BLEH!
It was surprisingly ugly {remind me to have my mind's eye checked
} and I wasn't sure what to do about it. So I let it rest and hoped that perhaps it wouldn't be as bad as I thought in the morning. It was.I decided to try something different. I laid out my coin strips with some Kona in Chocolate, hoping to tame the wildness a little bit.
Meh.
Determined to make it work, I headed to the LQS for those adorably Tweet birds and tried again.
Eh.
I like this last layout best, but I don't really like it, at that. It is only a small improvement over the others and didn't wow me like I thought it would, what with all the cute birds and polka dots and stuff. After letting it rest overnight, I like it a little better today than yesterday. But I still wonder if it is good enough to give as a gift. Should I keep going {because I'm itching to quilt some feathers in this} or just call this a wash? The last layout requires quite a bit of unpicking. I cut new coins from the three coordinate fabrics I have and just laid them over top of all the fabrics that had trees in them to give it a little bit more conformity. It was way too busy with so many strips of random fabrics that didn't give a complete picture of any of the prints. But it is still busy. Each of the fabrics is really cute on their own, but I'm afraid I've not done a very good job of combining them into something cute.
What do you think? Is it as bad as I think it is? If you got this as a baby gift, would you say, Oh. You made me a blanket, and then stick it in the bottom of your birdcage? I'm a little stuck here. I hate to waste money/materials/time, but if this quilt is really bad, it would be worse to give it to someone and have them hate it. Honest, constructive suggestions are much appreciated.
* To get a closer view of any of the pictures, right click on them to choose to open them in a new tab or a new window; or center click to automatically open in a new tab.
That is some very cute fabric! I agree, though, the prints are kinda busy. I actually like the solid between the coin strips, because it gives the eye a rest, but I'm not sure about the brown. Have you tried a green, like the green in the Tweet Tweet graphic at the top of your post that's next to the brown on the bottom? You could always use one or both of the busier prints in your backing.
ReplyDeleteI am sure your friend will appreciate the baby quilt, however you decide to finish it. I always hope the quilts I give as gifts will be well loved, i.e., played with, wrapped over dolls and small animals, ridden in the wagon, and dragged around until they're tattered. If I think of it that way, then the less "beautiful" it is, maybe the higher the chances of that happening! :)
okay, here's my suggestion. I think a solid will work best as the sashing. Just not that dark one. I think a lighter pink solid (than the one you already used) would work great. And then swap out the solid coins with one of the lighter shaded prints. I think the solid coins stick out a bit too much.
ReplyDeleteReally cute fabrics though, and who doesn't like a cute coin quilt!?
Ok here's my idea: leave your coin strips alone--too much work to change them. Change up your sashing though and make each sashing strip a triple row with the chocolate brown right next to the coins and a strip of your choice of the cute prints in between the chocolate.
ReplyDeleteMaybe make your final sashing strips a little bit wider because of the triple strip thing.
What do you think?
I really like the brown, but then I use that a lot.
ReplyDeleteHowever, Vicki's idea above about the triple strip is inspired. It sounds great.
I've decided it isn't over until it is binded - I had a top recently that I really disliked but finished it off just to get it out of the way. Then by the time it was quilted and bound I ended up really pleased with it.
I agree with Vickie, I would use maybe an inch of the kona on each side of the top print. It will be darling : )
ReplyDeleteI read all the comments above, and they all echo my sentiments - but I really think that Vicki has hit on something really new and different. And personally, I love the chocolate with it.....
ReplyDeleteI think I like the last one the best...although it could be a little busy for some! And the middle one was very nice too. I also read through all the comments and think Vickie's idea sounds really good.
ReplyDeleteI'd use the first sashing version as a background to which I'd appliqué rather moderate-sized motifs - - - - even raw edge?.
ReplyDeleteIMHO
Hugs,
Gerry
love the solid; it calms everything down. I really like Vicki's idea as well. or you could always make this the back of the a quilt.
ReplyDeletego for a plain/solid sashing to set off those fabulous coins, the prints would be great as backing and binding
ReplyDelete