Motif Monday 3

Monday, May 6, 2013


Sorry for the one week hiatus.  I was in Dallas and, unfortunately, I didn't get to any quilting stores.  I enjoyed a migraine on Saturday and had some family stuff on Sunday.  All the weekend "stuff" had me thinking on other projects - more on that another day.

I'm nearing the end of a block swap.  My quilting group does a mini retreat every year for MLK weekend.  During the weekend, we choose a paper pieced block.  We've been doing it for 6 years now and there are 9 of us in the swap.  Had I to do it over again, I would do one thing:

Set a background fabric!

We could have each purchased just 1 yard and it would have served us through all these years for the block backgrounds.  As it stands now, there is nothing unifying these blocks.  I will definitely be adding a sashing to break up disorder.  It will very likely be black.

All that to tell you this.  The next couple of motifs will cover some of the blocks we in the paper pieced blocks.  Here are the blocks I've made for the swap.

The 6th one will be a very simple court house stairs.

By the time we swap the last set of blocks, hopefully by summer, I'd like to have my game plan all laid out.

With the other blocks being all over the spectrum of color and only black sashing to unify, I'd like the quilting to pull it all together.  Right now I know more about what I don't want to do than what I would like to do.

  1. No stitching in the ditch.  I don't want to just outline each of the designs.
  2. Each block's design should have an element that tie them all together -  a curl, a loop, a heart, a feather, etc.
  3. No all over design.  Some quilts work great with an all over.  This won't be one of them.  There's already so much not to like about this quilt.  I want the quilting to turn it into something I love.

The heart is my favorite and has the most quilting space so I'll start with that one.  I'm going to sketch out some designs and post them next week.

Do you have any ideas?

Quilt. Create. Enjoy!

Anna

5 Comments »

5 Responses to “Motif Monday 3”

  1. Replies
    1. Thanks Karen, I'm really happy with how they've turned out. I am glad I picked up some sale fabrics from the outset to keep them all cohesive.

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  2. The only thing I try to do when picking patterns is keep them the same flavor. For example, I think anything curvy is "organic", anything with strong lines is "mod", and anything with flowers/butterflies/etc is "cute". I typically wouldn't mix a mod with a cute. (Unless, of course, the block just SCREAMED for it) :) I love what you have, should look great when you're all finished!

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    Replies
    1. I think I'm going to line up all the other girls block sets and take a picture. That way I can print it out, hang it by my desk and think on it with everything in front of me. It'll probably end up far more custom than I have time for, but I'll love it in the end!

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  3. Maybe a dark green sashing would tie them together. I think of it as a neutral.
    For quilting unify with the same motif in the backgrounds, could be a stipple or something else. Then you can do whatever in the blocks, CC or ditch or outline.

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