Make it Yours

I got up yesterday morning, very excited about playing with this. I moved a few things around. I did not like the bland blenderinsh light blues in the blue diamonds on either side of the center one.

I really liked the center diamond, and it is BUSY, so I decided to make the other two blue diamonds busy too. I cut strips of these fabrics...

So here are the big diamonds. Now I have to shuffle around the lights.

Some of the light creamy fabrics were just too bland and too light. They looked like holes.

So I had to replace them. That means I made new ones.

So this is the almost final version, and I am pretty happy with it. The middle section is all sewn up, otherwise I would swap one of the white lozenges with another one. I have to decide how important it is to do that. Ripping out a long bias edge doesn't always end well. But you know me. If it annoys me, it's got to go. And if it annoys me now and I leave it in, I'm going to be even more annoyed with it every time I look at it in the future. (And, by the way, that is how you know something has to change. If it fits that definition, fix it.)

Wanda (you know, the closest thing we have to a Quilt Goddess), pointed out that my original layout was striking, and the changes I made were all about what was singing for me in my own head. She's spot on right. Very often, there are no bad options, and many good ones. There is never only ONE way to do it. Like I tell every single class I teach, and every single group I speak to, "Don't copy my quilts. MAKE YOUR OWN."

It's Never Too Late...

Way back when I was drawing, my son who was about 12 at the time, made this comment: "It's never too late, Mom. That's what erasers are for."

How the hell he got to be so damn smart I'll never know. However.

After work yesterday I sewed the middle third of this together while my dinner cooked in the oven. When I went back into the studio to sew together the blocks that filled the empty space above, I had a thought. "I wonder..." Then I started tinkering...

About forty-five minutes later I had this, and while I knew it wasn't perfect, I knew I was onto something. I had been so damn determined to make a blue version of Jealousy, it never occurred to me to try SOMETHING ELSE!

Now, I can hear you all laughing, and please, be my guest. I never claimed to be perfect. I don't have all the answers, but I do know enough to ask a lot of questions. And you all know me enough to know I never SETTLE!

So I called my pal Julie and asked her if she thought I had lost my mind. Was this new iteration at least as good as the other one. I thought it was, and it was reassuring to hear her agree. (Oh, by the way, artists are well known to have insecurities. I am an artist, therefore I have insecurities. Go ahead and laugh some more, but I will tell you that because I also Never Give Up, I have made some pretty cool quilts.)

After another hour and a half of tinkering and cutting, I had this, and while it isn't perfect, it was time for bed, and I can always will tinker more later.

It's the Little Things

This where the Sapphire quilt was a week or so ago when I took it off the design wall because there was something about it that bugged me, even though I wasn't sure what it was.

After resolving all the other open projects, I figured I should put this back up on the wall so I could look at it. It took longer than I thought, because these blocks were so particular. When I put them back up I deliberately left off the things that bugged me so I could look at them with a fresh eye.

I made a few changes, nothing really big, but I like this best.

 In the bottom photo I have added fabric I will use as a border for this.

I've changed the title though. It's no longer Sapphire. Now it is Aquamarine.


Happy Mother's Day to all Moms out there.

Getting Closer to Sapphire

This isn't the final version, but it's getting closer.

Wordless Wednesday

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Sapphire Grows

I made myself a mask and went to the grocery store yesterday morning. Grocery shopping is now a solemn affair. The mood is completely different. There are lines taped on the floor in the checkout aisles, to show how far away you should stand. There are plexiglass barriers between you and the cashier and you aren't the only shopper wearing a mask and gloves.

I'm working on the Sapphire quilt. I'm working one fabric pair at a time, so it is slow going, but I am pretty happy with the colors. The vertical pairs indicate where the fabrics are going.

Here's a closeup of the fabrics. I sent a picture of this to my brother (who's currently in Nevada).

"Damn, Lynne.  F***kin A!"

Sapphire

I'm making a blue version of the Jealousy quilt and the working title is SAPPHIRE.

These are the two light diamonds in the quilt. These fabrics also make up the large lozenge shape in the center of the quilt.

Here I have started to add the dark diamond in the middle of the quilt.

This is the fabric pair that will fill out the empty spaces in the center of the quilt.

These are the other fabrics I have selected. All these are paired up. I'll figure out where they go as I figure out where they'll go. (LOL)