UGH. You guys, I am sick of working on this project again! I finished the blocks I was working on last week but it was such a chore coming up with a layout. I really hate that I made 5 or 6 versions of each block in the exact same, or nearly the same fabrics, even though I thought that was a feature of the inspiration quilt that I liked and deliberately wanted to replicate when I was starting out. I have begun mixing some stash fabrics in with the matchy-matchy Tilda prints, but it's not making me love it or anything.
I find myself wishing this was two (or more) separate quilts. I love a double 9-patch quilt with a white background and it would be pretty to have a rainbow version with each block a different dominant color. The other blocks where I didn't use any white fabric, or very little white fabric, have a much heavier feel. But I've made 42 of these 9" blocks already, enough for a 54" x 63" throw quilt with a 6x7 layout, and I feel like enough already. Time to wrap this up and move on!
This is the best I could do on the layout, trying not to put identical blocks too close together if I could help it (sometimes I couldn't) and trying to balance out white background, lacy 9-patch blocks with the darker, not-enough-contrast blob blocks as best I could. This is what we are dealing with:
 |
| 54 x 63 (S)Crappy Celebration Layout |
Checking value distribution in gray scale just to be sure:
 |
| Same Photo, in Gray Scale |
Then I went to my EQ8 software to see whether adding sashing and cornerstones would improve the quilt at all:
 |
| Virtual Trial in EQ8 of 1 inch Sashing |
And again, checking the effect in gray scale:
 |
| Same Idea, in Gray Scale |
Meh. If anything, the sashing makes this quilt look less cohesive than it did before. Since sashing is more fabric and more work, and I'm not loving the mockup, I'm not doing it. Too bad, because it will be a pain in the butt to deal with all the seams and seam allowances of these blocks sewing them directly to one another with no buffer and no planning ahead to ensure seam allowances will nest.
And yet, in the interest of Goals and Objectives and Having Something to Show For Myself, I plan to sew these stupid blocks into a quilt top, maybe even this week. Wouldn't THAT be something?!
Meanwhile, back at the ranch...
I made a little bit of a start on the next block for Stonefields, called "Cora's Surprise Block." I'm supposed to make three of them, and I have puzzled out a game plan for myself since the pattern (by Susan Smith) gives you line drawings but very little in the way of instructions. I'll needle turn appliqué the star to my background like I did for a similar earlier block for this quilt, but I decided to machine piece the cross in the center first and then make a circle appliqué out of the pieced unit:
 |
| A Plan and a Start on Stonefields Block 30 "Cora's Surprise" |
After piecing and pressing the cross unit, I flipped it over and graded the seam allowances to reduce the bulk that I will need to turn to create smooth curves around the circle. I think I'll use a rolled piece of painter's tape to secure the fabric to my heat resistant plastic circle template while I'm turning those edges with starch and with my iron, to ensure the template remains centered on the cross and doesn't slide out of position. Stay tuned for that.
Oh, and I trimmed the corners off the seam allowance bits at the center of the cross for no good reason at all, just felt like it.
 |
| Seam Allowances Graded After Piecing to Facilitate Turning Later |
Like I said, there are supposed to be three of these blocks in the quilt. Not sure whether I will make the first one in its entirety before moving on to the others or if I'll piece all three center cross units first, then prep all the circles and all the stars, etc. I only have a vague idea of what the other fabrics for this first block will be and haven't pulled any fabrics for the other two at all yet. No huge rush to finish Stonefields; these blocks are little treats to fiddle with.
 |
| Foldy Stuff Pineapples Quilt UFO, Coming Soon... |
Also, anyone remember this inherited UFO that I posted about here last September? My mother-in-law made these pineapple log cabin blocks in the late 1990s using Donna Poster's "Foldy Stuff" method. I think I'll set them with 1" sashing so the thick 1/2" seam allowances of the blocks can just butt up to one another behind the sashing instead of having to be pressed open or to one side. That will yield a 49" x 59" lap quilt, perfect for my niece's young daughter (the great-granddaughter of my MIL). Not sure how I'll quilt it yet but it will make for a satisfying finish. Couldn't bear to give the blocks away or donate them when I found them in my late MIL's closet. Maybe this pineapple quilt could be my One Monthly Goal for August? At least assembling the blocks into a quilt top?
Home Renovation Update: So Close, But So Far Away! There was an installation error with the kitchen countertops that we are hoping can get resolved next week without ripping out cabinets and backsplash etc. But the exterior painting is finished and finishing touches are happening in other places -- the end is in sight; it's just slightly out of reach still! Thank goodness I can hide out in my sewing room and self-soothe with fabric therapy while the clanking and banging and sanding and drilling continue upstairs, day after day...
I'm linking up with some of my favorite linky parties:
MONDAY
Design Wall Monday at Small Quilts and Doll Quilts
Monday Musings at Songbird Designs
TUESDAY
To-Do Tuesday at Quilt Schmilt
WEDNESDAY
Wednesday Wait Loss at The Inquiring Quilter
FRIDAY
Finished or Not Friday at Alycia Quilts
Off the Wall Friday at Nina Marie Sayre
Beauty Pageant at From Bolt to Beauty
TGIFF Thank Goodness It’s Finished Friday, rotates, schedule found here: TGIF Friday
SATURDAY
Scrap Happy Saturday at So Scrappy
SUNDAY
Frédérique at Quilting Patchwork Appliqué
Slow Stitching Sunday at Kathy's Quilts
Oh Scrap! at Quilting Is More Fun Than Housework
No comments:
Post a Comment