Nov 10, 2013

The day of the failed everythings...


A while a go, I decided to make a quilt with a special meaning and opted to use the gorgeous flowery fabric that reminded me of Van Gogh's Terrace...  It is going to be my Wheels quilt, the first one I make thinking of what the shape represents, not focusing only on a certain technique, as I have done before.

Well, I decided it was about time to finally give some attention to the fabric I had cut...  So here it is, in HST and other units freshly pieced for my Dutch Rose (or Swoon) Wheel, according to the instructions in Candace's blog:


So, the moment of truth comes, and... I don't like it... I want to pick more of the blue in the center square, but the solid blue is way too contrasting.  




This is weird; I generally like this, but this flower fabric (a kind of print I don't use often) is just messing me up!  It is so delicate that this particular blue solid is clashing and is definitely not the effect I was looking for...






Dutch Rose block: Failed.

I can see an appointment with the seam reaper some time soon, followed by a hunt in my stash for another blue...

So, the first one of the day did not work quite as I would have liked, and it's time to work on a quilt for a great friend who loves horses and thinks of herself as a Stable Rat... hehe.  She makes me laugh, but she is happy happy when she is with her horseys.
Anyway, she wants something maroon, grey, lavander and eggplant.  When I read her e-mail, I just couldn't put those together in my head... I run and get my color wheel and... blank.  I run and get my color chart and... something is not working.   So, I get to spend quality time with my color chart and find the values that would work together.  During my recent trip to Branson, I spotted fabric on sale, and immediately got it for her.

I found a print that will work as the accent fabric, and worked my way around the spools of fabric on sale...  Great!  Now, my dear friend mentioned something like "cheery," so I got the perfect contrasting fabric to cheer things up!

Although the colors are now working, my crafty bone is having issues picturing blocks, and I decided to make an improvisational block to have all the fabric together and audition its value.  So, I make strips of different widths and proceed to take lots of pictures, just to find out that the colors are not showing in them...

After trying regular light, lamp light, window light, sun light and even cloudy sky light, here are the best shots... (sigh...).



And here is the print that is allowing me to bring everything together:


Pictures for the blog post with accurate colors: Failed.

This is kind of what I saw when I bought the fabric, encouraged by the salesperson who said people seldom thought of this combination, but that it would be pretty "if you know what you're doing, you know?"  Encouragement aside, I can see how these little stripeys will work together...




But wait a minute!  Did anyone say anything cheerful?  So here they are, with a strip of the contrasting fabric.  Looking nice, huh?


I am turning these into an Improv Block, as you can find on Elizabeth Hartman's Oh, Fransson!

An after sewing some of the strips together, considering that for some whatever reason the colors cannot show as they actually are, the following pictures are what I've got so far.

The next one, is just with regular lighting, with no editing:


And knowing I just can't get it right with color, I decided to have fun instead of getting frustrated, lol.  The next one is with the auto-edit feature:
 


Editing pictures: Failed.

And looking more neon-ish than real life, here are all the fabrics with the contrasting strip (drumroll, please...):



I just hope that my dear Stable Rat is squeaking out of giggles at my inability to produce decent pictures - I promise it looks better in real life!!!  :)

And just because it can be done, here is yet another picture with failed colors and nice perspective, to remind me of my drawing classes in Junior High... 




Have a wonderful and blessed Sunday!









2 comments:

  1. I would like to see this one finished! I've never just played with strips without a pattern in mind. Nancy nnwells1012@yahoo.com

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  2. I know!! I have to get back with these two WIPs - which have been fluttering around in my head a lot lately. I just wish I had the time to tackle all of the unfinished projects and even those that are in the "idea" state... Thank you for commenting, and I'll be sure to link the posts once the projects are finished.

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