Sunday, June 25, 2006

Finally! back to the sewing machine...


After any number of circumstances interfering, lots of time at work, severe storms with power outages and spending some time in the emergency room with my mother, things have quieted down a bit and I actually was able to spend some time in the sewing room. Now, with the number of UFOs up there, I shouldn't even be thinking of new things. Operative word there is 'shouldn't'- but I am! I took the practice cloth off of the quilt frame and pressed a top and backing to put on either tonight or tomorrow. Enough practice, I'm not doing heirlooms, its time to get one going. That is my first step towards finishing some UFOs. In the meantime, I also sliced up some scraps for the Bricks and Stepping Stones quilt mentioned a few posts back.(pattern on Bonnie Hunter's site www.quiltville.com- she has some great ones!) The pieces that I cut, I also attached to the 4patches. Now I'm wondering what other fabrics to add to them. The picture shows patches made of each of the fabrics I've used so far, and some fabrics that I am considering using for the rest. Am I getting too matchy here? Some folks use all manner of brights and muddies to make wonderful quilts, I haven't been able to do that yet. What do you think of these additional fabrics? Too much alike? Does it need something?

5 comments:

Granny said...

Gail, you know my choice in color is pretty . . what's the word?? BAD probably is a good word to use. So, take all this for what it's worth.

If your four patches are all going to be using the fabrics that appear to be some kind of white dot, with the darker fabric, I'd stay away from the lighter fabrics. On that lefthand stack that starts with the red, I might leave out the one that's on the next to bottom. On that righthand stack, I'd probably leave out the middle one.

I've found that adding a few deep golds (like the brick you have top or the righthand fabric in the stack) really brightens a scrap quilt. I also find that rich reds add depth.

That's my opinion . .

Judy

Nancy said...

I've seen this quilt done up several times - both online and in person - and haven't seen a "bad" one yet. The biggest key to fabric selection is nothing very light and nothing super, super dark like a black or a deep, deep navy for the bricks. Either of those, very light/very dark, will fight with the 4-patches.

And I have to agree with Judy - add a few golds and reds scattered thru the quilt and rather than detract from the other fabrics it just kinda makes the pop.

I'm getting ready to start this pattern as a leaders/enders project. I hope to get the black/white 4-patches done this week. Normally I'd be the one who'd be using "all manner of brights and muddies". :-) I believe the more fabric the better in a scappy quilt. But for this quilt I'm going to go in a different direction. I have a nephew who just graduated high school and is about to join the service. His favorite colors are red and black - a boy after my heart as those are also MY favorite colors. So I'll be making the black/white 4-patches but then cutting the bricks from my extensive collection of red fabrics. Hopefully it will look as nice in person as I see it in my mind.

Mary Johnson said...

I like this pattern - can't wait to see the finished quilt.

Where in Georgia are you? We have a house in Marietta and a condo in Big Canoe but it looks like we'll be moving to Minneapolis in November.

Patti said...

I like that quilt pattern. I've done one and hope to do more. It's a great way to use up scraps. I agree with Judy. Since your 4-patches are made up of a dark and a light I'd stick to basically mediums for the bricks. Seems like Bonnie said all the bricks should be darker than the light in the 4-patch and lighter than the dark in the 4-patch. In spite of that keep in mind that you need a "zinger" like a yellow, or gold or bright red, and a "deep dark" that isn't as dark as your 4-patch. That gives a feeling of depth to the quilt top as some fabrics advance and others recede.

Welcome to the blog!

Cher said...

this pattern is on my list to do..I look forward to seeing what yours grows up to look like.