Wednesday, February 23, 2011

this week's stitches


I have the hardest time laying out my blocks.
I knew I was going to be moving these blocks all around
wasn't really going to work for this quilt.


I calculated
and re-calculated (twice)
how much I would need, then I carefully cut my batting
and tossed it up over a curtain rod in the living room,
 stuck in a few pins so it wouldn't slip off
and ended up with a nice little temporary design wall.
I left it up several days and moved blocks around occasionally.
I got it to where I was satisfied.
Not thrilled, mind you, 
but satisfied.
And then 
Josiah
 knocked over half of my blocks off!!
and I was back to square one.

I ended up completely changing my plan
(again ~  this quilt has had a mind of its own)
and went with 6 x 9 rows
instead of 7 x 8.


Once I got them rearranged
I stuck a pin through each one;
they weren't going anywhere this time.

I got a little sidetracked in my sewing on Saturday
but then Saturday night, 
I sat down to put the white thread back in the machine.
I had to get those blocks sewn together!

As soon as I had my machine threaded though,
my stack of to-do's stuck behind the serger 
caught my eye.
That cheery sunshine started calling my name.
And before I knew it - I'd made this little number,
inspired by a little girl's dress I'd seen at church 6 days earlier.


When I showed it to Lex' in the morning,
she was so tickled!
"A tutu dress? Thank-you, Mommy!"
I love that she says thank-you without being prompted to.
Of course, Lily wondered where her dress was...

Taking some time here and there throughout the week,
I finally did get around to sewing those blocks together.
Then I added the horizontal sashing
and I'm getting close to getting the whole top sewn up.


I'm stuck on what to use as a border, though.
I don't typically do borders,
 but I think it'd add to the 'paintbox' feel if it had one.
Plus, it could stand a few extra inches;
I like my throws nice & big.
The back will be gray 
with one 3" block of each fabric.
Should I use gray?
Two narrowish borders ~ gray, then white??
Something different entirely???
Whatdya think??


4 comments:

  1. Well, the color scheme looks fantastic to me. Sorry I'm no help on the border. Nathan hasn't put a frame on any of his paintings. I like the open ended feeling it creates. It just becomes part of the whole wall. Not sure if that would apply to a quilt though...

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  2. love the dress!!!
    and the quilt - so wonderful! i love the colors.
    i think i can picture it with a light grey border, in a fine print pattern mebbe...

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  3. I love the dress. and the quilt! What awesome bright colors. I've been intimidated to go that bright but I have to say - you can really pull it off!

    And thanks for the comment about my smocks regarding adding two buttons rather than button holes - that makes alot of sense. cheers,
    missy

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  4. I think I would go very dark for the border, the darkest grey you can find or even black. It needs something equally bold to stand up to all the color in the quilt and make it pop!

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