Another great Basement day! Thanks to everyone for being good sports with
a new technique. I must also credit Judy
with the stacks of pre-cut telephone book foundations, too.
I had planned to work on some 15 minutes practice exercises
before the May meeting but, of course, I got busy and never got around to
it. I hoped that practicing would give
me some ideas for strategies. A couple of years ago, I made some improv wonky log cabin style blocks and they
were pretty disappointing. I couldn’t
decide why I didn’t like them, but I didn’t.
Here are some of them. They were about 12”. Sorry for the lousy pictures but this was a
late night photo shoot.
For Saturday’s sewing, I decided to use a random (lazy)
approach and, again, my blocks were disappointing. I should have learned from the examples Ruth
showed me the week before. She had a
very controlled set that used only about 5 fabrics. I thought if I used some muddy fabrics and
some brights, it would be a good combination (sort of the “give the eye a place
to rest” theory). In the end, I think
that the contrast of the different fabrics and values was distracting and using
one common fabric wasn’t enough to get a sense of continuity. These are the blocks I made Saturday. I trimmed them to 6” square.
Since these were uncontrolled and unplanned in every way, I
thought maybe I should cut 6” squares from the larger blocks. It’s only fabric, after all, and the larger
blocks weren’t going to get better without some sort of intervention.
I am not sure where I am headed with these. They may become the centers of some star
blocks, maybe with reds for the points and black on white prints for the
setting fabrics. I must be feeling the
influence of Wanda.
I hope to find the time to try another working session
before we meet again. This time, I will do
a fabric pull from my stash first then pick out scraps that coordinate with
them. I think I will use this Sassaman
scrap for inspiration. I picked it on Saturday
from our lovely table pile. I am also
pretty excited about all of the HSTs I scored from Dianne. I just couldn’t bear to see them go in the
dog bed bag.
Lori, I like your blocks. I think that when you start putting them together in a quilt you will find a way to make it all come together to your liking.
ReplyDeletePS. I don't always like my blocks either but I like my quilts.
Lori,
ReplyDeleteI'm glad you and Ruth expressed your feelings about your random blocks. I feel the same way.
I wondered if it was the number of fabrics I used in the over all block or the fabric I chose for continuity of the quilt or the setting I put the blocks in. I loved the setting Ruth chose for her blocks. I am wondering if I have overlooked the proportion of continuity fabric to random blocks. Maybe 50 50 or more. I would be interested in input since I have precious little time to experiment.
Lynn, I find that the blocks I like best are where I have repeated 1 or 2 of the fabrics sometimes more than once. So far what I like best is making blocks 5 to 6 inches trimmed. I am going to try some triangles on paper foundations after seeing Judy's. If you don't like what you have slice it and add to it or add something across a corner.
DeleteI had a great comment but it just vanised so " screw this, I'm outta here".
ReplyDelete