The Evolution of "Lincoln's Platform"

When we started this quilt, I would never have guessed this block to be one that would cause us problems.  But it has been the one with the most changes!

Here is the progression:

On this one, the blue bothered me.

It just didn't seem to relate well with the rest of the fabrics.

So, we changed the blue to this one.

But then the pink began bothering me.

It just didn't go with the rest of the reds in the other blocks.

So we changed the red to this.

But then there just wasn't enough contrast in the block.

So we changed it up and gave it more contrast.

But it still wasn't enough between the red and brown.

So we did this.

And I think we're going to keep it!

Five versions later!!!

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!

Cotton Boll and Lincoln's Platform

Made a little more progress on blocks.

Cotton Boll is a fun one.  Fussy cutting the bars to make them meet in the middle is just plain cool.  I love how that works!

This is Lincoln's Platform.  Not too sure about the vibrancy of the pink and the blue in it.  I like the fabrics, but they seem a bit bright.  I guess we'll see as we evaluate them all together on the design wall.

The fabric samples you see clipped to the pattern pages are the beginnings of my recording system to catalog the fabrics we end up using in these quilts.  I was reading on Barbara Brackman's Material Culture blog once about how the fabric companies kept "Mill Books" to document their fabrics.  I thought that sounded like a good idea.  A little fabric history for posterity.