I moved the Fabric of the Year project forward all weekend last weekend by sewing like crazy. I made over 100 Zanzibar blocks, as well as cut and organized other little pieces that I need for other projects despite the rain, power outages and family obligations.
Keep in mind that these are SMALL blocks. Each rectangle is 1.5″x3.5″, so they sew together very quickly. I do about 8 at a time using chain piecing methods. I talked about the selection and resizing of these blocks on February 16, 2009.
I actually felt rather smug getting so much done. Sadly, that feeling was short lived. I haven’t done anything this week except a little pressing of fabric. Pressing of fabric is the first step in the process so that is a good thing. I, however, had grand illusions of finishing the blocks this week and making another pencil roll this weekend. I have about 18 more blocks to make from uncut/unpressed fabric. Half of those fabrics are pressed and half are not, so I still have some work to do.
I also have about 10 groups of cut pieces waiting for mates that I need to sew. I have a lot of dots, which should not surprise you, and I am trying not to put dots together every time if I can help it. In some cases I can’t help it. In the grander design of the quilt, I don’t think it will matter.
I have been trying to post this blog post all week as well and there were several days where I did not get near the computer at home. I am glad podcasts are around, because they kept me in the creative loop.
One of the things I tried to do with this batch is put contrasting colors together. I did some of that before, but didn’t feel successful. I was bored putting two yellows or two blues together, so I decided to mix it up a little.
I am in love with the blues. What do you think?
In case you were wondering, I have about a foot of design wall space because the Tarts are still waiting for me to machine applique some hearts onto the curvy teapot. Below is what I have to work with:
That IS a lot of work to have gotten done, especially considering all the added distractions of power outages and more hours at work!
I assume you will work on the layout when all the blocks are done, before making rows? What stood out, in my feeble mind, were the blocks with the wide stripes being next to each other. Your eye is drawn to that corner right away. (bottom photo) The next thing I noticed was in the forth photo down, the large dots were all on the left side.
I am sure you know that the blocks with the darkest colors (mostly black) will stand out and you’ll want to place them accordingly.
I learned that lesson with the tumbling blocks quilt I am working on now. The darkest fabric stuck out like a sore thumb in some of the layouts that I tried!
But you know all that type of stuff already. You have a good ‘eye’ when it comes to balancing out your quilts I think.
What a fun way to use a variety of fabrics up! 🙂
SherriD: In the process of making the blocks, I just make them as the fabrics filter to the top. Before I take the photos, I do rearrange them on the design wall, so that viewers can see the different fabrics. I am much more careful about placement when I layout the quilt.
Let me know what you think of the layout. https://artquiltmaker.com/blog/2010/02/cqfa-retreat-2010/ Your points were right on target, especially about the stripes. In the colorwash way I was laying out this quilt, there were problem fabrics – fabrics that just don’t work, but I forced them to work. Stripes – especially the ones with white alternates – were particularly troublesome.