From 12 to 20

A week ago I had made 12 Rail Fence blocks. As I made them, I threw them up on the design wall, without worrying about whether they worked together or not. I just wanted them up on the wall.

by Tuesday, I had made the last 8 blocks so I had 20.

As soon as I looked at it, I knew the yellow block had to go. (example 1)

The pink had to go too. (example 2)

I was getting a feel for how to arrange these; what I did and didn't like. And then I saw the two middle ones in the bottom row. NOPE! They were too much the same. (example 3)

About half an hour later, I'd replaced the pink and moved one of the blocks in the bottom row. I didn't like the new pink and yellow (gold) where they were. (example 5)

This is the final arrangement I will sew up. (example 6)
 
Can you see what I did?  Some of the blocks had very busy or energetic "dark" prints. Some had energetic backgrounds or "light" prints. I wasn't really aware of it when I chose the fabrics. I mean I knew it, but I wasn't conscious of making a specific number of each kind of block. I tried to separate the busy blocks, and put them next to busy backgrounds (or make like a checkerboard).

I also tried NOT to have all the blues, greens, reds, etc., sitting right next to each other.  One of my tricks is to get as far away as I can, and then take my glasses off (same effect as squinting). If blocks look like they blend together, they have to be moved.

I also find that taking a photograph with my digital camera or my cell phone helps. Sometimes things show up in a photo that you don't see when looking at the real thing. The problem in example 3 was revealed in a photo.) Yeah, I know. Go figure.