I was able to look at all the Ombre Weave blocks on the design wall.
I was somewhat surprised at how much brown and beige there was in the roll I bought. I never really cataloged the colors, but I always thought it was all the colors. Now I realize there are some significant hues missing such as RED.
This is totally my fault for not noticing years ago when I bought the roll. Still, it is not fatal. I got a small piece of red (cherry? cranberry?) and will add it in to the mix.
I have some other blocks I need to trim and then I will add those as well.
I finally decided to lay it out and see what needed to be done. I finally laid it out and inventoried the different blocks that I had available.
I am farther along than I thought.
The image above shows my first layout with what blocks I had. As you can see, I have been adding sashing to certain blocks even though I have not seen them up on the design wall.
Green Strip donation top #2 in progress (v.2)
I had enough blocks to add another row, so I did that to see how it looks. I know it is going to be a weird shape again, but I decided that using up the blocks was more important than my worries about shape. If I were really worried about shape, I would make square blocks.
I have sashing cut, so I prepared sashing and cornerstone strips for the last blocks and see how far I can get in the next little while. I really feel like I need to get this quilt off to the Community Quilt ladies.
I was thinking about what to piece next after making some pillowcases. I was thinking of starting the Ombre Weave** pattern, which I bought at Stitch in Ferndale. If I started that new project, I would have to take all the pieces of the Pantone Project off the design wall. I thought that was a bad idea since I didn’t want it to become a permanent WIP. Been there done that.
I decided to work on it a little at least and then see what happened.
I wasn’t that happy with my previous layout ideas, Design #1 or Design #2, for the Pantone blocks. I took all the blocks down and started over with the design I drew in my journal. I liked it on paper so I thought it would be a good place to start.
Pantone Project – almost layout
It really is a good starting place. I am pretty pleased with the design as it is shown in the photo, left. I tried to duplicate what I had drawn with blocks and I am ok with the way the fabrics look. I couldn’t do everything as I don’t have enough of some of the parts, but I made due.
It isn’t perfect yet. The top right hand corner, for example is a little heavy while the left upper corner is a little light. Still for an hour of work, it looks like I can almost start piecing.
I might still start the Ombre Weave quilt and do both at the same time.
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I finished work on Friday and spent the weekend on some cleanup projects, one of which was the Pantone blocks.
I finally finished all the blocks for the Pantone Project. I am excited that I can start playing with the layout, especially after I saw what Friend Julie was doing on her design wall!
These have been hanging around my workroom for a few weeks now. Last weekend was really the first time in a few weeks I had uninterrupted time to sew. DH was out and the house was quiet so I could concentrate. Fortunately, except for one fabric, I had picked out all the fabrics previously so all I had to do was cut and sew. I did choose some of the easier blocks, but I tried to choose blocks I thought I could use in the overall quilt design. Now to just get these to Julie at some point soon.
I spent some time last week finding fabrics for my last group of Pantone blocks.
I don’t have any greens as dark as Deep Forest, so in the end, I just chose a black.
Most of the others I selected from older fabrics that I haven’t even looked at in awhile. I have one more fabric to select, but I have already cut the 4.5 inch squares. I have also started to make the blocks and will show those soon.
I finally finished all the blocks for the Green & Grey Diagonal 9 Patch.
I haven’t started piecing the blocks together, but at least I have all of the blocks. I have spent the past week fiddling with the placement of the blocks.
There is quite a lot of yellow-green, more than I expected. I think I kind of clumped it together. Where the yellow-greens are not in a block together, I am trying to spread them out.
I spent the other day working on these blocks and I am already to put them together.
I wasn’t sure if the background would look good. I think it does. It looks very watercolor-y, which is different than the other one I made. I am glad they look different, but have a lot of similarities.
I ran out of fabric, so I had to find something to do about that. The first thing I did was buy more fabric, but I wasn’t 100% sure I was buying the right fabric. I decided to make some blocks in a different fabric and make it part of the design.
As I rummaged through various options, I found a grey ombre and had a brain wave. I made the last 4 blocks in the ombre using the gradation from dark to light. I thought the idea would look much more interesting than having all the blocks use the same background.
Colorblocks 3 top finished
I pieced the quilt together and think my fabric choices were good. I tried to place the ombre patches, first, then the ombre blocks in such a way that they blended from dark to light with the other background fabric. I am really pleased with the way it turned out.
The silk is a bear to work with. I thought, at first, “I don’t need no stinkin’ interfacing”. I was wrong. I interfaced all the pieces after the first few and the silk was much more in control.
I have tons of silk left. Since the pieces are FQs, mostly, I can’t make a dress or anything. I don’t really want to make another silk quilt (I am not sure the effort was worth the outcome), so I don’t know what to do with the fabric I have left. I’ll have to think about it.
I spent most of the Sunday of MLK weekend working on the latest batch of Pantone blocks. I dug into some old fabric to find good matches.
Pantone: Storm Corner
Pantone: Flying Geese
Pantone: Trickies or QST
Pantone: 4 Patch
Pantone: Rectangles
Pantone: One Peaky Right
Pantone: Center Diamond
Pantone: Corner Gone
Pantone has a lot of browns and I am digging deep to find anything that looks close to the colors on the postcards. I found some brown fabrics I had forgotten I had. The exercise is making me think about shades and tones that are missing from my fabric palette.
I am using this project for leaders and enders, so it isn’t progressing as quickly as it might otherwise. Still, progress is good.
These are the additional blocks I made, some of which were rejected from Black Strip [#1].
It has that weird shape again and I don’t have enough additional blocks to make it wider. Not having additional blocks is a good thing in terms of scraps as it means I am working through my scraps (making room for more!). On the other hand, it is a not ideal situation for actually using the quilt. I might have to go with wider sides and narrower top/bottom when I do the borders.
I was able to finish the grey strip top at Sew Day, then work on the back at home. I am pleased that this top is finished and am already working on the next black version.
With the back, it is another 3 yards used for a good cause.
Grey strip donation back
I have now made 14 of these quilts, with the help of my guild colleagues.
The last time I talked about this quilt was in September! Since then I have been moving the blocks around my workroom in a desultory manner. I last had them all on the design wall in August and they don’t look great. I decided I needed to finish it and my deadline is on Friday. I have a date with Colleen and knowing my work schedule, will be unable to make another any time soon. So, I needed to get it finished.
Scrappy Celebration -what I had
I actually didn’t start from a bad place. I just needed to figure out where I was and where I needed to go.
The photo on the left is what I had when I put all the blocks up on the design wall. I ignored the block labels I had put on based on where the blocks were in the pattern. I rearranged blocks so they looked more appealing and, then, decided what I additional blocks I needed to make.
I worked on it last weekend and made good progress. I am now ready to sew the piece together.
