Colorful Cobblestones

 

I finally found a layout I liked for the colorful cobblestones. 

Once I worked that out, I decided to web the quilt top together. I have mixed feelings about this method. It's one of those things that work better IN THEORY than IN PRACTICE, at least for me.

I figured out why it bugs me so much. 

Normally when I sew a quilt together, I do it the old fashioned way. I take two pieces off the design wall, sew them together, press the seam, and then move to the next pair. Then I'll sew pairs together, and then quartets until I get a row complete. When I have two rows complete I'll sew them together. When the entire quilt is in paired rows, I'll sew two together, and continue along in this way until the top is complete. 

This profoundly old-fashioned method allows me to get the blocks lined up perfectly, and keeps the threads on the back from fraying all over hell.

In other words, I handle the blocks as little as possible.

When you web a quilt together, all the blocks are moving around, rubbing against each other, and what I find annoying is that when you sew the rows together, you very often get threads stuck in the seams, and when you (read: I) iron the seam, you (meaning I) have to pull those out. I find this tremendously annoying and slow going. 

Although, to be honest, I think if you are using 2-1/2" squares, these threads are much less of an issue.

YMMV. (Your mileage may vary.)

So... how do I like being retired?

Silly question.

I am quite enjoying it!

Those Colorful Cobblestones

The blocks for the colorful cobblestones really annoyed me. There were some blocks that didn't seem to be colorful - they read as grayish, so I removed them.

I thought perhaps the colored blocks should be separated by other blocks, so I tried to imagine them as perhaps single colored blocks, like the blue ones and the red ones in the photo below. In between those diagonal rows I arranged the colored blocks.

But that didn't really do it for me, as you can see from all the blocks scattered about on the floor. When I get stuck like this, I set it aside and think.

After a day or two, I realized I was overthinking this, and I simply needed to arrange the colored blocks so they looked like they belonged next to each other. 

 I knew that if I took some blocks away I would need to replace them with other, lighter blocks. Once I had those I began to arrange the blocks one at a time, placing blocks that connected to each other via color, because I believe the PATTERN or the PRINT of the fabric CARRIES the COLOR and the COLOR connects the blocks and helps move the viewer's eye around the quilt.

So this is getting there. 

NOW! This design is easier to make successful if done in one color or a monotone. Making this quit in many colors is really a balancing act.

Which, of course, is my jam.