Coral and Plaid 25-Patch Quilt Top

I finished this top last Thursday.  I like everything about it except the slight buckling in some of the sections of sashing.  My quarter-inch seams must be a little off.  I think--hope!--it will quilt out.

I always forget how grey the plaids look from afar when they look so black up close when I'm cutting and sewing.  They give such a muted look.  The top measures about 58" x 82".  It will be great for a tall, thin person, or someone who likes to tuck a quilt under his/her feet for a nap.

Here are a few close-ups of blocks that are a little scrappier than the others.  I think the colors in these photos are most accurate.

And this is one of the intersections where blocks and sashing meet, putting five different plaids together.  I love that scrappy look!

I am sorrier than you know that these photos are so awful.  I took my little Canon PowerShot A560 camera to the repair shop today.  The fellow took some photos with it and declared it fine.  He seemed disinterested and almost dismissive.  Being pressed for time, I neglected to mention that the lack of clarity happens when the photos are enlarged.  It's true it's an older camera, bought in 2006 or 2007, and it's had a good run but I can't help think that there are some simple adjustments that will bring the clarity back.  Maybe I'll get in touch with Canon. 

We are deeply into spring here in central Ohio.  All but the highest trees have leafed out so we have green all around us.  There are plenty of flowers in bloom, too.  The grape hyacinths are at their peak.  The daffodils will begin to fade soon.  And the violets are just beginning to bloom.  It's wonderful to awake to birdsong!  Perhaps I can share some photos soon.

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
> Put your foot down at For the Love of Geese
> Off the Wall Friday at Nina's blog
> Can I Get a Whoop Whoop? at Confessions of a Fabric Addict

I hope your spring weather is wonderful--or fall weather if you're in the southern hemisphere.

--Nancy.

She Does Go On

Occasionally, a topic of conversation will come up between my daughter and me that is the subject of a recent conversation.  These topics are never sensitive or hot topics, but things like a shared memory, a funny scene from a movie, or a recent event that one of us mentioned a few days before.  Sometimes we sense the topic coming up again and one of us will say, in jest, "You do go on."  And we'll both laugh, knowing what would have been coming.  (I don't how we came to use the phrase "you do go on.")

If you happen to have read two recent posts about this quilt and are now reading this one, you might think to yourself, "She does go on about making that quilt."  And I would laugh and agree.  Sometimes I need to write down  thoughts and share photos in hopes having a different view or of someone pointing out what I don't see myself.  So here I am, going on about this quilt.  No hard feelings if you're sick of it and leave before reading.

I finally resorted to taping a sheet to the floor in hopes of keeping the cats from playing on and with the blocks.  I thought it would prevent them from sliding across the floor and into the blocks.  It's helped but has not prevented the cats from being on the blocks.  Those cats just love fabric and quilts!  Ah, well....

Since I finished the blocks, I've been trying different possible sashing options.  I have several iterations to show.  You may have to look closely to see them.

I had decided I would probably use coral squares at the ends of the sashing to help create nine-patches, but then I saw these off-white pluses before I'd placed coral squares and had second thoughts.  They certainly give the eye a place to rest, even more so than the nearly-black sashing.  Then I put a few plaid squares in the centers (with several blacks near the top), just to see.  I don't think the plain pluses work well for this quilt.

 Below are the corals at the end of the sashing strips.  After looking at the white, these seem, maybe, a little too closed--too much of the same color.  Do you think the off-whites or the corals look more vintage, which was my original intention with this quilt?

And below, white with plaid squares in the centers.  I liked these when I first saw them but then I thought perhaps it was just an easy out from deciding which coral fabric(s) to use.  And grey centers or black?  Not coral centers because it would break up the diagonal pattern of dark plaids.

Scrappy coral fabrics at the ends of the sashing strips, and off-whites on the other side, for side-by-side comparison.

Below, there's one black center, and several different coral fabrics, including one bright red/orange near the bottom.  If coral fabric, all the same fabric (for as many as I have fabric, and then a similar fabric) or a scrappy variety of corals?

I've decided against that red/orange fabric in the photo above.  And I'm really having seconds and third thoughts about the corals in the sashing.  They don't really do what I thought they might, which is create a nine-patch secondary pattern.  I'm leaning toward off-white squares at the ends of the black sashing and black center squares.  But then again, plaids in the centers might be better....

