Imagining You (and Periwinkle Wreath)

This is what I imagine about you, dear readers who are quilters:
   When you decide to make a quilt you choose the colors you want to use, look at your fabric supply, glance over the fabrics, pull the exact ones you want to use, then take them to your cutting table and begin the quilt.  Quick, fast, easy because you're confident in your choices.  This is what I imagine.  Is that how you work when you begin a quilt?  I sometimes wish I had  an intuitive sense of color.  (Of course, if I did, I would miss all the play involved in choosing colors and fabrics for a quilt.  Still, I sometimes envy you because it takes me such a long time to audition fabrics and make a decision.)

Earlier this week I began auditioning fabrics for the first block of Hospital Sketches, Periwinkle Wreath.  I thought red flowers would be great and chose a plain because I have few Civil War reds.  Next I had to decide the star centers.  I wish I could make a decision about fabrics without having to cut the applique pieces first.  But that's what works for me so I do it.  In this case, it will give me several flowers to use for some other quilt.

There are two reds in the above, right flowers:  the top two are the same red, the bottom one is a brighter red.  The darker red won out and I think the fabric in the bottom star will be my choice.

I printed four pattern pieces so I could lay out the circle and imagine the flower and the trumpet colors.  This style of quilt from the mid-1800s was traditionally made in reds and greens so that's where I began.  But the trumpet-shaped pieces between the flowers remind me of trumpet vines, which are orange/coral, so I began to play with those colors.

Hey, maybe a robin's egg blue might look great so I laid pieces of that fabric on the circle.  But I wondered if I had enough variety of fabrics to sustain that color combination.

At some point in this process I remembered that red and green is one of my favorite color combinations and asked myself why I was trying out other colors when I could use a favorite.  I put the blue away.  I don't think it would have worked anyway.

Today I cut and sewed the background fabrics, laid out the vine circle using a compass, and prepared the flowers (except the center circles).  I've been dithering on this for three days so it feels good to finally make decisions.

But I still have to decide fabric for those trumpets.  Possibilities are below, but I'll wait till tomorrow to decide.  My experience has been that when I choose fabric at night I have to choose other fabric in daylight.

These are my greens for leaves, with few Civil War reproductions.  I'll use fabrics on hand for very scrappy leaves.

Now, please don't judge me by the photo below.  Surely I'm not the only one who has let an ironing board cover go just a tad too long before getting a new one?  This is what my ironing board looked like by the time I finished Little Rubies last week.  Ugh!  Awful.  But I couldn't find one I liked at the store and didn't want to take time to make a new one in the midst of sewing that quilt.

As soon as Rubies was finished off came the old cover.  I used it as a pattern and made a new cover from thick upholstery fabric I had on hand.

I like it a lot and think it's a definite improvement but I'm not sure the wisdom of using a light fabric on an ironing board.  I suspect it won't look great for too long.  I remember that my mother used to use an old sheet and pin it in place on the underside of the ironing board.  It worked but I think having a drawstring keeps it in place better.  It's strange to imagine that I probably use my ironing board more that my mother used hers, and she ironed everyone's clothing and pillow cases every week.  I'll immediately begin looking for fabric for the next cover.

This week I've been complaining about Daylight Saving Time.  I keep hearing people say, "I love having an extra hour of daylight."  To myself I say, there's no extra hour of daylight, it's just been moved from the morning to the evening.  I always have trouble adjusting to the change, in either direction, but I particularly don't like making the change in March!  Couldn't we at least wait till May when we're really settled into spring?  But that's just me. 

Did you notice that Martingale is having its 2019 warehouse sale this week, until next Monday, the 18th?  Many books are just $6.00!

I'm linking this post to
> Midweek Makers #166 at Quilt Fabrication
> Wednesday Wait Loss at Inquiring Quilter
> Let's Bee Social # 263 at Sew Fresh Quilts
> WIPS on Wednesday at Esther's Quilt Blog

Thanks for hosting, ladies.

I hope you're having a great week.

--Nancy.
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