I'm imagining the flowers on the left as tulips (maybe?), which makes me think of spring colors--yellows, peaches, pinks, roses. I like these flower fabrics together but they are so very similar to each other. The ones on the right will get dark centers but the ones on the left, whatever fabric I choose, will be just those fabrics without any additional color to each.
This is my first round of color and fabric possibilities for Cheri Payne's Basket of Plenty Block 6 sew-along on facebook. Cheri used a dark background for her basket so I'm giving a darker-than-my-usual-neutral background a try. I like the brown which I think looks like a darker version of the color range for the baskets I've already made. The basket fabric is set and so is the little black crow but I think the flowers and stems will change -- or at least some of them. I'll play more tomorrow.
These are the pattern pieces we were given for this basket.
Those little wavy round flowers and curves and dips along the top of the flower on the left are such a challenge for me with my newly-growing but very limited turned-edge applique skills. I will probably substitute simple round flowers like the ones on the right in the top photo.
For me, choosing the fabrics and colors takes much longer than hand stitching the shapes in place. The more options I have, the harder it is to choose.
When you are choosing colors for a quilt (or a block in a quilt, like this one) do you choose all your fabrics before cutting and stitching or do you choose as you go along?
I'm linking this post to
> Oh Scrap! at Quilting is more fun than Housework
> WOW at Esther's Blog
> Let's Bee Social #184 at Sew Fresh Quilts
> Midweek Makers #79 at Quilt Fabrication
> sew stitch snap SHARE at Koka Quilts
> Finished or Not Friday at Busy Hands Quilts
Thanks for hosting, ladies.
--Nancy.
I generally choose fabrics before cutting, but have been known to change my mind and recut a piece in a different colourway after cutting. Thanks for linking to sew stitch snap share.
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing how you choose fabrics, Julie, and thanks for co-hosting sew stitch snap share.
DeleteIf it is a sampler in scrappy colors I choose each block as I go. If it is in a particular color scheme, I will pull all the fabrics I think I want to use at the very beginning, but I may negotiate as I go, if thinks aren't clicking for me.
ReplyDeleteI think your basket and flowers look good as is. You can spice it up with contrasting details, as you wish.
Thanks for sharing how you choose fabrics, Janet. I've never done a sampler (unless Cheri's basket blocks are considered a sampler) so I don't really have experience with that, although I sometimes make the same block in a variety of colors, in which case I also usually choose the colors before and, like you, reconsider/add/change as I go along.
DeleteI'm hoping to finish the basket block today but we'll see.
Once again, Nancy, I love hearing you talking through your choices and possibilities. That is the hardest part for me all the time. It is very seldom that a fabric jumps out at me as the perfect one. The flowers do look rather tulip like so the options are rather endless.
ReplyDeleteHi, Jocelyn. Maybe that's my problem: I imagine that one fabric will be perfect when, in fact, a number of fabrics will be perfect or equally good.
DeleteI've decided the flowers can't be tulips because Cheri didn't give us tulip leaves! Ha.
Very sweet block! I find that it takes me ages to select the right fabrics from my stash--too many possibilities--lol!
ReplyDeleteThank you, Karen. Maybe too many fabrics/options is my problem, too, because I'm like you: it takes me ages to choose fabrics.
DeleteI usually have a certain fabric in mind that I want to use. I pick out which part of the block I want it to go in and then I choose the rest of the fabric as I sew along to make sure it plays well with the rest. The color of blue on your scissors handles in the picture really brighten up that background. Perhaps some blue or aqua would give you some other possibilities.
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing how you choose fabrics, Robin, and your suggestion to use blue/aqua. For this basket Cheri posted it with a charcoal background. (She's so brave with color.) I didn't think charcoal would work with the rest of my baskets, which are reds and browns, so I opted for the light brown background. I hope the whole thing works.
DeleteLooking good. I usually pull what I think will work, but it is not uncommon for me to change those options midstream. I think I would have done away with all of those little squiggles in the flowers, too.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Jennie. I think creativity asks that, along the way with a block or quilt or any creative endeavor, we keep considering, evaluating, and imagining the possibilities of other options. (Or maybe that's just indecisive me....) Maybe one of these days I'll tackle squiggles around the edges of flowers....
DeleteI choose both ways, but I don't ever cut it all at once - I tend to forget what I'm doing with all those piles of fabrics! I have a shoebox full of cut pieces, and I don't remember what they are for, and have no idea how to figure it out, and I had it labeled! The label doesn't make sense now. I got distracted and there it went. I like your basket. Could you swap one round flower and one tulip?
ReplyDeleteThanks, Susan. In one respect with work similarly. I can't make myself cut every block at the beginning. It would drive me nuts to have those piles of cut pieces and keep them organized as well as remember how to put them together. I much prefer to cut and sew one block at a time (usually), though I suppose it's much slower that way.
DeleteI tend to choose fabrics before getting started, though others may be added in along the way. Thanks for sharing today on Midweek Makers
ReplyDeleteHi, Susan. Thanks for sharing how you choose fabrics. I should try your method one of these days! Thanks for hosting Midweek Makers.
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