Looking Really Good!

I've been working on the quilt that my sister put in a special request for and it is looking great! I had given my sister two quilt designs to choose from and she decided that she wanted the design that had larger blocks to better show off her feature fabrics.

bold option

subtle option

I have all of the blocks made but I haven't started sewing them together yet because I do want some input from my sister about a couple fabric options. You can tell from my sister's fabric choices that she wants the quilt to have an earthy, garden, nature look to it and I think both options give that look.

The first option, which I am calling the bold option, has three darker green blocks and that naturally draws the eye to the greens in the quilt top. In the second option, which I am calling the subtle option, I have replaced those fabrics with a more earthy toned fabric that draws out a little more of the brown tones. I think either one works but I think she should decide which of the two fabrics that she wants to be featured in the quilt top.

Glenda will be visiting on Wednesday and she can make her fabric decision in person at that time. I am a terrible photographer so my quilts always look so much better in person than in my photos. ;)  In this case, my photos make the fabrics look washed out when in real life the colours are richer and more vibrant.

Even though this is a 'commissioned' quilt I do not feel any stress or angst about making it at all. It is a labour of love that I am doing for my sister and I know she will be happy with whatever I make. :)

For reference, these were the two designs that I created for my sister to choose from.

chosen design

Not a Lot of Sewing :(

checking for value - looks good to me

I have been feeling a little bit under the weather this week and just haven't spent very much time in my sewing room at all. On a good note, I have made a bit of progress on my rail fence quilt and I have pretty much all of the fabric cut and ready to go. I have started sewing the strips together and it sure does seem to take a bit longer than I thought it would. That's okay because it certainly isn't a race to the finish line. :)

After sewing and cutting a few I put them on the design wall to check for value. I wanted to be sure I was on track before I got too far along.

I have been spending the time to cut the strip sets down into segments as soon as I finish stitching them together and I think I prefer to do that rather than saving them up to cut all at once. Many of the strips are cut from fat quarters so they are not really long and I generally get about 3 blocks from each set.

I've noticed that I seem to have a preference for the blocks that contain 3 dark strips over the ones that contain 3 light strips. The proof is when I compare the height of the stacks of finished blocks. :)

I put more of the blocks up on my design wall to take a look and so far so good. I still have a long way to go....

Still At It :)

I am continuing to work on my crumb strips and I have made a whole slew of them. I wanted to make sure that I had enough to finish my crumb flimsy and I certainly did. I made about 100 new strips and I now have 70 or so left and I am still making them.

I have already added what I thought would be the final column but, honestly, I am really loving this top and will probably make it larger. It doesn't look like much in the photos but in real life it looks very dynamic and exciting. Initially, I wasn't even going to name it but now it seems that I must so I have called it Abstract.