Monday, December 30, 2013

Struggling with Design....How to Finish a Top that Didn't Quite Live up to Expectations....


I've been back in my sewing room, continuing my work with "found blocks."  This morning, I decided to concentrate on this:




These blocks were started last August.....as you can see from the photo above, I was struggling with whether or not to sash them and what color to use.  The pinks, all of which actually look OK together when you just stack them up next to each other, were just fighting each other and the greys on my design wall.  I just couldn't seem to get a layout that I liked.  I tried it without sashing, but this time I alternated the center brown blocks so there was at least some symmetry to the layout. I swear those browns looked almost identical in value when I was using them, but obviously one of them is significantly darker than the other.

 
Today I bit the bullet and decided that a rich, small-print brown with white would serve for the sashing strips.  Now I'm contemplating whether to add a gray border or not; I'm looking to make this a tad larger; right now it's 49 x 64; I'll probably take it up to 60 x 74, which will make a nice lap-sized quilt.
 
 


Have you ever started a quilt with pretty concrete notions and a good sense of confidence as to what you wanted, and had it "go south" on you?  I was determined to make this quilt from my stash, and use grey, brown and pink variations.    I found fat quarters, a few solids, some scraps, and some minimal yardage.  The block pattern is from Creative Sewlutions; it's Dee Moore's "Dupont Circle". 

I keep trying to push my boundaries away from "safe" and "matchy-matchy".....I guess this is an example of an exercise that turned out "all right" but doesn't necessarily have me overwhelmed with delight......but I'm happy I was able to rescue it and it will make a nice lap napping quilt for someone.

Have a good day....sometimes you just have to keep on keeping on.....these blocks aren't sitting in a drawer anymore!  That's a good thing....

Kathy

2 comments:

Diane-crewe said...

I OFTEN start with a firm idea .. that trickles away and I end up with something entirely different!! I just go with it .. and give away the ones I am not so fond of ... there is ALWAYS someone who falls in love with them .. or they go in a raffle!! Have a great New Year and hopefully find a project that WILL behave x

Teresa in Music City said...

Yep, it's happened to me too! I remember the first time it happened - my DIL's quilt, my first year quilting. I had the perfect pattern, perfect fabrics, it was going to be.... well, perfect :) Until it wasn't. The blocks sat on the design wall like a big fat blob of fabrics with no rhyme or reason! It took several days of my husband and me looking at it and trying to figure out some way to salvage it. We did eventually come up with an excellent solution, but I can still remember that awful feeling of working happily on a quilt and suddenly realizing near the end that it just wasn't working - ugh!!!

I really like your blocks - that's a striking design! My computer doesn't show me the colors as well as I'd like, but those pinks really sparkle :*) Congratulations on finishing it up and not stuffing it in a box somewhere to be forgotten! Someone is going to love this quilt :*)