A Juicy, Fruity Modular Maze Quilt

The sun is out and the weather is warming up, so what better way to celebrate spring and the impending arrival of summer with a warm, happy, juicy fruity version of my Modular Maze quilt??

(p.s. You can find this pattern in my shop!)

I made this mini quilt for this month’s Aurifil Artisan challenge and after a rocky start, I’m so pleased with the result. I received 5 Kaffe Fassett fat quarters from Free Spirit Fabrics to use in my project and honestly…I was stumped for a while. I admire Kaffe’s artwork but have never used his fabric in my own quilts before, and these oranges and yellows are very much not a color palette I generally find myself drawn to.

So…what to do? I considered several ideas and even asked some quilty friends for their thoughts, but finally the answer became obvious — a maze quilt! Except this time, instead of using the print as the tiny maze lines, I would use them in the background where the prints and colors would be a bit more apparent.

I chopped my FQs up into strips, and kept them in order to make it easy to just pull a new strip from the bin as I worked on my foundation paper pieced blocks. I thought about using white for the skinny maze lines, but it seemed too stark — too much of a contrast — so I switched over to this peachy color and really liked the more muted effect.

I’ll be the first to admit that making these blocks can get a little tedious, but here’s a tip: batch sewing or “chain pieceing” foundation paper pieced blocks can help the process go a bit faster! I grab anywhere from 3-6 templates and sew them all at the same time — I’ll sew pieces 1 and 2 onto all of the templates, then trim them all, then press them all. I repeat this process again and again until the whole batch is done. It doesn’t sound like much, but it really does speed things up a bit vs. sewing one block at a time.

Once I had all my blocks, it was time to play with the layout. The really fun and rather unique thing about my Modular Maze pattern is that the blocks can be oriented in any direction — up, down, left, right — and they will still match up with the neighboring blocks. That means there are literally hundreds of possibilities!

With my quilt top complete, it was time for some fun with my favorite Aurifil threads. The background fabrics were so colorful and busy that I had originally planned to use a 50 wt beige thread to avoid any competition with the fabrics. But the more I thought about it, the more I wanted to just go all in on the color and texture of this little quilt. 12 wt thread was the answer!

I picked 7 different colors out of my collection and got to work. Unfortunately, my sewing machine was NOT happy at first, and I kept getting skipped stitches and thread breaks. I was using a size 90 universal needle, which I have used before with 12 wt thread without issue! (I had 40 wt thread in the bobbin.) But something about this quilt — perhaps all the seams and associated bulk? — was causing huge headaches.

After scouring my supply drawer, I finally found a single size 100 needle to try and voila! Increasing the needle size was all I needed, and both my sewing machine and I were much happier from then on. (And you can bet I’ve already ordered more size 100 needles for future quilting with this thicker 12 wt thread.)

For the backing, I found a fun orange print in my stash that was in one of my QuiltCon goodie bags a year or two ago. Parties on the front AND back of this quilt! As with my original Modular Maze quilt, I chose to finish this mini with a facing so that the maze lines appear to run off the edge of the quilt.

Despite being stumped by the fabrics at first, this turned into a mini quilt that I absolutely love — in fact, I might like this one even more than the original!! It’s just so vibrant and full of texture thanks to the combination of maximalist prints and chunky, rich thread.

The stats:

• Measures 24″ x 24″.
• Fabrics are by Kaffe Fassett for Free Spirit Fabrics.
• Pieced with Aurifil 50 wt thread in #2000 (Light Sand).
• Quilted with Aurifil 12 wt thread in #2420 (Light Blush), 2530 (Blossom Pink), 2395 (Pumpkin Spice), 2277 (Light Red Orange), 2115 (Lemon), 2975 (Brass), and 2132 (Tarnished Gold).