There was a quilt challenge going on recently called “The Modern Solids Challenge”. A number of fantastic and well known quilters were selected to participate in the challenge.  I enjoyed seeing the quilts that these talented individuals made using the same box of Modern Solids. Today I cast my vote in the challenge for the quilt created by Lee from Freshly Pieced.

(photograph from the Freshly Pieced web site)

 You can see her blog entry about her quilt here where you will find more pictures including a nice photograph of the Modern Solids box, which is no longer available. I want one!

All of the quilts were incredibly fantastic. They all deserved to win. I almost voted for the quilt from Fresh Lemons. I loved that one too. It might come down to who has the most exposure and the most fans who are willing to draw attention to their work.

I really do love this quilt from Fresh Lemons too. I think that the reason I voted for the one from Freshly Pieced is that it didn’t have negative space. I am not opposed to negative space, mind you, and I think it is very well used here. There is just a tiny part of me that prefers and overall symmetrical design. It is very subjective.

After looking at all of the quilts again before voting, and voting for the Freshly Pieced quilt, I moseyed on over to Lee’s web site and noticed that the pattern for her quilt entry to the challenge is on sale as a pattern for the low price of $4.99. I had never bought a downloadable pattern. I’ve downloaded relatively few free patterns, actually. And I think that I have bought all of ONE quilt pattern in hard copy format from a quilt store.

I like to buy books, and I am more of a do-it-yourselfer than a follower. it is very unlike me to want to make someone else’s quilt. But I liked this one so much, and the price was right, so I thought, “Why not?” And I bought it.

Besides, if I am ever going to create patterns myself for sale, and I probably will, it makes some sense to see what they look like.