Sunday, June 17, 2012

...thinking about it

I've been sick, the kind of sick where I spent a day lying down and not even being able to think about sewing through the pain in my head, the pain in my throat and the stuffiness in my ears followed by far too many days of being well enough for work (although at times during the day I questioned the accuracy of that belief) but so tired at the end of the day TV was really all I could face.

Somewhere in the middle of all that I came across a post about a quilt-along for Katy's Hexy MF quilt. The hand quilting is progressing on my star quilt and it appears I felt well enough for a moment to contemplate a bigger hand pieced project because I have and email confirmation for an order of the papers.

While I wait a couple of weeks for them to arrive I have been thinking about the fabric to use, I'd like to use a bundle I've put together but when I've tried in the past here and here I've liked them but they still seem a little flat.

I want something a little Japanese and vintagy - I love this and this and this.

This morning I had a go in Spotlight with some DS quilts fabric and again, while I like it I don't love it.

Any suggestions on some rules for putting together bundles, how many colourways should I use, should they all have a roughly equal number of prints, what ratio of large, medium, small prints? I'm wondering if there is a formula or some guidelines - it would sure help me.

3 comments:

Anne said...

My guess is you have too many small-scale prints and not enough large scale ones. I think I read somewhere the split should be approximately equal between small, medium and large prints. I like your colour balance, the only thing I might do is chuck in another dark-value print. This is just my opinion, I'm by no means an expert in these matters!

Lisa said...

I'd add some text print of some kind, if you can get hold of any that is, it seems to be selling fast at the moment. To my eye you need some more darks, perhaps some darker oranges and a little black? Annie's Farm Stand has a great white on black newsprint fabric that would look great with these. I had a look at the stacks you linked to and they appear to be all from different lines and designers, sometimes when we stick to one designer (but not a complete range) it can look a little 'flat'. And I agree with Anne, you need a couple of larger scale prints. Also have you considered three or four solids? OK that's enough from me, I am no expert either but it's my two cents worth!

Kristy said...

Thanks for your thought, I'd love to add some text prints and think that I can get my hands on some (one of the benefits of being able to visit the local quilts shops in Australia, some of the prints that seem to be difficult to find online and in US stores hang around a little longer here).

I think I'll steer clear of the black, but some darker value prints would help to balance it a little better, I think you are right. I'll keep the solids for the flower centers.

I think what I might need to do is grab some of the prints I really like from my stash, add a few of the ones in the pictured stack I really like and then take what I have bu that point to a LQS for the final few and some added advice.

Thanks for your thoughts, it was helpful!