Two months later...

It finally looks as if I've found a solution to my design problems. I finished the first of the new blocks today, and I'm pleased with it. Have a look -

The bird -a  species of duck, maybe? - turned out well, with a folk-art flavour.

In the top right hand corner is the absolute last piece of the (Hoffman?) butterfly fabric, which I re-embroidered a little.

The patch on the bottom left was originally a rather strident orange linen, so I toned it down with a piece of yellow lace, which I embroidered to define the pattern.

The three yellow flowers were originally white, until I painted them.

There's a lot of yellow in this block, and I think I'll continue that trend, as a way of unifying all the blocks.

This has already been a long journey of trial and error, and usually I'd be sick of the whole project by now. But the continuing challenges seem to keep me from getting bored, which is probably just as well, because at the current rate of progress, I estimate it will take me about six months to finish.

now that's REALLY crazy!

Well, plan B didn't work either - the blocks still didn't look like the makings of a quilt. So I made 12 more blocks, with a wild mixture of colours - the only "rule" was that there had to be either 3 warm colours and 4 cool colours in each block, or vice versa.

Here they are, laid out on the lounge room floor. And yes, it's a terrible photo, the light wasn't good.
Then I spent an afternoon shuffling them around until I was satisfied with the layout.

This is probably how it's going to be. Now I'll begin embroidering and embellishing them. I have no idea if this is going to work.

learning curve

So, I made a few more blocks yesterday. Pretty blocks, too. (sorry about the poor photo)

  I followed my usual method for choosing colours - select a pretty print, add several co-ordinating plains, maybe a second print. But when I put them beside the three completed blocks, they just Didn't Go Together.

Lesson: a collection of blocks, however gorgeous, do not necessarily make a harmonious whole.
I had obviously strayed from my original plan of a colourwash effect across the whole quilt.

Back to the design board. I cut small squares of six basic rainbow pastels - purple, blue, green, yellow, orange and pink, and pinned them on the board. Then I added 2 smaller squares of analogous (related) colours to each one.

After a bit tweaking, they looked like this.

Next, I scanned a crazy block outline into the computer, and made 12 copies. Using a basic photoshop-type program, I coloured each block to (sort of) match the fabric squares.Then I pasted the blocks together in Publisher, and printed them.

 This will now serve as a guide for making a whole new set of blocks.

What of the blocks I've already completed, you ask? All those weeks of work? Sadly not all of them may be used in the quilt - the last one, with the sheep, will probably fit in. Don't know about the other two at this stage, but they won't be wasted; I'll mount them as individual pieces, and doubtless someone will like them for a birthday present.

C'est la vie.

I don't think so

Don't quite know where this week went. 
On Tuesday, after spending several days on block #3, I came to the unhappy conclusion that I didn't like it enough to continue.

Something about the colours was just...not right.

 So I made a replacement, in a slightly different colourway.

 Chose some harmonising threads and trims, and made a start.

But I haven't made much progress. There was a coffee date, a visit from a daughter and a grandson,  some novels were read - one of them finished by candlelight during last night's lengthy power outage. And today, a funeral for a lovely cousin.
The weekend promises more distractions. But I'll get back to it.

block 3

The new block is made, I had sooo much trouble with it! A couple of the fabrics were silky, and needed interfacing with light Vilene. I kept getting mixed up and cutting the shapes out in reverse. Grrr!

All colours from the print in the top LH corner, except the centre, which is actually greenish gold. I'll work the bird block first, as usual, then consider what to add.

When I'm "considering" I often look through some of my favourite books -

 Allie Aller's book is always inspiring

and Marsha Michler's books are a goldmine of ideas and useful diagrams.

block 2

I was in the mood for something a bit warmer this time, and I had this tiny scrap of plaid fabric -

More prints in this block than I would normally use, but they just went so well together.

The fun part, choosing threads and trims. I wonder how this one will turn out?

ta da!

The first block is finished! There were several challenges to overcome; the lemon section was a bit too light, the butterfly fabric a bit too dark. Both had to be balanced in other sections of the block.

Those little orange sequins sure came in handy!

Lemon lace balances out the bird background

 

Don't know where the lavendar and pink seam treatment came from, but it seems to work, doesn't it?

back to the drawing board

Daughter Janet called in yesterday, and I showed her my first crazy block. She admired the bird, and then asked "are they all going to be this bright?" Hmmm....

When she left, I took another look at the block. Liz wants light, bright pastel colours, but maybe not all in the one block?













 
I already knew that an analogous colour scheme works well - as in these two experimental blocks.

Could I perhaps shade the blocks across the quilt to create a colourwash effect?
 This morning I got out the textas and experimented, and came up with this -

 
Then I made a new block in lemon, lime, green and aqua. Much better!

 Don't expect much progress for the next few days, though, as we are in the grip of a heat wave - 39C today, and more to come. 

a pretty parakeet

When I was searching for birds to use on my quilt, I discovered the Tuckfields Australian bird cards, which used to come in packets of Tynee Tips tea. These pretty cards are now highly collectible.

I considered using some of them for the quilt, but I always find photos printed on fabric a bit plasticky, so I settled for embroidered images - a bit of a challenge at this scale - and plan to depict the birds with a bit of greenery or flora, like the originals.

Here's the block so far; I wanted to work the bird first, not much point lavishing time on embellishment unless the bird is right. I've added a couple of pieces of trim, too.

A close-up of the bird, which may possibly be some kind of Scarlet-breasted Parakeet. I may yet add some floral details- I'll see how it looks when I've done the surrounding seams. 

a new beginning

New Year's Day is a time for beginnings - a new blog, and a new crazy quilt.

I'm making a crazy wall quilt for my daughter. This will be the third small quilt in a series of four, one for each of my daughters. You can read more about this project and its origins over in the sidebar.

This quilt has been weeks in the planning, with much experimentation,  and several false starts.

 

  Liz and partner David had requested birds - David is a keen birdwatcher on their small country property. Not necessarily real birds, they stressed; imaginary ones would be fine.

At first I planned to applique the birds in Baltimore album style, with a crazy pieced border. It took weeks to design the blocks, but I couldn't make it work.

 

Needleturn applique is not my forte, and machine applique looked clumsy - it will only be a small quilt, and the scale was wrong.

So I returned to what I do best - crazy quilting. Another experiment showed that my bird designs could be successfully reduced and embroidered, as a focal point of each crazy block.

 I decided on 6.5" blocks, twelve in all, set 3 across and 4 down. (Not sure about the border yet.) The blocks were drawn up and adjusted to fit a bird more or less in the centre of each, and this morning I was ready to begin.

 I chose some fabrics, and traced the block onto the foundation fabric. (These blocks will all be foundation pieced.)

And here's the complete 'naked' block, ready for embellishing with embroidery, lace, ribbon, and all the 'doodads' so beloved of crazy quilters.

But first, I fused some lightweight Vilene to the back of the block, to keep it from distorting as I stitch. Now, let the fun begin!