Motif Metamorphosis

Country Revival/Sad Quilt flower motif
Country Revival/Sad Quilt flower motif

I had the Flower motif from the Country Revival pattern** on my design wall for a long time without sewing it together. It wasn’t quite right and looking at it was the only way to figure out how to improve it. I knew I couldn’t use white in the place I had put it originally-leaf area around the outside. I wanted to use white as a background and the white as shown would be lost and change the shape of the flower motif completely. I also didn’t know what to do.

I often find that if I just do something, then I can get started improving a piece. 

Country Revival/Sad Quilt flower motif with leaves
Country Revival/Sad Quilt flower motif with leaves

The first thing I did was decide the white ‘petals’ needed to be replaced with green and become leaves. It was a good start.

I liked the addition of the green, but decided I needed more and different greens. In this photo there are two different Tilda fabrics. One reason is that I used some of the green on the tips of the flowers for a pillowcase for my friend. I didn’t have much left, but I wanted to include some so it would kind of match the pillowcase. I had just enough to make four leaves. 

Country Revival/Sad Quilt flower motif with leaves v.3
Country Revival/Sad Quilt flower motif with leaves v.3

I wasn’t 100% happy with the look and feel. I really wanted an emerald green solid. I didn’t have that so I tried some dots. They were close to an emerald green and looks like a great addition to the overall look.

I still felt like there was nowhere for the eye to rest, so I moved some of the tall, skinny pieces with the slightly curved tops around. Better, but not perfect.

I added in some of the Dovetail by Ghazal Razavi background I bought at Bay Quilts with Julie a few weeks ago. It is a bright white, which I like and the many colors go well. I know it is hard to see in the photo. You can enlarge the photo to see it better.

Country Revival/Sad Quilt flower motif with leaves v.4
Country Revival/Sad Quilt flower motif with leaves v.4

I can’t get away from symmetry, so I cut more pieces and changed the fabrics around so there was more symmetry, e.g. the piece looked more symmetrical.

I know the changes are slight and hard to see. I changed the corner fabrics and moved some of the other greens around. 

My eye was honing in on the pink dots. I wasn’t liking them, but I wasn’t sure what to do. I didn’t want to add more of the pink solid as I thought it would overwhelm the piece in general. For the moment, this is the final version of block 1. I may make some more changes, but I decided to work on a second block and give myself a rest from the pink.

I love that pink and blue Tilda fabric and it is now much less prominent. I’ll have to use it in another block.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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More on the Sad Quilt

After my recent post, I thought more about this quilt and decided that the Jacob’s Ladder pattern wasn’t going to work at all. I tried different ideas, different colors, but it just isn’t the right idea for my friend.

First, I really shouldn’t call it the Sad Quilt. Not a great start. I can’t help how sad I am, though.

Frolic!
Frolic!

Second, as an interim solution, I sent off Frolic! to her. I am glad I have some quilts around I can just send off to people in need.

I love this quilt and had a good time making it, so there is a lot of good karma/energy associated with it. My friend lives in Hawaii, so it wasn’t cheap to send. It was totally worth it since I can’t be there to hug her in person.

In the meantime I am still working on a design made specifically in memory of my friend’s daughter. I am thinking that I will repurpose the Tilde fabrics I bought on vacation into this quilt.

Country Revival QCR pattern
Country Revival QCR pattern

A pattern occurred to me that I bought awhile ago, but haven’t yet tried, Country Revival. I don’t know why it is called Country Revival, because it doesn’t look ‘country’ at all to me.

The QCR (etc) patterns I have made, Metro Twist and Metroscape, have come out well, so I think the end result would be successful. At least is has a chance of being successful.

Tilde Fabrics
Tilde Fabrics

Obviously the Tilde fabrics would give it a different look than the quilt on the cover. I think I need to find a common fabric I could use in the center to bring the whole quilt together. I think pink would work, even different pinks. I also have that weird blue, which might work.

Also, the example quilt is small. I would want to make it larger, maybe 9 blocks. Still work to do to bring it together, but I feel I am on the right track now.

