Pondering a Design

This has been a long school vacation for me.  I am SO ready to get back to working on the quilt that is started on the machine.  It is hard to do dedicated quilting, though, when all my kids are home.  The distractions are many, and my concentration is not as focused as I'd like.  I have done a little, but I have spent more time trying to work on a couple other projects, as well as ponder the design that I will use on Carol's next quilt, shown here.  It is all hand pieced, and what the border fails to show is a 4 or 6" outer border.  I will start on the quilting of this in just a couple weeks, but it has most certainly taxed my creative brain for what to do!  The white is a fantastic way to set off the colored blocks, but it is proving quite a challenge with regards to how it is to be quilted.

As a distraction, I decided to photograph my blocks like this that I have pieced.  I started hand piecing mine on my trip to Houston last month.  I missed my flight in Newark and spent the night sitting in the airport so I got a couple of them done then.  Though I haven't measured, I think I am actually making mine smaller than Carol's quilt that started all this nonsense.  With the champagne silk outer border, they finish about 11" square.  So far, I have 7 nearly done, one more being pieced, and a couple more cut out.  Because the pieced are all fussy-cut, they take quite a while just to cut out the 24 printed pieces.  

 I have 8 to 10 large scale prints that I am using for these blocks.  I have the Foxgloves in 3 colorways, and I just love them.  I got a yard of something at Houston which coordinates well, but it turns out to never have but 3 repeats!  I cannot imagine a print that large scale that there are only 3 repeats in a yard.  I have used it for a couple blocks where you can get a 4th piece out of a close print, just not exact, but this piece will never work for the outer areas that need 8 pieces.

They are all in my favorite colors...purple, chartreuse, aqua and hints or orange.  Don't ask how they will all coordinate together.  That is a question for which I have no answer.  Ultimately, I think that I need 25 blocks.  I am hoping that when I get a few more, I will formulate a plan to either make so many that have green outers or so many that have orange centers, etc...or to just go completely random.  Time will tell how that pans out.

In the mean time, they are keeping me busy in the evenings, when I am not hand stitching a show quilt binding or beading on that particular quilt.  I like to have a small take-along project for when I visit my mom, or take my daughter to a tumbling class.  Bringing the silk quilt that I am binding there is impractical.

 This next block is my favorite so far.  I LOVE this deep russet orange, combined with the purple and green.  I will definitely make a few more blocks in these.  Heck, in order to make 25 I will make many more in all color combinations.  I'm not even near the halfway point.

 This didn't photograph true to color.  The middle that has beigh-ish leaves is really a bright, pretty green.

Unlike Carol's blocks, I have been planning all along to have mine set on point.  In my color choices, I have been attempting to make the 4 pieces at the points be more dominant if possible.  It's not always easy, but that is the goal.  I am sure you have also noticed that the blocks do not have squares in the corners yet either. I will determine the color/fabric for them after I see how each is oriented in the final quilt layout.  It may need some commonality to bring cohesion.  This fabric may be another silk; I haven't fully decided.  Only a couple of the blocks have the silk triangles stitched in.  It is a little fussy to do, but nothing I can't handle.  I am also planning to set the blocks alternating with plain blocks of the champagne silk.  This is where I will get to showoff pretty quilting.

After this fun distraction, I am no further along on working out the quilting plan for Carol's quilt, which she has been so patient waiting for.  Back to work for me!