Sewing Cafe

Patterns, Tutorials and Works in Progress from the Sewing Studio of Lynne Williams

Sunday, July 22, 2012

Beach quilt progress

My Beach Quilt is coming along swimmingly :D  

A little each day and before you know it.....


......you have these 2-4 patch units and a simple half square triangles ( hst) made into .......


this 12" block or.....


this 12" block.
Can you see the difference between the two?  
It's really important because you cannot achieve the over all pattern with out these two different block styles.  The directions only show you the one on top...and no matter how long you look at it, or spin it around and look at it again you still need both styles.  

At this stage though its fairly disappointing and I ask myself, did I get my values correct?
There is really no way of knowing without pushing ahead and hoping for the best, so push ahead I did.


Starting to feel a little more confident 10 blocks into the pattern, but still hesitating.
Who knew I was so cautious?


I am now a little over half way through the 30 blocks I need to make my queen size quilt.
These blocks are not sewn to each other yet, but just stuck to my design wall(aka flannel taped to a spare wall in the studio) slightly overlapping each other to kind of mimic the seam allowance take up, but you get the idea.  I won't sew them together until all 30 blocks are made.

The best part of quilting is seeing the pattern emerge with each new block. I suppose its the same satisfaction you get from putting together a puzzle.
  
Quilting teaches you sewing accuracy and a lot about color.  
For instance the importance of learning to see value - aka. the lightness to darkness ratio.  The psychology of color - what soothes, what excites?  It allows me to play with color combinations I might not think of using in clothing, which encourages me to use new color combinations in my personal wardrobe as well as my clients. For instance today I wore my yellow silk madman dress with a tan belt, light blue shoes and an aqua jacket!  I loved it! 
 Seeing it here, helped me find it in my closet.  
Now that's a win win in my book!

What new colors are you wearing this season?


Additional posts about this quilt:

5 comments:

  1. It is going to be so beautiful! I saw the differences right away, and felt like a proud student. Lately I have been thinking about quilting, or piecing really. I want to learn more about color and value. Thanks for sharing your progress-it is fascinating.

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    1. I find it slightly terrifying to post progress reports. I rarely like my work until at least a year after its finished because when its fresh I only see its faults and my failures. Posting will hopefully get me over this difficulty and sometimes seeing it on the monitor helps remove me from the equation a bit, much like a photo can help you gain a new perspective. You should absolutely do some quilting...a pieced journal cover perhaps

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  2. It's shaping up so beautifully! How interesting about the lessons in color combo/value relating to styling your clothes - good food for thought!

    I a STILL trying to figure out my "new" (non-red hair) colors...moving away from the greens and coppers that have been my mainstay for years, but I don't know yet what I'm moving into....

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    1. I stopped highlighting my hair a few years back and now I am much more black & silver then brown & caramel. I find I am returning to the colors of my youth...but that could just be my 2nd childhood - lol

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  3. Wow, it looks amazing. I love the beachside-y colour scheme. The design reminds me of a kaleidoscope!

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