FIRST - an update: My focus continues on distributing the quilt treasures of my dear friend and happily, with the except of some authentic dutch wax fabrics and an overabundance of Asian fabrics, I'm now moving onto the last category....80-100 quilts.
Some of her beginner quilts are being donated to a local organization who provide quilts for wounded military. They want 'warm' and don't care if the points match!!! And they do keep them warm while on their cots in the plane to the military hospital in Germany. Smaller lap quilts will go to Asheville's VA hospital. Two dozen small wall quilts and table toppers will benefit a local church by way of their 'garage sale'. The remaining saleable ones are now being listed here and on some of the Facebook buy sell sites. If anyone is interested in vintage 1930's quilts that have been rescued/reworked and make into beautiful quilts....holler. Or some lovely and beautifully quilted pieces using more contemporary fabrics....many of which have AQS certified apprasials. My friend makes BIG quilts.....nothing generally smaller than double size.
Okay....onto the only piece I've been working on lately. It's been the biggest challenge I've had for a long time. Mainly because of a dislike of pastels....it's easier to work with colors/patterns that are favorites isn't it?!?
In my friend's stash I found a few cut out Asian fabric circles and several blocks with them incorporated. Hummm.....could I get a jump start by using them??
More circles were cut, background half sq. triangles were prepared....and a center panel chosen to add a bit of interest, rather than having a uniform grid.
You can see right from the start, I was fighting the pastel look.....and was insistent on introducing black (though I tried lots of other colors) to make the blocks pop. This view is after auditioning and auditioning.....till I couldnt' see straight. I KNEW it wasn't right but sometimes it's hard to pull back and admit defeat.
Well...what about adding corner stones??
Nah.....well maybe adding a circle in the corner stone. This one was a favorite of all tried...but ultimately realization dawned.....the sashing treatment had taken over the quilt.
Oh ya....I had already sewn the wide sashing on.....geesh...out comes the seam ripper for the zillionth time! I'm back at it by now auditioning uneven sashing settings.....another thumbs down!
Okay...it's settled....narrow sashing and tiny 1" corner triangles. Now what the heck to do for borders...it really needs something to frame the design. Various widths were tried (see left side)
A triple border, with a thin strip of Asian fabric is where I was headed here....I liked it a lot....but after trying it on all 4 sides....it seemed too busy, and detracted from the more subtle blocks.
This is how it ended up....it's NOT finished yet....the outer border will probably not be this wide once the quilting is complete. It may or may not feature an Asian print binding. They say 'a quilt tells you want it wants', yet for this project....the quilt and I were not communicating properly. We've become friends now and hopefully that will guide me to perhaps trimming down the outter border and making the correct binding decision. Watch for it soon in my blogspot shot....link on top bar.
Thank you for visiting with me today.......
6 comments:
After all your mashinations I think it lovely!
It is just beautiful!! Great job!
The little squares on the outside border (just floating) made me a little uncomfortable. Maybe take them out and use a pieced binding using a combination of the fabrics in the squares. I love everything in the center and the wide outer border, just not those little floating squares.
Thank you for your suggestion Kathleen…..it’s funny because I actually thought of that too and even auditioned multi-fabric binding before adding the narrow black border…..it didn’t work for my mind the day I tried it. BUT…that’s probably because I had way too many muddled options floating in my head. I do expect to cut down that final outside black border a bit and probably will try a print binding…..I still haven’t had a chance to work on it. My focus has moved back to finding homes for all the finished quilts from my friends stash.....now that they are unpacked....they have taken over my upstairs guest room and studio.....
Yes, the floating squares are definitely a distraction, but a narrow piece of binding from the square out to the edge could draw the edge binding and those squares together. Masterful work putting all of this together. I know you have more Japanese fabrics to use and black usually works great, but don't forget the other darks that might also work--teal, deep purple, deep burgundy. Color but still that great dark/light contrast that you have going on right now. Another lovely, lovely piece!
Another great idea...thank you Kathy!
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