Amazing Labyrinth - January UFO

I have been working on this labyrinth quilt since 2012. I designed it after I first saw the Labyrinth Walk quilt pattern. I loved the idea, but that pattern has no entry/exit to the maze. I could not bear to the thought of making a maze quilt that had no route through it.  So I hunted up some mazes on google and found one I liked.

 I drafted it - first on graph paper, then painstakingly square by square in EQ.  Then, I had to convert it from squares into more reasonably sized pieces (I didn't want to piece a quilt that was all 2.5" squares - although in retrospect that might have been easier).

The pattern is available in my Etsy store.

Finding fabric for this was a challenge. Shops around here don't seem to like carrying the light end of the spectrum. I could find 3 med-to-dark fabrics that worked together, but finding a light in the same colour family proved impossible. Even the med-light in this quilt was hard to find. Eventually I just gave up and used a cream for the light fabric.

I pieced the backing from my stash. I had looked for something I liked, but a purple fabric was just too purple. I thought I bought a grey flannel for it at one point, but I used that for my Christmas quilts. So rather than spending yet more money, I decided to raid my stash and see what I could do. I figure people won't be seeing the backing very often anyway.

The fabric near the top is shades of purple, fading to teal and yellow - I thought it would look neat if the top of the quilt is folded back on itself.

The whole quilt is custom quilted. I picked a different design for each colour, in an effort to accentuate the 3-D effect (walls & floor of the maze).  Luck was with me - the only thread I had that was a good colour match was a single (partial) spool of a discontinued thread line.  I decided to chance it, because I didn't want to wait until I could get out to a store. Loaded, started quilting - and finished with only a few winds left on the spool!

I'll link this post up with Patchwork Times when the January UFO report goes up.  Also linking up with 18 in 2018