Saturday, January 05, 2013

Design Delimmas

With the new year upon us, my mind is a muck with new quilt designs and dreams of starting new projects.  One of these is a silk wholecloth quilt and the other involves some Cherrywood fabrics, but first I will vow to at least get one of my 2 in-works tops finished.  I have this Italian floor quilt mostly together.  I have the large sections done, as shown below, if you don't consider the fact that I plan to redo the large-ish green-gray-B/W striped triangles.  They just are not working for me, and the paper piecing has too many places with poor points.  I have this deeper green fabric that I want to be more prominent too, as it helps to counterbalance the salmon color.  First, though, I have ordered ink for my out-of-commission printer, then next week I hope to get onto some piecing.
The big question in my mind, though is how this quilt will finish.  Initially, I had a 5-6" solid black border (no mosaic) to ground the busyness.  But then that was growing on me like a boring plague, so I chose to add some 1/2" mosaic around the border.  It's a total PAI to make all of this, and lots of bulk to quilt, but I like the look.
Something is still off though.  Maybe it was the black and white striping?...so I made it a more subtle black & brown.  Not really sure which is better black & brown or B & W.  Thoughts?...since I am repiecing this anyways.
Mind you, these are EQ7 colors and are not as good or perfect as the actual Stonehenge fabrics.  I realize that green looks a little out of place here, but in reality it is just right.  My next step was to place a large black or charcoal border around the original center.  I think that this border is 3-1/2". 
Then I played with putting the second mosaic border on the central diamond rather than the outer border.  The thought was that having the black outer border larger would further ground the quilt.  The mosaic just muddied the already busy center, I think.
The last idea is using a 4" inner dark diamond border and the tiny mosaic around the outside.  I may also do a small scroll applique on the black border in a deep charcoal (aiming for subtle details), but keeping with what would be consistent for a mosaic floor.  The floors of Italy are, afterall, opulent, ornamental, intricate, and , well, just plain detailed.
 I welcome your thoughts.


7 comments:

Lynette said...

I really like the black and white element. It's rather stark in the EQ colors, but nice in the fabrics. Perfect in the fabrics. It looks too plain without it for an Italian floor theme. Also definitely like the mosaic border on the outer edge rather than closer in. The subtle charcoal applique would be a perfect touch.

Love your designs, Margaret!

greelyrita said...

You may be at the point where EQ cannot help much anymore. You may just have to rely on your instincts.

greelyrita said...

You are maybe at the limit of what EQ can do to help you, given that the representation of the fabrics and colours is limited. You may just have to rely on your instincts.

greelyrita said...

OMG! Third try!

EQ may not be able to help you further. You may just have to rely on your instincts.

What Comes Next? said...

Wow! it is a fabulous intricate design, and you have some great ideas. The one thing that kept appearing for me was that I felt more of the salmon colour should appear farther out from the centre to balance it. I prefer the Black/brown over the B/W, but wonder if a lighter colour may work better - maybe the pale pinkish colour? I like the wide black with the mosaic on the outside, but maybe more of the green out there somewhere? It is beautiful, and it will be astounding whichever way you decide to go - good luck!

regan said...

I love the last pic with the black border echoing the inside mosaic border. Gorgeous! The final border of mosaic meets the black border the best, too. I like that it looks as though it is layered on another pattern. And I really love the b&w stripes when looking at them in your first pic of the the actual fabric. It totally works, but in the computer mock ups, they overpower it. Good to see it in actual fabric! Again, gorgeous!

Virginia said...

I admire your talent both as a quilt designer and as a quilter. For what its worth I like the last two design options. I feel that both dark borders and for now plain borders need your suggestion of adding a tonal scroll work. Without out the additional design element it seems to create a hard edge.