We got married over Easter, and we are waiting to celebrate our first wedding anniversary on the same day of the Easter weekend. We were close a few times!
My parents only had to wait 25 years … we have waited 40 and still counting!
I think that means we are still newly weds!
We all know we need eggs before we get chickens … or is it that we need chickens to get the eggs?
When designing quilts we start with colours and shapes, then add the third dimension with a quilting design. Well, that is usually how it works, though Helen Stubbings turned that around by adding colour to what was essentially a whole cloth quilt with colour pencils.
I was playing with the quilting designs in this project file, using a whole cloth quilt as the background instead of adding the quilting designs to a colourful quilt. I was really straightening up the placement of the block designs in the quilting layer, but it was more fun using different blocks than just the one block over the whole quilt.
I rather liked the design above, and so went back to the piecing/applique layer to add a bit of colour.
Not too much … just a little bit!
Without the quilting it appeals to me!
But with that little bit of colour the quilting design needed a bit of modification. Though my thoughts when playing with the quilting design before I added colour was that the areas between the quilted patterns would be filled in with stippling or a similar filler design, but there is still room for filler patterns between and around other design elements.
Finally, what the back of the quilt would look like with a rather plain backing fabric. You have to imagine the filler of your choice … I like stippling or pebbles.
So, which comes first … the colour or the quilting?
If I was to give this design a name I think it would be Railroad Crossing.
The first three designs today show that even a clever idea can be overdone.
I suspect that the designs would appeal to me more if the contrast between the cornerstones and the light was toned down a little!
The contrast stands out more because the cornerstones are bigger within the circle effect created by the thick and thin logs.
Now the cornerstones are smaller and the contrast is easier on the eye.
Love the spider webs in the last couple … or is that a hint to remove some cobwebs from around the house?
Touch of Wedding Rings in this one!
Though perhaps Engagement Rings would be more appropriate … they look more like diamonds than wedding rings
Quilts don’t need a multitude of bright colours for the design to shine. Colour can add lots of zing if it is used well, but contrast is the most important element in design.
PS
I am home again after 9 days away, during which I found time to visit two wonderful quilt shops, The Material Girls in Yarrawonga, and Leslie May’s in Mildura. I also found two Christmas shops, book shops, op shops …. and two days were too wet to do much at all!
Meanwhile the visitor numbers to Virtual Quilter are creeping up towards 300,000, and the number of virtual quilts is heading towards 4,000 … early next month there will be celebrations of two milestones! The number of followers is also creeping up too!
I can see a bottle of bubbles in my future! Maybe three!
In the meantime, after years with lousy sound systems I have something new … so if I don’t hear you it is because my life now has a soundtrack, and a lot of almost forgotten music to listen too!
I love this series of designs so much that earlier this year I spent nearly a month tidying up the blocks, adding new ones, and making sure they were all safely archived in My Library in Electric Quilt.
Now all the blocks are much more accurate, but I will not be going through old projects and replacing the old with the new … unless I want to actually make one of the designs, or prepare a pattern for others to use.
Up until now, the only accurate blocks were the ones I used in the design I did make up in real fabric and thread!
I also used them to write the pattern.
I love this one … the centre block could have been a better choice, as could the fabric placement, but love the linked blocks around it!
Don’t think I would like it as the only block in a quilt, but it makes a very interesting way to create some frames within a design.
PS
Some of you got a preview of this when I was scheduling ahead … Trying to get a week ahead of myself, and was doing so well until the second to last day I wanted to cover!
Some interesting but not exciting variations.
The one above is a bit obvious if you were thinking of a treasure map!
The one above is probably the best of the day.
However, all of them would keep somebody warm with the addition of some real ingredients!
More of the red and white 2 block combinations …
… nothing terribly exciting in this group of four designs.
But you never know until you try, and I much prefer to try virtually than wasting fabric in a design which doesn’t thrill me.
I will share some more 2 block quilts tomorrow to see if the next batch of combinations tipped on point reveals something exciting.
Stuffups
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