Finished: Metro Twist

Finished: Metro Twist
Finished: Metro Twist

Yes, Metro Twist is finished! Hooray. It will go off to its new home after I show it at the guild meeting.

I am so thrilled with the fabrics. It was a good group to use. Someone asked me when I showed it at Sew Day if I had bought the pack of fabrics or if it came from the fabric closet. I was thrilled to tell them I made the choices myself.

Finished: Metro Twist back
Finished: Metro Twist back

Colleen did a great job on the quilting. You can see it really well on the back

It came out smaller than I remembered, but it will be a large wall hanging or a small lap quilt.

Quilts Return

Early 2024 Quilts Return
Early 2024 Quilts Return

In an amazing burst of speed, Colleen returned 3 of the 5 projects I gave her on January 19.

The Scrappy Celebration quilt, the Metro Twist quilt and the Cha Cha Cha table runner #2 are all back and waiting to be bound.

Cha Cha Cha #2 quilted
Cha Cha Cha #2 quilted

I only took a picture of the table runner as I didn’t have any assistance. As you can see I didn’t press it before I took the photo. The details are a little hard to see, so I have included a detail.

Cha Cha Cha #2 quilted (detail)
Cha Cha Cha #2 quilted (detail)

Metro Twist Ready for Quilting

Metro Twist top with borders
Metro Twist top with borders

Yep, I finished the top and back. I feel much lighter now that it is done.

I am also pleased with how it turned out. I don’t know if I will make this pattern again, but it is possible.

I am sure I said somewhere when I worked on the Metroscape quilt or the Mod Lights tablerunner that the Quick Curve ruler projects come out really well. Not all of my points match up in this quilt, but they are close enough in most cases.

Metro Twist back
Metro Twist back

I put the back together relatively quickly. The label is a little lower than I normally sew it, but I wrote Colleen a note about in case I forget to tell her if I ever see her again. 😉

Another project off my list. My pile of quilts for Colleen is growing.

Even More Metro Twist

Metro Twist - blocks sewn
Metro Twist – blocks sewn

I am still piecing this top together, not because it is difficult, but because I haven’t had enough time to focus on it.

Finally, I am able to say that the blocks are all sewn together. I have decided to put a border on it and that is not yet done.

Making Metro Twist Progress

Sew the sewing begins
Sew the sewing begins

I am making good progress. I now have three columns of 4 blocks sewn together. I still have another two columns to go, obviously.

I am beginning to wonder if I need to make this piece larger. I *think* it will end up as a large lap size. Is that large enough?

I guess we’ll see.

The Return of Metro Twist

I went over to Cyndi’s the other day to sew. This is not Cyndi of the bag, but Cyndi of the Guild. At first, we were going to work on the Enigma Bag together, but she hadn’t had time to cut out her pieces, so we’ll do that another day.

Metro Twist in process
Metro Twist in process

I took three projects over to her studio and ended up making good progress on Metro Twist. I sewed about 40 blocks, most of which I was able to trim as well. I am super happy that I got back to this project.

Metro Twist ready for the big push
Metro Twist ready for the big push

I put all of the existing blocks up on the big design wall (I had to take Scrappy Celebration down temporarily) and took a look.

Metro Twist Then and Now

The other day I talked about selecting a large print fabric to add to the Metro Twist. After that whole selection process, I pieced some blocks using one strip of fabric to see how they would look.

Here is the before and after:

The veggie print makes the quilt look darker. The quilt will be given to one of my nephews so I think the darker look works.

Adding to Metro Twist

As promised, I got back in the Metro Twist groove last weekend. I cut up some of the foreground fabrics I selected and made more blocks. I didn’t work my way completely through the stack I had cut, but I made a dent. The blocks are somewhat time consuming and I didn’t want to cut out a bunch of pieces all at once.

Metro Twist with Green Floral
Metro Twist with Green Floral

As I did so, I thought the of large print fabric I had selected. I thought the green would work very well with the overall color scheme. Also, I thought the scale of the print, when cut up, would add interest, but not be too girly looking.

I never cut up pieces when I cut the other foregrounds out. There was something not quite right about it, though generally the look was good.

