Missing Blocks!

I just went through the blog and checked to see if there were blocks I had missed sharing.  Lo and behold, there are several!  So, here they are!

Richmond

This was one of the first ones I made.  Not sure why I missed posting it!

Star of the West

Annie made this one.  Love the colors.

True Blue

This one we determined needed to take a "blue" spot, given its name!

Port and Starboard

A "Red & Blue"

Blockade

Another "Red & Blue"

Now that our blocks are almost completely finished, we've filled the design wall with them.  We think we have a pretty good idea of what we want to do for the layout, sashing, borders, etc.  I messed around in Photoshop with pictures of our blocks and tried different background colors, different borders, and so forth. 

My biggest challenge was trying to get the blocks to "pop" and not blend into the sashing and borders.  What seems to work the best is to edge each block with a strip that is lighter than any of our other "lights" which separates it from the dark background and from the colors in each block.

Annie had thought that 4-patches would be a good addition at the corners of each block, and I came to agree with her.  I added them to the Photoshop layout and it really dressed it up.

So, this is where I think I'm going with mine.  Dark blue background, red and taupe 4-patches at the block corners, a red inner border and blue outer border.  I like how it makes the blocks "float."  Annie is thinking of doing something similar, with a lighter blue for the background.

So, there's an update on where we are.  I think things will slow down even more as we coast into fall here.  There is much on our plates with the change in the seasons and the holidays fast approaching.  At least they seem to be to me when I look at the list of things I hope to get made before then!

Happy Stitching!

Closing In!!

We have a few more to post here.....we are truly getting close to the final blocks.  We have two more to complete and we'll be finished.  Wow!  Annie has said all along that she hoped we'd get the blocks completed by the beginning of September, and we just may do it.

Last weekend was a rough time for me, and one of the things that helps me in times of difficulty is to create. So, I spent quite a bit of time with browns and golds and reds and blues and came up with these, which thankfully Annie likes, too.   And just a heads-up here.  Annie and I both love a good pinwheel.  :-)

Peace and Plenty

Pinwheel-Square-in-a-Square-in-a-Square

Pretty cool.  At least we think so!

Yankee Puzzle

This is also a "Broken Dishes" pattern.

The header at the top of the page is a

Broken Dishes quilt in Civil War reproduction fabrics,

and you can see the pinwheel-play in it.

Ladies' Aid Album

The original block just didn't do it for us.

It looked smashed together or something.

So this is what we decided would work.

The outer border "light" fabric was replaced with dark blue.

Louisiana

And these two show the remake of "Louisiana."

The original red and blue just weren't working for us.

Original

Remake

And here is the Design Wall in its current state.

The empty spot left of center and just below middle

will be filled by our Log Cabin block which is undergoing a face-lift.

The other two spots will have blue- and red-dominant blocks in residence.

So then, next time I'm going to document the

"Evolution of Lincoln's Platform,"

the most elusive of our blocks to come to completion!

Changes!

We had a great work day last week.  We were able to get through the final planning of the color placement of the blocks on the quilt top.  We figured where we wanted each of the main colors and then decided which of our remaining blocks should carry the colors we still needed.  I drafted it out and we played with it from there.

We have ten more to complete and then we'll be ready to start on the sashing!

As I mentioned in an earlier post, there were some changes in the wind for some of our existing blocks.  Here they are:

"Comfort Quilt"

                     

Above (before) and right (after), in which the background was changed from a light print to a "darker light" print:

* * * * * * *

"Rosebud"

Above (before) and right (after), and yes it is the same block pattern!  Isn't it amazing how color choices can entirely change the look of a block?!?

* * * * * * *

"West Virginia"

Here's how it looks with the rotated center block.

* * * * * * *

I decided to change my "London Square,"

and Annie is still deciding what she wants to do.

We discovered an interesting thing when we went to Tillamook last week

and viewed part of the antique quilt collection at the Latimer Quilt and Textile Center.

Apparently pinks didn't really come into use until the 1880s.

So.  I feel good about ousting the pink in this block

* * * * * * *

And, here is the design wall with the current placement of the blocks we have finished.

We have another work day planned for this week, so we'll see where we get then!

Busy times!

