I've been working diligently on my Bonnie Hunter Mystery. Now rarely do I make a big change halfway through a quilt but this is an exception. I started using red and green with the black but on New Year's Day when I laid out the components on the floor - "blah." Now I love red and green so what the heck happened?
Could be a couple of things...I used a fair amount of grey in the black sections and a lot of beige in the neutrals. A lot of my greens were repros which have a grey or brown tone to them. Combine that with my current bought of optic neuritis and I saw mud.
So I dug into the fabric piles and made up some blues string block ensuring that I had some "spark" fabric in each block. The sparks are the turquoise, royal blues, and any fabric with clear white accents. I'm so much happier...(Also, at a sale at our local Hancock's I found this great fabric for the backing. After sale and coupon only $3.50 a yard! But wouldn't you know it...it's green....)
My friend Shannon (who does not have a blog) also is adding a bit of "umph" to her string blocks. She had the same "issue." The original block on the right used lots of repros and batiks and ended up reading flat. So she came over on Sunday and got some brights from the "never ending stash" and is remaking about half. Better to do it now than after sewing the blocks together!
Shannon is trying to come up with a name for her quilt. I'm thinking New Orleans and Madi Gra...or maybe I'm just craving some gumbo and King cake?!(Had a few requests for the Bitterweet Chocolate Pound Cake in my last post. The recipe can be found here http://www.landolakes.com/recipe/437/bittersweet-chocolate-pound-cake. This cake can be made a day or two in advance and travels well...a keeper!)
13 comments:
Though I love red and green, too, the blues really do make the blocks sing. The brighter purples really spark your friend's quilt, too!
Love this pattern!
The blue does stand out more and looks really great. what will you do with the green ones?
The blues are gorgeous! I changed colors midstream on those little string blocks too, but I hope when you lay out the whole thing, you'll take a pic with the green, since you've got them made, just to see how the color plays out "en masse". You might still like it! (and I, for one, would love to see!)
Well, they all look good from here :-) I was floored by the beauty of Bonnie's design! Great work tackling this mystery. It is looking gorgeous in both colorways.
I too found my color choices less than optimal! You have both found great solutions.
~Jillian in North Dakota
I think the blues and greens both look great, and that backing fabric to me looks yellowish. I can see a big difference in your firends blocks with the purples. I will have to keep in mind to make sure to use bright purples on the ends, my strings are purple too.
While green is one of my 3 fav colors and I do like your green string blocks, I do agree that the blue has more pop. Since I haven't done my blue blocks yet, I'll "steal" your ideas for blues to make it pop - I'll have to check the stash and see what's there. Go ahead and use the green backing - it still coordinates and it's very pretty. That or make another Orca Bay with the green strings and another color instead of the red!
You've done a great job of lifting your quilt up out of the doldrums and making it sing!!! And isn't it fun to raid each other's stash and put in some "new to me" stuff? Love the redo on both quilts!
i sense a theme here....LOL...mine is fat tuesday on orca bay!
You have some great choices in colours going on there.Love the pussy in your header photo.
I like them both, and was wondering the same as Susan. What are you doing with the green ones? I like both of your friends, too. I guess that I'm not too good of a judge of colors.
Nice to see the two of you getting into the swing of it already! I'm still trying to decide what to do next LOL!!!! Your blocks look wonderfully lively, can't wait to see the completed quilt tops!!!
I had an issue with my blue strings being a little too dark too. I didn't realize it until they were all sewn together...oh well. If I end up not liking it the best, it will be a donation quilt...no big deal.
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