Not Yet Hip To Be Square

You know how there's something you SHOULD be doing, but you can't stop yourself from doing something else?  Well, that's what happened here.  All the top and bottom cream strips are 2" wide (except for that one between the orange and the rust in the middle, that one is 1-1/2" and the orange and rust are 2" wide.) All the other colored strips are 1-1/2" wide, cut WOF.

Soon, there will be lots of squares.

Lots.

Change Partners and Dance

Last night I switched gears, and started sewing the colored strips together that will become the border of on-point squares. The colors will be the colors of the letters in the Quick Brown Fox, all batik-y looking, so none of these colors are real "prints." Those are the fabrics I have used fairly consistently in this quilt, and I want to keep the same effect going. The colors will be arranged spontaneously, without a specific pattern repetition.

The blue background is 2" strips, the color is 1-1/2", sewn with a quarter inch seam, then the pieces are cut crosswise into 1-1/2" slices and then sewn together. I put together a tutorial here.I thought you'd all get a kick out of hearing my running frustrations with the Quick Brown Fox quilt. The fact is if artists do the same thing they're good at day in and day out, their work becomes boring (to themselves) and stale. So artists always find ways to challenge themselves. They grow, they increase the level of difficulty, they always find a new problem to solve, or a new way of looking at something, and give their viewers a fresh way of seeing the "same old thing."

I know I'm going to solve the problem. I know it will all come out in the end. If I was working alone, nobody would see the options I considered, they'd only see the end product. That's where a blog is different - I share my process and problems. I didn't want anybody to think that it all came easily or without any effort or angst.

I've learned from long experience that if it isn't working not to force it, to set it aside and let it alone. I've learned that sometimes you have to change partners and dance.

Dot-Dot-Dot

One of these colors is singing for me. The other two, not so much.

Which one do you like, and why? You can click the photos to enlarge. The last one is a pretty soft green, even though it doesn't show up well in the photo.

The Dotted Line

I'm starting to assemble the top of the Alphabet Sampler Quilt, and I didn't like the way the upper and lower case letters blended together.

I wanted each of them to have their own emphasis. In the historical samplers, there is usually a line of decorative stitching separating the various rows of letters. So I decided to make a row of little squares on their points. I didn't want the little squares to disappear, but I didn't want them too too bright either. So I used a dusty blue. I am very happy with the way looks now.

I guess I've set myself up to make a couple more of these. (I'll post a tutorial to make this Seminole "band" tomorrow.)