a thing) led by George Hayduke. Hayduke is a beer drinking, Jeep driving, wilderness surviving sabateur with grand plans to blow up the Hoover Dam.
Of course, my quilt this month had to be orange, although my stash was more driving into Vegas neon than sunrise on the slick rock orange. I used the log cabin blocks to represent the order imposed upon the environment by the developers Hayduke so despised. The quilting is done is straight orderly lines as well. The monkey wrench block represents the disruption caused by the Monkey Wrench gang. The blue color represents the water in the rivers that Hayduke wanted to set free.
The quilt measures 20 x 20 inches. It is made of quilter's cotton. It is machine pieced machine quilted with invisible thread (a new thing for me). The binding is machine stitched and hand secured.
Great story and great finished piece! I am really enjoying the challenge!
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