I am off and running with a new quilt design to be revealed next year sometime. I am busy working with coming up with a pieced background that will resemble a beach. There will be applique on top of this. I have about 20-25 pieces of a variety of shades of tan-ivory-light brown batiks (yes, I just love working with batiks, especially for the applique work). Now, I don't just want to run these in boring old stripes of graded color from the lightest to the darkest (where they will meet the "water"), so what should I do?? Here's three concepts I have drafted up, but I am looking for any other block suggesitons too (hint). The only requirement is that there is not too much piecing on the background because I want the applique to be the focus of the quilt.
1. wonky 9-patches ...not my favorite, but less expected than perhaps my next possibility.
2. storm at sea layout. Now this has nice movement, but I sort of think it is the expected choice for a quilt that will have a "sea" motif.
3. kaleidoscope stars...with a few slightly different stars thrown in.
I think that this is my inclination thus far, but I'd like to hear your suggestions for other patterns to look at.
1. wonky 9-patches ...not my favorite, but less expected than perhaps my next possibility.
2. storm at sea layout. Now this has nice movement, but I sort of think it is the expected choice for a quilt that will have a "sea" motif.
3. kaleidoscope stars...with a few slightly different stars thrown in.
I love the movement of the last one! How much applique' are you going to put on top of it? If it's quite a bit will you lose all of the lovely piecing?
ReplyDeleteI prefer the last one too!
ReplyDeleteHugs from Switzerland! :)
I like them all so I am not help for you but probably the last one best. I have always wanted to do a quilt that depicts a lot of our views around here of snow and tree covered mountains coming down to water. It just hasn't gotten high enough on my to-do list to become a plan yet. I look forward to seeing your progress on this one!
ReplyDeleteI really like the kaleidoscope star pattern. What about a Winding Ways pattern?
ReplyDeleteI agree with Tami -- the last one is the most eye-catching. But you don't want to do all that work if the applique is going to completely detract from it. Actually, I like it just like that!!
ReplyDeleteI like all of them as a background for a beach theme quilt that will have applique. My favorite is the bottom one because it looks like the values of light, dark, and medium are more randomly distributed. I am excited to hear about this quilt as you work on its design.
ReplyDeleteThe third one is my choice. :)
ReplyDeleteHard to say which is better without knowing how much applique will "cover them up".
ReplyDeleteI like them all for different reasons: I like the last two better if there will be a lot of open space between the applique (so the piecing can peek out) but the first one if the applique will be dense.
I'd be incluned to go for the kaleidoscope stars, but the wonky 9-patches are remarkably effective, too. I wonder how it would look if you flipped some of the 9-patches?
ReplyDeleteoh I love no 3 it even looks amazing just as it is
ReplyDeletehugs Beth