And now for something completely different

My last posts have been about my crazy coloured attempt at a Kaffe stylee quilt. Well I needed a break from all that improvisation to do something really controlled where I didn't have to make any colour choices. So I have started another project which is from Lynne Edwards book  Blanket Stitch Quilts. It's my version of the Cherry Ripe pattern. It is wonderfully soothing - nice easy bondaweb applique and then blanket stitch in black. The only colour choices have been which red and which green to use for the cherries!
See

I made up six of these squares and took them on holiday with me to do the blanket stitch. It was lovely - so easy - and I do enjoy a bit of hand sewing.

I then contemplated how I was going to make them into a quilt. I looked at the examples in Lynne's book and I preferred the ones where the cherry squares are broken up by something different, rather than just all cherries and sashing. I also wanted to use colours other than red and green to make sure the finished quilt would fit into the furnishings I already have at home ( not much red and green there). So I chose to alternate the cherries with a simple blue and low value 9 patch square. Here it is below

I've used just one blue fabric for each block.

I know this quilt will take me a long time to finish but that's OK. I'm in no rush. And I can keep it going alongside other more speedy quilts. It will be great for hand sewing in the sun ( if it ever stops raining in the UK!). I hope you like it!

Not so bad after all

Just a very quick photo from my phone to show you the next stage in the colour layout. It's far from finished but I am liking it a whole lot better now. I will be away for a bit so may not be able to do any more for a while - but I have got myself to a place where I am happy to leave it and feel that when I come back I may be able to make some satisfactory progress!!

Hey - no colour police either !?

If you have been reading my blog for a while you will know that one of my main preoccupations with quilt making is working with colour. I don't feel very confident about colour choices and combinations. In the last week or so I have been working a little bit more on this quilt.

But I've really struggled as I have tried to combine brights from several palettes and have felt that I have lost my way with this design. Interestingly as I have lost confidence in the colour choices my sewing has become really slapdash and several of the pinwheels are poorly matched. I had decided to give up and put what I have done on one side and continue with something where colour choice is not such an issue - but then I went to Keukenhof - the Dutch tulip and bulb gardens and the colours here - and my reflections on them have persuaded me to give it another go.

Two things struck me at Keukenhof - firstly ( and this is not the first time I have thought this) is that pretty much any combination in nature looks good. Think purple and yellow pansies - a combination which I usually hate but love in these flowers.

If this isn't in your face colour wise I don't know what is - but it's good isn't it? And the second thing was how very defined my favourite colour palettes are. In the first picture the top left pinwheel is all my favourite colours. At Keukenhof these were my perfect combinations below

Here

and here

But in quilt making I want to actively break out of these constraints to be confident in different palettes like this .....

Or even this?

Yikes - now this is some combination - but I kind of like it.

So I guess I am going to persevere with my colour pinwheel. I think cause I was never very arty I feel like I may get it WRONG. But of course just as there are no quilt police, there are no colour police either. And if I hate it I will certainly learn from it. If nothing else it will be a liberating experience - well that's what I am telling myself!