Stitched in Color

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not so scrappy

This is one of those projects that totally got away from me.  It started with the hope to use my string scraps.  Long, thin strings are the only type of scraps (other than my nemesis, the triangle) that tend to pile up over time.  So, I designed this quilt composed of log cabin diamonds....

first thoughts

I was uber excited to make!  Using contrasting value (dark center/light outer or the reverse) in the log cabins would add an extra bit of interest to the design.

doesn't hit the spot

Here's my trio of test blocks.  Kinda pretty?  Perhaps.  Fun to make?  Not so much.  I wanted something scrappy, that would use all sorts of strings, but I soon realized that I had to be very careful about color and patterns to compose blocks that I liked.  After just 3, I was darn sure about abandoning this version.  My main concerns: slow AND not using my scraps easily.

not so scrappy

To speed things up, I threw out the log cabin concept and cut diamonds and triangles from whole pieces of fabric.  This much smaller scale block (about 9" tall) could maybe use scraps?  But, no.  After testing a block made scrappy (6 different, coordinating fabrics), I gave up from that mind-boggling feeling and started making a version with 2 different fabrics.

not so scrappy


So, the night before my trip, I was cutting out block sets to bring along to Florida in case I should want to sew.  As the sets piled up, all the different colors mixing together started bugging me.

Really!

I think I was stressed at that point.  I've noticed though, even when I'm calm, that it's easy for scrappy triangles to get to color-crazy.  Last year when I made the Triangling quilt, I used lots of solids to break up the prints and avoided multi-color prints to keep things pleasing.  It's something about how all those fabrics touch more often with triangle points, as opposed to squares.  Or, at least that's my theory.

  naughty scraps.

Well, that's when I really, really gave up and decided to pull fabrics (not scraps) from my stash to define a pleasing color scheme.  The purple and teal pieces shown here are "rejects" for this project, which means I inadvertently created more naughty triangle scraps.  Aaaaargh!  I've got lots more to cut for this quilt, so I can't show you the overall color scheme yet, but I think I'll like it.  I think.

potential?

Right now I'm pretty frustrated with this project because it's not scrappy and not using strings at all.  If I had started with this idea, maybe I'd be happy with where I'm at.  I don't know?  Still, I'm telling myself this design has great potential.  Maybe I should just sit on it for a few weeks and see....