September 12, 2012

Layouts and Fabric Issues


Lilly's Quilt Front
The other day when looking at the charms I would be using in Lilly's Garden Quilt, I discovered many of the fabrics I'd selected were listed on back order.  No time like now to be proactive right?  So I popped them a note asking when everything would be avail again.  The response was swift but the answer was not a pleasing on.  They are not expected in until Jan./Feb. of next year, and the recommend I select something else.  Well I'd tried that and wasn't having much luck so selected a different online fabric store and revised the layout of the front to suit.  The colors for the applique are divine!  Not that you can really tell that with the bit of line drawing I've thrown there to show what it will look like.

Below you will find the back that so far I like best.  EQ tells me I have made something like 35 revisions, but I think it's more like 10 okay maybe 15 different layouts.  The blue is picked up from the borders, the light of the stars is the same fabric that the fairies are embroidered on to.  As for that purple and the green those are from the fabrics I have selected for the Wisteria applique.  Oh and lastly the deep green squares are the applique fabric for the calla lily leaves.  
Lilly's Garden Quilt Back Star Option
There is just one problem and that is were all of you come in.  What can I do about the way the purple vertical border dumps into the black?  I thought a HST would work, but it doesn't.  I tried splitting it half black and half purple and that made the black border look odd and then I tried  splitting it half purple and half blue and that provided an off balanced look.  Suggestions Please!

I have also been working on something else.  This time it's something for me.  Just for me, okay and by default my DH; for all those times when I have to put a comforter on my own bed and wonder why I don't have one of my own handmade beauties for my bed.  Do you recall this fabric?  Oh yes I thought you might.  When I was digging for the perfect something or other quilty answer for another quilt I found a pattern in an old McCall's quilting magazine called Mandala you can see the original quilt here.   
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Mandala Spirograph Quilt
Well I just knew it was the perfect answer to my spirograph fabric shown above and I have not only been hard at work trying to make all the colors and tones work together, I've had the help of my friend Vicki (thankfully).  The fabrics aren't set in stone yet, but isn't coming together nicely?
Because I'm a nut, each circle will be turned edge hand appliqued. With both the smallest and medium sizes of circles coming from the panel as shown above. The background fabric is a circling swirl.  Though I do plan to use true black for my HST's. 

Talk about having my burners full.  Not to mention the top and backing of a quick baby quilt that I finished up today, but that is a story for tomorrow when the camera battery is all charged back up!

4 comments:

stitchinpenny said...

Beautiful. You really seem to be having fun with layouts.

QuiltSue said...

You've got some lovely designs there, and I bet your friend's going to absolutely love the one you're doing for her. As for your little purple problem, you've tried the solutions I thought of, and the only other thing that comes to mind right now is to wonder how it would look if you changed that border and used the blue instead, so the blocks would sort of float?

Dana Gaffney said...

I just ran into the same problems, not having the fabrics I need, I'll just move on to something else, but I know that's not an option for you. Have you considered a very thin black border next to the green? It would make the green pop and complete the blacks? If it's thin enough it shouldn't upset everything.

Vicki said...

Here's my thought for the back. Change the top and bottom black inner border with the green fabric. So basically you now will have a green inner border that goes around the whole design. I'm assuming that you have the 2 verical purple stripes because of the size that the back needs to be in relation to the front.