Saturday 26 January 2013

By Jove ...

... I think she's got it!

My first block for the Country Charmer QAL, hosted by Lesley, (see the button on my sidebar) is what I'm on about.

I have had problems with my fabric selection for this quilt, and yesterday, after completely throwing all my toys out of the pram and wailing "I can't do it", my friend Bilbo came to the rescue.  Unfortunately, she lives over 150 miles away, so she didn't physically ride in on her white charger, but telephones and digital cameras are wonderful things.  She talked me through what the problems were, and then it was obvious.

All my fabrics co-ordinate beautifully, but there was no contrast between them, so everything was sort of mooshing (if there is such a word) together.






So then I dragged out some hand-dyed fabrics that I dyed last year plus a bright (very, very bright) orange to throw into the mix.

Photos sent to Bilbo again, and we rejected the green as there was no other hint of green in my fabrics.  The pink and red went next, as they were too similar to the other fabrics - me co-ordinating again, so that left the orange.


At first, I thought I'd use the orange for the chains in the design, but Bilbo persuaded me to try it in the triangles instead and to keep that as a constant through every block.

So if you're still with me, here is my first block, and I LOVE it!


23 comments:

  1. Oh, I like this - and the idea of the triangles a constant is something I might borrow - I am struggling with this too and that might help.

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  2. Lookin' good! Love the orange and the fabric you chose for the chain is perfect.

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  3. I knew you could do it! I was shocked when the first set came out looking less than perfect (because I love your fabric choice) Now its real eye candy!

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  4. Ok...now we're talking...fabulous!

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  5. And I love it too! Great positioning of your fabrics!

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  6. Always good to have a 2nd pair of eyes look over to see what we are missing. Love the bright orange. This will be a stunning quilt for sure.

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  7. I love daisies. I like the final choice and love the fabric.

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  8. I do like your and your friends picks in fabric. The block looks good. I am doing my CC from a fat quarter bundle from Holly Taylor called Northern Cardinal.

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  9. It's perfect Sue! Good contrast that really showcases the fabrics you love.

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  10. Love those colors! I was just thinking "not the green" and I'm glad to see you tossed that one out! Beautiful...

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  11. Chuckling ... don't give me too much credit sweetie, I just gave you a gentle nudge in a direction that I know you would have eventually headed by yourself!

    First block looks excellent and I am really looking forward to seeing how the orange 'constant' works when you have, say, four blocks.

    As you know, my own Country Charmer has stalled a bit but thanks to your encouragement I'm halfway through the blocks for a Single Irish Chain, will get them on my blog later but right now I need to think about supper ...

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  12. Just got my pattern yesterday so now I must figure out fabrics. Love your first block!!

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  13. Yes! Yes! Yes! That's what I was talkin' about! Sometimes we just need that other set of eyes!

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  14. Yes! I really like the orange.

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  15. Good for you, I'm glad it all worked out.

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  16. Fabulous! I knew you'd find a good combination.

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  17. loving this color combo!!! Your block is so cheerful! :)

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  18. love those yummy colors! great block

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  19. Your block is perfect. Thank you for posting.I hope to work on mine soon. I'm having the same issues but can't blog because someone turned off our DSL. Hopefully by Monday.

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  20. Love those colours, the orange makes it sing.

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  21. Perfect ! That orange really did the trick !

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  22. Yay Bilbo!! I love how the block turned out! :)

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