Fabric of the Year 2015 Starts

I posted a beginning layout photo to Instagram and one reader (is that the right word for Instagrammers who follow your feed?) asked if I knew it was 2016. I politely explained that I was working with the patches from last year and hadn’t quite started 2016’s version yet. Unlike you, dear reader, s/he does not read the blog and doesn’t know how this project works. ?

I have to admit that I almost gave up on putting this one together. I just felt like I didn’t have it in me, which is why it is April and I am just laying out the pieces now.

There are a few reasons. My design wall is the primary one. It is too small and I have just complained about it in my IRL circles rather than doing anything about it. I AM going to do something about it soon. I have a plan and having a plan means that I can execute that plan.

Next reason is that the project is feeling a bit stale. I don’t think it really is, but it feels that way to me. Part of that feeling probably came from having three of the quilts rejected from QuiltCon. I keep telling myself that clearly the people who did not jury in my quilts cannot appreciate the work that goes into them.

Third, I have a lot of projects on my plate and that I want to make. Doing one that is similar to the seven others I have made seems futile.

However, it is an excellent mind puzzle and color exercise, so I am back in the saddle and I have given myself until April 26 to get the piece laid out.

Sorted color piles
Sorted color piles

The first step is to sort all the pieces into general color piles: all the blues together, all the reds, etc. Normally I have several plastic boxes with patches, but this year, I used a large Recchiuti box and all were in one place. This step gives me an idea of how many patches in each color I have to work with.

The first challenge is to get all the pieces on the design wall. I can do some basic laying out before all of them are on the wall, but I can’t refine the placement without seeing the whole piece.

Starting the layout
Starting the layout

As of this writing, the patches are not all on the design wall. Since time is ticking, I need to work on getting that particular step done. It starts with putting a few patches in one color up and then the next. Making them all fit on this subpar design wall is the key. I am determined not to trim them all this year, like I did last year, even if I have to layer the pieces more than I would usually.

FOTY 2015 - First Pass
FOTY 2015 – First Pass

When I finished a good chunk of the layout, the above photo shows my first pass.