Well, after a rather busy time for both of us, what with spending time with the grand-kiddos and family gatherings and Independence Day and life in general, we're back to our blocks!

Here are a few of those we've done.

Quite awhile ago Annie made "Little Blue Basket," but I didn't have a picture of it to post.  We've decided that the background needs to be darker, so these will be remade with a sweet floral-on-taupe to replace the white and blue print.  I love baskets! Pics of the changes to come later.

 Annie also made this lovely "Underground Railroad" block.  We're trying to evenly disperse a variety of colors over the quilt tops, and this is one of our attempts to get some green -- and gold -- into the mix.

And here's another green and gold one that I made.  Its name is "Carolina Lily."

Here is "Rosebud," another attempt at green, but it isn't working for us, so changes are in the wind for this one.  I'll post the updated version when we've settled on it.

This is a fun one.  Its name is "West Virginia" and Annie made it with this awesome print in the center block that shows encamped Union troops surrounded by Scripture verses and song lyrics. In this case, Psalms 46:1 & 50:15 and Rally Round the Flag Boys.  After we put it on the design wall, we realized the center needs to be shifted 45 degrees so it will sit straight when the blocks are set on point.  :-)  So, we have more ripping and re-sewing to do.  Just part of the process, right?  But don't you just love the colors here?  That red and brown combination is rich.

And then I reworked "Lincoln's Platform" because I wasn't satisfied with how the colors worked together.  In my opinion, the blue was too bright and didn't match the value of the rose color.  So here is the result of that change.  I can live with it now.

Before

After

     

Here's a look at the design wall that shows the blocks we have so far. I've done a little preliminary figuring on where which colors might abide to best advantage.  I love living with a block arrangement for weeks, walking by it, sitting and just absorbing what is there. My eyes are constantly roving over the placements and trying to see the "best" way to arrange them.  So, here's the beginning.  There will be many changes before we're finished, to be sure.

We have a work day scheduled tomorrow, so hopefully I'll get more posted soon!

A couple more blocks....

So after our refiguring, I made a couple of blocks, and I like them both.  One is as we planned it, the second is a revision.  And the design wall is sporting the changes.  I'm pretty pleased at this point.  :-)



This is Union Square in the planning stages........

....and finished.  The blue is hard to capture in a picture......

This is more true to color.

And then this is the revision of the New England block:

And the design wall with the tea-dyed squares and the revisions:

So, onward to the next blocks.  There are still a couple in this grouping that need some changes.  Maybe we'll tackle that tomorrow!

Revisions and Tea Dying!

In talking about our project recently, we've both come to the conclusion that the full set of blocks is just going to be too much of a quilt for us.  Annie came to that place long before I did.  I was gung-ho on doing all the blocks, with a few exceptions.  But if I did, I'd have a king-size quilt, which I don't really want to handle at the quilting stage.  So I'd thought about doing two smaller ones.  Today I decided I'm doing just one, like Annie is, and both of ours will be 31 blocks.

So, we went through our pattern books and decided which 31 they would be.

Helping us make the decisions is the realization that we prefer the more complex blocks, so we're focusing on those.  Also that we're just going to bypass all the applique patterns with the exception of the Little Blue Basket, which has an applique handle.

After that, we put all of our blocks up on the design wall.  I find living with block arrangements over time is the most useful thing in deciding if I like what I'm doing.  I am blessed to have a great place for a design wall, and a family that likes to see the progress of each quilt I make. So, as we looked at what we have going here, there were some things that stood out.

First thing we decided is that we really prefer the darker shades of lights, so pulled the North Star block (left side, row 4, because it just sticks out too much.

Then we did some tea dying on Texas Tears, Birds in the Air and Comfort Quilt Blocks (all of row 3).  We like the result much better now.

Then we pulled the Illinois Road block, bottom left, because we're struggling with the pink that just doesn't blend as much as we'd like.

The rest of the day, we spent evaluating the other blocks we have cut out and whether we want to substitute new lights.  And we made good progress on that, as well.

Here's one we've changed and like it so much better.  It's called New England and the first attempt is the top one.  Revision is below.  We tea dyed that center piece.  :-)

So, revised design wall coming in the near future!