Choosing the colors for my patchwork was really hard. It definitely tested my ability to pull fabrics and colors together that were not already part of a line. I went waaaay too bright with my first round of patchwork. After being incredibly disheartened by how bad it looked, I regrouped and went with softer colors. They still provide enough pop, without being overwhelming.
Side note, most of the time pictures tend to mute the true colors of a quilt, hence the reason for photo editing. This is the one time in my life where pictures make a quilt look brighter. The whole thing is actually much more muted in person. Weird.
Anyway, after conquering the patchwork, I was again puzzled by the storm at sea blocks. The problem I discovered was that I had too many options, too many prints I wanted to include, and too many colors to work with. I really should have tried to do the whole quilt from a specific line of fabric. Once I began to simplify the block and the color choices, I was re-energized. This is block number one. All four will be different, so hopefully in the next few days I will have the rest finished for show and tell.
I have also learned during this process, that I am not comfortable with warm colors. I love buying fabric in shades of pinks/reds/oranges, I get freaked out when I use them in quilts. It never looks as perfect, placid, or comforting to me as it would if it were made out of cool colors. I was really trying to break that feeling with this quilt, but it is definitely haunting me a little.
In my spare time (cause that exists) I have been paper piecing the star blossom that Rachel created. Hers was stretched wall art, but I plan to make 4 (four!?!...eventually) and put them in frames in my living room. Here is the progress on blossom number one.
And thats all for now. Back to the grind!
Looks great. I love how your storm at sea blocks are turning out. Did you paper piece it? I am taking a quick break this week to visit family, so the appliqué dog wood border will have to wait to next week.
ReplyDeleteYour work is beautiful. I love the brought colors, but again I tend to choose bright warm colors. I haven't barely started any of my projects for the class. I went back to work and have had no extra time. I am too tired at night to do any hand stitching. I do enjoy seeing your progress.
ReplyDeleteSo what if you're behind?! (I've made 2 retro flower blocks - that's how behind I am!!) - your progress is brilliant! I love hearing all your thoughts too and it's interesting to push yourself trying different colours and mixing fabrics. The Star blossom is beautiful!
ReplyDeleteI'm so much more behind than you - I just skipped EPP to get everything caught up!
ReplyDeleteIt's all looking beautiful, the patchwork blocks really set off the centre well. If you're handpiecing all those blocks, I'd say that you're making huge progress! I hand pieced some blocks for my husband's quilt, and they took forever!
ReplyDeleteYour colors are balanced very nicely on your quilt. The handstitched blocks show up well too. Nice job.
ReplyDeleteI love all the bright colours in this :o)
ReplyDeleteOh, but your Storm at Sea came out great! Funny, I always gravitate towards using warm colors. When I do use cool colors, I usually feel "well, I've done that exact color scheme before". Funny, I don't feel that way with warm colors, though it's probably true.
ReplyDeleteReally, behind??? Well, if you're behind...I'm in big trouble!!! You are way a head of me. I understand about the color scheme. It's very difficult because we want it to turn out to our liking! I hate putting in a lot of hours on a project and not liking it. I'm going to add my patchwork on Sunday and I'm a bit nervous to see how it will turn out. You did a great job.
ReplyDeleteMegan, Your quilt is coming along awesome! I love how the colors look, you have nothing to worry about! Being behind... I haven't even started yet!
ReplyDeleteI really love how your star block is coming together, just keep going! It'll look great on the wall framed or not:)
Umm....I am really behind. I'm still doing the jewels. Haven't even contemplated the EPP. And I thought I'd be able to make two of them, one for each of my girls. Ha!
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