Thursday 28 April 2016

what a difference

What a difference a day a week makes!
Thank you for all your thoughtful comments about these stars of mine. I didn't want to rush it, didn't want to waste fabric, or money, or sewing time. I tried walking away from them, ignoring them, working on other things, but they were all still there up on the design wall, waiting patiently for me!

You may remember, I started with a single line of fabric, Victoria Findlay Wolfe's 'mostly manor.' These fabrics are designed to work together, and they do indeed, all very bright & bold.





I decided it was time this week to have a bit of a rethink about these stars, and work out how best to move forward with them. But how to make- it- mine?
One of my favorite design sources are vintage quilts. We can learn a lot about technique, color, improv, using what you have, mixing up fabrics that may or may not be supposed to go together - and as I was looking through an old magazine with my morning coffee, I spotted several yellow vintage quilts, and I started thinking - what if ...


What if ... I added in a bit of a 'zinger', some Bella Solids Cheddar maybe? I do like this, it seems to tie the big hexies together, it links up the past with the here & now. And it's different.



But it still wasn't quite right. Again, what if...


What if ... I still kept a bit of a 'yellow' thing happening, but stayed with the VFW light stripe & floral for my setting units, altered the layout a little, and bordered with that yummy yellow floral? Now this has possibilities! I love how the edges of a couple of the blocks blur a little into the yellow setting units and it's hard to see some of the hexis - it will make it interesting and hold your attention a bit longer, hopefully.



So I haven't moved very far this week, my hexi/stars are all still up there on the wall
 but I have come up with a pretty plan
- and I'm happy! 


Linking up this week with Em for 'moving it forward'
and with Kelly over here for 'needle and thread Thursday'



7 comments:

Stephanie said...

Those are great blocks, and I love hearing your thought process while planning/putting these together.

Megan said...

It looks like you've cracked it Linda! It can take a while to find a solution when you get stuck can't it?

Jayne said...

Such gorgeous stars! I can't wait to see what and where you go with this! It always helps to step away from a project. Eventually ideas come and usually it was well worth the wait!

Linda @ kokaquilts said...

Thank you! Yes, on reflection maybe I should have planned this a bit better at the beginning, but... even then, things have a habit of changing along the way too! Never mind, I’m slowly getting there now. Thanxs for the +ve encouragement!

gayle said...

Oh, yes! You've definitely gotten it onto the right track. I'm really enjoying watching you make it a 'you' quilt!

Mystic Quilter said...

I can't really say better than Gayle above, this is looking so good now and I'll be watching to see what happens next!

Linda @ kokaquilts said...

Thanks Maureen, Who would have thought it could be so difficult!
I did need to preserve with this, especially after you had so kindly given me more VFW fabric!
Watch this space...