The next consideration will be binding color.  There will be no borders on this quilt, just the 25-patch blocks with sashing.  Black binding?  Coral binding?  It's never too early to start thinking about that.  (The blocks in this quilt will finish at 10" and the sashing will finish at 2".  Before quilting and washing/drying, the top should be about 58" x 82".  Long and thin with plenty of length to tuck under to keep feet warm.

I know the decisions for a quilt are purely personal but I am interested in what you see and what you think of the possibilities in these photos.  Thanks for sharing, dear readers.

And now I'm done going on about this quilt, at least for this post.  Hopefully, the next time you see these blocks will be when they are sewn into a top.  Won't that be grand?!

I'm linking this post to
> Oh Scrap! at Quilting is more fun than Housework
> Design Wall Monday at Small Quilts and Doll Quilts
Thanks for hosting, Cynthia and Judy.

--Nancy.

Unifying a Scrap Quilt, Or at Least Making it Cohesive

My self-imposed challenge was--is--to use a group of black and grey plaid fabrics from shirts and a group of fabrics in the coral color-range to create a quilt.  The point is to use up those plaids!  I made a quilt using black plaids a year ago and learned that the plaids blend to grey when viewed from a distance.  (Yes, this quilt is using more of the same plaids from that quilt!)

On the other hand, I learned from this quilt that while the black plaid fabrics may look grey, their value also varies depending on the proportion of black and light in the plaid.  And also possibly depending on the direction of the plaid.  Plaids are so variable!

Add to the above the variations in the eight or so coral fabrics I used--varying from prints that look light to solids and prints that are brights and darks--and I have a busy mess of blocks.  But it's a scrap quilt, I tell myself....

Each block has 13 plaid and 12 coral squares.  My decision to make the plaid dominant was based on the fact that I had more plaids than coral fabrics.  I still have plaids left but not much coral fabric.

I am to the point of auditioning sashing.  In my original post about these blocks you readers left some wonderful comments.   Several of you suggested no sashing.  In person, all the plaids jumble my eyes which makes me think they need some space between.  So I'm choosing to use sashing.  Several of you suggested that if I were going to use sashing that black might be too dark/stark.  I had the same impression. 

I auditioned several grey shirt fabrics, none of which have enough fabric to make sashing for the whole quilt.   The greys seem to disappear.  After trying out several greys, I decided black might be the best option after all.  (See photos below and at the beginning of this post.)  I think the black or very dark grey sashing will give the quilt some unity, continuity, and structure and help it look cohesive.

The other thing about this quilt is that I'm trying to use up fabric, not buy more fabric, which means I'm hoping to use what I have, though I admit to stopping at the thrift store this afternoon....

This brings me to the next decision about this quilt, and that is whether to put coral squares at both ends of the black/dark grey sashing.  I like that it will create a secondary pattern across the quilt--a 9-patch in the center of the black sashing.  

At least that's what I think will happen.  I've cut and laid out only a few strips of black sashing.  I think the sashing will also give the eye a place to rest.

Another consideration is fabric for the squares at the ends of each black sashing piece.  Coral, I think, and  all the same fabric, if possible, for continuity's sake.  The fabrics below are possibilities, shown with with pieces of the fabrics I used to make the blocks.

The fabric on the left has less than enough for the squares, but I think it looks best of the ones I have.  The fabric on the right seems too dark, maybe a little too red/orange, and blends into the plaids.  (See top photo, center square.)  I'll cut black strips, then lay out the quilt and play a little.  

It does occur to me that I could choose a completely different color range for the sashing strips and squares but I don't know what color that would be....

Do you have any insights to share about how to unify scrap quilts to make them look cohesive?  Thank you if you do.

In the whole of human experience--even in the whole of my own personal experience of 70+ years--choosing fabrics and colors for a quilt is a tiny, brief fragment of life.  Insignificant, really, and probably not worth all the time and thought I put into it.  And yet, I'm continually striving for improvement--being better, doing better, making better--each next time an interaction or experience comes my way.  That being said, I have to remind myself that each quilt I make does not have to be better than the last.  And thank goodness for that!  (But even so, I unconsciously set that as one of my goals when making a quilt.)

I thought this Cara Cara orange was so beautiful that I should share it.  Citrus fruit isn't a favorite but I do love the smell and beauty of oranges. 

I'm linking this post to
> Oh Scrap! at Quilting is more fun than Housework
> Design Wall Monday at Small Quilts and Doll Quilts
Thanks for hosting, ladies.

I hope you are well and thanks for sharing comments!
--Nancy.