I have almost finished all of the brown and green 16 patch scraps and I need to make some layout decisions. This is one of my favorite steps to quilting.
As I was making the blocks, I have been sticking them on my design wall in a horizontal staggered design.
I have since decided that I like this vertical layout a bit better. Now to go to my stash and decided what to use in the alternate blocks. And when I go to my stash for a scrappy quilt, I am usually looking for those opportunities where I can get old fabric out of my stash!
Over a decade ago, I had collected these fish themed fabrics for a project I never followed through with. These definitely need to go!
And then I thought of these last four fishing panels I had stuffed in a corner.
Maybe I can use these too.
I also found a solid tan that I knew would work for the outer edge and the binding - I had about a yard on hand. Time to cut all of the pieces and put them on the wall.
YIKES! What a mess!
(Go ahead and laugh - I did!)
Okay, maybe I need to rethink this a bit.
After a bit of brainstorming, I decided to use the tan fabric I had set aside for the binding and framed up some of the darker fish fabric squares to try and subdue the chaos. I think it worked a bit. I haven't done the two lighter fabrics yet as I was hoping I could get away with leaving them big. Trimming them down and framing just creates more scraps.
So I am stopping here for now and coming back to this at a later time.
Once I decide whether to frame or leave unframed, this one is getting sewn and I am moving on.
Brown - Blech!
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12 comments:
Amazing what a difference that light brown sashing makes! A fisherman is going to love that quilt! Good for you for sticking with it.
I like it so far.
The tan sashing makes a huge difference!!
I like the tan framing, though it's still a bit of chaos for me. Try framing all of the fish fabric blocks, as I see four in there that aren't. It might calm it a bit more. And as you said, sew it up, and move on - not all quilts are winners.
I agree that it's still kind of chaotic. What if you try NOT staggering and just do it as a checkerboard?
Go for it, some fish loving person somewhere is going to be pleased to have a quilt.
I agree with Susan on framing the last few prints, which would give it consistency and no more chaos. A good use of all those greens and tans.
Hi Cynthia. IMHO a green sashing strip to frame. Running it around the whole quilt would tie together and elevate the gorgeous scrappy blocks out of the tan background allowing the tan to compliment, not overtake. Love your quilts😀 Thx for the blog. Rena. Aus.
I actually like the messy fishing squares together
It will work. Don't make too many more scraps.
Such an interesting, iterative process! I've encountered this issue before. The colors are right together, plenty of contrast between the greens, browns and tans, but a whole lot of very similar scale. The focal fabrics have motifs roughly the same size as the 16 patch pieces.
However, because of the fun (FUN! I *love* fish fabrics!!) theme, I don't think it's a problem. It's like an I-spy for an adult who loves to fish. He will be so tickled with the fishing scenes that he'll keep peering at it close up, where the scale doesn't matter one whit. And nobody expects an I-spy to have excessive harmony of scale. Stitch it up, quilt it into cozy softness, and make some fisherman really, really happy :)
I don’t think it’s a problem once you’ve added the tan to the dark blocks. Some fisherman will think it’s great!
Yes, that sashing was definitely needed!
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