Dang, my blog readers are hard core about giving opinions! I’ve really enjoyed reading everyone’s thoughts and I’ve been seriously considering what you all have to say about the both colors. Honestly though, I still haven’t decided what I’m doing.
Here’s what’s new though:
I spent today making new blocks. I added pinks, grays and blacks and I think it’s been helpful to see more colors added in. At first I wasn’t thinking a whole lot about how they’d blend with the other blocks–instead I was just on a mission to make as many new ones as possible and edit from there.
This is what I had made by mid-afternoon. I put everything smooshed together on my cutting table and stood above, and just let the blocks sink in my brain for a while. I realized that there’s some blocks that I really love….and there’s some blocks that I really can’t stand. I started by separating those into piles. Then I added what I thought would still look good with the “like” pile. I feel a lot better about the blocks now, but was depressed to see that instead of having at least what I started with this week when I first showed you this project (30 blocks) and then sewing more blocks today (20 blocks) I am now down to 25 blocks.
I hope no one is disappointed that I don’t have a real answer yet. I’ll be back with more progress on Tuesday.
Oh! One other thing. I’m thinking about stepping out of my comfort zone a little (Hi! I’m totally socially awkward! Yay!) tomorrow to go to a meeting of my (sort of) local Modern Quilt Guild in Brighton, Michigan. I’m very excited about it. Has anyone else joined up with a Modern Quilt Guild? I’m interested to hear how people like them.
I’d highly recommend going to your local Modern Quilt Guild meeting! I found it inspirational and exciting to meet other quilters in my area. I’ve never had a quilting friend before and I’m looking forward to making some through the MQG!
Just remember that when all of the pieces are sewn together, you won’t see individual squares or blocks. Lay them all out, take a picture, then look at a small view of the photo. If anything jumps out at you from that, go ahead and eliminate it.
I joined a (sort of) local MQG and have mixed feelings about it. It encompasses two larger cities and I lives 30 miles from one and 60 miles from the other. We have about 30 members online, and it’s been like pulling teeth to get participation either online or at actual meetings. When we do meet, it always involves at least a 45 minute drive each way (often 1 1/2 hours each way) for many people in the group. Another person from my city carpools with me, but the last two meetings only had three people show up – including the two of us! It seems like people are interested in the IDEA of a MQG and less committed to making it a reality. Of course, that’s just my group. Yours could be completely different. One thing that concerned a lot of people in my group was the original group’s (strong) suggestion that the various groups elect officers and collect dues from the beginning. Most of the people in my group are just looking for a gathering where we can discuss shared interests, not a full fledged guild. If we were to collect dues, it would mean that we would need to pay taxes or else become a tax exempt entity, and that’s a lot of hoops to jump through so early in the process. We decided to just wait a bit to make that decision (especially since the two communities will probably split to create two guilds in the next year or so).
Okay, so that was a bit more than you probably wanted to know! Bottom line: go, have fun, and decide if it’s for you.
I didn’t realize the Brighton Guild was meeting tomorrow night — I just started paying attention to it and, on the one hand, I’d love to be part of a guild but, on the other hand, Brighton is about an hour drive for me. hmmm, you’ve got me thinking.
I’m about an hour away as well, but since Lansing doesn’t seem to be up on the Modern Quilt thing, I figured I’d check Brighton out!
I joined my local guild and really love it. I am inspired and encouraged and overwhelmed at the talent and creativity. It’s also great because I don’t have many blog readers, so when I hit a creative wall, I can go to my guild and they help me out. I hope you go and enjoy it!!
My brother (Jonathan) and I are amazed that you made 20 blocks today. Awesome (Jesus Potato-face). They look super awesome all smoooooooooshed together on your worktable. Perhaps sashing is not required?
We (my brother and I) are the founding members (and only members) of our own “Modern Quilt Guild” that we call Les courtepointistes. We’re in Montreal, so the French thing isn’t as pretentious as it sounds. Really we just hang out once a week, talk about, read about, look at quilts. Or sometimes just look at pretty fabrics and make piles of possible combinations. We’ve even had “field trips” to church bazaars and the local quilt show. It’s pretty awesome.
Good luck on the quilt. We’re rooting for you!
I joined one in NC and it has been a VERY positive experience. I wanted to venture into the more artistic realm of fabric art and received a very warm welcome even though I am a fairly traditional quilter. I think by looking at your amazing creations, it will open up even more creative outlets for you. Let us know how it goes!
You should definitely check out the meeting tonight! I’m one of the younger members of the group and all of the older and more traditional members are so friendly and so interested in learning more about modern quilting.
I think you’ll end up liking this quilt more than you think. I think both the light and dark sashing equally (and much better than the original.) My first thought was navy, too.
Suggestion: I think if you add cornerstones along with the sashing, you’ll tie the blocks together and your eye will move across the quilt rather than seeing each block separately. I’d try scrappy cornerstones first.
Hang in there – your work is terrific!
I’m soooo glad you decided to come tonight! I’m such a blog groupie, so it was exciting to see you in person! I look forward to seeing some of your work in person!
If you don’t like (some of) the patchwork squares now, you won’t like them even more once you sew them into your quilt. Whenever you look at the finished product, you eyes will always focus on the squares you don’t like. I say work with what you like, and chalk the less-than-beautiful squares up to a learning experience, which isn’t a bad thing at all.
When I make something I don’t like (which is quite often!) I plop it in the Salvation Army donation box. Chances are someone will like it, even if it is a few quilt squares. It might be inspiration for someone to create something amazing.