Metro Twist with floral burst print
Metro Twist with floral burst print

On Sunday, I decided that I really needed to add a fabric with the large scale. At the same time, I decided that I would confirm that this was the print for the job. I have quite a few large print fabrics, so I dragged a few out, though I looked through a lot more.

I thought the dark green in the second photo might be better. I thought the dark green would pick up the other dark greens in the tone-on-tone foreground fabrics.. This one was my front runner for awhile.

I tried some other darks, then gave up. I wasn’t able to find anything better than the one above.

Metro Twist with Coleus and Roses
Metro Twist with Coleus and Roses

For kicks, I tried some fabrics with more pinks. I didn’t want girly, but there are already a few pinks and they don’t make the quilt abhorrent to men, I don’t think.

I like this fabric a lot and I liked the lavender background. I thought it added something to the quilt. However, I didn’t like the red for this quilt. The red works well in the fabric, but with all of the burgundies and red-purples, I want to keep that clear red out of the quilt for now.

Metro Twist with dark Chrysanthemum
Metro Twist with dark Chrysanthemum

Finally, I tried one of the lush Chrysanthemum prints. This was better than the dark green and I liked the way the print pulled out the other pink foreground fabrics. I also liked the mustard-y color (see lower right of the Philip Jacobs print).  The problem, again, was the red.

By now, I was kind of desperate. I thought I would go with my original choice or the Floral Burst, but I wasn’t 100% on board with those. I took another look through my large print fabrics and came up with the perfect, if unorthodox, choice.

Mixed Veg, part of the Veggies Collection by Martha Negley
Mixed Veg, part of the Veggies Collection by Martha Negley

I don’t even know why I have this fabric. I loved some of the other colorways of this print and probably just snapped it up because of the imagery.  It has been in my palette for awhile. There are certain colors, which are perfect for this quilt. The burgundy and fuschia are obvious. The greens and that little bit of blue used as a shadow are also good.

I am pleased with this choice, if a little unorthodox.

 

More Metro Twist

Metro Twist - July 2023
Metro Twist – July 2023

I decided that I would try to make the Metro Twist larger.I have a possible recipient for this quilt and I want it to, at least be lap sized.

I have plenty of foreground fabrics, even though most are fat quarters. I needed to find more of the background fabric. It is always a challenge with solids. Since I buy limited solid brands, I thought it was doable.

Normally, I write the brand and color in Sharpie on the selvedge, but the grey I used for Metro Twist didn’t have it. Either I cut it off and tossed it or never wrote it down.

I also didn’t have a picture of the grey with other purchases. Usually, I photograph my purchases so I have some hope of finding fabric and supplies again.

Austin Sewing Pure Elements Ash + mesh
Austin Sewing Pure Elements Ash + mesh

I looked at my color cards and thought the background might be from Pure Elements. I bought some Pure Elements Ash first, but when it arrived, I could see that it wasn’t quite right. I can use it for something else, but disappointing nonetheless.

Back to the color cards. This time I pulled them all out, but immediately put back the Kona color card. I very rarely buy Kona and I knew this wasn’t it. I have the American Made Brands color card. Bingo! I bought some of one of their Gray. I am pretty sure that is the right fabric. I suppose I’ll see when it arrives.

I haven’t worked on the Metro Twist for a few weeks as I tried to catch up on Scrappy Celebration and The Pantone Project. I was able to make some progress this past weekend with the background pieces I have already cut. I have a bit of the background left and want to save it until the reinforcements arrive in case I need it and can’t find the right solid.

Metro Twist Fabrics

The next Sew Day  will be a Super Sew Day/Meeting combination. As mentioned, I will be assisting Amy to teach the Metro Twist pattern.

Metro Twist Fabric Pull
Metro Twist Fabric Pull

One thing I did was look through the fabric pulls that I had saved. I chose one with a large number of prints to use.

A lot of these are Art Gallery fabrics. I may not use all of the grid fabrics and I may change out the focus fabric (4th from left, top row), which I added quickly before I took these to Sew Day. There is already a lot of green in this quilt and that might send it over the edge. Still, maybe not, we’ll have to see as I cut and start putting blocks together.