Saturday, January 7, 2012

A New Year, A New Quilt Project

The last quilt I finished was the embroidered farm animal quilt I made last spring.

I have been wanting to start a new quilt ever since then, but in the course of daily living I just haven't had the mental space I needed to make my fabric and pattern selections.  Right before the holidays, though, I found the pattern I wanted to use. Then, over Christmas, I had enough "down time" to pick out my fabric.  That alone took the better part of two days!

The first day, I made my initial selection of fifteen prints with the help of my trusty assistant (Scott).  The second day I spread that selection out on top of a chair by the window.  Then, I retired to the couch where I spent the day knitting.  Over the course of the day, I would look up from my knitting and decide I needed to make some adjustments.  Before the day was over I had altered my fabric selection at least ten times!

Here's what I started with that morning.  There were three fabrics in this group I knew I wanted to keep: the multicolored circles at top center, the cars, and the brown and white floral.


That looked pretty good to me, but I decided to take out the yellows and add more reds.


Then I started adding more blues . . .


Then more green.

Then I had second thoughts and started to back away from the green . . . 


Then I went BACK to the greens . . .


In my opinion, I started to stray pretty far from the path at this point. . .


It just wasn't working for me, so I got rid of the bold green swirl.  Still, though,  the pale green flower in the lower left wasn't hitting the mark:


Then, all of a sudden, the green was almost completely gone and the yellow was back!


That is where I stopped messing around, and it seems like I've been cutting up fabric strips and squares ever since.   As you can see, I did end up keeping the three fabrics I originally considered non-negotiable.  The only real change from my original selection is little more blue-green in place of some of the reds.

The pattern I am using is for a 60 x 60 lap quilt from the book I Love Patchwork: 21 Irresistible Zakka Projects to Sew by Rashida Coleman-Hale.  The quilt in the book has a linen foundation, but I'll be using the white cotton you see in these photos.

I finished cutting the fabric last night, but assembly will have to wait a bit while I tend to some real world business.  In the meantime I'll be mulling over those little cars, trying to decided which I like best.  The winner will ultimately be embroidered on the back, with my signature and date.


Which car would you pick?  I'd love it if you would share your favorite in the comments section of this post!

3 comments:

Catherine said...

I love it! I think you should you the little red car or the blue and yellow van…very cute!

Melissa Placzek said...

great fabric!

xo,

~Melissa

skrapyram said...

Thanks, Melissa! I am hoping to get back to it before to much dust settles on top of it!