Friday, July 20, 2012

Hot mess with a side of bliss . . . .


So this is where it ends, at least temporarily, with Free Spirit Medley.

I'm just not happy with my fabric selections for the center of this quilt.  And with so much piecing yet to come with the borders, I don't think I want to risk that I might come around and like this sometime  down the road.

I do think I've figured out where I went wrong.  I'm not crazy about two of my blue choices, but I could live with them, it's the background, it's distracting and looks messy.  I think I need to use one background, not a solid, but something with a little print to it.

I do like the light blue and red geese in the pinwheel blocks and the light brown and dark blue fabric colors for the stars.


It looks better in this picture than it does in real life. 

I was working with fat quarters and a layer cake, but I really need some yardage of the simpler blue fabric pieces.

So while I regroup I thought I would work on my Spools project, have you heard, there's a Spool-Along Sew-Along going on!

I'ved decided to use some Bliss and some Marmalade for my spools. 




I'm so excited several folks have decided to sew along with us, there are going to be some very interesting finishes with some of the creative fabric choices that are in the works.

Mary Caldwell is the Spools pattern winner, Mary, drop me a note with your address, your comment didn't have your email address.

12 comments:

  1. what a great selection of fabrics for the spools , love those
    good for you realizing now about the fabric choices, stopping and regrouping. I have learned the hard way go with the instincts if something isn't' right stop and figure out even if it takes a few days what you don't like and CHANGE it. I have made a few quilts that I just kept going and wound up giving them away and just being so disappointed that I didn't go with my "gut"!!!!
    have a great weekend looks like your going to have fun making those spools
    Kathie

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  2. I love the variety and think it makes it so fun to look around and see all the different prints. But you have to love it since you have to live with it !LOL
    I think that Bliss is one of my all time favorite fabric lines...so happy to see you using it in your spools!

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  3. If you don't love it then you must walk away from it for awhile. I think it looks wonderful but it has to speak to you.

    Love your fabric choices for your spools. Bliss is a huge fav in this house - granddaughter's room is completely decorated in Bliss and it's a blissful spot. :-)

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  4. Remember my Morris fabrics quilt? I packed that up in disgust at least twice. Finally I got it out again and put it all up on the design wall and started removing the blocks that offended me and threw things off. I ended up using a few additional fabric pieces, made some more blocks and came up with a much more pleasing end result. Now I love that quilt and my son and future DIL do too.

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  5. Thelma, I had your dilemma with a quilt I did last year...Summer Wind by Miss Rosie using Martinique by 3 Sisters. Many lights weren't light enough and many mediums weren't dark enough and the vibrancy of the pattern was lost in the fabrics. I did finish it, though and gave it to my mom, but I had no emotional attachment to it at all which NEVER happens. Take care and have a good weekend. Our guild is off to an outdoor quilt show this Sunday.

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  6. Definitely understand the feeling. I had a quilt refused to play nice with it's border. I finally sewed the border on, ripped it off the design wall and balled it into a box. 8 months later, when I could look at it without tearing my hair out, I pulled it out, removed the border again and put it back on nicely. The quilt needed to know who was the boss and that was ME!!!
    I'm thinking a time away from this one will only help.
    In the meantime, yeah to your sew along! Fabrics look great! What are you going to use as a background? Looking forward to the first sneak peak!

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  7. Thelma- this quilt looks beautiful! I love the fabric colors, the pattern - I hope you can move past these feelings cause I'm dying to see this quilt done. I am loving the look so far! I realize it doesn't look as bold as the pattern, but it is so much prettier with character. Take a break and please come back to it. Can't wait to see your spools progress. I bought the pattern and my jump into to the low pressure quilt along. Thanks!

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  8. Thelma, you know I always love hearing about your design process. But the other thing I always love is your project fabric on your white shelf. It always makes me happy! :)

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  9. I don't spot anything I don't like about your colour choices but going with "your" instinct is the best way to solve the issue. I do love your colour choice for the spools.

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  10. I actually like the scrappy background a lot but if you are unhappy then it's time to regroup.

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  11. Yup, go with your gut ... I agree that a more uniform background would look better in this - and yes, more of a tone on tone than a straight plain ... The rest is looking gorgeous though Thelma!! ... Also, spools will look fantastic in Bliss and Marmalade!!! Looking forward to seeing the two finished!!

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  12. This is really pretty, but I can see how it is lacking the crisp contrasts of the one in the book. Put it aside and I think you may come back to it.

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