Yes, I have been working on the Tarts, but often the work I am doing seems like no progress rather than actually work.
Drawing for tea kettle
I started out with this drawing for the last block, presumably for the space in the lower left hand corner. I found a drawing as inspiration and once I had that crutch to get me started, I took it off in my own direction. I kept thinking about a tea kettle I once knew in Austria.
Once I had a drawing I liked, I had to pick fabric which turned out to be much harder than I thought. I think I have said before that there just aren’t enough colors for me. I thought a pinky-orange would look good, but couldn’t find he appropriate shade in my fabrics, so I tried others. As Lorraine Torrence says “make visual decisions visually.”
Auditioning Fabric #1
I started with a green as background even though I really thought the pinky-orange would be better.
Auditioning Fabric #2
The green is okay, but the kettle color isn’t quite right.
Auditioning Fabric #3
Moving on and trying other colors. Finally tried a pinky-orange I had. It wasn’t quite right with the reds near it.
Auditioning Fabric #4
Still not right, though I liked the purply-pink background better.
Auditioning Fabric #5
The orange is a little too brown!
Auditioning Fabric #6
I am no longer having fun.
Auditioning Fabric #7
Will this torment ever end?
Auditioning Fabric #8
A bit closer???
The Tarts Come to Tea, 4/12/2009
Finally, I decided on the purply-pink hand-dye with space alien lime green. It was okay at the bottom of the quilt, though I kept thinking that the thermos-like block might be better at the bottom. I changes a lot, but I am trying it out.
I really love it! I love the design and your fabric choices. You should make a pattern for this!
You made me laugh with the captions on the work. “Will this torment ever end?” so perfectly captures that point in the design process when you’ve tried and tried and you’re just not finding what you want…. Given how much fabric we have, how can this be? But it happens to me all the time…
I was really tormenting myself. I nearly gave up but pushed through the process.
Beena: Thanks for your vote of confidence! I’ll see about the pattern once I finish the quilt!
TFQ: I also was I a rush to get the blog post out as last week was just a crazy week time-wise and I had so many photos that I wanted to post. Sometimes a few words is better than a lot of words. I really can’t believe that the shade I wanted was not in my fabric closet. It is enough to drive me crazy. Now I know, when I buy fabric again, that I need to look for pinky oranges. Perhaps I should look at the Moda Marbles?
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