Playing Again (and Welcoming Comments)

Note:  I'm sorry if you looked at this post earlier and comments were not allowed.  I don't know how that happened but I'd love to read your comments!  Thank you.

Eight years ago I began cutting red circles and green squares and, with abandon, sewed the circles onto the squares.  My idea came from seeing flats of roses in bloom at a garden market.  I did not take a photo but I remember that the sunlight dappled across both the flowers and the leaves, turning some lighter, leaving some darker, and highlighting some in the mid-ranges of red and green.

I waited till the kitties were gone, then pulled out the plastic shoe box where these were stored and arranged them in groups of nine.  I was--and still am--debating about putting sashing between each square or between each group of nine. 

This morning I looked at them again and thought, This will be such a little quilt.  I thought I planned it to be at least twin size.  Then I pulled out my notes which told me I'd made 180 squares.  I counted the ones on the floor and realized that I was at least a third short.  I checked the box again and there they were.  I added them to the group and played with the layout a little.

With the lighter circles coming from the upper right I thought it looked a little like the sunlight hitting the roses.  But I don't think that's an effective layout and I don't think I want to be so literal.  The arrangement above looks like a jumble right now.

Possible ideas for the layout include
-- placing all the dark green squares together in the center
-- placing all the dark green squares around the edges
If I had to choose right now, I'd put the dark greens in the center.

(It is amazing to me how putting photos together in a blog post and writing about the process and decisions help clarify either what I don't want to do with a quilt top, what I do want to do, and/or sometimes both.)

/

The other consideration is whether to use sashing or not.  These are the red and white striped fabrics I have on hand.
I don't know about you, but those narrow stripes on the lower right do awful things to my eyes so those will go back on the shelf.  The fabric I like best, if I'm going to use red and white stripes, is the center one on the top.  I think striped sashing gives these blocks a festive air reminiscent of a summertime carnival.

I also thought maybe red and green plaids might work.  This is a close-up of the ones I have, and you can see them from a distance in the first photo, on the left.  I'm not sure any of them would be effective unless I want the sashing to disappear.

If I choose sashing I will absolutely (as far as I'm thinking now) include red cornerstones that extend into the sashing.

While I'm playing, I might as well add my daughter's suggestion that I use this one block I made for Barbara Brackman's Hospital Sketches and put the red and green blocks around it.  This block will finish at 18".

It may be something I'll try but I doubt I'll combine the two. 

Before she left on Wednesday, my daughter and I drove to Plain City to deliver Hands2Help quilt top donations to a collection point for MCC.  It was a beautiful day but we couldn't figure out why it was so hazy.  The sun was bright and there were no clouds but it almost looked cloudy at ground level.  At first we thought perhaps it might be pollen in the air but we checked and no, it was smoke from the fires in Canada.  Fires like that are so frightening because they are so big and uncontained.  I'm sorry for the trees, plants, and the wildlife but even sorrier for the people who are affected.

The black plaid shirts are still pestering me.  "Use us, use us," they say.  I thought perhaps I could do something more fun than a two or three color quilt with them.  I came up with the idea of baskets and gave one a try.  "Flowers" of one color in this one, but I'd use other colors, too, if I were to continue making them.

I think the basket fabric is too dominant, too dark.  There's probably a better use for those black plaids, especially because I have so many of them and so much fabric!

I guess I should go play some more since I see things more clearly now.

I'm linking this post to
> Finished (or not) Friday at Alycia Quilts
> Peacock Party at Wendy's Quilts and More
> Oh Scrap! at Quilting is more fun than Housework
> Can I Get a Whoop, Whoop? at Confessions of a Fabric Addict

I hope you have a great weekend!

--Nancy.