Saturday 4 August 2012

CONTRAST

I have actually finished something this week. These are the tale of two quilts that hung around my sewing room for a looooong time. 

One I thought would be the ONE, the one for me, girly and pink and rosey and all good things for me. And I ended up not liking it one bit.

I fussed and fussed getting the right fabrics, I even tea dyed the strips to get the right tones, I hunted high and low for the border and waited to learn how to do a scallop edge.


When it was completed as a top I hated it, after that I showed it no love, I backed it with some fabric I had lying around, I patched up old batting scraps and told the long arm quilter lady, she could do as she saw fit. Cheryl from CA Quilter, did a wonderful job, but I am still ambivalent about it. 


Hold on here it is..........



This is my number one daughter modelling said quilt, if you are observant you will see at this stage I hadn't actually finished the binding, it took me a long time because it wasn't a quilt I loved so much.

The puppy boys on the other hand deem it good enough, could be they are just camera hogs. Meet Maxy and Bailey. Maxy is the long hair, Bailey the short. I adore these munchkins as they came to us when we needed love and distractions. Yes they are yappy at times, but at others they are loving and snuggly, think of them as a catdog, small enough to curl up on your lap yet you can take them for walks. They really motor along. Enough of the gushing.

Sorry another cheesy shot just snuck by me.


This on the other hand I am much more happy about. I made it from a charm pack bought years ago, called Chloe's closet, and I modified a pattern I found in a Patchwork and Quilting magazine.


It demanded some precision cutting and accurate seams but I didnt find it too stressful. The star in the middle is created by sewing small squares to each corner of the white rectangle across the diagonal, then flipping and cutting. The rest is all done by the placement of the blocks and small blue squares, and like magic it comes together.

Up close the square blocks appear to float over a background trellis. Well to me they do.


What this tale of two quilts has taught me? I love contrast in my quilts, no soft dreamy neutral colours for me. 

That is not to say that I still dream of these but I am not always happy with the results.

What do you prefer?

3 comments:

  1. I love florals but your brights are really great. I think the thing I've found with soft florals is that its more of a challenge to get the contrast and it's contrast that I love.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Good modeling Victoria.hahaha The quilts look really good, love those scallops. Very cute doggie photos, good to see them helping.

    I think you can't beat scrap quilts, the more the merrier. If the quilt is too co-ordinated then it just doesn't have any zing as far as I'm concerned. I keep buying full fabric ranges but I wouldn't use them in the same quilt. Does that make sense?

    ReplyDelete
  3. I think they are both lovely but the second one does have more 'punch' about it! You have very camera hugging dogs! Ada :)

    ReplyDelete