Lesson Learned . . . .

This is Eventide, a pattern designed by Carrie Nelson of Miss Rosie's Quilt Co. The fabric is Luna Notte by 3 Sisters for Moda.

While attending my classes with Carrie this fall, this was one of the many quilts Carrie brought with her, and let me tell you, this is one lovely quilt and a pattern that is on my continually growing To Do list.

What I find most interesting about this pattern, is the red squares set on point and running down each side. I think they add great interest to the quilt, but don't overpower or distract from the small star blocks or secondary pattern of the large stars. Carrie told us that when she was working on this pattern, those red squares were just that, red squares, but she felt the red was too strong, so to tone the color down, she made those squares using plain red fabric and a red print fabric. I thought that was very clever. I would have never thought of using two fabrics, I probably would have just kept looking for that perfect color from one fabric. Luckily for me, now that Carrie has shared this little secret, I don't have to be clever, I just have to remember to give it a try.

And this weekend I did, but not on a quilt.....

This is my snowman Christmas tree, only snowman ornaments or snowman parts (snowflakes and snowballs) adorn this tree. I've been collecting snowman ornaments for at least 14 years, I started with a very small table top tree and look how it's grown. It's a fun tree to decorate and I just love it. Most of the ornaments are gifts from friends and family.

What I didn't love was nothing tying the whole tree together, it was just ornaments hanging on a tree.

This year I bought this snowball garland for the tree, thinking the snowballs would tie the whole concept together,

but the snowballs were distracting, you looked at the garland instead of the ornaments. Remembering how Carrie toned down her red, I toned down my snowballs by mixing in a second garland of smaller snowballs.

And I think that's just what this tree needed! I'm not sure what amazes me more, that I like the looks of two different styles of garland on one tree, or that I actually remembered something from a class that was over 2 months ago!

So is this a lesson that less is more, or more is more, I'm not sure . . . how about a lesson in keep trying until you like what you see.....which is the perfect segue for this....

Here's my Root Beer Float trial block,

the cream fabric on the left was my first choice and did not suit me, the size of and distance between the motifs was too large for the small areas in the block so I'm now thinking about using the fabric on the right. I don't think this is the perfect combination, but I do think I'm getting there.

I do love the star pattern and still think it's a good fit for this fabric, Olde World Style fabric by Monique Dillard for Maywood.

Stay tuned, I'm sure I'm on the brink of something wonderfully lovely, or at least that's what I'm telling myself.