Monday, March 31, 2008

Backgrounds and swaps

All week I looked at my Stroop words to see whether I really wanted to change any letters. It's amazing how a little time can make a difference. The orange ceased to bother me at all, and though I still think pink is a bit too dark, I don't think it's so dark I'm going to change it. But the final ple of purple drove me nuts -- my eye kept being drawn right there -- so I changed it. And I did make a new n for green.
If you want to see what they looked like before, there's a photo here.

Today I played with backgrounds. I had always expected I'd put the words on a black ground, and I think it looks fine.
But what a shame not to explore other possibilities. I have a few black/bright prints, and I thought that might be fun -- at least until I saw it!
But this black and white was sitting on the cutting table, so I put it up and I love it!
The problem is that I had only a fat quarter of it, and as you can see, I've cut off a corner and a couple of strips already. It shouldn't be too hard to find more of this, or of something similar, should it? I guess I haven't decided for certain to use this background, but I do like it. Any input -- comments on these or suggestions for other kinds of backgrounds -- gratefully accepted!

By the way, this is why the black and white fabric was at hand:
I made another block like Wanda's using the triangles I had cut facing the opposite direction (I was thinking wrong direction). I have so many other things going on now that I'll put these away for awhile.

Since I last posted, I joined The Quilting Pirate's Miniature Booty Swap! I've never done a swap of a whole quilt before (and it's going to be a miniature quilt, but still), but I can't wait to design a small piece that will be the kind of thing my swap partner will like. There will be a link to the swap in my sidebar soon, I hope, but so far I keep getting crazy messages when I try to put it there.

I also finished all the quilting on my I Spy. I'll post a photo as soon as the binding is on!

And -- last but definitely not least -- today was my LAST DAY OF WORK!!!!! I am officially retired. :-)

15 comments:

Mary Johnson said...

You're getting so much done! I'm jealous.

I love the letters and can't wait to see which background/backgrounds you use and how you set them.

Congratulations on your retirement.

Readersraisinghell said...

I, too, like the black and white background.
And I love rendering color-words in colors NOT their own! It sets up a certain dissonance-and-resolution, rather like an interesting piece of music!

floribunda said...

great job on those colors (I kind of like that really bright background, but I suspect I'm in the minority...) and Happy Retirement!

Clare said...

Ohhh goodie - more time for Scrabulous!

I like the black polka dot, but my eye in more inclined to go for the plain back.

Belvie said...

Your color words look wonderful. I really like it on the black and white dot. That seems to make the color pop. The multi-color looks nice too, but the color just doesn't seem as vibrant.

KC Quilter said...

WOOOOOHOOOOO! Congrats on your retirement. You're gonna love it. Really like your wonky letters. And the black and white background is my favorite.

Exuberantcolor/Wanda S Hanson said...

The black and white background looks good. It just has to be a print with mostly black to work, so even if you don't find the exact one, there is something out there.

Have fun in retirement. Remember retirement is your second chance to have fun and do all of the things you have wanted to do. The reason retired people are so busy is because there is a long list of things they want to do.

Quilting Pirate said...

I like the black w/dots for the background as well...I'm thinking you need to do some shopping for the background ;)

YAH for signing up for a swap---you are going to have fun doing and receiving something new and different!

Congrats on retirement!!!! Now I bet you don't have much time planned for yourself yet?! :D

Norma said...

I think a shopping trip for black dots or some white on black print is in order. And, you have lots of time to go and look.........you are retired!!

Congratulations!!

Love your letters.

Laurel said...

Congratulations on retiring, that's a huge milestone!!!

Michael5000 said...

The Stroop words project is a very clever idea; I had glanced at several posts about it before I noticed that they WERE Stroop words; i.e. that the literal text and the text color didn't match. That's kind of interesting in itself.

In other news, congratulations on your last day of work! Mmm... retirement....

Quiltdivajulie said...

1. ENJOY the journey!!

2. I prefer the mostly black with a bit of white background -- why not a mixture of solid black with scrappy black and whites (that read mostly as black)?

3. The black/white/red is dynamic!!

Cathi said...

Congratulations on retirement!

I like your letters on the black with dot -- and I would think you should be able to find more of it as I just bought some at the LQS a couple of weeks ago!

Carin said...

I am going to go with the group and say I like the black and white dots!

Andrea said...

Happy retirement ! Loads more quilting on the cards ? I love your letters and yes - your little changes are for the better..