Drum roll, please! I have made blocks of all my color words.
And let me just say that I love them. I'm going to fiddle with them a bit, but I'm going to live with them for a few days first in case I change my mind. I don't like the n in green, so I haven't attached it in the expectation that I will make another. Actually, I do like the n, just not at the end of this particular word. I think I need a lighter purple to make pink show up better, but I'm not sure I'll change that -- it's such a jaunty word that I'm not sure I can bear to replace it. I'll change the ple at the end of purple because those letters together are too stiff and stodgy (I love the two l's in yellow and want to get purple to have that sort of freedom). And I'm a little bothered that none of the letters in orange takes up the whole space, or that together they don't bounce to all the edges, so I may do something there. BUT, having said that, I do love these!! I do, I do, I do! Thank you, Tonya, for all your wonderful help. You've opened up a new quilting world to me.Tomorrow I'll play with layouts and snap some photos of what I'm thinking to get everyone's suggestions.
THE OLD
This week HGTV aired a rerun of a Simply Quilts episode featuring Christine Porter, who wrote Quilt Designs from Decorative Floor Tiles. I bought this book right after I started quilting and couldn't wait to make one of the quilts -- but they were beyond my skills. I tried anyway. This was two years ago, and I took one of the easiest patterns in the book and reduced it to quarter size and made it for my husband's birthday. Unfortunately, I had loads of trouble piecing the triangles for the zig zags and so the quilt is a little wavy and puckery. I was disheartened and put the top away. (I also had no idea how to quilt it.) The recent rerun, along with the fact that it's my husband's birthday again in a week, inspired me to revisit the quilt.
I remembered it this way except with a much lighter and brighter and turquoise. I am so disappointed at the muddied values! Just doesn't show off the design enough. Live and learn.And I revisited the past as I looked around my office this week. I retire April 1 and will miss this quilt I have in my office -- it's perfect for my food-oriented job, but I have no where to put it at home. The third or fourth quilt I ever made, it is from a pattern in Sharon Pederson's More Reversible Quilts. I love the rainbow colors of peppers, carrots, lemons, cabbage and plums -- I call it Fruit Basket Upset.
And just for fun, you might enjoy these. I have a calendar by Saxton Freymann and Joost Elffers called Fast Food (each month is a mode of transportation rendered with food). You should check out their books (the first is Play with Your Food). I forget the official title of the leek photo, but I call it Bad Hair Day!
13 comments:
Woohoo,these all look great. I love the purple pink, I'd leave it alone myself. Then again, I wouldn't redo all the other letters on your list either - I'm too lazy. These all look wonderful and marvelous. I know exactly what you mean about going to an older quilt and finding it so much duller than you remembered. You're not leaving Fruit Basket Upset there at work are you???? You're taking it home, just don't have a good place to display it, right?
Why would you want to change anything. What's done is done. I find if I "fiddle" it only gets worse. Ages ago Tonya told me off for unpicking and starting over, so I've stopped. Mind you I'm having trouble at the moment with the Lazy Gal Summer project ;-)
Cheryl - why are you leaving that lovely quilt behind and what's with the map of Italy?
Your color words are fantastic! Your food quilt in your office is really cute. I've made several reversible quilts from that book.
The only thing I would change in your letters is the e in purple, and make it smaller. Otherwise I think you are being too critical. As far as the contrast in the "tile" piece, floors don't usually have high contrast. It is very rich looking and I like it just the way it is.
Your color words look wonderful.
I really like that food quilt in your office. I have used some of those fabrics to make flower petals and centers. The shading makes them wonderful for applique.
I love the pieced blocks. How fun they are!
A. I think your letters look great as they are!
B. It sounds like you want a second set... green, green, blue, blue, etc. Maybe a reversible quilt... Maybe they want to be the border for something wonderful (A piece fo brightly multi colored fabric, or a collection of brightly colored blocks...)
C. Not that you asked for that kind of advice...
D. I always have an opinion...
I agree with Tonya, they all look great as they are. I need to do some letters for the border of my next quilt - I hope I can get mine to come out as nice.
Thanks for stopping by and looking at my trees!
I have enjoyed my visit here, & think your letters are just great!
What a shame you have to leave the quilt when you 'retire'.
The color blocks remind me of Jasper Johns! Cool! Looks like fun to do!
you are going word crazy! It humors me to ponder reading the word red in a different color and puzzles my mind til it hurts...LOL
I love the fruit basket, that was the first thing that caught my eye in your post!
Are you in the FSHN department? Part of me always wanted to be a FSHN major. I worked as a cook at Biaggi's all four years at the U of I (and a cook at Steak 'n Shake three years before that!) and always sort of wanted to make more of a career out of food. But opted for International Studies which I think is a better fit.
I think the color words look so great...you could make the stated changes, but I think they're super fun just as they are...
Just last night I got a fat quarter of that exact lemon fabric for my birthday. It came with a broccoli bit too. They made me laugh out loud! I can't wait to figure out how to use them in something.
Post a Comment