6 or 60?
Using 60 fabrics (or more) in a quilt has always been easier for me than using just 6. When there’s only 6 fabrics, odd choices stand out too much. When you use 60 fabrics, you can do lots of dumb/interesting/not-quite-right stuff and it all looks great!
I say this a lot when I teach and I try to always attribute it to quilting goddess Margaret J. Miller. While writing this post I looked up the reference and realized she wrote 3 or 30… Silly me. But OMG! while researching Margaret’s quote, I realized how much good stuff is in her book Blockbuster Quilts. I must read her book again, especially the Color Strategies chapter.
While it’s generally harder for me to use a smaller number of fabrics, it’s still fun taking the extra time to pick just the right ones. Until it’s not. Sometimes it can be frustrating when one of two things happen. 1) It feels like it’s taking too long to make choices. 2) I get locked up/paralyzed because I’m trying to be too perfect.
I’m right on that verge…
The Choices that Worked Really Well
Retro Wallpaper Quilt
I’m in love with these fabric choices - and with this design. Because of the combination of today’s fabrics and yesterday’s (yesteryear’s) fabrics, I may name this quilt The Old and the New.
The Holes that Need to be Filled
The yellow green ring was one of my first auditions for that row of rings and dots. Everything else in this photo has been finalized and stitched. The finished middle row is show in the first picture above.
Some of the Choices
Actual winners are in this collage. I think. =)
Bowling
My performance at our annual state tournament was subpar. Unfortunately, most of my teammates’ bowling wasn’t stellar either. Although a bit disappointed, we all had fun finishing in the middle of the road.
Tomorrow we leave for the National USBC Senior Masters at Sam’s Town. I’ll have a better story to tell when we get home next week.
Next Time
There’s some motivation to get the binding on Toronto Architecture. I chose to skip submitting to Houston this year and I just found out TA is not wide enough for AQS shows - dammit. We’ll show it somewhere, sometime.
Final fabric choices are coming for the Retro Wallpaper Quilt.
Quilt your way!