Ever since I saw Becky Golsdsmith's "Everyday Best" from "Quilts in a Spin" written by her and Linda Jenkins in 2005 I wanted to make a scrap quilt using only spotted fabric.
I knew it would be bright since the market is flooded with saturated coloured spots currently so it seemed like a good time to do it. I now have a drawer especially for spots.
I drew up what I hope is an original design. So far so good. Then I realised I couldn't be as single-minded as I had planned. I had to let stripes into the club. I wish I had taken a photo of my first few blocks. It was a turbulent combination, it would have made you dizzy.
Then I decided to use only warm stripes and cool spots. Things were starting to look up. A few more blocks down the road they still felt chaotic and would have produced a grade 3 headache. The club needed a dress code and eventually the quilt calmed down. Well relatively so, to the point where only sunglasses are required.
According to my new challenge, (see sidebar if you haven't been following) a small amount of the blue fabric was added after the blocks were complete. I didn't feel like any more stitch unpicking on this quilt.
This quilt was meant to be 64 blocks, not 36. Partly because I didn't have enough of the first sashing I spent days auditioning a second sashing. In my mind it was going to be red and white, or black and white. See what I got. Maybe I will add a border. It was never in the design though.
The final product is not what I envisioned when I started out. The outcome was not what I had planned...
...a little like life.
By the way, if there is anyone out there who can give simple step1, step2 type instructions on how to move my sidebar gadgets into a nicer order, please take pity on me and send some advice. My latest gadget just wants to star in the show.
14 comments:
This is very colorful and cheery, Liz. Love a good dose of color for the bleak northern january.
I have experienced the same as you. Trying out your my ideas and designs can be fun or challenging. Some design ideas don't turn out as I envisioned. Several changes, and new ideas later, a lot is learned. Sometimes the quilts grow on me, sometimes they don't. But with quilting I believe in learning by doing...
; )
Does this mean that the warm dots and cool stripes will languish in the box? Or perhaps another quilt? I like this process so much better than following a pattern all ingraved in stone down to the fabric and sewing order.
There is a good tutorial here for moving your gadgets around:
http://mombloggersplanet.com/blog-with-blogspot-move-gadget/
You need to go to your dashboard, then click design, then follow the instructions given. Hope that helps. Feel free to pm me with any more questions!
Nice spots btw :-)
I think it's FANTASTIC! Your colors flow very nicely and the design is "sew" cool. Did you paper piece it? I also have started many a quilt with good intentions only to end up with a very nice wallhanging!
Liz,
I think the quilt came out great! I like it when there are surprises in the end. It keeps the whole process interesting.
Looks good Liz, very good. Enjoyed our day, thanks so much...just worked two days so am looking forward to some stitching tomorrow. Am eager to consolidate the method and get it wedged in my head....then I can start seeing its potential.
Lind
Glad the tutorial worked out for you! No need to appologise for writting on my blog, i ♥ comments!
The pie was amazeballs by the way, I heartily recommend it!
I have just bought Mary Mashuta's Stripes in Quilts. Your wonderful quilt could have gone in her book! I'm sure I'll be referring to it for inspiration.
quiltfever.wordpress.com
The end result is great. You should be very happy with it even if it wasn't exactly what you envisioned at the start.
How much of that challenge fabric do you have? I'm wondering how many quilts you are planning for 2011.
Your revisions resulted in a beautiful quilt Liz!! Adding the stripes really made this pop IMHO :0)
Crispy
This is a beautiful quilt! I like the effect of alternating groups of warm and cool colors. Perfect sashing too!
I love your quilt a lot and the sharing of the process was like peeking into the brain to see why you made changes.
What a wonderful quilt! Does a design on paper ever translate perfectly to fabric? I always end up changing something. You should be very happy with it.
I commented earlier on your wonderful spots and stripes as quiltalina. Does this blogger ID give my contact info?
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