So let me go on record as saying that I've always wanted this blog to be "happy," and to be a record for me of fun or interesting things that have happened in my life as well as a way to share those things with my far flung family and friends. While I am, indeed, a very lucky and privileged person, I've had my share of bad days. I just don't generally write about them on the Internet. I like to "walk on the sunny side" and my blog reflects that aspect of my personality.
When it comes to sharing my love of quilting, I like to show completed projects that I'm happy with and that might be a pleasure for people to see and read about. But yesterday I failed at an idea I was working on and thought it might be interesting to share that process with you.
It started with the green fabric with black polka dots you see in this photo. I bought this fabric long ago and used most of it up on various quilts for kids. One day I used some of the remaining scraps to practice curved piecing and insetting thin strips. I liked the contrast of the solid black against the green and put this little block up on my design wall to admire. It drew positive comments from people that visited my studio and I began to wonder if I could expand on it and make something using the fabric and techniques. I didn't have much of the green fabric but yesterday I decided to play around with it and see what I could do.
I found another green fabric that I had stamped with black paint and tried putting it with the original block. It seemed promising so I made some new blocks and strips with this stamped material.
Making them was fun but putting them together didn't work out well. This is one of many combinations I tried. None of them was pleasing to me. There's no focal point, the lines don't go anywhere, each element just stands by itself instead of working well with the others, and the black and green is just too stark when used over and over without relief. Part of the problem was that because I had so little of the green material I was making very small 4" blocks and there just wasn't enough space for the design to spread out and be simpler.
I also felt like some additional color was needed. I hauled out a bunch of fabrics in different colors and tried them out. Nothing worked. I felt frustrated since I knew some color had to work and I wasn't finding it.
Finally I got smart and pulled out a color wheel and Joen Wolfrom's book Color Play and realized that purple was the complimentary color to yellow green. Duh! How did I miss that fact? I got out my small collection of purples and tried them out. Most looked terrible because while they were purple they were too bright, too muddy, or had the wrong scale.
But then I found a little fat quarter (18x22") I had apparently got in some type of quilt "garage sale" a million years ago and bingo!
I thought it worked great with the green and black. But the movement of the leaves was competing with the movement of the stamped marks and the lines of the inset and curved piecing. So I got rid of all those blocks and just looked at the green/black polka dot with the purple. Much better.
That was about enough designing for one day! But before I quit I tackled the problem of there not being enough of the green fabric to really do anything with it.
I had looked for more of this fabric in local stores and not found it or anything similar. But much to my delight one of the scraps had the designer's name printed on the edge and I used that to search the Internet for stores carrying her fabrics. The fabric was an old design but I found a store in the Midwest that still had it and I ordered two yards that will arrive in a few days. Unfortunately there was nothing on the purple fabric to help me find more of it.
I'm thinking I'll try two designs once I get it. I'll make some bigger blocks with it and the solid black and maybe some solid purple of a "just right" shade, and I'll also see what I can do with some simple curved piecing of the green and the purple leaf fabric and maybe some of the orange and gold that's in the fabric.
You may be asking why I don't draw out designs first and avoid all this experimenting with the actual fabric. The answer is that I just don't like to work that way. I like messing around with the fabric and I love the surprises that happen that way. You may also be asking what I'm going make; what will the end product be and how will I use it. The answer to that is I don't know and I don't really care. This type of activity is just for fun and I love to see what will happen.
In this case nothing much has happened yet except that I learned a lot and enjoyed being absorbed by the process for a few hours. And that's really all I ask of a hobby!
Linking to Nina Marie's Off the Wall Fridays
this is totally exciting. I think you need a calmer graphic, maybe even some kind of sparse floral with the same lime and black somewhere in it. Like one of the modern designers. Or do a linear stem in black the length of several blocks. Contrast in a line way. The colors are equally intense and saturated. They compete with each other a bit, so if you introduce a place to focus on, a picaso like plain flower in white, with a black and white print to break the line. I love your components
ReplyDeleteMy two cents: you only need little pops of your purple color! A fat quarter may be enough.
ReplyDeleteIn,Ike the composition but not the huge piece of the purple. Maybe try a small pop. The green fabrics play together with the black perfectly. A good learning experience and I’m positive you will make it work.
ReplyDeleteHooray for playing and having fun with your fabric! For textile lovers, that is the best way to spend time and it doesn't have to BE something. You go, girl!
ReplyDeleteThank you so much for posting the "fail." I love these types of posts. I too have experienced the agony of defeat. Sometimes a concept just doesn't translate to fabric.
ReplyDeleteYou were right to question your project, there is nowhere for the eye to rest.
I also love improv piecing, it is one of my fav activities. Most of the time it works out, other times not.